VendorClue research · software cost principles
Which contact count should you enter before importing a list?
Use the count that the vendor bills for, not automatically the number of recipients in your next campaign. Before importing, separate stored contacts, people currently eligible to receive marketing and the audience you intend to email. Those groups c
Product data changed. The editorial conclusion needs review. Catalogue classification or ownership disclosure changed; review interpretations.
- Evidence
- Sources linked below
- Source check
- 2026-10-06
- Author
- VendorClue
- Editor
- VendorClue
On this page
At a glance
The short answer
Use the count that the vendor bills for, not automatically the number of recipients in your next campaign. Before importing, separate stored contacts, people currently eligible to receive marketing and the audience you intend to email. Those groups can differ. The calculator needs an input that matches the selected offer's definition.
Make a small inventory first
Record where the list came from, how consent was obtained and which records are unsubscribed or suppressed. Keep suppression information when moving systems; removing it from an export does not turn those people into new subscribers. Check the receiving vendor's import guidance before making changes to a live account.
Then identify duplicates and audience membership. Do not assume that the same address appearing in several lists is counted once for billing. Ask how the selected product handles that situation. A vendor's general subscriber-management feature does not answer the billing question on its own.
Match the count to the source
The reviewed Mailchimp evidence describes contact-tier pricing. GetResponse's billing guidance discusses contacts added and peak active subscribers. Brevo's documented offers distinguish stored contacts from sending volume. These are reasons to inspect the definition, not to place all three numbers into a single interchangeable “list size” field.
For MailerLite, the reviewed sending allowance also depends on the subscriber-tier ceiling. Your exact current audience and the capacity of the purchased tier are different numbers. Retain both when assessing how much room you have for growth or extra campaigns.
Test the next plausible step
Run one calculator scenario for today's billing count and another for a realistic next tier. These are planning scenarios, not growth predictions. Keep sends and seats consistent unless you deliberately want to test a different workload. If the larger tier has no verified price, leave the result unresolved and request evidence for that tier.
Before committing, write the vendor's counting rule beside the count you used and the date you checked it. That short note makes a later invoice easier to explain and prevents a colleague from replacing the input with the size of a single campaign segment.
Try your own audience, sends and seats in the calculator
Read the ActiveCampaign profile
ActiveCampaign current plan comparison · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
GetResponse current plan features · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
GetResponse pricing and tax basis · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
GetResponse starting monthly charge · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
GetResponse current USD plan pricing · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
GetResponse current base monthly pricing examples · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Brevo plans, contact storage and send limits · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Brevo public pricing and custom Enterprise · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
AWeber Lite and Plus documented prices · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
AWeber plan feature comparison · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
AWeber ordinary account setup and tier changes · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
MailerLite current Comfort and Power pricing · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
MailerLite webhook configuration · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
MailerLite new paid plan rules · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Mailchimp Marketing pricing, USD · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Mailchimp plan limits · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Mailchimp application webhook eligibility · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026
Mailchimp visual email builders · Evidence: documentation · Oct 6, 2026