Costs and pricing
Part of A whole-life cost framework for email software
Email marketing software pricing models: a buyer's worksheet
Email marketing software pricing models can be assessed with one buyer scenario, supplier-specific charging rules and a whole-life cost worksheet.
Email marketing software pricing models cannot be compared from the monthly headline alone. Suppliers may count contacts, sends, users, storage or credits differently, and the payable amount may depend on term, currency, tax and add-ons.
Prepared on 5 September 2026 for an English buyer, this worksheet shows how to normalise supplier quotes against one written scenario. Evaluate each candidate at exact edition and scope; it is not a live provider-price comparison.
What to take away
- Headline monthly prices hide differences in how suppliers count contacts, sends, users, storage and credits.
- Price every supplier against one written buyer scenario at exact edition, currency, term and tax.
- Compare whole-life cash and economic cost under each supplier's own charging rules, not a fake unit price.
- Include implementation, migration, security, accessibility, training, complaint handling and exit in the total.
- Test timing and tax assumptions, then decide on a range and a switching value.
Build one buyer scenario
Record the intended number of stored profiles, distinct contact identities, marketable contacts, messages per recipient, peak monthly sends, retained history, users, domains, integrations and required support. Keep exclusions such as synthetic test records explicit.
Buyer scenario inputs to record
- Stored profiles
- Distinct contact identities
- Marketable contacts
- Messages per recipient
- Peak monthly sends
- Retained history, users, domains
- Exclusionssynthetic test records
Ask every supplier to price that same scenario. Preserve the first-party pricing page, dated quote, order form, plan edition, currency, billing period, VAT statement and expiry. Mark whether unused capacity rolls over and what happens at a threshold.
Compare native charging rules
| Model | Question that changes cost |
|---|---|
| Stored contacts | Are unsubscribed, duplicated, archived or non-marketing records counted? |
| Marketable contacts | When does a status change reduce the billable tier? |
| Sends | Are transactional, test and retried messages included? |
| Credits | Do credits expire, vary by destination or require a base plan? |
| Seats | Which roles need paid access, and are approvers counted? |
| Storage or events | Which fields, files and history consume allowance? |
Do not force these into a fake unit price. Calculate each supplier under its own rules, then compare whole-life cash and economic cost for the common scenario.
Native charging rules by model
Charging model
- Stored contacts
- Unsubscribed, duplicated, archived counted?
- Marketable contacts
- When does status cut the tier?
- Sends
- Transactional, test, retried included?
- Credits
- Expire, vary by destination, base plan?
- Seats
- Which roles and approvers paid?
- Storage or events
- Which fields, files, history consume?
Question that changes cost
- Stored contacts
- Marketable contacts
- Sends
- Credits
- Seats
- Storage or events
Create a trace from every quoted quantity to the buyer's data. One worksheet should show how stored records become billable contacts and how planned journeys become sends or credits. Keep test messages, transactional streams and automated retries visible. If the supplier cannot explain a counting rule in writing, mark the affected total uncertain rather than choosing the favourable interpretation.
Add what the plan leaves out
Include implementation, migration, integration maintenance, domain authentication, accessible content testing, privacy and PECR review, security assurance, training, complaint handling, reporting and exit. The Technology Code of Practice is government-specific but usefully joins purchasing strategy with accessibility, security, privacy and lifecycle adaptability.
Costs the plan leaves out
- Implementation and migration
- Integration maintenance
- Domain authentication
- Accessible content testing
- Privacy and PECR review
- Security assurance and training
- Complaint handling, reporting, exit
Supplier change rights also matter. Record overage, automatic upgrade, downgrade delay, renewal uplift, cancellation notice, export help and deletion. ICO processor-contract guidance discusses required processing terms and end-of-contract data. It does not settle commercial price or liability.
Test timing as well as amount. An annual prepayment, monthly invoice and immediate overage charge can produce different cash exposure even when a spreadsheet shows the same nominal total. Record invoice date, payment term, service period, refund rule and earliest usable exit. Finance approval should use the cash schedule and whole-life model together.
Show tax and exchange assumptions
GOV.UK lists a 20 per cent standard VAT rate for most goods and services. A reviewer must determine the treatment and recoverability of the actual supply. Show net invoice, VAT, gross cash and recovery timing separately. For foreign currency, state the exchange-rate source, date and sensitivity.
Decide on a range, not false certainty
Vary contacts, sends, support incidents, exchange rate and renewal terms. Set a switching value: the input at which the preferred option changes. Reject any candidate whose mandatory legal, security, accessibility or exit gap remains open. A cheaper plan does not compensate for an unusable suppression export or missing incident route.
Before you act
- Record stored profiles, marketable contacts, sends, users and history.
- Ask every supplier to price the same written scenario.
- Preserve dated quotes, order forms, editions, currency and VAT statements.
- Trace each quoted quantity back to your own data.
- Add implementation, migration, security, training and exit costs.
- Show net invoice, VAT, gross cash and recovery timing separately.
Common questions
Why can two monthly headline prices not be compared directly?
Suppliers count contacts, sends, users, storage or credits differently, and the payable amount may depend on term, currency, tax and add-ons. The article says each candidate must be evaluated at exact edition and scope, so a single headline figure cannot represent the same buyer scenario across providers.
What should happen if a supplier cannot explain a counting rule in writing?
Mark the affected total uncertain rather than choosing the favourable interpretation. The article says to create a trace from every quoted quantity to the buyer's data, and to keep test messages, transactional streams and automated retries visible when building that trace.
How should tax and exchange rate assumptions be handled?
Show net invoice, VAT, gross cash and recovery timing separately. GOV.UK lists a 20 per cent standard VAT rate for most goods and services, but a reviewer must determine treatment and recoverability of the actual supply. For foreign currency, state the exchange-rate source, date and sensitivity.
