In this comparison review, we look into AWeber vs GetResponse to find which is the better email service provider. 

Email marketing is essential to the long-term success of any online business. Your ability to maintain a list of contacts and customers can allow you to build a relationship that enables you to grow.

When it comes to email marketing services, two of the best email service providers that you can use are AWeber and GetResponse.

How do they compare with each other and which one suits your needs the best? Let’s review.

What can AWeber and GetResponse do?

AWeber and GetResponse are tools for hosting your mailing list, creating email templates, and sending e-newsletters to your audience. They allow you to automate your communications to your subscribers by using Autoresponders.

Autoresponders are used to provide your subscribers with e-newsletters at predefined intervals. For instance…

•       After signing up, a subscriber might receive a welcome message from your business.
•       A week after, they can receive a discount coupon for some of your goods or services.
•       Three weeks later, they can receive encouragement to follow you on social media.

The cycle goes on.

E-newsletter tools also allow you to do a lot of other stuff.

Features of AWeber and GetResponse

Here are some of the similarities between AWeber and GetResponse

•       Ability to capture data and host mailing lists
•       A wide range of pre-designed e-newsletter templates
•       Autoresponder functionality that allows you to send automated e-newsletters at predefined intervals to subscribe after they sign up
•       Statistics on the percentage of subscribers that are opening your emails, clicking links or unsubscribing
•       Message builders that allow you to create and edit e-newsletter without coding
•       Integration with various third-party sites or tools like CRM services
•       Response email templates

On the other hand, there are critical differences between AWeber and GetResponse. 

AWeber offers something that GetResponse has yet to introduce: AMP for email. 

However, GetResponse has more features that are not available in AWeber.

•       Webinars
•       Significantly more advanced marketing automation
•       Conversion funnels

 

Pricing Plans

GetResponse Pricing

In general, there are four GetResponse plans:

1.       Basic

This plan starts at $15 per month. It allows you to send an unlimited number of emails to up to 1,000 subscribers. 

2.       Plus

This plan starts at $49 per month. It allows you to send an unlimited number of emails for up to 1,000 subscribers. 

3.       Professional

This plan starts at $99 monthly. It allows you to send unlimited emails for up to 1,000 subscribers.

4.       Enterprise

This plan starts at $1,199 per month for lists exceeding 100,000 subscribers.

GetResponse also offers a free trial, which lasts for 30 days.

There are also separate pricing plans available for non-profit organizations. However, you will need to contact GetResponse directly about it. 

The main differences between the GetResponse plans involve the addition of landing pages, webinars and CRM, and eCommerce, with more functionality being provided the more you pay.

AWeber Pricing

AWeber offers five plans to choose from. They don’t have names, but they are based on the size of your list, with the following price structure:

•       Up to 500 subscribers: $19 per month
•       501 to 2,500 subscribers: $29 per month
•       2,501 to 5,000 subscribers: $49 per month
•       5,001 to 10,000 subscribers: $69 per month
•       10,001 to 25,000 subscribers: $149 per month

If your list has more than 25,000 subscribers, you will need to get a quote from AWeber to establish monthly costs.

Other than the limits on the number of subscribers you can host, there is no difference in features between each AWeber plan. Discounted plans are available for non-profit organizations and students.

Functionality

AWeber

AWeber is known for its simplicity and usability of their service. They have continuously innovated to make things easier for their customers. These include adding graphics and templates options.

One of the major benefits of AWeber is its ability to make things as simple or complex as you need. If you want a “set and forget it” email marketing service, you can use their drag and drop system to load a series of emails quickly. 

The templates and email opt-in forms of AWeber look slick and professional. However, if you want to use their HTML editor, you can build emails according to your specifications and send them at specific times for optimal results.

GetResponse

In previous years, GetResponse was known for being slightly less user-friendly and provided limited options in terms of templates and opt-in forms. They have addressed these issues by introducing Autoresponders 2.0, which is a major upgrade. The scheduling uses an attractive calendar system. It makes things very clean and intuitive for all levels of users. (READ: Software REVIEW: GetResponse )

GetResponse’s Autoresponder 2.0 features plenty of nice templates and graphics to suit a variety of markets and for general use.

Reporting and Analytics

Both AWeber and GetResponse provide ample graphs and tables to help track emails. They are both well-formatted so that you can find a great deal of information without too much effort. The usual data is available, like open email rates and unsubscribe rates. However, a great deal of extra valuable information, including your investment return, is found by placing a tracking code on your website.

Both email services offer a huge deal of reporting options. However, GetResponse has a slight edge on this as they have put a great emphasis on their “Intuitive Email Intelligence,” which really delivers.

Managing subscribers and segmentation

Email marketing and promotion do not require a great deal of work when you set up a campaign. However, if you want to make the most of your campaigns and generate a higher ROI, you need to learn to manage your subscribers effectively.

AWeber

AWeber allows you to segment your lists in a variety of ways. This includes who opened your emails, their location, what product they purchased, and more. 

When you first begin to collect email addresses, AWeber allows you to add custom options to segment people into different lists. It is useful because you can then create custom emails to really hone in on a niche, providing a more personal experience for the reader.

GetResponse

GetResponse also provides a wide array of options for managing and segmenting your list. It provides very similar options to AWeber, such as creating multiple groups so that you can create an almost unlimited number of segmented groups for extremely focused targeting.

If you have lists from other email marketing services or address books, AWeber and GetResponse can also allow you to add them to your various lists, making list management a breeze.

Landing pages

If you want to create beautiful landing pages, you’ll need to go with GetResponse. AWeber doesn’t offer the ability to build landing pages.

For some email marketers, this is a deal-breaker since it will take hours to manually code landing pages. The landing page editor of GetResponse makes it quick and easy to build a landing page that matches your design.

Currently, GetResponse provides over 100+ landing page templates. You can customize all of them without needing any HTML knowledge. All of the templates are mobile responsive and can be A/B tested.

Integration

AWeber

For several customers, integration with a third-party service is vital. AWeber allows easy integration with some of the popular platforms like PayPal, Shopify, and ClickFunnels. In this way, you can add customers to a list.

All business owners know that a list of buyers is extremely valuable. This integration allows this task to be done immediately.

A customer can make a purchase and receive a Welcome Email from your AWeber buyer’s list right away. You are not also limited to shopping carts either. You can integrate AWeber with a variety of social apps to get new subscribers from sites like Facebook and WordPress.

GetResponse

GetRepsonse also does a great job of integrating with third-party services. It has an App Center which features several eCommerce and social sites that you can gain subscribers from. The functionality is also excellent.

It currently lists 94 different websites they support do not always overlap, so make sure to check both services if you have a specific need. If a site does not offer integration, it is highly likely the other does, especially if you are dealing with a well-known third-party company.

The verdict

Changing your email marketing service is something you want to do as a last resort so it is extremely important to make the right decision from the beginning.

Both AWeber and GetResponse have earned excellent reputations for a reason. They have continued to develop and innovate their platforms while putting functionality and usability at the forefront. 

If the price is a major factor for you, GetResponse offers a slightly more affordable service. AWeber may have a slight advantage when it comes to design and template options but GetResponse has made considerable improvements to its platform and it has more features that AWeber does not have. 

GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial, while AWeber charges $1 for the first month. 

We also wrote an email marketing comparison of MailChimp vs GetResponse vs Aweber here.