Changes To Aweber Plans
If you’re an Aweber user, and one of their older clients, you’ve probably received an email from them in the last couple of weeks about upcoming changes to your plan.
The changes will be implemented in December and so I got just under 2 months notice about this.
I’m a real legacy user of Aweber and have been with them for 20 years
I pay $19.95 monthly (legacy pricing) for up to 2,500 subscribers and my fee is going up by 50% in December.
Aweber are also reducing the number of emails I can send from an unlimited to 12x the number of subscribers in my lists.
So, instead of being able to send emails every day to my lists (I have several), I can only send 12 emails to my subscribers per month instead.
I told them I wasn’t happy.
They told me if I paid annually, I’d save 33% and my monthly fee would be only $0.05 more.
That’s a bit disingenuous if you ask me since they know I’ve always paid monthly.
But it’s the email send limits that have really killed Aweber for me.
I know their newer plans have had that 12x subscriber number limitation for a while but older accounts were left untouched, as-is, with unlimited email sends.
From December, every legacy account will now be “upgraded” to the new plans and pricing.
Increasing my fees by 50% to $29.95/mo while more than halving the number of emails I can send is just not on.
Aweber is simply not worth the money any more.
Here are the current plans, with the Plus Plan being closest in features to the legacy plan I’m currently on:
Even with the upcoming price increase, I’d still be paying $29.95/mo vs $55/mo so I am being offered a good deal in comparison.
But, as i mentioned, it’s the limitation on email sends that’s the deal-breaker for me.
This is a decision that I think is going to bite them in the ass as I can see lots of marketers jumping ship over the coming months.
I did wonder if Aweber had been bought out and some new bright spark had this ridiculous business idea.
But Aweber confirmed this wasn’t the case.
These changes were an internal decision and I think they’ve read the market very badly.
Aweber Alternatives
If you’re an Aweber customer who’s now looking for an alternative platform, or you’re someone who’s been looking an autoresponder service to start with, here are some quality alternatives to look at:
1. LeadsLeap
LeadsLeap is, I think, the longest-running all-in-one marketing platform online, having been online since 2008.
They do offer a free plan which many marketers start with.
They only have one paid plan which is $27/mo (or $23/mo if you upgrade within 24 hours of opening an account).
While the user interface is a bit old-fashioned by today’s standards, there are a lot of features marketers can use that are not available on other platforms.
There is no limit on the number of subscribers you can collect and you can send an unlimited number of emails.
You can also create link trackers and link rotators as well as being able to advertise on the platform.
In fact, everything is unlimited which makes this a fantastic platform for $27/mo.
Systeme (below) is another platform I use, but its plans have limitations on what you can create so that puts it behind LeadsLeap in terms of bang-for-your-buck.
If you decide that LeadsLeap is the platform for you, I strongly encourage you to sign up for this 100% free sales funnel and plug your LeadsLeap affiliate ID into it.
The funnel promotes 7 passive income streams for you and includes all necessary training on how to set up and promote your own unique funnel link.
2. MailerLite (one of the best Aweber alternatives)
This autoresponder provides a few more features than Aweber and is the best alternative I could find.
They allow unlimited email sends and include automation rules among other features, including a free account to get started with.
The Growth Plan is what I’d go for and the price for 5,000 subsbribers (rather than the 2,500 above) is $39/mo.
You can see a comparison between Aweber and MailerlLite here.
3. Systeme
Systeme is an all-in-one marketing platform rather than a dedicated autoresponder like Aweber.
If you’re just starting out, then there’s nothing currently that can beat what their Free Plan offers.
With it, you can build a list of up to 2,000 contacts and send them unlimited emails before having to upgrade to a paid plan.
List segmentation tags and automation rules are included, but are more limited on the free and lower-cost plans.
I offer an exclusive bonus package if you decide to sign up for Systeme using my links.
Systeme is one of the platforms I am using myself.
You can read my in-depth Systeme review here.
4. Kit
Formerly known as ConvertKit, this is another extremely popular autoresponder used by marketers.
Their free plan lets you collect up to 10,000 subscribers while also allowing you to send out an unlimited number of emails.
Tagging and list segmentation are standard.
Where the free plan is limited is that you can only create one list/one email campaign and you only get one automation.
Aside form that, this platform is a really good option if you’re just starting out and only plan to build one list.
You could use tags to segment your list into sub-lists but your email sequence for subscribers would always be the same.
At $41/mo, their Creator Plan is significantly less expensive than an Aweber Plus Plan…
…and you get to send an unlimited number of emails which leaves Aweber in the rear-view mirror.
You can read more about Kit (or ConvertKit as it was known when I wrote the post) here.
5. SendShark
SendShark is a more basic autoresponder in that it does not support automations or tags for list segmentation.
Another limitation is that if you set up an email campaign, a subscriber goes through it, and then you add a new email to the campaign, the subscriber will not receive it.
Only new subscribers will.
The saving graces of SendShark are that you can send an unlimited number of emails and collect a large number of subscribers!
There are 3 SendShark plans currently available.
- The $9.97/mo plan which gives you a 30-day free trial and allows you to collect up to 5,00o subscribers. If you go beyond that number, then your fees will increase.
- A promotional offer which lets you collect up to 20,000 subscribers for $25/mo (ignore this as it comes and goes)
- A special offer from my friend, Jeff Aman, who negotiated a deal with SendShark that allows you to collect up to 50,000 subscribers for the same $25/mo!
LeadsLeap is the only other platform that would allow you to collect that number of subscribers without charging you more.
Think about what you want to do with your lists before you jump onto this special deal.
If list segmentation and automations such as moving subscribers between lists is or will be important to you, SendShark is not the solution for you.
Go with one of the other options here – it save you the headache of having to move your subscribers to another platform later.
Again, f you decide that SendShark is what you’re looking for, then I strongly recommend that you sign up for this 100% free sales funnel and plug your SendShark affiliate ID into it (but make sure you sign up for Jeff Aman’s 50,000 subscribers option first).
The funnel promotes 7 passive income streams for you and includes all necessary training on how to set up and promote your own unique funnel link.
Aweber Alternatives: The Also Rans
Some of the other autoresponder services I looked at but rejected due to high prices or send limitations are…
GetResponse
A very popular autoresponder among affiliate marketers, it’s a platform that never appealed to me.
I just didn’t like the way it implemented how things worked.
But I took another look at it as an alternative to Aweber.
I could probably get away with using their Email Marketing Plan and, while it’s basically the same price as the plan Aweber is going to switch me to…
…there are no limitations on email sends which does put it ahead of Aweber for me.
However, in comparison to the plans from the platforms above, to me it’s still not great value for money.
ActiveCampaign
This platform has a very solid reputation amongst marketers but again, it’s another platform that loses out on price and email send limitations.
It’s more expensive than Aweber and its email send limitations on its lower cost plans is even worse than Aweber’s!
MailChimp
I don’t recommend MailChimp at all if you’re an affiliate marketer.
They are hostile to us and are known to close down accounts without warning if they find you are promoting affiliate products.
You lose your list of subscribers too, unless you download a backup “just in case”.
Besides that, MailChimp is one of the more expensive autoresponders out there as well as limiting your email sends to 12x your number of subscribers.
Final Thoughts
There does seem to be a move among a number of autoresponder services to start limiting the number of emails that users can send out.
It’s even more egregious when you’re on an established plan and the service sees fit to downgrade your plan so it fits with their current offerings.
Since I am an Aweber customer (but not for much longer), I can say that this development has not gone down well and I feel that I am being doubly penalised for being a legacy customer.
So I’m moving my business elsewhere.
Right now, I’m leaning towards MailerLite or Kit as the best solution for me.
I do have a Systeme Starter account but it might be worth my while to upgrade to the Webinar plan instead as that would be a less expensive upgrade path.
LeadsLeap is a platform that I use primarily for building a lot of landing pages, link tracking and creating link rotators.
I also have a SendShark account which fulfills the basic requirements of being able to collect 50,000 subscribers and send unlimited emails for $25/mo…
…but I miss the list segmentation and automation features that are available on other platforms.
There never seems to be a perfect solution – something is always missing or doesn’t meet requirements.
Given the time and effort that will go into moving 20 years worth of lists, subscribers, email campaigns, landing pages and forms from Aweber, I need to very carefully consider my options.
This is a big change for me and one that I wish I didn’t have to put into action.
Let me know your own experiences with the autoresponder and all-in-one marketing platforms you use.
Maybe there’s an even better alternative to Aweber out there that I’ve missed?
All the best,
Gary Nugent
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