Flodesk vs. Constant Contact: Which Is Right for You?

Published by Sydney Triggs on

The number of email marketing platforms out there nowadays is truly impressive. While this kind of innovation is great to see, it certainly makes things difficult when trying to find the best option for your business’s needs.

 

Flodesk and Constant Contact are two popular options in the email marketing world. They’re frequently compared, so we decided to make things easy for you. We’ve put together a guide that contains a comprehensive breakdown of both Flodesk and Constant Contact. You’ll be able to get all details about both platforms and determine the best choice for you and your business in no time.

 

Flodesk vs. Constant Contact: The Breakdown

 

In this guide, we’re going to be breaking down Flodesk and Constant Contact step by step. We’ll be covering their features, pros, cons, pricing, and what the community has to say about them.

 

Once you’ve finished, it’ll be crystal clear which platform is the perfect solution for your email marketing needs.

 

Reasons to Choose Flodesk

Flodesk is one of the best Constant Contact alternatives out there. They’re a young company that’s already well-established in the email marketing world. Flodesk is passionate about helping like-minded creatives send out beautiful digital communications that can help them take their business to new levels of success.

 

Basically, you need Flodesk in your life if you:

  • Are looking for a solution specifically for email marketing
  • Want to send out stunning emails with ready-to-use or customizable templates that will stand out in any inbox
  • Are a small to medium-sized business
  • Want a powerful email marketing platform with automated workflows and opt-in forms that you can execute efficiently without any muss or fuss
  • Want a flat rate plan you can rely on, regardless of the growth you’ll experience in the future

 

Reasons to Choose Constant Contact

Constant Contact has been successful in the email and digital marketing world for a long time, and for good reason. Not only do they offer reliable email marketing features, but their additional digital marketing capabilities really differentiate them within the market.

 

So, you should choose Constant Contact if you:

  • Want both email marketing and more general digital marketing features on one platform
  • Want access to niche features like their website builder, event management capabilities, and social media posting options
  • Don’t have a big list of subscribers that’ll cause the price of your plan to go up

 

Flodesk

 

Flodesk is an email marketing platform that’s made for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. They dedicate themselves to everything email marketing and they do it with style, ease, intuition, and efficacy. Keep reading to discover all the details about why Flodesk could be the email marketing solution for you.

 

Features

 

  • Incredibly intuitive email builder, perfect for beginners and experts alike
  • Emails that look great on any device
  • A range of elegant, ready-to-use email templates
  • Beautiful visuals that remove the need for any third-party design tools
  • Fully responsive web forms to help you grow your subscriber list
  • Stunning, landing pages that are designed to convert
  • Powerful email marketing automations
  • A direct integration with Shopify
  • Great customer support

 

Pros
  • Easy to design stunning emails that people love to get
  • Beautiful templates that are on trend, easy to customize with your branding, and stand out from the masses of emails in anyone’s inbox
  • No need for third-party design tools with Flodesk’s professionally-designed graphics and visuals
  • Great balance between being beginner-friendly and powerful enough for experts
  • Intuitive, easy-to-use, and efficient design
  • Easy-to-understand, competitive reports, and analytics
  • Great for those looking to cut down on the clutter and chaos of multiple apps and streamline their work in one email marketing solution
  • Affordable, cost-effective flat-rate plan that gives users access to all Flodesk’s features (with unlimited emails and subscribers)
  • A 30-day free trial
  • Lots of new features to come
  • Easy to migrate from other leading email marketing platforms (if you already have a Constant Contact or Mailchimp account, for example)

 

Testimonials

 

“This software is so good it’s almost unbelievable. I made the switch [from Constant Contact] because Flodesk is superior by far. The emails look 10x more beautiful and professional, and Flodesk is less than half the price.”

– Michaela P.

 

“Flodesk saves me hours on designing my newsletters. It used to take me a million steps with Adobe illustrator for creating graphics, exporting and coding back and forth, and then using another tool for sending. I love the editor and sales come within minutes of an email going out!”

– Claire Xue

 

“Flodesk’s templates are very imagery focused, and you don’t have to be a designer to make your emails beautiful. Versus when I look back on my Mailchimp emails, I cringe. They were so ugly compared to my beautiful Flodesk emails! While I’m sure you can do some custom HTML work with stylish imagery in Mailchimp, nobody has time for that. I can whip up my Flodesk emails in less than 10 minutes and they’re always going to be gorgeous thanks to their stunning templates.”

– Elise on the What The Fab blog

 

“We initially hesitated on switching from Mailchimp as their analytics are, admittedly, really strong. Turns out Flodesk’s are just as good, and so much easier to read… Every detail you need about your open rates, click-throughs, link performance, and deliverability is right there, in easily digestible format.”

– Marm & Mim on the The Common Wanderer blog

 

Cons
  • Flodesk’s design is a little different than other email marketing platforms, so you might not be able to customize everything you’re used to
  • Most integrations have to be connected through Zapier, rather than directly (for now)
  • Integrates directly with Shopify but not other eCommerce platforms
  • No free plan

 

“Because it is new, there are some features missing, but they are adding new stuff all the time and their features are on par with almost every major ESP out there.”

– Design122

 

Pricing Plan

 

When it comes to pricing, Flodesk is an email marketing tool that keeps things straightforward. Rather than having to wrap your head around different plans and the features they come along with (or don’t), Flodesk offers a simple flat rate that you can rely on.

 

Flodesk’s flat rate is reasonably priced at $38 USD per month. You can also get one month free if you pay $418 USD upfront for an annual plan.

 

This rate is affordable enough for small businesses who are getting started while also providing enough features and room for growth for more established companies.

 

The best part about their flat rate? It guarantees that you’ll have access to all the features. You’ll never have to worry about upgrading your plan when your subscriber list grows. You’ll always be able to count on unlimited subscribers, email sends, and the full range of features for $38/month.

 

While Flodesk doesn’t have a free plan, they’ve got a 30-day free trial if you’re interested in giving this exciting email marketing solution a try.

 

Best For

 

All in all, Flodesk is the perfect email marketing solution for you if you answer yes to the three following statements:

 

  • You want stunning, professional-designed email templates you won’t find anywhere else
  • You don’t want to worry about having to pay more as your subscriber list grows and your marketing needs increase
  • You’re a small to medium-sized business that wants a quick and easy way to send out professional emails that stand out from the crowd

 

Constant Contact

 

Constant Contact is a well-established name in the email marketing game. It’s been around since 1995 and has transferred hands various times. Nevertheless, their goal has always been to help small to medium-sized businesses and individuals achieve success in their digital marketing ventures.

 

Features

 

  • An easy-to-use email builder
  • Hundreds of mobile-optimized templates for just about any purpose you can think of
  • Powerful email marketing automations
  • Robust reporting and analytics
  • An AI-powered website builder that’s perfect for beginners
  • Effective web forms
  • Unique features related to event management, paid advertisements, social posting, and more
  • A built-in eCommerce platform
  • Social media marketing features that allow you to build Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns directly from your account

 

Pros
  • Goes beyond just email so you can accomplish a variety of digital marketing tasks in one place
  • An intuitive, drag-and-drop style email builder that’s great for people with all levels of experience
  • Easy-to-use editing tools that allow for whatever level of customization you desire
  • Save time by using Contact Contact’s ready-to-use templates
  • Marketing automations to drive sales and increase subscriber engagement
  • No tech skills or coding required to use their website builder
  • Great customer support
  • A 30-day free trial

 

Testimonials

“I really like that, over the years I’ve had an account, it has transformed into such an integrated email software. Not only does it do email marketing, but it has loads of other integrations like landing pages, a Shopify network, and different connections to other online platforms.”

– Andrea C. on the G2 website

 

“Campaigns run smoothly from start to finish. With a clear overview of the demographics of who’s reading your emails as well as how they’re interacting with them, it’s easy for you to figure out what messages resonate best and which ones don’t seem like an appropriate fit for each individual group in order tailor email marketing specifically towards their needs. Easy to use for both beginners and professionals.”

– Angelo S. on the G2 website

 

Cons
  • Designed with small to medium-sized businesses in mind but plans are not very affordable (as they go up in accordance with the number of subscribers you have)
  • Confusing, changeable pricing scheme
  • Some find their email builder to be clunky and confusing for beginners
  • Difficult to customize certain marketing automation features

 

“The issue, these days, is that there are plenty of other email tools offering even more than Constant Contact, and for a lot less money. This includes not only features, but also user experience. In fact, for the amount you pay with Constant Contact, you could find yourself using much more powerful tools…”

– Roberta on the Email Tool Tester blog

 

Pricing Plan

 

In terms of pricing, Constant Contact has two different paid plans you can choose between. While both plans are suitable for small to medium-sized businesses, your choice will largely depend on how many users you’ll have and the features and automations you want to use. However, both plans increase in price depending on the number of subscribers you have.

 

Constant Contact’s entry level email plan starts at $20 USD per month. It allows for up to three users, unlimited monthly email sends, customizable templates, marketing and sales functionalities, and basic automations. It’s a great solution for small business owners who want to start sending out professional emails at a lower price.

 

If you want to take advantage of more features, Constant Contact’s Email Plus plan starts at $45 USD per month. It includes up to ten users and all the features that Constant Contact offers (think email marketing, marketing automation tools, marketing and engagement channels, website builders, and eCommerce functionalities). If you want to take full advantage of the power of Constant Contact and optimize your digital marketing strategy, this is the plan for you.

 

If you want to try Constant Contact out for yourself, they’ve got a 30-day free trial you can sign up for.

 

Best For

 

 

If you’re a small to medium-sized business looking for a general digital marketing solution (including email marketing), Constant Contact could be perfect for you.

 

While its email marketing features are of good quality, they’re simply not the best on the market anymore. Nevertheless, if you’d like to centralize all your digital marketing needs such as social media, paid advertisements, website building, and so on into one place, Constant Contact offers just that.

 

Comparison Table
Flodesk Constant Contact
High-quality email builder and editor Yes Yes
Ready-to-use email templates Yes Yes
Widely renowned for their graphic design and visuals Yes No
Appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses Yes Yes, although some may find the pricing to be out of reach.
Beginner-friendly Yes Yes, although some may find the interface challenging at first.
Powerful reporting and analytics Yes Yes
Unlimited sends and subscribers for a flat rate Yes No
Advanced email marketing automations Yes Yes, although they can be difficult to customize.
30-day free trial Yes Yes
Responsive web forms Yes Yes
ECommerce functionalities Yes Yes
Website builder No Yes
Landing page builder Yes Yes
Event management features No Yes
Social media posting features No Yes
Paid advertisement features No Yes
Ready-to-connect integrations Some, while others have to be connected via a third party like Zapier. Some, while others have to be connected via a third party like Zapier.
Great customer support Yes Yes

 

Pricing Comparison Table
Flodesk Constant Contact
Trial 30 days free 30 days free
Free Plan None None
Basic Plan Flodesk only has one plan that’s charged at a flat rate of $38 USD per month. You’ll get access to all our features, forever. Starts at $20 USD per month (for 500 subscribers and goes up from there).
Pro Plan N/A Starts at $45 USD per month (for 500 subscribers and goes up from there).
Strings None, the cost stays the same no matter how many subscribers you have or emails you send. All of Constant Contact’s paid plans increase in price according to your number of subscribers.
Annual Discount Yes. You can save the cost of one month ($38) if you pay for a year upfront. Yes. You can save 10-15% if you prepay for six months or a year upfront.

 

 

The Verdict: Is Flodesk or Constant Contact the Better Email Marketing Tool?

At the end of the day, we’re not trying to identify the best email marketing tool. While we do believe that Flodesk is the best Constant Contact alternative out there, there’s more to the story. We want to help you determine the email marketing tool that’ll best suit your needs.

 

Our verdict? If you’re a small-to-medium sized business who:

  • Is ready to send out stunning emails with minimal effort
  • Has a penchant for beautiful design
  • Wants a reliable, reasonably priced plan to rely on
  • Wants a platform purely focused on high-quality email marketing

 

Then, Flodesk is for you and we’d encourage you to click here and give them a try. We can’t wait to see the beautiful digital communications you come up with.

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Categories: Marketing

Sydney Triggs

Sydney Triggs is a content writer, editor & educator from Vancouver, Canada currently settled in Barcelona, Spain. She’s written hundreds of articles about marketing, travel & leisure, fashion, sustainability, technology, finance & investment, remote work, and human resources, as well as more personal fiction and thought pieces.