Email marketing remains one of the highest-returning channels for small businesses — for every £1 spent, the average return is around £36. But only if you’re using the right platform. This GetResponse review looks at whether it’s the right choice for UK small businesses in 2026.
What is GetResponse?
GetResponse is an all-in-one email marketing and automation platform used by over 350,000 businesses worldwide. It started as a straightforward email marketing tool but has evolved into a comprehensive platform covering email campaigns, marketing automation, landing pages, webinars, and even an AI-powered website builder.
For UK small businesses looking for more than just a basic email tool — without paying enterprise prices — GetResponse sits in a strong sweet spot.
GetResponse pricing for UK users
GetResponse offers four main tiers:
Free plan — Up to 500 contacts, basic email sending, one landing page, and a website builder. No credit card required. A solid starting point.
Email Marketing plan — From around £11/month. Unlimited emails, autoresponders, basic segmentation, and all landing pages unlocked. Good for businesses focused purely on email.
Marketing Automation plan — From around £35/month. Adds full automation workflows, advanced segmentation, event-based triggers, and webinars up to 100 attendees. This is where GetResponse really shines.
Ecommerce Marketing plan — From around £95/month. Adds ecommerce-specific tools including abandoned cart recovery and product recommendations.
All paid plans scale in price based on the number of contacts in your list, which is standard across the industry.
Key features worth knowing about
Email creator and templates
GetResponse has one of the better drag-and-drop email builders in the market, with over 100 professionally designed templates. The AI email generator can produce a full campaign from a short brief, saving significant time.
Marketing automation
The automation builder is genuinely powerful. You can create workflows based on subscriber behaviour — for example, automatically sending a follow-up email when someone clicks a specific link, or moving contacts between segments based on their actions. This level of automation is usually only found in more expensive tools.
Landing pages
Every plan includes access to GetResponse’s landing page builder, which covers opt-in pages, sales pages, and thank-you pages. For small businesses that don’t want to pay separately for a landing page tool, this is a useful inclusion.
Webinars
GetResponse is one of the few email platforms that includes webinar hosting. On the Marketing Automation plan you can host webinars for up to 100 attendees, rising to 500 on higher tiers. For businesses that use webinars to generate leads or deliver training, this removes the need for a separate tool like Zoom Webinars.
AI features
GetResponse has invested heavily in AI across the platform. The AI email generator, AI subject line optimiser, and AI campaign assistant all help small teams produce better content faster with less effort.
What GetResponse does well
- Genuinely competitive pricing for the feature set offered
- One of the most capable automation builders at this price point
- Clean, easy-to-use interface — good for non-technical users
- Webinar hosting included saves paying for a separate tool
- Responsive customer support including live chat
- GDPR-compliant and suitable for UK businesses
Where GetResponse falls short
- The free plan is limited to 500 contacts, which you may outgrow quickly
- Deliverability, while good, is not quite at the level of dedicated tools like ActiveCampaign
- The interface can feel slightly overwhelming at first given the breadth of features
- Reporting could be more detailed on lower-tier plans
- No native integration with some UK-specific tools
How does GetResponse compare to alternatives?
GetResponse vs Mailchimp: Mailchimp is more widely known but GetResponse offers more automation features at comparable prices. Mailchimp’s free plan allows more contacts (500 vs 500 — similar) but charges more as you scale.
GetResponse vs ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign has slightly more powerful automation but costs more. GetResponse wins on value and ease of use for most small businesses.
GetResponse vs Klaviyo: Klaviyo is built specifically for ecommerce and is the better choice if you’re running an online shop. For service businesses, GetResponse is the stronger all-rounder.
GetResponse vs ConvertKit: ConvertKit (now Kit) is excellent for creators and bloggers. GetResponse is more suited to businesses that need the full marketing suite including landing pages and webinars.
Who is GetResponse best for?
GetResponse is an excellent choice for:
- Small businesses building their first email list
- Service businesses that run regular newsletters or campaigns
- Businesses that want automation without paying ActiveCampaign prices
- Anyone who wants landing pages and email in one tool
- Coaches, consultants, and online course creators
It’s less ideal for pure ecommerce businesses (use Klaviyo) or businesses that only need the absolute simplest email tool possible (use Mailchimp’s free plan).
Our verdict
GetResponse is one of the best-value email marketing platforms available to UK small businesses in 2026. The free plan is a genuinely useful starting point, and the jump to the Email Marketing plan at around £11/month is easy to justify the moment your list starts growing.
The automation features available at the Marketing Automation tier are genuinely impressive for the price — comparable to tools that cost significantly more.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Best for: Small businesses and sole traders who want email marketing, automation, and landing pages without juggling multiple tools.
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How to get started
- Go to getresponse.com and sign up for the free plan
- Import any existing contacts or start fresh
- Choose a template and send your first campaign
- Set up a basic welcome automation for new subscribers
No credit card needed to start, and the free plan gives you enough room to test whether it works for your business before committing.
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