Sender: What It Is, Pricing and How to Use It (2026 Guide)

What is Sender?

Sender is an email and SMS marketing platform for small businesses and online stores. You collect subscribers with forms, popups and landing pages, write newsletters in a drag-and-drop editor, and set up automated workflows such as welcome series and abandoned-cart emails. Transactional email (order confirmations, password resets) runs on the same account through SMTP or an API.

The company behind it is UAB Sender.lt, founded in 2012 in Vilnius, Lithuania. That matters for two reasons: its plan comparison lists EU data residency on every plan, and its pricing is set for small businesses rather than enterprise budgets.

The problem Sender solves is cost at the start. Its Free Forever plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month with automation included, which is more than most competitors give away. Paid plans start at $9 a month on monthly billing.

Who it is for

• Small businesses building a first list. You can run a newsletter and a welcome automation for free until you pass 2,500 subscribers.
• Shopify, WooCommerce and PrestaShop stores. Sender integrates with all three and has ecommerce email blocks (Product Picker, Abandoned Cart, Order Summary), premade ecommerce segments and ecommerce reports.
• Stores that want SMS alongside email. Professional includes SMS credits worth the monthly fee and SMS automation, so one tool covers both channels.
• EU businesses that prefer an EU vendor with EU data residency listed as standard.
• Occasional senders, such as clubs or associations, who can buy pay-as-you-go credits instead of a subscription.

Who should not use it: teams that want AI copywriting inside the editor (Sender has none); creators who want to sell digital products or paid newsletters from their email tool (look at Kit); businesses that need a CRM and sales pipeline next to email (look at ActiveCampaign); and anyone planning cold outreach to people who never opted in.

Key features

• Email editor and templates. A drag-and-drop editor with 100+ premade templates, plus HTML and plain-text editors. Useful details include dark email preview, an email size checker, saved blocks, a video block, personalization and a SPAM check. In September 2026 Sender shipped an all-new email builder with nestable Containers (Stack or Row), a Block tree, reusable block styles, autosave and mobile settings inherited from desktop.
• Ecommerce blocks. Product Picker pulls products from your store into an email, and Abandoned Cart, Billing Info and Order Summary blocks fill in order data automatically.
• Automation. Pre-built and custom workflows with unlimited triggers and steps (the template library grew to 79 pre-built workflows in October 2026, grouped by industry and goal), automation splits and custom trigger automations. SMS automation and advanced automation are on Professional.
• Audience management. Unlimited groups, advanced segmentation, premade ecommerce segments and behavioural targeting. A rebuilt importer (August 2026) handles CSV, XLSX, TXT and pasted lists, maps fields automatically and lets you choose whether imported contacts trigger automations.
• Forms and popups. 40+ templates, a spin-to-win wheel, exit-intent popups, SMS opt-in, and TCPA and GDPR consent collection.
• Landing pages. Responsive templates with SEO settings; 10 pages on Free, unlimited with a custom domain on paid plans.
• Transactional emails. SMTP and API sending with event webhooks (1 on Free, 5 on Standard, unlimited above) and log retention that grows by plan.
• Reports. Real-time campaign reports, click heatmaps, ecommerce reports, audience growth and Google Analytics tracking. Professional adds performance by group and by inbox provider.
• Sender MCP Server. Launched on 19 August 2026, it lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or similar assistants read your campaigns, segments and automations, answer questions about them and draft content. It creates drafts only, connects by browser login rather than an API key, and inherits your user role.

Pricing

At the time of writing Sender has four plans plus pay-as-you-go credits. Prices are in US dollars before VAT, with no contracts or setup fees, and were checked on sender.net/pricing on 2026-10-12 and spot-checked on 2026-10-14.

Plan	Price (500 subscribers)	Subscribers	Emails per month	Seats	Key inclusions and limits
Free Forever	$0, no card	Up to 2,500	Up to 15,000	1	Newsletters, automation, 10 landing pages, forms and popups, transactional email; Sender branding; 14-day Professional trial at sign-up
Standard	$9/month monthly, $6.30/month annual (first year)	500 to 2,000,000	12x subscribers	3	No branding, SMS with paid credits, A/B testing, unlimited landing pages, custom domain, ecommerce reports, webhooks
Professional	$15/month monthly, $10.50/month annual (first year)	500 to 750,000	24x subscribers	10	Free SMS credits equal to the fee, SMS automation, advanced automation, countdown timer and feedback blocks, priority support, dedicated IP from 20,000 subscribers
Enterprise	Custom (demo)	Custom	Unlimited	Unlimited	Success manager, advanced permissions, SLA, activity logs, SSO (SAML v2), BAA, phone support

Monthly price by list size:

Subscribers	Standard monthly	Standard annual, first year	Professional monthly	Professional annual, first year
500	$9	$6.30	$15	$10.50
1,000	$15	$10.50	$20	$14.00
2,500	$27	$18.90	$44	$30.80
5,000	$39	$27.30	$79	$55.30
10,000	$69	$48.30	$127	$88.90
25,000	$149	$104.30	$280	$196.00
50,000	$259	$181.30	$460	$322.00
100,000	$389	$272.30	$860	$602.00

Points to keep in mind:

• The 30% is a first-year offer. The pricing page says the annual discount “is valid for first-time users”. The plan data the page loads sets renewals at 20% off list, so Standard at 500 subscribers renews at $86.40 a year ($7.20 a month) rather than $75.60. Budget for the renewal price, not the headline.
• Send caps scale with your list. Standard allows 12 emails per subscriber per month, so 2,500 subscribers means 30,000 emails. If you mail daily, Professional’s 24x cap matters.
• SMS is priced by country. Standard users buy SMS credits; Professional includes credits equal to the subscription fee. Use the estimator on the pricing page for your destination countries.
• Pay as you go suits irregular senders: 5,000 emails for $29, 10,000 for $57, 50,000 for $167 and 1,000,000 for $1,697, with unlimited subscribers and no Sender logo.
• Pay 3 months upfront. On monthly billing you can tick “Pay 3 months upfront” for 15% off, for example $22.95 per quarter ($7.65 a month) for Standard at 500 subscribers, or $38.25 ($12.75 a month) for Professional. It is a middle ground if you do not want to commit for a year.
• Prices can also be shown in EUR, GBP and AUD.

How to use Sender: step-by-step

1. Create the account and authenticate your domain

1. Sign up for the Free Forever plan at sender.net. No credit card is needed, and every new account gets a 14-day Professional trial with nothing to activate, which is a good moment to test SMS and advanced automation.
2. Add your sender address on a domain you own and set up custom DKIM before you send anything real. Free webmail addresses hurt deliverability.
3. Import your subscribers with the importer: upload a CSV, XLSX or TXT file, or paste a list. Check the automatic field mapping (first name, country, tags) and decide whether the import should trigger automations. For an existing list, it usually should not. Only import people who opted in.
4. Organise contacts into groups (for example “Newsletter” and “Customers”). If you run a store, connect Shopify, WooCommerce or PrestaShop so orders and products sync.

2. Add a signup form or popup

1. Open the forms section and pick one of the 40+ templates: an embedded form for your footer, an exit-intent popup, or a spin-to-win wheel for a store.
2. Edit the headline, fields and offer, link the form to a group, and switch on GDPR consent (and TCPA consent with SMS opt-in if you plan to text subscribers in the US).
3. Publish it on your site. If you want a page for a lead magnet, build a landing page from a template instead and share its link.

3. Build a welcome automation

1. Create a new workflow from a pre-built template, such as a welcome series, rather than starting from a blank canvas.
2. Set the trigger to a subscriber joining the group your form feeds. Add three or four emails with delays between them: a welcome with the promised freebie, an introduction to what you sell, social proof, then an offer.
3. For a store, add an abandoned cart workflow and use the Abandoned Cart block so the email shows the products left behind.
4. Use an automation split to send buyers and non-buyers down different paths. Activate the workflow and run your own address through it.

4. Send your first campaign

1. Create a campaign, choose a template and write in the drag-and-drop editor. Pull products in with Product Picker if you sell online.
2. Add personalization, then run the SPAM check, look at the dark email preview and confirm the email size checker is happy.
3. On a paid plan, set up an A/B test of the subject line and switch on auto resend to non-openers.
4. Schedule the send, then review the real-time report and heatmap to see what people clicked.

Tips to get better results

• Stay inside the free plan on purpose. If you are near 2,500 subscribers, remove addresses that have not opened in months before you upgrade. A cleaner list also improves deliverability.
• Compare monthly and renewal prices, not just year one. At 10,000 subscribers Standard is $69 monthly, $48.30 in the first annual year and about $55 a month after that.
• Pick Professional for SMS-heavy stores. Because Professional’s SMS credits equal the fee, a store that would buy SMS anyway often pays less overall than Standard plus credits.
• Use the ecommerce segments. The premade segments (for example recent buyers) save you from building conditions by hand and make campaigns more relevant.
• Keep transactional and marketing mail on the same domain setup. Sender’s SMTP and API run on the same account, so authenticate once and use webhooks to track bounces.
• Try the MCP server for analysis, not autopilot. Connected to Claude or ChatGPT, it is good for questions like “which automations have the lowest click rate” or a first draft of a campaign. Our guide on how to write better prompts helps with the drafting side, and our Claude review covers the assistant itself.

Limitations and common problems

• Free plan trade-offs. Free emails carry Sender branding, you get one seat and 10 landing pages, and there is no A/B testing or SMS. Workaround: upgrade to Standard ($9 at 500 subscribers) when branding or a second user becomes a real problem.
• Discount fine print. The 30% annual discount is first-year only for first-time users, and monthly billing is full list price. Workaround: model three years of cost before you commit to annual.
• No AI writer in the editor. Sender’s pricing page and plan feature lists show no built-in AI writing assistant; its only AI feature is the MCP Server. Workaround: draft in an outside assistant or through the MCP server, which creates drafts in your account.
• Send caps. High-frequency senders can hit the 12x cap on Standard. Workaround: move to Professional (24x) or segment so not every subscriber gets every email.
• Builders are being rebuilt. Sender said in August 2026 that all four builders (email, landing pages, forms and automations) are being rebuilt, with the new email builder released in September. Expect some screens to change while you learn the tool.
• Thin privacy detail. The privacy policy does not name a hosting provider or list sub-processors. If you need that for a procurement review, ask Sender before signing up.

Alternatives

• Moosend - similar low prices with an AI Writer in the editor and unlimited sends on Pro, but no permanent free plan.
• GetResponse - email plus webinars, a course creator and landing pages in one platform, with a smaller free plan.
• Kit - email for creators, with a free plan and built-in sales of digital products and paid newsletters.
• ActiveCampaign - deeper automation and a CRM for businesses that have outgrown simpler tools, at higher prices.
• Campaign Monitor - design-focused email with strong templates, aimed at agencies and brands.

Compare every email and marketing tool in our marketing tools directory, or see Sender priced against seven rivals at the same list sizes in our best email marketing software guide.

Verdict

Sign up for Sender if you are a small business or online store that wants newsletters, automation, popups and transactional email without paying anything until you pass 2,500 subscribers. When you outgrow the free plan, Standard is cheap, and Professional is the better pick once you send SMS or need more than three seats. Model the renewal price, not just the first-year discount, before you pay annually.

Skip it if you want AI copywriting built into the editor, a CRM next to your email, or tools for selling digital products. In those cases Moosend, ActiveCampaign or Kit fit better.