It’s been a while since we launched our newsletter, but this time we thought we’d write about something that probably isn’t all that exciting to most people: how we’re actually sending it out.
It took us quite a while to compare different services before finally settling on one, but we’re happy that we managed to get everything up and running.
I’m not sure how much demand there is for this kind of information, but just in case it’s helpful, here’s a summary of the newsletter services we looked into. We’re only a three-person indie team with no dedicated marketing staff, so hopefully this can be useful for other small teams in a similar situation.
What mattered most to us
The biggest deciding factor was whether the free plan included enough automation features—specifically, whether it could automatically send a welcome email.
We wanted to give subscribers a wallpaper as a sign-up bonus.
From that perspective, MailPoet was initially our strongest candidate. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough knowledge about servers and networking, and despite spending quite a bit of time trying to configure everything, we couldn’t get it working reliably and eventually decided to abandon it.
Newsletter services we tested
We created accounts for all of the following services and spent some time using each of them before making our decision.
MailerLite (Our choice)
MailerLite charges based on the number of subscribers, and the free plan supports up to 250 subscribers, making it a great option for solo creators and small teams looking to keep costs at zero.
The editor is simple but makes it easy to create attractive-looking emails.
Its biggest advantage is that the free plan allows up to three automation workflows, meaning you can automatically send welcome emails to new subscribers.
Our only real complaint is that the website itself can feel a bit slow at times.
Brevo
Brevo charges based on the number of emails you send rather than the number of subscribers, so the free plan allows unlimited contacts. However, there is a daily sending limit.
Its automation is based on the number of contacts in your automation, with the free plan supporting up to 2,000 people.
If you expect your subscriber count to grow significantly in the future, it’s a very cost-effective option and was one of our strongest candidates.
That said, the website also feels a little sluggish.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp charges based on subscriber count.
It’s packed with features, but the free plan has become more and more limited over time, to the point where we personally don’t find it very practical anymore.
Automation is also extremely limited unless you pay.
That said, its paid plans and editor are excellent, so if you need advanced automation or deeper integrations, it’s definitely worth considering.
Judging from the newsletters we subscribe to from other game developers, it feels like well over half of them are using Mailchimp.
MailPoet
MailPoet integrates directly into WordPress, which makes it very appealing if your website already runs on WordPress.
However, setting it up can be fairly challenging unless you’re comfortable with server administration.
You’ll also need to handle things like email deliverability and anti-spam configuration yourself, which could make it harder to achieve high delivery rates.
If you’re experienced with WordPress and server management, though, it could be a great option.
Buttondown
Buttondown doesn’t impose subscriber limits and is focused entirely on newsletters.
The site is fast, clean, and seems highly flexible.
On the other hand, it feels like you’ll need a better understanding of how email and internet infrastructure work to get the most out of it, so it may not be the easiest choice for beginners.
Our final choice
After comparing all of these options, we decided to go with MailerLite.
We’re also happy to say that nearly 90 people have already subscribed to our newsletter. Thank you so much to everyone who has signed up! Anyone is welcome to subscribe—or unsubscribe—whenever they’d like.
One thing we found amusing during our research was just how fiercely these companies compete with each other.
Visit almost any of their websites and you’ll immediately see comparisons saying things like, “We’re better than X.”
Because of that competition, they also seem to put a lot of effort into making it easy to migrate from one service to another. (At least that’s the impression we got—we haven’t actually migrated between services ourselves.)
If you’d like to subscribe to our newsletter, we’d be delighted to have you join us!
