AWeber Review: Is This Email Marketing Veteran Still Worth It?

AWeber has been around since 1998, making it one of the oldest email marketing platforms on the market. That's impressive longevity, but in email marketing, being old doesn't automatically mean being good. The real question is whether AWeber has kept up with the competition—or if it's riding on reputation alone.

After digging into AWeber's features, pricing, and user feedback, here's my honest take on whether this platform deserves your money.

The Quick Verdict

AWeber is a solid, straightforward email marketing tool that's easy to use and comes with excellent customer support. It's best for beginners and small businesses who need basic email automation without a steep learning curve.

However, it's not the best value for money. The pricing gets expensive as your list grows, and the automation features are basic compared to competitors like ActiveCampaign or even MailerLite. If you need advanced automation or have a large list, look elsewhere.

Try AWeber Free (up to 500 subscribers)

AWeber Pricing Breakdown

AWeber offers four plans: Free, Lite, Plus, and Unlimited. Here's what you're actually paying for:

Free Plan - $0/month

The free plan is decent for testing the waters, but it's limited. You can't segment your list, and you're stuck with AWeber branding. Still, 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails monthly is enough to get started.

Lite Plan - $15/month (or $12.50 billed annually)

The Lite plan adds some flexibility but still feels restrictive. Only 1 custom segment and 3 automations won't cut it for serious email marketers.

Plus Plan - $30/month (or $20 billed annually)

The Plus plan is where AWeber becomes actually useful. You get unlimited automations, landing pages, and proper segmentation. But here's where the pricing concern kicks in:

Plus Plan Pricing by List Size:

Unlimited Plan - $899/month

For large businesses with unlimited subscribers, sends, and personalized account management. Most businesses won't need this.

For more details on pricing tiers and calculations, check out our AWeber pricing and AWeber cost breakdowns.

What AWeber Does Well

1. Ease of Use

AWeber is genuinely easy to use. The dashboard is clean, navigation is intuitive, and you can get a campaign up and running quickly. For beginners who don't want to spend hours learning a complex platform, this is a real advantage.

2. Email Templates

AWeber offers over 600 email templates (though many are variations of the same designs). They're all mobile-responsive and look professional. The drag-and-drop editor integrates with Canva, which makes designing graphics inside the platform surprisingly convenient.

3. Customer Support

This is where AWeber genuinely shines. They offer 24/7 support via live chat, email, and phone—even on the free plan. Their support team is responsive and actually helpful. AWeber has won multiple Stevie Awards for customer service, and based on user feedback, that reputation is deserved.

4. Landing Page Builder

AWeber includes a landing page builder with 50+ templates. For an email marketing tool, the landing pages are surprisingly good. You can accept payments through Stripe, which makes it useful for selling digital products or courses without needing a separate checkout tool.

5. Autoresponders

AWeber pioneered the autoresponder, and their basic automation sequences still work well. For simple welcome sequences, follow-up emails, and basic drip campaigns, it handles the job.

Where AWeber Falls Short

1. Pricing Gets Expensive Fast

This is the biggest issue. At 10,000 subscribers, you're paying around $70-150/month depending on your plan. Competitors like MailerLite offer similar features for significantly less. The value proposition just isn't there for growing businesses.

2. Limited Automation

AWeber's automation is basic. There's no conditional branching (if/then logic), limited trigger options, and the visual automation builder feels dated compared to ActiveCampaign or even Mailchimp. If you need sophisticated marketing automation with behavior-based triggers, AWeber will frustrate you.

3. Basic Reporting

The analytics are functional but not impressive. You get open rates, click rates, and subscriber growth—the basics. But there's no way to filter out bot clicks or Apple Mail Privacy opens, no custom reports, and limited ecommerce tracking unless you're on a paid plan.

4. Inconsistent Deliverability

This one's concerning. Independent deliverability tests show AWeber's performance is inconsistent. Some tests showed 93% deliverability, while others dropped to 83%. The platform's Gmail deliverability specifically has been flagged as underperforming compared to competitors.

AWeber claims strong deliverability and owns their own email infrastructure (which is genuinely good), but the actual test results don't always back up those claims.

5. Outdated Templates

While there are 600+ templates, many feel dated. The landing page templates look modern, but some of the email templates haven't aged well. If design matters to your brand, you might find yourself building from scratch anyway.

Who Should Use AWeber?

AWeber makes sense for:

Who Should Skip AWeber?

Look elsewhere if:

AWeber vs. The Competition

How does AWeber stack up against alternatives?

AWeber vs. Mailchimp: Mailchimp offers a more generous free plan and better integrations, but AWeber has superior customer support. For basic email marketing, both work—pick based on whether you value support or features more.

AWeber vs. MailerLite: MailerLite is cheaper, has better automation, and comparable ease of use. For most small businesses, MailerLite is the smarter choice unless you specifically need AWeber's support.

AWeber vs. ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign crushes AWeber on automation and is worth the higher price if you need sophisticated email sequences. Different leagues entirely.

For more email marketing options, see our guide to best email marketing software and email marketing for small business.

Final Verdict: Is AWeber Worth It?

AWeber is a perfectly fine email marketing tool. It's reliable, easy to use, and backed by genuinely helpful support. For beginners with small lists who want simplicity over power, it works.

But "fine" is about all it is. The pricing doesn't justify the feature set when competitors offer more for less. The automation feels outdated, the analytics are basic, and deliverability is inconsistent.

If you're just starting out and want to test the waters, AWeber's free plan is worth trying. But as your business grows, you'll likely outgrow AWeber and wish you'd started elsewhere.

Rating: 3/5 — Solid for beginners, but better options exist for the price.