Moosend vs Campaign Monitor 2026
Short answer: pick Moosend if you want unlimited sends at the lowest price and deeper e-commerce automation, pick Campaign Monitor if you run a design agency or need transactional email on a standard plan. Moosend scores 3.5/5 overall in our tests, Campaign Monitor 3.6/5, but the criteria tell a sharper story than the near-identical totals.
Two things no SERP competitor has documented: Campaign Monitor raised prices by 10 to 18% in 2025 (the new Lite/Essentials/Premier tiers now cost $13/$31/$171 for 500 contacts, not the old $11/$28/$153), and its official policy deletes account data after one year of inactivity with no warning email. On the Moosend side, the June 2025 Constant Contact acquisition has not changed pricing yet, but multiple Trustpilot reviews from 2026 document auto-renewal charges and refused refunds. Both tools carry real risks the stale comparison pages skip.
Cheapest unlimited sends, 32-trigger automation, WooCommerce-native.
Try Moosend for free →Read the full Moosend review →Agency sub-accounts, polished templates, transactional email included.
Try Campaign Monitor for free →Read the full Campaign Monitor review →Who wins for you
Moosend Pro is $9/mo for 500 contacts with unlimited sends. Campaign Monitor Essentials costs $31/mo for the same list.
Try Moosend for free →Campaign Monitor's white-label sub-accounts let you manage 40 to 50 clients from one login. Moosend has no native multi-account UI.
Try Campaign Monitor for free →Moosend has native WooCommerce and Magento connectors plus 32 automation triggers including cart abandonment.
Try Moosend for free →Campaign Monitor's template library and drag-and-drop editor are consistently rated above Moosend's for visual polish and mobile rendering.
Try Campaign Monitor for free →Moosend vs Campaign Monitor at a glance
Every cell below is grounded in official pricing pages and the two tools' review data, checked June 2026. The billing unit differs, so read that row first.
| Moosend | Campaign Monitor | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing unitMoosend Pro includes unlimited sends at every contact tier | Contact-based: pay by unique contacts across all lists, unlimited sends on Pro | Contact-based: Lite has a send cap (~5x contacts/mo); Essentials+ are unlimited | Moosend |
| Entry paid price (500 contacts, monthly) | $9/mo (Pro, unlimited sends) | $13/mo (Lite, capped sends) or $31/mo (Essentials, unlimited) | Moosend |
| Annual billing discount | 20% off (500 contacts ~$7.20/mo) | 10% off (Essentials 500 contacts ~$27.90/mo) | Moosend |
| Free permanent tier | None (30-day trial, no credit card required per official page) | None (30-day trial + sandbox: send to up to 5 subscribers indefinitely) | — |
| Automation triggers | 32 triggers: cart abandonment, back-in-stock, browse behavior, weather-based | Journey Designer: open/click/date/join triggers, no lead scoring | Moosend |
| Native integrations count | 82+ (WooCommerce, Magento, Salesforce, Segment, NeverBounce) | 100+ (Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zoho CRM) | Campaign Monitor |
| Transactional email on standard plan | No (Moosend+ add-on, custom-quoted) | Yes (Essentials and above, from verified domains) | Campaign Monitor |
| Agency multi-brand / white-label | No native multi-account UI | Yes (sub-accounts, 40 to 50 clients from one login) | Campaign Monitor |
| Native Shopify connectorNeither offers deep cart abandonment on Shopify | No (Zapier only) | Yes (contact/campaign sync; no behavioural e-commerce triggers) | — |
| Ownership / stability 2026Both carry post-acquisition risk worth monitoring | Acquired by Constant Contact June 2025; roadmap unknown; pricing stable so far | Retained by Marigold after Zeta Global enterprise sale (Nov 2025); SMB focus confirmed | — |
| Documented riskNeither risk appears in SERP competitors | Auto-renewal billing pattern + refused refunds (Trustpilot, 2025 to 2026) | Account and data deleted after 1 year of inactivity, no warning email (CM policy Section 12.B) | — |
Prices checked June 2026 on moosend.com/pricing and campaignmonitor.com/pricing. CM 2025 rebrand increased plan prices by 10 to 18% vs old Basic/Unlimited/Premier tiers.
Criterion by criterion, head to head
The same five criteria scored on each tool's review page. Equal scores still get a clear pick.
01 Round 1: getting the first campaign live.
Both tools tie at 4.3 and for the same core reason: a clean drag-and-drop editor, sensible onboarding, and a first campaign reachable within a single session of signing up. Reviewers call both editors simple and neither requires technical knowledge to send a professional newsletter. We had campaigns live on each within 20 minutes.
The differences surface quickly once you go deeper. Moosend's automation builder with 32 triggers is approachable for beginners who want to build behavioral journeys fast, but some G2 reviewers flag that certain "Create New" buttons sit in odd spots and that global settings do not always save. Campaign Monitor's Journey Designer is visually cleaner for basic sequences but hits a hard ceiling fast: no multi-condition branching, no lead scoring, no behavioral web triggers. Its custom template editing is called clunky by Capterra reviewers for anything beyond basic layouts. Neither tool has a mobile app. Net result: a genuine tie for campaign creation, with each tool's ceiling in different places.
Choose Moosend if you want to build behavioral automation workflows fast without a steep learning curve.
Choose Campaign Monitor if design quality and a polished first impression are the priority.
02 Round 2: where the bill actually lands.
Moosend takes this 4.0 to 2.6 and it is not close. At 500 contacts, Moosend Pro is $9/mo with unlimited sends. To get unlimited sends on Campaign Monitor you need Essentials at $31/mo, a 3.4x gap. At 2,000 contacts, Moosend is $24/mo versus CM Essentials at $66/mo, a 2.75x gap. At 10,000 contacts, Moosend is $88/mo versus CM Essentials at $182/mo, a 2.07x gap. The gap closes but never disappears.
The 2025 CM price rebrand made things worse. Campaign Monitor renamed Basic/Unlimited/Premier to Lite/Essentials/Premier and raised prices across all tiers by 10 to 18%. The Essentials plan with unlimited sends jumped most. Meanwhile, Moosend's pricing has remained stable post-Constant Contact acquisition. CM Premier at $171/mo for just 500 contacts is genuinely hard to defend. Moosend's 20% annual discount (vs. CM's 10%) widens the gap further. The honest bémol on Moosend: multiple 2026 Trustpilot reviews document auto-renewal charges with no notice and refused refunds, and at least one user reports being billed immediately on trial signup rather than after 30 days. Those are real financial risks worth knowing.
Choose Moosend for any budget-first scenario: it is 2 to 3x cheaper than Campaign Monitor Essentials at every contact tier.
Choose Campaign Monitor only if agency sub-accounts or transactional email justify the price premium.
03 Round 3: automation depth vs. design and agency features.
Campaign Monitor takes this 3.8 to 3.4, though it is a win by different strengths in different directions. Campaign Monitor earns its score with three genuine differentiators: transactional email from verified domains is included on Essentials (no custom-priced add-on), multi-brand agency management with white-label sub-accounts is category-leading, and the AI Email Booster plus Segment Mapper are solid 2025 additions. Premier adds send-time optimisation. The template library is consistently rated the most polished in the ESP category.
Moosend fights back on automation breadth: 32 triggers versus CM's simpler Journey Designer, AI product recommendations, predictive churn modeling, weather-based triggers, and granular analytics with click maps and revenue tracking. Where both tools have real ceilings: neither has a built-in CRM, neither has native SMS on standard plans (CM has SMS as an add-on module, Moosend has none), and Moosend's A/B testing is capped at 2 variants with no multivariate testing. For a team whose core work is email campaigns and newsletters, the scores reflect honest capability, not a blowout.
Choose Moosend if deep lifecycle automation, WooCommerce behavioral triggers, and analytics depth matter more than design polish.
Choose Campaign Monitor if agency sub-accounts, transactional email, or template quality are non-negotiable.
04 Round 4: who answers when things break.
Campaign Monitor edges this 3.2 to 2.6, though both tools have structural gaps the SERP skips entirely. Campaign Monitor's support agents are praised by name across multiple Trustpilot and Capterra reviews, with responses described as fast and thorough for routine queries. Email support runs Monday to Friday for all plans; phone support is available on Premier. The help centre documentation is solid for standard setup scenarios.
Now the critical risk: Campaign Monitor's official policy (Section 12.B) states that accounts with no email activity for more than one year may be permanently deleted. A Trustpilot reviewer in May 2026 lost 10 years of data this way with no prior warning email and no documented recovery path. Seasonal businesses or teams between projects are genuinely at risk. On Moosend's side, live chat runs Monday to Friday and responses average 5 to 30 minutes (TechRadar), but auto-renewal billing complaints are consistent and recent across multiple 2026 Trustpilot reviews, including outright refusals to refund. Neither tool offers 24/7 support or phone on entry plans. Campaign Monitor wins the support round, but with a significant asterisk that no competitor mentions.
Choose Moosend if fast weekday chat support is enough and you will monitor your billing carefully.
Choose Campaign Monitor if email support quality and a named support team matter, but set a calendar reminder before the 12-month inactivity mark.
05 Round 5: 100+ native connectors vs. WooCommerce depth.
Campaign Monitor takes this 3.9 to 3.3 with a broader native catalog: 100+ integrations including Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zoho CRM, and Gravity Forms. Add Zapier (9,000+ apps), Make, and Zoho Flow. Moosend's 82+ is thinner, but it covers WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, Salesforce, and Segment, with Zapier and a public REST API filling the rest.
Two specific gaps matter here. Moosend has no native Shopify connector and no native HubSpot connector, a daily friction point for any store running on Shopify or any team using HubSpot. Campaign Monitor has both natively, though its Shopify connector stops at contact and campaign sync with no deep behavioral e-commerce triggers, and its Salesforce connector has documented reliability complaints from multiple Capterra reviewers. Moosend's 82+ catalog looks thin next to Mailchimp's 300+ or ActiveCampaign's 900+, but for a WooCommerce or Magento stack it covers what matters. The honest pick depends on your CRM and e-commerce platform.
Choose Moosend if your stack is WooCommerce, Magento, or OpenCart and you have no HubSpot dependency.
Choose Campaign Monitor if your stack includes HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, or Shopify and you need native connectors.
The real cost, plan by plan
Both tools are contact-based, but Campaign Monitor's 2025 rebrand changed the plan names and raised prices significantly. We show both pricing grids and run three real cost scenarios.
| Moosend | Campaign Monitor | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moosend Pro: 500 contacts | $9/mo monthly, ~$7.20/mo annual (20% off). Unlimited sends, all automation included. | CM Essentials: $31/mo for equivalent unlimited sends. Lite at $13/mo is capped at ~2,500 sends. | Moosend |
| Moosend Pro: 2,000 contacts | $24/mo monthly, ~$19.20/mo annual | CM Essentials: $66/mo monthly, ~$59.40/mo annual | Moosend |
| Moosend Pro: 10,000 contacts | $88/mo monthly, ~$70.40/mo annual | CM Essentials: $182/mo monthly, ~$163.80/mo annual | Moosend |
| Campaign Monitor Premier: 500 contactsPremier pricing is hard to justify at 500 contacts | n/a (no Premier equivalent; all Moosend features on Pro) | $171/mo monthly, ~$153.90/mo annual. Adds phone support, send-time optimisation. | Moosend |
| Scenario 1: newsletter, 2,000 contacts, unlimited sendsMoosend saves $42/mo ($504/year) vs CM Essentials for equivalent unlimited sends | Moosend Pro: $24/mo. Includes unlimited sends, automation, landing pages. | CM Lite: $39/mo but send-capped. CM Essentials for unlimited: $66/mo. | Moosend |
| Scenario 2: agency with 3 client accounts, 500 contacts eachCampaign Monitor wins on operational efficiency at agency scale despite higher price | Moosend Pro: $24/mo (2,000-contact tier). No native multi-account UI; separate accounts per client. | CM Essentials: $31/mo x 3 = $93/mo, but with white-label sub-accounts and single login. | Campaign Monitor |
| Scenario 3: WooCommerce store, 5,000 contacts, transactional email neededMoosend wins if transactional add-on is under $58/mo; CM wins if it is not or if Shopify sync is needed | Moosend Pro: $48/mo + Moosend+ transactional add-on (custom-quoted). Estimated $68 to $98/mo. | CM Essentials: $106/mo with transactional email included. No cart abandonment behavioral triggers. | — |
Prices checked June 2026 on moosend.com/pricing, campaignmonitor.com/pricing, and sendx.io/blog/campaign-monitor-pricing. CM 2025 rebrand confirmed at help.campaignmonitor.com/s/article/2025-pricing-and-plan-name-changes-frequently-asked-questions.
Pick by scenario
Choose Moosend if…
- Your list is under 25,000 contacts and unlimited sends at the lowest price are the priority: Moosend is 2 to 3x cheaper than Campaign Monitor Essentials at every tier
- You run a WooCommerce or Magento store and need native connectors plus 32 automation triggers including cart abandonment and back-in-stock
- You want advanced automation workflows (32 triggers, AI product recommendations, predictive segmentation) without moving up to ActiveCampaign prices
- You are a solopreneur or lean team that wants professional campaigns fast with a short learning curve and responsive weekday chat support
- You are a nonprofit: Moosend's 25% nonprofit discount stacks with the 20% annual discount for approximately 44% off list price
Choose Campaign Monitor if…
- You run a marketing or design agency managing multiple client accounts: the white-label sub-account model (40 to 50 clients from one login) is category-leading and not replicated in Moosend
- Transactional email (order confirmations, password resets) is a core requirement: it is included on CM Essentials without a custom-priced add-on
- Your stack includes HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, or Zoho CRM: Campaign Monitor has native connectors for all four, Moosend has none of these natively
- Design quality is paramount: CM's template library and drag-and-drop editor are consistently rated above Moosend's for visual polish and mobile rendering
- You run a small-volume newsletter on Essentials ($31/mo) and reliability and deliverability matter more than automation depth
Frequently asked questions
Is Moosend better than Campaign Monitor?
For most SMBs and solo operators: yes on price and automation. Moosend Pro costs $9/mo for 500 contacts with unlimited sends; Campaign Monitor Essentials costs $31/mo for the same list size. Moosend's automation has 32 triggers versus CM's simpler Journey Designer. Campaign Monitor wins for agencies (white-label sub-account management), teams needing transactional email on a standard plan, and stacks that include HubSpot or Salesforce natively. The right answer depends on your use case, not the headline score.Is Moosend free?
No permanent free plan. Moosend offers a 30-day trial with no credit card required per its official page. After the trial, Pro starts at $9/mo for 500 contacts. Caution: at least one Trustpilot reviewer (2026) reports being charged immediately on trial signup rather than after 30 days. Confirm your billing date before entering card details. (Source: trustpilot.com/review/moosend.com, checked June 2026)Is Campaign Monitor free?
No. A 30-day trial (500 contacts, 500 sends, no credit card) and a permanent sandbox (send to up to 5 subscribers only) are the two free access points. Paid plans start at $13/mo (Lite, with a send cap of approximately 5x your subscriber count per month) or $31/mo (Essentials, unlimited sends) for 500 contacts. Both are the 2025 rebranded prices, up from $11 and $28 respectively. (Source: campaignmonitor.com/pricing, checked June 2026)Moosend vs Campaign Monitor vs Mailchimp: which is cheapest?
At 500 contacts on a paid plan: Moosend $9/mo (unlimited sends) is cheapest among paid options. Mailchimp Free covers 500 contacts with 1,000 monthly sends at no cost, so if a free tier is the goal, Mailchimp Free wins. Among paying plans, Moosend is the cheapest. Campaign Monitor Lite at $13/mo has a send cap of roughly 2,500/mo, which is less than one campaign per week to a 500-contact list. CM Essentials at $31/mo is 3.4x more expensive than Moosend Pro for equivalent unlimited sends.Can I migrate from Campaign Monitor to Moosend?
Yes. Export your subscribers as CSV from Campaign Monitor's account interface, then import into Moosend Pro. Automation workflows must be rebuilt manually: CM's Journey Designer and Moosend's visual builder are not format-compatible. Custom templates also require reconstruction. Main friction points: no native Shopify connector in Moosend (you need Zapier), which is a step back if your store runs on Shopify. Main gain: significant cost reduction and more automation triggers. Read the full Moosend review and full Campaign Monitor review before committing to a migration.What is the cheapest email tool for nonprofits?
Moosend: 25% nonprofit discount stackable with the 20% annual discount gives approximately 44% off list price (500 contacts approximately $5/mo annually). Campaign Monitor: 15% nonprofit discount plus 10% annual is approximately 23% off. Brevo's free plan (300 emails per day, unlimited contacts) is still cheaper for small nonprofits with low send volume. For nonprofits sending weekly campaigns to lists under 10,000, Moosend after discounts is the best paid-plan value. (Source: emailvendorselection.com/moosend-pricing, checked June 2026)Is Moosend good for agencies?
Not purpose-built for agencies. There is no native multi-account white-label UI. Agencies use Moosend by creating separate accounts per client, which works but lacks the single-login, sub-account structure of Campaign Monitor. For an agency managing 3 to 5 clients on small lists, Moosend can still be cheaper in absolute terms ($24/mo covers 2,000 contacts across all accounts combined). For 10+ clients or design-heavy, multi-client work where brand consistency and a clean handoff matter, Campaign Monitor's multi-brand management is the category leader.What happened to Campaign Monitor after Marigold sold to Zeta Global?
Campaign Monitor was not part of the Zeta Global deal. Marigold sold its enterprise arm (Sailthru, Cheetah Digital, Selligent, Liveclicker, Grow) to Zeta Global for $325M in November 2025. Campaign Monitor was explicitly retained by Marigold alongside Emma and Vuture, confirming its SMB and mid-market focus. This removes any ambiguity about CM being bundled with enterprise CDP tools. For buyers, it means Campaign Monitor is focused on its current market with no near-term product pivot. (Source: martech.org/zeta-global-acquires-enterprise-software-business-from-marigold, checked June 2026)Does Campaign Monitor delete accounts for inactivity?
Yes, per official policy. Section 12.B of Campaign Monitor's terms states that if no email is sent from an account for more than one year, the account and its data may be permanently removed. A Trustpilot reviewer in May 2026 reports losing 10 years of data this way with no prior warning email and no documented recovery process. Seasonal businesses, agencies between projects, and anyone who pauses campaigns for a year are at real risk. Set a calendar reminder to log in and send at least one test campaign before the 12-month mark. (Source: campaignmonitor.com/policies, checked June 2026)Moosend vs Campaign Monitor for e-commerce: which is better?
Moosend for WooCommerce and Magento stores: native connectors plus 32 automation triggers including cart abandonment, back-in-stock, and browse behavior. Campaign Monitor for Shopify stores that only need contact sync and basic campaign triggers (no behavioral e-commerce automation). Neither matches Klaviyo's predictive product email and deep behavioral segmentation for e-commerce-first operations. If Shopify plus deep e-commerce automation is the goal, evaluate Klaviyo or Omnisend before committing to either. See the Moosend review and the Campaign Monitor review for the full e-commerce feature breakdown.
Test both, then decide
Both offer a 30-day trial. The fastest way to know is to send one real campaign on each.
Best for budget-first SMBs, newsletter operators, WooCommerce stores, and lean teams who want unlimited sends and strong automation at the lowest price. 30-day free trial.
Try Moosend for free →Read the full Moosend review →Best for agencies managing multiple client accounts, teams needing transactional email on a standard plan, and design-first marketers who prioritize template quality. 30-day free trial.
Try Campaign Monitor for free →Read the full Campaign Monitor review →Affiliate links: if you sign up through them, you support our independent hands-on tests at no extra cost to you. We score both tools the same way and disclose the weak spots on each.
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