The short answer: most email tools charge by how many contacts you store, so your bill steps up as your list grows, even if you send the same number of emails. Paying per send means you pay for the emails you actually send instead. For most coaches and experts, that's cheaper as the list grows.
Your email list should be the most valuable thing you own online. It shouldn't feel like a penalty every time it gets bigger. Here's how the two pricing models work.
Model 1: pricing by contacts
Contact-based pricing charges in tiers: up to a certain number of contacts at one price, then the next tier up. Every subscriber counts, including the people who haven't opened an email in a year. The result is a bill that rises in steps as your list grows, and an incentive to delete people just to stay under a tier.
Model 2: paying per send
Pay-per-send pricing charges for the emails you actually send. Store as many contacts as you like; what you pay depends on how often you email them. On Firestarter Funnels, email is about $1 per 1,000 emails sent, and every plan includes a $20 monthly credit, which covers up to 20,000 emails before you pay anything extra.
A real example
Say you have 5,000 contacts and send one newsletter a week. That's about 21,700 emails a month (5,000 × 52 weeks ÷ 12). At $1 per 1,000, that's about $21.70, and the $20 credit covers almost all of it, so you'd pay around $1.70 for the month. Double your list to 10,000 and you'd pay around $23.30 after the credit, and you still store every contact for free.
Want to try your own numbers? The email cost calculator does the math for your list size and how often you send.
Your list is an asset. Pay for the conversations you have with it, not for the size of it.
Which model is better?
Contact-based pricing can make sense if you email a very large list rarely. For most personal brands, who email a growing list every week, paying per send keeps costs predictable and lets you keep every contact without watching a tier limit.
Keeping your costs low as you grow
- Segment before you send. Send launch emails to the people who opted in for that topic, not your whole list every time.
- Clean your list once in a while. With per-send pricing, inactive contacts don't cost you anything to store, but sending to people who never open can hurt your deliverability. Email verification is available at about $0.0125 per address when you need it.
- Let automations do the timing. A welcome sequence that sends once per new subscriber costs far less than repeating broadcasts to everyone.
What about texts?
Text messages work the same way on Firestarter Funnels: about 4 cents per 160-character segment, drawn from the same $20 monthly credit. Email and text both live inside your CRM and automations, so the follow-up always knows who it's talking to (see email & text).
The Signature Plan is $147 a month or $1,470 a year, locked for life, with unlimited contacts. See pricing, or book a free call if you'd like us to look at your current setup.