How we rank

A verdict you cannot audit is worth very little when you are about to move a mailing list. This page sets out how MailShortlist arrives at its order of newsletter tools: what is measured, where each figure is read, how often it is re-checked, and what we refuse to do. Should a recommendation on this site turn out to have no basis on this page, it slipped through, and we would like to hear about it.

What a ranking is built from

The inputs below carry weight in the order they are listed. You will not find a score to one decimal place here: a newsletter tool changes its free tier or its per-contact pricing often enough that any precise figure would be stale within weeks. What we stand behind is the order. Where two tools sit close together, the review spells out why one is ahead.

• Independent test data. Where an outside party has measured something that matters for email, that measurement comes first. For newsletter tools that means independent third-party tests and what they publish, rather than the figures a vendor prints on its own homepage.
• The real price, including renewal. We log the price a paying sender ends up on, not the introductory rate. When a plan renews at a different amount, both figures are shown. The full series is kept in the Price Index, a benchmark we compile ourselves.
• What it actually does. Feature depth measured against what someone running a newsletter needs: a usable editor, automation that holds up, deliverability basics. A long feature list full of things nobody switches on earns no credit.
• Whether free is enough. When a free plan or a built-in option genuinely covers a small list, we say so, even though a reader who stays on free earns us nothing.

The rules we work by

None of these is a slogan. Each one is a rule the ranking process has to obey before anything is published.

• Independently compared. Tools are judged on features, ease of use, and price. No newsletter platform can pay for a better spot.
• Free plans taken seriously. Some free tiers carry a real newsletter for years; others exist to push you onto a paid plan. We say which is which.
• Judged on real work. The test is the job itself: growing a list, getting a good email out the door, and reading the results afterwards.
• Kept up to date. Email tools reprice their tiers often. Ours are re-checked on a schedule.

How current the numbers are

Out-of-date pricing is the quickest way to lose a reader who checks, so freshness is not a promise here; it is a build step. Every time the site is built, prices are re-read and the Price Index is recalculated; monthly automated measurement is being introduced so that a trend can build up month by month. That running history is what most comparison sites never publish, and it is why this site is designed to be quoted rather than to beg for links. Every data page offers a machine-readable feed that carries the measurement date, so the figures can be checked by anyone.

What we refuse to do

• No newsletter platform can buy a place on the list, and ranking positions are not for sale.
• Brand affection, a nicer logo, or how a tool feels do not move the order. Without data behind it, a preference stays a preference.
• We do not bury the renewal rate, the small print, or the cheaper option to protect a commission.
• Star ratings are not made up. One appears only when there is evidence to back it.

How the site earns money, and why that cannot move the order

MailShortlist costs nothing to use and is paid for by affiliate links: sign up through one and we may receive a commission, at no cost to you. The order is fixed by the inputs above before commissions come into it, which is how some of our top picks end up earning us nothing. The full terms are in our disclaimer, and who runs the site is on our about page.

Check us

Publishing the method only means something if you can hold the result against it. A ranking that contradicts the data, or a price that has gone stale, is a defect and we would like to correct it. That is why the numbers are exposed on purpose: the Price Index comes with a free feed under a CC BY 4.0 licence, in machine-readable form, so anyone, human reader or AI engine, can check the figures and reuse them with attribution.