Best Autoresponder: Our Top Picks for 2023
Written By Isidora Alimpic
Updated: June 2, 2023
Why waste time sending dozens of emails when you could have a program do it for you? The answer to this question isn’t complicated. It can be summed up in one word: Don’t! Embrace the many benefits of affordable software specifically designed to assist you with such tasks. To help you choose the best autoresponder for your needs, we’ve compiled a list of our top picks.
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Best for Online Stores
1. Moosend
Moosend is a marketing platform that includes an easy-to-use autoresponder with a variety of triggers. The triggers include someone purchasing a product, clicking on a link, and joining a subscriber list. The features don’t stop there. Custom opt-in forms and pre-built workflow templates are also part of this software. Additionally, this autoresponder has a slightly unusual but useful weather filter. Moosend’s core features can be obtained for free. But once you’ve had a taste, you’ll have a hard time resisting the advanced features that come with the paid versions. If you’re looking for the best autoresponder for online stores, Moosend is the way to go.
- ⦿Weather filter
- ⦿Easy to use
- ⦿Custom opt-in forms
SUITABLE FOR:
Online stores
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
Free Plan
PRICE:
Starting at $8/month
MOBILE APP:
No
2. GetResponse
GetResponse has provided simple, effective services to customers for more than 20 years. Its drag-and-drop email creator is perfect for adding your own personal touch to all the content you send. If you lack inspiration, you can simply select a GetResponse template and customize it – there are hundreds of them to choose from. With GetResponse, getting organized is effortless. All of your scheduling data is clearly displayed on a list or calendar. These features, along with campaign performance analytics, make GetResponse the best autoresponder for affiliate marketing. The pricing may seem a bit complicated but that’s only because of how customizable the product is.
- ⦿Advanced timing options
- ⦿Actionable analytics
- ⦿Customizable prices
SUITABLE FOR:
Affiliate marketing
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
30-day trial
PRICE:
Starting at $10/month
MOBILE APP:
Yes
3. SMTP
If you ask experienced developers and marketers which autoresponder is the best, they’ll, in all probability, recommend SMTP. With more than 20 years on the market, SMTP is one of the most reliable solutions you can find. Its relationship with major email providers is long-standing and stable, and its system is built to be lightning-fast and highly customizable - perfect for businesses that take email communication seriously. Its excellent customer support team is available round the clock, and you can choose from four affordable pricing plans based on the number of emails your business sends out each month.
- ⦿Reputation defender
- ⦿24/7 customer support
- ⦿Managed onboarding
SUITABLE FOR:
Developers
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
30-day trial
PRICE:
Starting at $25/month
MOBILE APP:
No
4. MailChimp
MailChimp won the 2020 Gold Stevie award in the e-Commerce Service Team of the Year category, which isn’t surprising, as it has been one of the most widely used marketing automation platforms for years. Finding new audiences and catering to their specific interests is MailChimp’s specialty. The highly personalized autoresponder sequences that it helps you create are sure to give your business an edge on the competition. There’s a free plan for those who’d like to try out MailChimp’s basic functions. If you want more, you can purchase email credits as needed instead of committing to a paid monthly contract.
- ⦿Email credits
- ⦿Behavioral targeting
- ⦿Lookalike audience finder
SUITABLE FOR:
Startups
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
Free plan
PRICE:
Starting at $9.99/month
MOBILE APP:
Yes
5. SendPulse
SendPulse excels at multichannel marketing. With the SendPulse autoresponder, email, SMS, browser notifications, and chatbot automation are all at your disposal. You might think that setting up these features individually would be complicated, but the Automation 360 feature lets you combine all of these messages. You just have to drag the desired elements into place on your screen. That makes it easy to include as many delivery channels as you want into your sequences. SendPulse is free up to a certain number of subscribers and messages. If you need more, you can choose from monthly, pay-as-you-go, and custom VIP payment options.
- ⦿Multiple channels
- ⦿Custom payment
- ⦿Element grouping features
SUITABLE FOR:
Multichannel marketing
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
Free plan
PRICE:
Starting at $6.40/month
MOBILE APP:
Yes
6. AWeber
AWeber offers the best autoresponder for beginners. It may not have as many useful features as some of the other autoresponders on this list, but it’s so user-friendly you may never miss them. If you stumble upon a problem, AWeber’s award-winning customer support team can help you on a 24/7 basis. AWeber’s pricing is straightforward: There’s the Free plan and the Pro plan. Unlike other email automation software, AWeber stays affordable no matter how many subscribers you have. To take full advantage of this autoresponder tool and stay on top of your work when you’re on the go, you can download three separate AWeber mobile apps.
- ⦿Good value for money
- ⦿Three apps
- ⦿Great customer support
SUITABLE FOR:
Beginners
AVAILABLE FREE PLAN/TRIAL:
Free plan
PRICE:
Starting at $16.15/month
MOBILE APP:
Yes
Related Product Categories
Our Methodology
We’ve searched far and wide, performing in-depth research on a multitude of services to help you pick out the best autoresponder available. Our evaluations are based on seven essential criteria.
Reputation
The first thing we examined with every company was its reputation. When it comes to autoresponders, reputation is more important than you might think.
For your email campaign to be successful, you need your emails to end up in your contact’s inbox instead of the spam folder. A company’s reputation can go a long way toward accomplishing this goal. Many years in business and a shelf full of awards suggest that an autoresponder service has built a solid relationship with email clients like Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail – thus reducing the odds of your message getting marked as spam.
Deliverability
Deliverability is directly connected to reputation. Yes, a reputable company is a good start, but that doesn’t guarantee deliverability. Investigating corporate reputations was an essential step in narrowing down the list of candidates for full review. It was checking the products’ actual deliverability results that led us to our top autoresponder selections.
Email Deliverability Report is a reputable website that posts monthly deliverability updates and ratings of bulk email services. The information collected by Email Deliverability Report’s experts was invaluable to our research.
Ease of Use
Setting up email sequences should be simple and fast. After all, autoresponders are supposed to save you time, not add extra chores to your schedule. With this in mind, our research focused on autoresponders with intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces.
Pricing
A lot of email marketing providers offer free plans or trials. Unsurprisingly, these come with limitations. To unleash the full potential of autoresponder software, you have to invest a bit of money. However, there’s a difference between paying for vital services and unnecessary expenses. In our thorough cost-benefit analysis, we’ve weighed the quality of the services against their pricing. We’ve also paid special attention to providers that have customizable pricing plans or pay-as-you-go options, as they can be very valuable when working on a budget.
Customer Support
Customer support may not be as important as the other criteria, but it’s still essential in helping new users get up to speed. Experienced users of autoresponder services usually don’t require much assistance, especially with the autoresponders we’ve selected, but beginners may need a couple of pointers during their first steps. Therefore, our evaluation process wouldn’t have been complete without taking into account knowledgeable and responsive customer support teams.
User Reviews
Our final stage of assessment involved going through many user reviews. Ratings from long-term customers are often the best indicators of a product’s worth. Both negative and positive comments can give you a reasonably reliable idea of what to expect.
Top 5 Best Autoresponders
- Moosend
- GetResponse
- SMTP
- MailChimp
- SendPulse
Best Autoresponders Reviews
Moosend
Price
excellent
Service quality
excellent
User satisfaction
vg
- ⦿Effective anti-spam checks
- ⦿Straightforward drag-and-drop interface
- ⦿Inexpensive credits
Reputation
Founded in 2011, Moosend hasn’t been in business as long as some of the other companies on our list. However, it has rapidly made its name well-known among email marketing and marketing automation solutions.
This platform’s dominant market position is supported by its latest three accolades. G2, a trusted review website, awarded Moosend its coveted High Performer, Momentum Leader, and User Most Likely to Recommend badges for spring 2020.
Deliverability
Data from Email Deliverability Report, you may recall, plays a key role in our deliberations over the best autoresponder. It shows that only 30.93% of all emails sent by Email Deliverability Report testers ended up in spam folders. This is a pretty decent score, considering that the test emails were probably devised with quantity in mind instead of quality. With Moosend’s anti-spam checks you will be able to carefully compose content that bypasses spam filters and makes it to your intended recipients.
Ease of Use
Even though Moosend has quite a few advanced features, it is extremely easy to use. It makes automation a breeze. This is one of the many reasons we consider it the best email autoresponder for all skill levels.
You can go with one of Moosend’s ready-made email sequences or construct your own from scratch. If you want to build your own workflow, you just have three steps to complete: Select a trigger, set a filter for it, and choose a resulting action. That’s it. The drag-and-drop interface makes it feel more like playing with blocks than doing actual work.
Pricing
Moosend’s three subscription plans are Free, Pro, and Enterprise. Moosend services are free for up to 1,000 subscribers, but that’s hardly enough for any growing business. Fortunately, Moosend’s powerful autoresponder and all of its other exceptional features are available with the Pro plan at reasonable prices. Larger companies can request a quote for a custom Enterprise plan.
Occasional users can purchase credits. One dollar equals 1,000 credits, which allows you 1,000 emails.
Customer Support
In addition to an extensive help center and a collection of webinars designed to assist you on your automation journey, Moosend offers the aid of a customer support team that’s available via live chat. The team is widely praised for its speed and phenomenal advice. The only downside is that there’s no way to reach agents by phone.
User Reviews
User reviews indicate a high level of satisfaction with Moosend’s email autoresponder. Most of the negative remarks boil down to minor improvements that customers would like to see in the future.
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GetResponse
Price
excellent
Service quality
excellent
User satisfaction
vg
- ⦿99% deliverability
- ⦿Multi-language email support
- ⦿Excellent reputation
Reputation
GetResponse’s autoresponder was launched in 1997, even before the company was established in 1998. In the 20-plus years it’s been in business, GetResponse has gone from a one-man project run from an attic to a multinational success story.
Trusted websites and experts have bestowed multiple badges and awards upon GetResponse. The company enjoys a superb reputation among customers and industry watchers.
Deliverability
GetResponse claims to have a deliverability rate of over 99%. That puts it among the best of the best email autoresponders at avoiding the dreaded spam folder. Email Deliverability Report results support this claim. The website places GetResponse ahead of all other email marketing providers according to this essential criterion.
Ease of Use
For the most part, users shouldn’t have a problem setting up GetResponse’s basic automation features, but the more nuanced adjustments might require a bit more effort to master. Navigating the dashboard can become difficult because of how many options there are.
Pricing
GetResponse prices go down as subscriptions get longer, and they rise as you add more subscribers. The plans are Basic, Plus, Professional, and Max. To make sure that this great autoresponder is to your liking, you can test the Basic, Plus, and Professional plans with a 30-day trial. The Max plan is offered only on the basis of a custom quote.
The starting prices with a 24-month subscription and 1,000 subscribers are:
- Basic: $10.50/month
- Plus: $34.30/month
- Professional: $69.30/month
Although all of the plans are well-balanced, we believe the Plus plan offers the best value.
Customer Support
Its customer support is what tipped us towards rating GetResponse’s autoresponder as one of the top autoresponders we’ve seen. You can sort out any issues you encounter during your auto emailing by contacting one of GetResponse’s support representatives via live chat and email. They are available 24/7 and offer multi-language email support.
User Reviews
The reviews we’ve read were predominantly focused on how useful and customizable this marketing tool is. The excellent customer support team was also a recurring topic among satisfied customers. The unpleasant experiences were largely a consequence of people getting confused by the interface.
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SMTP
Price
vg
Service quality
excellent
User satisfaction
good
- ⦿Grouped multi-channel automation
- ⦿Great deliverability
- ⦿How-to videos
Reputation
Users routinely include SMTP in their lists of the best autoresponders. All the reviews we’ve read on the topic are unanimous: If you are looking for a reliable platform to send numerous personalized emails, SMTP.com is the one to go with. It’s been on the market for 22 years and, upon testing it, we concluded that it provides users with well-developed, proven, and tested options for sending bulk and event-triggered emails. It also comes with an API that is effortless to set up and use. Currently holding a 3.7 rating on G2, a marketplace for all things tech, it’s undoubtedly a reputable provider.
Deliverability
SMTP can compete for the title of the best email autoresponder, as it promises an exceptional deliverability rate of $98% and an uptime of 99%. These two rates combined are impressive, as having 98% of your emails instantly reaching your customers can create a substantial positive impact on your business. Time-sensitive emails delivered to customer’s inboxes, rather than spam, can immensely improve your relationship with your clients.
Ease of Use
In all fairness, developers shouldn’t have any issues with setting up and using this solution. It was designed to be easy to integrate and build upon. However, sending those bulk emails does require some coding, so the average user might find it a bit tricky to do it on their own. The onboarding procedure can also be challenging, and some SMTP email autoresponder reviews find it unnecessarily complicated.
Pricing
SMTP offers a 30-day free trial, and after that, you can opt for one of the four paid monthly plans: Essential ($25 for 50,000 emails/month), Starter ($80 for 100,000 emails/month), Growth ($300 for 500,000 emails/month), or Business ($500 for 1,000,000 emails/month). The basic plan comes with a shared IP, all others – with a dedicated IP. Email relay API, detailed reporting, and exceptional customer support are included in all plans, and users can get the Reputation Defender add-on, SMTP’s proprietary technology, with each.
Customer Support
Customer support is one of the top reasons SMTP earned its spot in this autoresponder services review. SMTP’s customer support is available via email and phone 24/7, 365 days a year. The in-house team of email delivery experts will be there for you every step of the way – from migrating from another server to custom API integrations.
User Reviews
The reviews available online praise SMTP as a tool that does exactly what it promises to do. Most reviews also highlight how helpful and knowledgeable the customer support team is. However, note that several customers had issues with the cancellation policy, so it would be best to read the fine print before signing up with this provider.
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MailChimp
Price
good
Service quality
excellent
User satisfaction
vg
- ⦿Personalized email campaigns
- ⦿Discounts
- ⦿24/7 live chat, email, and phone support
Reputation
In our selection of the best autoresponder examples, MailChimp is probably the most widely used. The reason may be that the developers have done a superb job of tracking changing trends in email marketing since the product was launched in 2001.
The MailChimp website isn’t decorated with a trophy-case featuring all of its awards, but that doesn’t mean that MailChimp doesn’t have them. On the contrary, MailChimp has gained recognition for excellence from the Stevie Awards and many other organizations.
Deliverability
We would like to have seen a better Email Delivery Report score for such a popular autoresponder tool – 33.9% of MailChimp emails sent as part of the site’s tests ended up in spam folders. MailChimp’s strategy is to educate its users on deliverability and thus help them improve their numbers, but it’s clear they could do a bit more to improve the numbers on their end as well.
Ease of Use
It is very easy to create highly personalized email campaigns with MailChimp’s autoresponder. MailChimp helps you get your work done quickly and keep a close eye on your results. The MailChimp team has created a powerful autoresponder that does a super job of keeping the automation process simple.
Pricing
MailChimp services include Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium plans. The first two are sensibly priced, starting at $9.99/month and $14.99/month for 500 contacts, but we fail to see the reasoning behind the Premium plan’s $299 monthly fee for only 10,000 contacts. And we are not pleased that MailChimp customers must pay extra to add transactional emails to paid plans.
What is commendable is that MailChimp gives out discounts (10% for setting up two-factor authentication and 15% for nonprofits and charities) and that it offers a convenient pay-as-you-go payment option.
Customer Support
MailChimp may not be the cheapest autoresponder on this list, but it makes up for the price with its dedication to customer assistance. Paying members have access to 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support. MailChimp’s customer support representatives have received many awards from industry publications and other organizations.
User Reviews
The main source of customer discontent can be traced back to the sudden increase in MailChimp prices when the company established a freemium pricing plan in 2009. Not much else seems to bother loyal users.
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SendPulse
Price
excellent
Service quality
good
User satisfaction
good
- ⦿High deliverability
- ⦿Simple interface
- ⦿20+ years of experience
Reputation
SendPulse is the newest product on our list. We were skeptical about a company whose experience stretches back just five years, but ultimately we couldn’t exclude a powerful autoresponder platform like this one. Its excellent Trustpilot score, C2 High Performer badge, and top 20 ranking on Capterra convinced us that this is one of the field’s top contenders.
Deliverability
SendPulse provides some good tips on improving your deliverability, and judging by what we could see at Email Deliverability Report, they know what they’re talking about. In just a year, SendPulse showed noticeable improvement. It’s now positioned just below Moosend in the website’s rankings.
Ease of Use
The option of using multiple channels is SendPulse’s main strength and the factor that ultimately landed it a spot on our best autoresponder software list.
This advantage could just as easily have been SendPulse’s main problem. It could have given users too many flows to configure and monitor. Instead, SendPulse grouped push notifications, SMS messages, and email automation, thus simplifying the process. You can create complex flows in a matter of seconds.
Pricing
SendPulse’s prices are relatively low, but emails, transaction emails, SMS messages, web push notifications, chatbots, and email verifications are all paid separately. The fees can add up. The Free plan is restricted to 500 email subscribers, and only paying subscribers can use SendPulse’s multi-channel capabilities.
That said, we wouldn’t be mentioning SendPulse in our autoresponder review if the fees were completely unreasonable. As you purchase more services, the value proposition keeps improving, especially if you select six-month or yearly billing instead of monthly payments.
Customer Support
You can find the answers to most of the questions you might have by taking advantage of SendPulse’s comprehensive knowledge base, how-to videos, and glossary. If you wind up empty-handed, you can always reach out to SendPulse customer support. Agents are available 24/7 via live chat. Phone support is on the table too – in six languages, no less – but unfortunately, it is reserved for pre-sales questions.
User Reviews
Most users are more than happy to have found a reliable provider that offers meaningful full-cycle marketing assistance in addition to its autoresponder for email. We were surprised to see that a considerable number of negative comments have been directed at SendPulse’s customer support agents. Some users appear to be unsatisfied with the quality of their advice.
We didn’t notice any lack of expertise during our live chat tests. Then again, we didn’t chat with every single customer agent, nor did we ask every single conceivable question, so this issue might be something to watch out for.
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AWeber
Price
excellent
Service quality
good
User satisfaction
good
- ⦿High deliverability
- ⦿Simple interface
- ⦿20+ years of experience
Reputation
AWeber is at the bottom of our list, but it may just be the best autoresponder software you can buy. The product was launched the same year as GetResponse, which has quite a collection of awards under its belt. The judges seem to have overlooked AWeber in 2020 – or the company’s marketers haven’t updated the website with recent recognition. Either way, that could indicate a problem.
Deliverability
AWeber has managed to maintain a commendable deliverability score for many years. With an Email Deliverability Report spam rate of just 24.32%, it’s right on GetResponse’s heels.
Ease of Use
If you’re in search of the best email autoresponder for small to medium-sized endeavors, AWeber’s email automation software is worth a look. It’s one of the simplest autoresponders you will find.
This simplicity comes at a price. AWeber’s autoresponder capabilities are significantly limited compared to those of other products we reviewed.
Pricing
One of AWeber’s redeeming features is its affordable pricing. There are only two plans to choose from: Free and Pro. The Free plan offers all the most important functions for as many as 500 subscribers. If you’ve got more subscribers than that, you need the Pro plan, which you can pay for on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis.
We regard AWeber as the best affordable autoresponder compared to its competitors. You might be wondering why that is since its starting price isn’t among the lowest we’ve listed. It’s because AWeber’s true budget-friendliness becomes apparent as you increase the number of subscribers. For all the features that AWeber has to offer and a maximum number of subscribers (25,000), you will be charged a fair price of $146.15 per month.
Customer Support
You can use email, live chat, or phone to reach AWeber’s friendly, helpful customer support representatives. Live chat and email support are available on a 24/7 basis, and agents can help you on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.
User Reviews
AWeber’s autoresponder reviews are predominantly general. What many have in common is appreciation for the simple yet effective services that AWeber provides at a low price. Customers should look out for minor bugs that have been reported by some users.
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