MakeSuccessOnline.

Campaign Monitor

Designer-first email tool with the prettiest templates in the category.

4.3/5 From $11/mo Email Marketing
Visit website →
Best for Design-conscious brands
Pricing From $11/mo
Setup time Under 20 min
Learning curve Easy
Support Email, live chat, knowledge base
Company Marigold
Launched 2004

About Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform aimed at design-conscious brands. On the strengths side, prettiest templates in email marketing; on the depth side, strong brand controls for teams. The product centres on Email designer and Brand kit — everything else is scaffolding around those. It's quick to pick up, with pricing from $11/mo. Still a strong design-first choice, especially for lifestyle and media brands. Reviewers keep pointing to the same thing: reliable deliverability.

Available on

Web appiOSAPI

Integrates with

ShopifyZapierSalesforceWordPress

Who it's for

A quick filter before you spend time on Campaign Monitor — read both sides before committing.

Use it if…

  • Design-conscious brands and agencies
  • Teams prioritizing template quality
  • Mid-market B2B wanting polish

Skip it if…

  • Tech-forward teams wanting automation
  • Shopify stores (Klaviyo wins)
  • Startups on tight budgets

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Prettiest templates in email marketing
  • Strong brand controls for teams
  • Reliable deliverability
  • Hits the core email marketing workflow without forcing a hunt for second tools
  • Pricing lands in the right band for its target buyer

Cons

  • Automation is weaker than ActiveCampaign
  • Less innovation under Marigold ownership
  • Pricing creeps vs. MailerLite/Brevo
  • Not the cheapest option in the category — the free alternatives cover basics
  • Advanced features sit behind higher-tier plans most small teams won't need

Features

The capabilities you actually get when you sign up for Campaign Monitor.

  1. 01

    Email designer

    Beautiful drag-and-drop editor

  2. 02

    Brand kit

    Enforce brand colors and fonts across sends

  3. 03

    Transactional email

    Built-in via CM's transactional service

  4. 04

    Core workspace

    The main editor or dashboard where day-to-day email marketing work happens

  5. 05

    Integrations hub

    Connects to the tools your stack already uses so data doesn't live in silos

  6. 06

    Reporting and dashboards

    Built-in reports and exportable dashboards for stakeholder reviews

Pricing

No free plan — here's what you get at each paid tier.

Lite

$11 /mo

  • 500 contacts
  • 2,500 emails
  • Core features

Essentials

$19 /mo

  • 500 contacts
  • Unlimited emails
  • A/B testing

Frequently asked questions

What people usually want to know before signing up for Campaign Monitor.

Is Campaign Monitor still being developed?

Under new owner Marigold, updates have slowed but core product is stable.

Does CM have automation?

Yes, but shallower than ActiveCampaign — basic sequences only.

How is pricing calculated — contacts or sends?

Usually contacts (every email in your list counts). A few tools price on sends, which is friendlier for inactive-heavy lists.

Can I migrate from Mailchimp without losing automations?

Lists and templates import cleanly. Automations have to be rebuilt — budget half a day per complex sequence.

Does it handle transactional email too?

Most ESPs separate transactional from marketing. Expect to pair with Postmark, Resend or an SMTP service for high-volume transactional sends.

Bottom line

Should you use Campaign Monitor?

Still a strong design-first choice, especially for lifestyle and media brands. Automation-heavy teams should look elsewhere.

Visit website →