Flodesk's free plan doesn't send a single email — forms and landing pages only. To actually reach your list, you're paying from month one.
Systeme.io's free plan sends unlimited emails to up to 2,000 contacts, and it's not just email: the same free account gives you a checkout to sell from, sales funnels, a course builder and your own affiliate program. One login, one free price, the whole shop.
Prices checked 6 September 2026. Check both platforms' current pricing before you commit either way.
Does Flodesk have a free plan?
It has a free tier, but not a free email plan — and that distinction is the whole thing. You can build forms and landing pages on it. You cannot send to the people who fill them in.
So the free tier collects addresses and then holds them behind a paywall. For someone testing whether an email list is worth the effort at all, that is the wrong way round: you find out what it costs before you find out whether it works.
What's actually included, free
- 2,000 contacts with unlimited email sends
- Opt-in pages and forms
- 3 sales funnels
- 1 course, hosted and delivered
- A checkout with 0% transaction fees — sell directly from the account that emails your list, no separate tool required
No credit card, no trial clock, nothing that quietly starts billing you.
Worth knowing if Flodesk's checkout was ever on your radar: it's locked behind their most expensive tier, and it only works for sellers based in six countries. Systeme.io's checkout isn't restricted by country and it's included free.
Why this matters if you sell on Etsy
Etsy keeps the customer. You get the order, not a way to contact the buyer again — so every new product launches to strangers, and you pay the same fees to reach people who already bought from you once.
An email list is the part Etsy can't give you, which is exactly why the tool that holds it shouldn't cost you money before it has earned any. Here's the full breakdown of what Etsy takes per sale, including the Offsite Ads fee that becomes compulsory once a shop passes $10,000.
Where Flodesk is genuinely better
Flodesk exists because most marketing email looks like marketing email. Its templates are the best-looking in the category by a distance, and if your brand lives or dies on how things look — photography, design, anything visual — that is not a small thing.
Systeme.io's email builder is plainer. You can make it look decent; you can't make it look like Flodesk. What you get instead is the checkout, the funnels and the course builder in the same free account.
Worth saying plainly: a plain email from a real person routinely outperforms a designed one. But if design is the product you're selling, that reasoning cuts the other way.
What to do first
Import your existing list first, under Contacts. Then set up one opt-in form before anything else — that's the piece Flodesk was doing for you, and the one your list actually depends on.
Everything after that is easier. If you're starting from nothing rather than moving an existing list, that covers what to offer and where to put it.
This post contains an affiliate link to systeme.io. If you sign up through it, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Create your free systeme.io accountFree forever plan — no credit card required
If your list grows past 2,000
Systeme.io's paid plans are $17 for Startup, $47 for Webinar and $97 for Unlimited. Each one is a flat price rather than one that climbs as your list does — Startup takes you to 5,000 contacts, Webinar to 10,000, and Unlimited has no contact ceiling at all. Annual billing takes roughly two months off any of them.
Flodesk's tiers rise with every subscriber you add — by 25,000 contacts you're paying $150 to $250 a month depending on tier, by 50,000 it's $390 to $530. Systeme.io's top plan stays at $97 whatever your list does.
If you're growing, that's a ceiling Flodesk can't offer at any size.
Full side-by-side, if you want it: systeme.io vs Flodesk.
Free 30-page setup guide, if you want a walkthrough of the whole build: Systeme.io Beginner's Quickstart Guide.
Common questions
Can you send emails on Flodesk's free plan?
No. The free tier covers forms and landing pages. Sending to your subscribers requires a paid plan.
What's the cheapest email marketing tool for a small list?
Free, if the platform includes sending on its free tier rather than only collection. Below a couple of thousand subscribers there is no need to pay for email at all.
Can you use email marketing with an Etsy shop?
Yes, but not with Etsy's buyer data. Etsy doesn't give you buyers' personal email addresses for marketing, and using buyer information for unsolicited email isn't allowed. You build the list separately, from traffic you drive yourself.
How many subscribers do you need before email is worth it?
Fewer than most people assume. A hundred people who chose to hear from you outperform several thousand followers who scrolled past. The number that matters is how many opted in, not how many exist.
Is it hard to move an email list between platforms?
The list itself is a CSV export and import — straightforward. Export it before you cancel anything, because most platforms lock the export behind the plan you just left.
Related reading: how to sell digital products on Pinterest without a shop · what you actually need to run an online business