Finding the best email marketing tool for your SaaS isn’t about picking the one with the longest features list — it’s about finding the one that actually helps you grow.
We’ve been deep in SaaS email marketing for years, from scrappy launches to scaling companies past $5M+ ARR, and we know what matters: automations that actually save time, integrations that don’t break, and emails that move users forward.
This guide saves you from all the AI-generated content.
You’ll find the best SaaS email marketing platforms — what they’re good at, where they fall short, and which one fits the way you work.
Summary: SaaS Email Marketing Tools
Encharge — Automate user journeys and boost growth without tech headaches.- ActiveCampaign — Combine email automation and CRM for smoother sales.
- Drip — Mix SaaS and ecommerce email flows in one platform.
- Loops — Send simple, clean SaaS campaigns fast.
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit) — Grow your SaaS with content-driven emails.
- Messaged — Launch onboarding and lifecycle emails quickly.
- Omnisend — Add SMS and push to your SaaS marketing.
- Customer.io — Full control of messaging with deep API options.
- Userlist — Lightweight SaaS onboarding and customer updates.
- HubSpot — All-in-one CRM, email, and sales for SaaS teams.
Now, that’s just the short answer.
Below the table of contents we’ll go in-depth on all 10 apps. Join me!
Contents
Why Get a SaaS Email Marketing Software?
Answer: Because SaaS email marketing software helps you connect with both potential and existing customers through email.
It’s used to promote products, share updates, nurture leads, and improve user retention — all in an automated, scalable way.
Common types of SaaS email campaigns include:
- Lead nurturing sequences: Move prospects through the funnel with targeted emails.
- Newsletters: Keep users updated with product news, tips, or insights.
- Promotions: Share special offers, discounts, or limited-time deals.
- Product and feature updates: Announce new launches or improvements.
- Surveys: Collect feedback to improve user experience and engagement.
The real power of SaaS email marketing comes from automation and segmentation. You can personalize messages based on user behavior, demographics, or preferences — making campaigns more relevant and effective.
Pro Tip: Good SaaS email tools also help you automate workflows, create templates, and track performance with minimal effort.
What to Look for in a SaaS Email Marketing Tool
Before you start comparing platforms, it’s important to know what actually matters. Picking the wrong tool can slow down your team, limit your growth, and cost more than you planned.
Here are the key factors to focus on:
- Pricing: Find a platform that fits your budget now, but can scale later without surprising fees.
- Features: Focus on must-haves like automation, segmentation, personalization, and clean integrations.
- Ease of Use: Your team should be able to set up and manage campaigns without needing constant technical help.
- Customer Support: Fast, reliable support makes a huge difference — especially when you’re setting up complex automations for the first time.
The best tool isn’t just about features — it’s about how well it fits your growth goals and your team’s workflow. Keeping these factors in mind will make it easier to spot the right fit when you start exploring your options.
Now, let’s jump into the comparisons!
Top 10 SaaS-Focused Email Marketing Software
Currently, these are the best email marketing software for SaaS businesses: Encharge, ActiveCampaign and Drip.
Let me show you why, starting with the #1 app, Encharge.
1. Encharge
- Score: 4.9/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS companies that want smart automation without hiring devs.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Encharge was built specifically for SaaS — not ecommerce, not creators.
It automates onboarding, trial nurturing, upsells, churn prevention, without needing a dev team to wire everything together.
Instead of relying on static lists, Encharge tracks real-time behavior (pricing page visits, product usage, trial upgrades) and triggers the right emails at the perfect moment.
You can move users from trial to paid, recover cancellations, or scale expansions — all based on what users actually do, not just blasting generic updates.
Encharge SaaS-Specific Features:
- Visual flow builder for user journeys
- Native Stripe, Segment, HubSpot, Salesforce, Intercom integrations
- Event-based automations (signup, trial ending, payment failure, upgrade)
- Lead scoring and deep segmentation
- Transactional emails alongside marketing flows
- Unlimited team members included (no per-user costs)
Encharge’s best integrations for SaaS emailing: Stripe, Segment, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Intercom and over 60 other integrations.
Quick list of SaaS-focused flows in Encharge:
| Stage | Flow Example |
|---|---|
| Onboarding | Welcome emails + feature walkthroughs |
| Trial period | Usage-based nudges + upgrade prompts |
| Activation | “Milestone achieved” celebration emails |
| Expansion | Upgrade offers based on user behavior |
| Churn Prevention | Re-engagement or “save” offers |
How Encharge Helps SaaS Email Growth:
- Nurture free trials into paid customers automatically
- Save users at risk of churning with behavior-based messages
- Trigger upsells, cross-sells, and expansion emails at the right time
- Score leads based on engagement to prioritize sales efforts
Encharge gives SaaS companies a real system for growing relationships at every stage — without getting bogged down in manual work.
You can move users from sign-up to success faster, automate trial nurturing, trigger upsells based on user actions, and reactivate accounts before they churn.
It’s not just sending a welcome email and hoping for the best.
With Encharge, you build full user journeys — tied to real behaviors, product usage, and milestones — so every email feels personal, timely, and relevant.
Whether you’re scaling a new SaaS product or optimizing an established one, Encharge makes it easy to keep users moving forward, buying more, and sticking around longer — all automatically.
Encharge Pricing for SaaS Companies:
| Plan | Price | Subscribers | SaaS Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $79/mo | Up to 2,000 | Automate trial onboarding, behavior-based drip campaigns, Stripe workflows |
| Premium | $129/mo | Up to 2,000 | Advanced CRM syncing, product usage-triggered emails, transactional messaging |
| Enterprise | Custom | 50,000+ | Full API access, custom objects, high-volume scalability, dedicated support |
✅ 14-day free trial included
✅ Unlimited team members
✅ Native integrations for Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Segment
Pricing scales based on active subscribers.
Check the Encharge pricing page for your exact rate.
2. ActiveCampaign
- Score: 4.4/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Great for SaaS teams who want deep CRM and sales automations tied to their email campaigns.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: ActiveCampaign is a hybrid between email marketing and CRM — perfect if you need both at a time!
You can automate lead nurturing, score users based on engagement, and manage your full sales pipeline alongside your email workflows.
It’s a strong pick if your SaaS team runs complex multi-touch sales journeys and needs super-detailed segmentation.
ActiveCampaign SaaS-Specific Features:
- Multi-step email automations tied to CRM actions
- Lead scoring based on email engagement + website activity
- Advanced conditional email flows
- Built-in sales CRM and deal pipelines
- Predictive sending to optimize email timing
- Native integrations with Stripe, Salesforce, Shopify
ActiveCampaign’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Shopify, WordPress, Zapier.
ActiveCampaign Pricing for SaaS Companies
| Plan | Price | Contacts | SaaS-Specific Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39/mo | Up to 2,500 | Basic email automations, simple lead follow-ups, basic segmentation |
| Plus | $95/mo | Up to 2,500 | Advanced lead scoring, CRM deals, multi-channel automations |
| Pro | $149/mo | Up to 2,500 | Predictive sending, cross-channel workflows, split automations |
| Enterprise | $255/mo | Up to 2,500 | Custom reporting, SSO, account-based marketing, enterprise-level support |
If things are unclear, we have this detailed AC pricing guide.
3. Drip
- Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Great for SaaS or ecommerce brands that want super-personalized, revenue-focused emails.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Drip is focused on customer journeys that lead to purchases.
While it’s more eCommerce-centered, SaaS companies running subscription products or online sales funnels can use it for hyper-targeted, revenue-driven email flows.
It’s a strong pick if your SaaS is DTC-focused or sells lower-ticket products without a long sales cycle.
Drip SaaS-Specific Features:
- Ecommerce CRM for tracking user journeys
- Advanced email segmentation based on actions and purchases
- Revenue attribution for email campaigns
- Drag-and-drop workflow builder
- Pre-built templates for abandoned carts, upsells, and renewals
- Native ecommerce platform integrations
Drip’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, Stripe, BigCommerce.
Drip.com’s Pricing for SaaS Companies:
| Plan | Price | Contacts | SaaS-Specific Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $39/mo | Up to 2,500 | Unlimited email sends, dynamic segmentation, basic onsite campaigns, up to 50 automated workflows |
4. Loops
- Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for early-stage SaaS teams who want simple email marketing without tech headaches.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Loops is built specifically for SaaS startups that need to move fast.
You don’t get endless feature bloat — just clean transactional emails, lifecycle campaigns, and event-based automations that actually matter when you’re growing your first 1,000 users.
If you’re overwhelmed by complex platforms and just want emails that work — Loops nails it.
Loops SaaS-Specific Features:
- Transactional and marketing emails under one roof
- Event-driven automations (signups, upgrades, churn)
- Visual flow builder for lifecycle campaigns
- Templates for onboarding, activation, upsells, and churn prevention
- Simple analytics focused on SaaS metrics (opens, CTRs, churn triggers)
Loops’ Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Webhooks, Segment, Zapier, Stripe, Mixpanel.
Loops.so’s pricing for SaaS:
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free (up to 4,000 sends/month) | All features included, “Powered by Loops” footer |
| Paid | $49/month (for 5,000 subscribers) | Unlimited email sends, free transactional sends, no feature limits |
5. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- Score: 4.0/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS founders or solopreneurs who want clean, simple email automations.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Kit is built around simplicity — especially for creators, early-stage SaaS founders, and small teams who don’t want to overcomplicate things.
You won’t find deep CRM features here, but you will find everything you need to build strong email journeys without getting overwhelmed.
If you’re just starting to build your SaaS brand, Kit is a safe, simple place to start.
Kit SaaS-Specific Features:
- Visual automation builder (great for welcome flows and upsells)
- Tag-based subscriber management (e.g., “Trial user,” “Paid user”)
- Customizable forms and landing pages
- Basic event-driven email sequences
- Stripe integration for revenue-based tagging
Kit’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Stripe, Zapier, Webhooks, WordPress, Shopify.
Kit’s pricing for SaaS:
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletter | Free (up to 10,000 subscribers) | 1 basic automation, unlimited landing pages, email broadcasts, sell digital products |
| Creator | $49/month (up to 3,000 subscribers) | Unlimited automations, unlimited sequences, remove branding, smart recommendations |
| Creator Pro | $79/month (up to 3,000 subscribers) | Everything in Creator plus Facebook Audiences, referral system, advanced reporting |
6. Messaged
- Score: 4.0/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Great for SaaS startups that need fast, simple onboarding and lifecycle emails.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Messaged is focused almost entirely on SaaS needs; onboarding new users, sending lifecycle emails, and moving people through your product faster.
It skips the extra “fluff” and gets right to what matters: user activation, retention, and upgrades.
If you’re an early-stage SaaS team and want to set up smart emails without needing a marketing ops specialist, Messaged is worth a look.
Messaged SaaS-Specific Features:
- Pre-built templates for SaaS onboarding sequences
- Trigger emails based on user activity inside your app
- NPS survey emails and feedback loops
- Churn prevention campaigns
- Upgrade/cross-sell flows for different user tiers
Messaged’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Segment, Stripe, Zapier, Webhooks.
This is how much Messaged costs:
| Contacts Range | Price/Month |
|---|---|
| 0 – 500 | Free |
| 501 – 1,000 | $12 |
| 1,001 – 2,000 | $20 |
| 2,001 – 5,000 | $45 |
| 5,001 – 10,000 | $80 |
| 10,001 – 15,000 | $120 |
| 15,001 – 20,000 | $150 |
| 20,001 – 25,000 | $180 |
| 25,001 – 30,000 | $210 |
| 30,001 – 40,000 | $275 |
| 40,001 – 50,000 | $360 |
| 50,001 – 70,000 | $525 |
| 70,001 – 100,000 | $700 |
| Over 100,000 | Contact Sales |
7. Omnisend
- Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for ecommerce SaaS teams who want email, SMS, and push in one platform.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Omnisend is built for commerce, but some SaaS businesses (especially ecommerce-related SaaS) love it for its multi-channel messaging.
It shines if you want to combine email, SMS, and even push notifications — all tied to user behavior — without juggling separate tools.
If you’re running a commerce-focused SaaS, Omnisend could be a good match.
Omnisend SaaS-Specific Features:
- Pre-built automation flows for welcome, cart recovery, and reactivation
- Email, SMS, and push notifications combined
- Segmentation based on customer behavior
- Dynamic discount codes
- Product recommendations inside emails
Omnisend’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Zapier, Facebook Ads, Google Ads.
Omnisend pricing for SaaS teams:
| Plan | Price/Month | Contacts | Key Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $30 | 2,000 | 24,000 emails/month, unlimited web push notifications, 1,000 Shopify reviews, 24/7 priority support |
| Pro | $59 | 2,500 | Unlimited emails + web push, SMS messaging, Shopify reviews, advanced reporting, 24/7 support |
| Custom | Contact sales | Custom | Unlimited everything + dedicated success manager, advanced reporting, free migration |
8. Customer.io
- Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams who need flexible, behavior-driven email campaigns.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Customer.io is a powerful choice for SaaS companies that want super-targeted emails based on user behavior and app events.
It’s extremely flexible — you can create custom workflows, use event triggers, and build hyper-personalized journeys without a lot of rigid templates getting in the way.
If your SaaS has complex user behaviors and you want to act on them fast, Customer.io is a smart option.
Customer.io SaaS-Specific Features:
- Event-based automation (trigger emails based on real-time app actions)
- Advanced user segmentation
- Transactional and marketing emails in one system
- Visual workflow builder
- A/B testing inside workflows
- API-first flexibility for product-led growth
Customer.io’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Segment, Zapier, Amplitude, Salesforce, Mixpanel, Slack.
This is Customer.io’s pricing for SaaS:
| Plan | Price | Profiles | Key Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $100/month | 5,000 | 100k emails/month, 2 object types, ad audience sync, workflow builder, basic Data Pipelines, email support |
| Premium | $1,000/month (billed yearly) | Custom | Everything in Essentials + 10 object types, HIPAA, premium support, advanced Data Pipelines, onboarding support |
| Enterprise | Contact Sales | Custom | All Premium features + dedicated success manager, audit logs, custom infra, migration & priority support |
We actually have this guide further explaining Customer.io’s cost.
9. Userlist
- Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Great for SaaS businesses that want simple, clean behavior-based messaging without the noise.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: Userlist is built only for SaaS. No ecommerce templates. No random features you’ll never use.
It’s clean, simple, and does one thing well: sends targeted messages based on what your users actually do inside your app.
If you’re a small-to-medium SaaS team and want fast setup without a heavy learning curve, Userlist nails it.
Userlist SaaS-Specific Features:
- Event-based messaging (user actions trigger emails)
- Smart user segmentation (by plan type, actions, churn risk)
- User onboarding campaigns and behavior-based updates
- Minimalist, easy-to-learn UI
- Lifetime value, churn, and engagement reports
- Built specifically for B2B and SaaS, not ecommerce
Userlist’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Zapier, Segment, Webhooks, Stripe, HelpScout.
This is Userlist’s pricing for SaaS:
| Plan | Price | Users Included | Key Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $149/month | Up to 10,000 users | 500,000 emails/month, visual workflows, transactional email, user & company segments, 60-min onboarding call |
| Professional | $349/month | Up to 10,000 users | All Basic features + A/B testing, conversion goals, advanced workflows, integrations, team training |
| Enterprise | Contact Sales | Custom | Unlimited messaging, done-for-you data setup, company-level integration, dedicated success manager |
10. HubSpot
- Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Solid for SaaS teams that need email, CRM, and sales tools all in one.
Why we like it for SaaS teams: HubSpot isn’t just an email tool — it’s a whole system.
You can track your leads, automate their onboarding, set up email nurture campaigns, and manage your sales pipeline, all in one dashboard.
The downside is that it gets expensive fast. But for bigger SaaS teams that want everything tied together, it’s a strong option.
HubSpot SaaS-Specific Features:
- Drag-and-drop email builder
- CRM integration across marketing, sales, and service
- Marketing automation workflows
- Behavior-based triggers (email clicks, site visits, lifecycle stage changes)
- Lead scoring, ABM (Account-Based Marketing) tools
- Detailed analytics and reporting dashboards
HubSpot’s Best Integrations for SaaS Emailing: Salesforce, Stripe, Zapier, WordPress, Intercom, Typeform, Calendly.
HubSpot’s pricing for SaaS teams:
| Plan | Price | Contacts Included | Key Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $20/month per seat | 1,000 contacts | Email marketing, forms, landing pages, removes HubSpot branding |
| Professional | $890/month | 2,000 contacts | Marketing automation, A/B testing, personalization, SEO tools, social media scheduling, reports |
| Enterprise | $3,600/month | 10,000 contacts | Custom objects, predictive lead scoring, multi-touch attribution, advanced permissions, behavioral triggers |
I know, this can get complicated….
To avoid any of it, we’ve deeply explained HubSpot’s pricing here.
How to Choose the Best Email Marketing Software For Your SaaS: My 4 Best Tips
The right customer retention tool helps you spot churn risks early, keep users engaged, and grow customer lifetime value without adding busywork.
Here’s what actually matters when choosing one.
1. Workflow Automation That Matches SaaS Needs
SaaS email marketing isn’t just about newsletters — it’s about guiding users through complex journeys like onboarding, feature adoption, and expansion.
Your tool should support multi-step, behavior-triggered automations without needing a full-time specialist to run them.
Look for visual flow builders, branching logic, and integrations with your app events. The goal is to automate value delivery across the customer lifecycle, not just send blasts.
2. Deep User Segmentation
Not every user is on the same journey.
New signups, power users, churn risks — they all need different messages. Your tool should let you slice your audience based on behaviors, subscription plans, feature usage, and more.
The better your segments, the more targeted your messaging — and the more revenue you’ll pull from your list without annoying users.
3. Integrations With Your Product and CRM
Your email tool has to connect cleanly to your product, CRM, and customer data sources. If you can’t automatically pull product usage data, lifecycle stages, or account owner info into your emails, you’re flying blind.
Strong integrations save time, power better automations, and keep your messaging hyper-relevant. If an email tool doesn’t play nicely with the rest of your stack, skip it.
4. Scalability and Pricing Transparency
Some tools seem great at first, then slap you with hidden fees or limits once you start growing. Make sure the platform can handle bigger contact lists, more automations, and deeper personalization without blowing up your costs or forcing a painful migration later.
Transparent pricing, fair feature limits, and clear upgrade paths are signs of a SaaS-friendly email platform built for long-term growth.
All SaaS Email Marketing Platforms Compared
| Platform | Best For | Starting Price | Key SaaS Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encharge | Smart email automation for SaaS | $79/month | Visual flows, behavior-based emails, CRM integrations, lead scoring |
| ActiveCampaign | Advanced marketing + CRM workflows | $39/month | CRM built-in, multi-channel automation, lead scoring |
| Drip | Ecommerce-focused automation | $49/month | Revenue tracking, ecommerce workflows, simple visual builder |
| Loops | Lightweight SaaS emailing | $49/month | Transactional + marketing emails together, simple setup |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Creators and solopreneurs | $0 (paid from $49/mo) | Visual automations, product sales tools, audience tagging |
| Messaged | Onboarding & lifecycle emails for SaaS | $12/month | User onboarding templates, lifecycle automations |
| Omnisend | Ecommerce multichannel marketing | $100/month (5k users) | Email, SMS, push notifications, audience segmentation |
| Customer.io | Data-driven SaaS messaging | $100/month (5k users) | Custom objects, data pipelines, advanced segmentation |
| Userlist | SaaS lifecycle and onboarding emails | $149/month | In-app messaging, SaaS-focused workflows, company segmentation |
| HubSpot | Full-stack CRM + marketing automation | $20/month (very limited) | Email marketing, CRM, workflows, heavy enterprise features |
Make Encharge Part of Your SaaS Growth Stack
When you’re serious about growing your SaaS, you need more than basic email tools.
Encharge helps you turn signups into loyal users, automate customer journeys, and drive upgrades — without spending months setting it all up.
✅ Built for SaaS teams
✅ Behavior-based emails that match your user journey
✅ Deep integrations with Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, and more
Start scaling smarter with Encharge today.
SaaS Email Marketing FAQs
1. What is SaaS email marketing?
Answer: SaaS email marketing is about using emails to grow your SaaS business — from building brand awareness to onboarding users, driving product adoption, upselling, and keeping customers engaged across every stage of the funnel.
2. Does email marketing work for SaaS?
Answer: Yes — email marketing is one of the most effective ways for SaaS companies to nurture leads, onboard new users, and keep customers engaged.
Drip campaigns, onboarding sequences, and behavior-based emails are essential for turning signups into loyal customers.
3. What’s the best email marketing platform for SaaS?
Answer: If you’re serious about SaaS growth, Encharge is the best choice — built specifically to handle user onboarding, product-led growth, and behavior-based automations.
Apart from Encharge, other okay options include ActiveCampaign, Customer.io, and HubSpot depending on your needs.
Thank you so much for reading this,
David Ch
Head of Marketing at Encharge
