AWeber vs GetResponse (2026): Autoresponders or Real Workflows?

If automation is why you are choosing, GetResponse is the stronger platform once you pay for Marketer, and AWeber is the gentler one if a few autoresponders are all you need. As of 18 Oct 2026, AWeber Lite allows three email automations and GetResponse Starter allows one custom automation workflow. Lifting the cap costs $45 a month on AWeber Plus at 1,000 subscribers, against $59 for GetResponse Marketer. Marketer, though, brings tagging, scoring, event and purchase triggers, and AWeber Plus mostly brings more of the same.

Choose AWeber if your automation is a new-subscriber series, a download delivery and a newsletter, and you would rather pay one annual invoice. Choose GetResponse if you need automations that react to behaviour on your site or in your store, or if you send so often that unlimited sends matter.

The short answer: who outgrows AWeber's automations, and when

AWeber's plans differ in quantity. Lite includes 3 email automations, 1 email list, 1 custom segment and 3 users; Plus makes all of those unlimited. GetResponse's plans differ in kind. Starter includes one custom workflow but already offers autoresponder series, drip campaigns, welcome and birthday emails, and click and open follow-ups; Marketer unlocks unlimited workflows plus the triggers that need data about the contact.

So the moment you outgrow AWeber Lite is the moment you want a fourth automation. The moment you outgrow GetResponse Starter is the moment you want a second custom workflow, or the first one that starts from a visited page, a purchase or a tag. For many small businesses the GetResponse moment comes first, because a welcome series and an abandoned-cart flow are already two workflows.

The automation ladder, plan by plan

These capabilities are read from the two vendors' own pricing pages as of 18 Oct 2026. Where a page does not tie a feature to a plan, the cell says so rather than guessing.

The table makes the asymmetry visible. AWeber's ceiling on Plus is a number that disappears; GetResponse's ceiling on Starter is a set of triggers that appears on Marketer. AWeber's pricing page lists behavioural automation and subscriber tagging among its features without marking which plan includes them, so check them in the trial rather than relying on the plan name.

Free plans: what each page actually says

Neither vendor makes its free tier easy to evaluate from the pricing page. AWeber links a "Get AWeber Free" signup in its navigation, but its plan cards show only Lite, Plus and a done-for-you service, with no free plan terms. GetResponse leads with a 14-day trial of premium features; its pricing FAQ says that after the trial you can keep using a free version with limitations, and you lose the premium features unless you upgrade.

For automation, treat both free routes as trials. If you need a genuinely free automation tier, the platforms in our money page publish their limits in full, and HubSpot's free tools include one automated action.

What the plan you need costs at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts

Here are the four plans at three list sizes, monthly and with each vendor's annual discount. AWeber's annual price is shown as its yearly total divided by twelve; GetResponse's yearly option takes 18% off.

Two readings matter. On entry plans, GetResponse Starter is the cheaper of the two at every size, by $6 to $21 a month on monthly billing. On automation plans, the order flips with list size: AWeber Plus is cheaper than GetResponse Marketer at 1,000 and 5,000 contacts, and dearer at 10,000, where Marketer costs $114 a month against $135.

AWeber's annual price is ten months' cost at these tiers, $450 a year for Plus at 1,000 subscribers. GetResponse's yearly Marketer at 5,000 is $77.90 a month, which is $934.80 for the year against AWeber Plus at $900. Over a year at 5,000 contacts the two automation plans land within $35 of each other.

Sending limits and what counts as a contact

On sends, GetResponse sets no monthly limit on any plan. AWeber caps monthly sends at ten times your subscriber maximum on Lite and twelve times on Plus, which is 120,000 emails at 10,000 subscribers on Plus. A typical automation programme with a weekly newsletter never comes near that; a daily sender does.

Both price by list size. Neither pricing page defines, in its own words, whether unsubscribed addresses still count toward your tier, so ask support before importing a list with a long unsubscribe history, and archive or delete what you no longer email.

A worked example: four sequences on a 2,500-subscriber list

Take a coach with 2,500 subscribers who wants four automations: a five-email welcome series, a lead-magnet delivery, a webinar reminder sequence and a re-engagement email for people who have not opened anything in 90 days. Here is where each lands, at prices as of 18 Oct 2026.

• AWeber Lite, $35 a month or $350 a year. Three automations fit; the fourth does not. The re-engagement email has to become a manual monthly campaign to a segment, and Lite allows one custom segment.
• AWeber Plus, $55 a month or $550 a year. All four fit, with unlimited segments for the 90-day rule. Nothing in the plan reacts to a purchase, which this coach does not need.
• GetResponse Starter, $29 a month or $23.78 yearly. The welcome series can run as an autoresponder series and the lead magnet as a welcome email, but the webinar reminders and the re-engagement rule each want a custom workflow, and Starter has one.
• GetResponse Marketer, $69 a month or $56.58 yearly. All four fit, and the re-engagement rule can use scoring or tags instead of a blunt date filter.

On those numbers the coach's choice is between AWeber Plus annually at $550 a year and GetResponse Marketer yearly at $678.96 a year. The extra $128.96 buys tagging, scoring and event triggers; whether that is worth it depends on whether the coach will ever sell through the list. If a store or course checkout is on the roadmap, it is.

What to test in the trial

Both vendors offer 14 days, and the trial should answer one question each. On AWeber, build the fourth automation you think you will need and see whether Lite stops you. On GetResponse, build your most conditional sequence on Starter, with a branch on whether someone clicked, and note exactly where the builder asks you to upgrade. The plan you end up on is the one that let you finish, not the one with the lower headline.

Switching between them: what moves and what you rebuild

Contacts move; automations do not. Both platforms import and export contacts by file, and AWeber's support menu offers to migrate accounts onto AWeber at no charge. Neither imports the other's workflows, so plan to rebuild every sequence by hand, which is a good moment to cut the ones nobody reads.

Rebuild in this order: the welcome series first, because it runs every day; then anything that sells, such as a cart or post-purchase follow-up; then nurture and re-engagement. Verify your sending domain in the destination account before the first live send, and leave the old account active until the new automations have triggered correctly for real subscribers.

If you are moving from AWeber to GetResponse specifically to get behavioural triggers, budget for Marketer from day one. Moving onto Starter and discovering that the abandoned-cart and purchase triggers are not there is the most common way this switch disappoints. Our GetResponse review prints both of its ladders in full, and the ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse comparison covers the next step up.

Edge cases

Selling digital products. AWeber's built-in selling charges 1.0% per sale on Lite and 0.6% on Plus. GetResponse's ecommerce tools, including product boxes and payment-gateway integration, sit on Marketer and above.

A team of four. GetResponse Starter includes 3 users and Marketer 5; AWeber Lite 3 and Plus unlimited. Past five users every standard GetResponse plan is full, while AWeber Plus has no user cap.

Event-driven SaaS sequences. Neither is the natural fit for in-app event automation at scale; that is where tools such as Encharge sit, covered on our money page.

The verdict, by what you are building

Three autoresponders and a newsletter: AWeber Lite, paid annually, is the simplest bill and enough automation. One welcome series and nothing else: GetResponse Starter is the cheapest plan here at every size. Anything that needs triggers from purchases, site visits or tags: GetResponse Marketer, which also wins on price at 10,000 contacts. Many simple sequences for a large team: AWeber Plus.