Gist vs. MailerLite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gist
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Gist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.
$29
per month
MailerLite
Score 8.8 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
MailerLite is an email marketing platform for small businesses, creators, and ecommerce brands, used to automate the customer journey and grow a customer list. Users can send unlimited emails with every plan. Pricing starts at $10/month. MailerLite enables users to: Grow and engage their audience - Build newsletters, forms, pop-ups, landing pages, and even full websites with a Drag and drop builder that offers total creative control over designs. 150 customizable…
$0
per month 1 user
Pricing
GistMailerLite
Editions & Modules
Professional
$29.00
per month
Premium
$99.00
per month
Free
$0
per month 1 user
Growing
$10
per month 3 users
Advanced
$20
per month Unlimited users
Enterprise
Custom pricing
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GistMailerLite
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsAdditional 30% discount available to Non-profit organizations. Up to a 10% for paying yearly.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GistMailerLite
Features
GistMailerLite
Chat Analytics and Reports
Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Product A and Product B
Gist
8.9
Ratings
3% above category average
MailerLite
-
Ratings
Chat history and transcripts8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat reporting8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat and web analytics8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
MailerLite
8.9
Ratings
11% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Dynamic content00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Landing pages00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
A/B testing00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Mobile optimization00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
List management00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
MailerLite
7.0
Ratings
9% below category average
Dashboards00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
MailerLite
9.0
Ratings
12% above category average
Email Previews00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GistMailerLite
Small Businesses
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Mad Mimi
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Genesys DX (discontinued)
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Score 10.0 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
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Genesys DX (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GistMailerLite
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.7
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GistMailerLite
Likelihood to Recommend
Gist is perfect for SaaS I'd say, and perfect for long sales cycles with lots of lead nurturing involved, and for scenarios where you re-market via FB ads, because there's FB custom audience integration built into the workflows. Perfect for customer service and support. Really outstanding there. It's a little less suited to ecom but they're hammering out the finishing touches to make ecom cart recovery easier.
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I didn't have much luck when testing other similar tools and since we tested with free plan, we couldn't commit to something else if we couldn't get basic stuff fixed. That's when we switched to MailerLite, and their support was great and super helpful all the way (during our free plan, especially). Plus, they're super budget-friendly for startups, so I highly recommend.
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Pros
  • Gist provides endless ways of interacting with customers. I can chat and email with them, track their usage on my site, qualify them, add tags and other profile information, and so much more.
  • There is even an awesome live view that lets me spy on visitors to see how they're using the site.
  • The tools are powerful, easy to use, and constantly getting improvements. It seems like every week there is another update being rolled out that substantially extends the functionality or usability of the features in Gist.
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  • Offers a user-friendly interface, making it simple to create beautiful forms, group subscribers, and automate emails.
  • Includes email automation workflows in their free plan - the only provider I know of that doesn't charge you after one month or hit you with "transaction fees".
  • Excellent video tutorial library so you can learn email marketing as a beginner without feeling overwhelmed.
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Cons
  • Free plan limits are too low.
  • Chatbots should work not only for Gist's native online chat, but also for the other chat-based channels such as Facebook. (instead of having to use another software for that purpose)
  • Pricing structure - Support bot should not be an add-on but a core feature.
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  • Setting up the automations is a bit confusing at first. But the customer support is patient and kind to walk you through the process.
  • The nuances between group and segment, automation and campaign are odd as most other ESPs don't do that. But they have great explainer materials.
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Likelihood to Renew
Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
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Mailerlite is awesome and it does everything I need and then some. They're always innovating and adding new features, and their team is flippin' amazing. Can't see myself ever switching. They may not have everything, but looking at how well their team works, they'll get there for sure and I'm willing to wait.
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Usability
Gist does pretty much anything you want it to when it comes to managing your contacts. Sometimes I wish it updated faster, but wait a few beats and it gets there. I really love that I can show a colleague how to use the chat messenger and they understand it right away. Very user friendly!
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I can't express how happy and satisfied I've been with recent email exchange with Ivan from MailerLite support. He answered promptly, clearly and assisted me with urgent issue I needed to be taken care of asap. HUGE satisfaction! Excellent customer service! Thank you, Ivan!
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Support Rating
I have communicated with their team multiple times and every time they have been very responsive, knowledgeable, and polite. They work to make sure you are happy and informed of what is going on. Better their team keeps up to date with their app, giving you new features, and keeping you notified and educated about what they are and how to use them. A+
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Timely responses, quality answers to my questions, showing that the support are knowledgeable and cares about my results. I've had other experiences with competitors, so I'm delighted that this team cares about my business. It's good to know there are real experts ready to jump in when you need help
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Alternatives Considered
They both seem to have parity with each other with each having their own small advantages. I went with Gist because it was more affordable. Infusionsoft customer for almost 5 years and it seemed I was always working more on getting it to work instead of getting work done. Gist is so intuitive I had it setting up and running the basics in a few hours.
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MailerLite has similar features to the tools mentioned above. The main advantage is that it is very complete in its free version. This is ideal for those who are starting out and want to try a complete email marketing platform.
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Return on Investment
  • Our ROI has increased significantly because of Gist's chat and app integration into our website. Contact forms are great but a real-time conversation means you can be more effective in meeting your customer's needs.
  • The additional features in the recent upgrade mean we can use Gist for more. They have always been effective for email campaigns, but the addition of the knowledge base and more effective workflows means we can automate more. This has saved us from buying more software.
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  • Having an email service such as MailerLite is essential to running our Taskforce. It is really the only effective way of communicating with such a large number of people.
  • MailerLite works well with non-profits and gives a good discount for those in this sector.
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ScreenShots

Gist Screenshots

Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings

MailerLite Screenshots

Screenshot of reports, that can include unsubscribe count, spam complaints, bounces, link activity and other metrics that are critical to measuring success.Screenshot of automations for every subscriber journeyScreenshot of the MailerLite landing page builderScreenshot of an example newsletterScreenshot of some of the over 150 templates availableScreenshot of where to find MailerLite's integrations