Affiliate disclosure: some links in this article are monetised, which means Ecommerce Paradise may earn a commission if you buy through them. It costs you nothing and it never decides what goes in the guide. Every price here was read off AWeber’s own live pricing page and knowledge base on 30 September 2026, with the subscriber band it applies to, and where a cheaper or free option wins we say so even when it pays us nothing.
On a quote-driven store, email is not a newsletter channel. It is where the sale happens. Somebody asks for a price on a $5,000 unit, you reply, you follow up twice over three weeks, and the deal closes in an inbox. That means your email tool needs to do four things well and you can safely ignore the other forty.
AWeber has a free tier that genuinely covers a store’s first months, and the upgrade trigger is not the one you would expect. This is how I would set it up, what free actually includes, and which limit will push you to pay. Every price, limit and quoted phrase below comes from AWeber’s own pricing and free-plan pages, plus the FTC’s published CAN-SPAM guide, all read on 29 September 2026. Where something is my opinion or my own arithmetic, I say so.
I am not a lawyer and none of this is legal advice.
I run Ecommerce Paradise and the email side of a high-ticket store is where I see the most avoidable revenue lost. If the model is new to you, start with what high-ticket dropshipping actually is.
Run Your First Hundred Quotes Free
AWeber publishes its free plan as lifetime access at no cost, up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, with a single list profile and a single workflow automation. That one automation is enough to run the quote follow-up, which is the sequence that recovers the most revenue.
What Free Actually Covers
AWeber’s free plan page states up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails per month. AWeber’s own knowledge base is the more specific source, and it is the one to trust: AWeber Free gives lifetime access at no cost with the upgrade optional, management of up to 500 subscribers, 3,000 emails monthly, a single list profile, and a single workflow automation or autoresponder campaign. Exceeding 500 subscribers prompts an upgrade to a paid plan.
Notice what that list does and does not say. One automation, not several. One list profile. AWeber does not publish a feature set, a support entitlement or a landing-page allowance for the free plan on any page I could read, and the comparison table on its pricing page has no Free column at all, so anyone telling you the free tier carries the full feature set, landing pages or 24/7 phone support is filling in a blank rather than quoting AWeber. What is published is still enough for a quote funnel, because one automation covers the quote follow-up. Go in expecting one automation, not a toolkit.
Do the arithmetic on the caps for a store, and this is my arithmetic rather than AWeber’s claim. Five hundred subscribers is a couple of hundred quote requests plus past customers. Three thousand emails a month against 500 subscribers is six emails per subscriber per month, which is far more than you should be sending to people considering a four-figure purchase.
One thing I could not establish: AWeber’s free-plan page does not say whether AWeber branding appears on emails or landing pages. What I can tell you is that both paid tiers list “Remove AWeber branding” as an included feature, which implies free carries some. Treat that as an implication from the paid feature lists rather than a confirmed limitation, and check it when you sign up. On the credit card question the knowledge base is clearer: it states that a card is required for a paid subscription plan, naming Lite, Plus and Unlimited, and says nothing of the kind about Free.
There is also a trial on the paid side: AWeber advertises trying it free with a 14-day trial.
The Upgrade Trigger Is Features, Not Subscribers
AWeber’s pricing page sells three plans, and the interesting thing is where the limits sit. Its knowledge base names four subscription plans in total, so there is one the pricing page never shows you, and I come back to that below.
| Plan | Headline price | The limits that matter |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $12.50 a month, billed annually | 1 email list, 3 landing pages, 3 email automations, 3 users, 1 custom segment |
| Plus | $20.00 a month, billed annually | Unlimited lists, landing pages, automations, segments and users |
| Done For You | $20.00 a month, billed annually, plus a $79 setup fee | Everything in Plus, plus assets built for you |
Both Lite and Plus include advanced message analytics or reporting, advanced landing page features, sales tracking with low transaction fees, and removing AWeber branding. Plus adds priority 24/7 support and states “Send 12x subscriber max, monthly”, against Lite’s “Send 10x subscriber max, monthly”. The comparison table lists the subscriber limit as unlimited on Lite, Plus and Done For You alike. What actually stops is the published price ladder, which runs out at the 100,001 to 150,000 band on every plan, above which the page offers a phone number and nothing else.
Here is the part worth slowing down on. Lite gives you one email list, three automations and one custom segment, while tiering all the way up to 150,000 subscribers. On a store running quote follow-ups, past-customer emails and maybe an abandoned-quote sequence, the automation count is the ceiling you will meet first. Growing past the free plan’s 500 subscribers just moves you up a price tier; running out of automations stops you building the funnel.
So my read, and it is mine rather than AWeber’s positioning: the question is not how many subscribers you have. It is how many separate automated sequences your funnel needs. Up to three, Lite still fits. Wanting a fourth is the point at which you are buying Plus whether you like it or not.
The Plans the Pricing Page Does Not Show
AWeber’s knowledge base names four subscription plans, AWeber Free, AWeber Lite, AWeber Plus and AWeber Unlimited, while the pricing page carries only Lite, Plus and Done For You. Two things get missed as a result.
AWeber Unlimited is a flat $899 per month. It publishes unlimited subscriber capacity including unsubscribed addresses, sends of up to 15 times each subscriber monthly, and full access to all features without limitations. The knowledge base gives no annual price for it. For a quote-driven store this is not a decision you will face, but it is worth knowing the ladder does not end at Plus.
The one that is genuinely useful to a store owner is the Hold Package at $4.99 a month, which pauses an account without losing data. AWeber says subscribers, automations, landing pages and other account information are all preserved while on hold, and that you contact the Customer Solutions Team to switch to it. If your store is seasonal, or you are stepping away for a quarter, $4.99 a month to keep the list and the sequences intact is a better answer than cancelling and rebuilding. It is not on the pricing page, so it is easy to miss.
What the Tiers Really Cost
AWeber publishes a full subscriber-tier table, and the monthly and annual columns tell different stories.
| Subscribers | Lite monthly | Lite annual | Plus monthly | Plus annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $15.00 | $150.00 | $30.00 | $240.00 |
| 1,000 | $25.00 | $250.00 | $45.00 | $450.00 |
| 2,500 | $35.00 | $350.00 | $55.00 | $550.00 |
| 5,000 | $60.00 | $600.00 | $90.00 | $900.00 |
| 10,000 | $100.00 | $1,000.00 | $135.00 | $1,350.00 |
| 25,000 | $210.00 | $2,100.00 | $250.00 | $2,500.00 |
| 50,000 | $375.00 | $3,750.00 | $400.00 | $4,000.00 |
| 100,000 | $600.00 | $6,000.00 | $750.00 | $7,500.00 |
The table runs further, to 150,000 subscribers at $920 monthly or $9,200 annually on Lite and $1,050 monthly or $10,500 annually on Plus, with tiers at 7,500, 15,000, 20,000, 35,000 and 75,000 in between.
Two things to notice, and the arithmetic here is mine. Annual billing saves roughly two months on most tiers: Lite at 500 subscribers is $15 monthly, so $180 across a year, against $150 billed annually. At 1,000 subscribers it is $300 against $250. That pattern holds across most of the table.
The other thing is how the two plans converge as you grow. At 500 subscribers Plus costs double Lite. At 50,000 the gap is $375 against $400. So if you are ever going to need Plus, needing it later costs proportionally less than needing it early, which is an argument for starting on Lite or free and not pre-buying capability.
I have broken the tiers down further in my AWeber pricing guide.
Have the Quote Funnel Built For You
My done-for-you builds cover the store, the suppliers and the follow-up machinery behind the quote request, not just the storefront.
Step 1: Clean the List Before You Import It
Do this before you touch AWeber, because importing a bad list is the one mistake here you cannot undo cleanly.
If your addresses came from your own quote form, one at a time, from people who typed them because they wanted a price, the list is probably fine. If you imported, inherited or bought addresses, or your form has been collecting bot submissions, validate first. I wrote up how I validate a list separately, and the reason it goes first is simple: a subscriber cap means you are paying to store dead addresses, and a hard bounce on your first send is a worse start than a day’s delay.
On a 500-subscriber free tier this matters more than it would at 50,000, because every dead address is a fifth of a percent of your allowance.
Step 2: Build One List, Not Several
Lite allows one email list, and on a store that constraint is a feature rather than a limitation.
The instinct is to separate quote requesters from customers from newsletter signups into different lists. My own preference is one list with segments and tags instead, for a practical reason: the same person moves through those states, and someone who requested a quote in March and bought in May exists once, not three times. Lite gives one custom segment and Plus gives unlimited, which is another place the feature count bites before the subscriber count does.
What I would tag from day one: where the person came from, which product they asked about, whether they got a quote, and whether they bought. Those four tags are what let you send something relevant rather than something generic.
Step 3: Build the Landing Page and Form
Lite gives you three landing pages and sign up forms, which is enough for a store with a handful of product categories. AWeber publishes no landing-page allowance for the free plan, so if a landing page is load-bearing in your funnel, plan on Lite rather than assuming free covers it.
On a high-ticket store the form matters more than the page. Ask for what you need in order to quote: name, email, phone, the product, the delivery location, and one open question. The delivery location is the field people leave off and the one that decides whether you can quote at all on freight-shipped goods.
If the quote request is the centre of your funnel, the CRM side of it deserves its own setup. I have written up how I set up a free CRM for quote requests, and the two fit together: the CRM holds the conversation, the email tool sends the sequence.
Step 4: Write Three Automations, Then Stop
Lite gives three email automations. That is the constraint, and it is a useful one, because it forces you to write the three that matter.
The quote follow-up. Triggered when a quote has been sent and gone quiet. Two emails, spaced several days apart, short, no discount, one question.
The abandoned quote request. Triggered when somebody starts a form and does not finish, if your setup can detect that. One email, helpful rather than pushy.
The post-purchase sequence. Delivery expectations, what happens if something arrives damaged, and a review request timed after the unit has actually arrived rather than after it shipped.
That is three, which is exactly Lite’s allowance. If you find yourself wanting a fourth, that is the genuine signal to look at Plus and its unlimited automations, and my view is that it is a better trigger for upgrading than any subscriber number.
Step 5: Get the Legal Basics Right
This part is about the messages themselves rather than about AWeber, and it is worth knowing before you send.
The FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide sets out eight main requirements for commercial email under US law. In summary: do not use false or misleading header information; do not use deceptive subject lines; identify the message as an ad; include your valid physical postal address; explain clearly how to opt out; remember that subscribers and members can opt out too; honor an opt-out request within 10 business days; and monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The guide states a maximum civil penalty of up to $53,088 per violation, as read on the date above.
I am not a lawyer and that is a summary of a government guide rather than legal advice. The reason I include it is that in my experience two of those eight are what small stores miss: the physical postal address and the 10-business-day opt-out window. Both are easy to get right in your email footer on day one.
The address requirement connects to something practical. The guide lists a valid physical postal address among its eight requirements, which is one of the arguments for sorting the business setup out properly rather than improvising from a home address. That side is covered in business formation for high-ticket dropshipping.
What I Would Skip
AWeber’s feature list is broad and a first store needs a slice of it.
Done For You at $20 a month billed annually plus a $79 setup fee gets you a branded email template, a professional landing page, a branded thank you page, a signup form, weekly newsletter drafts, a 1:1 setup call and 30 days of unlimited edits. That is real work done for you, and for somebody who genuinely will not build these things it is reasonable value. My view is that a store owner who can write their own quote reply can build these too, and the weekly newsletter drafts are for a business with a newsletter, which a quote-driven store does not necessarily need.
The higher subscriber tiers are not decisions, they are consequences. You move up them when your list grows, not because you chose to.
Priority support on Plus is nice, but AWeber publishes chat, email and phone support on every paid plan including Lite, with priority reserved for Plus and Done For You, so on its own it is a thin reason to upgrade.
What This Costs Over a Year
| Setup | Cost |
|---|---|
| Free, up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month | $0 |
| Lite at 500 subscribers, billed annually | $150 |
| Lite at 500 subscribers, billed monthly | $15 a month, $180 across a year |
| Plus at 500 subscribers, billed annually | $240 |
| Lite at 2,500 subscribers, billed annually | $350 |
| Done For You | $20 a month billed annually, plus a $79 setup fee |
The monthly-across-a-year figures are my own multiplication of AWeber’s published monthly rates, not annual plan prices. The honest version of this table for most stores is the first two rows.
Where This Sits in the Rest of the Stack
An email tool sends what you write. It does not decide whether anyone wants the product or whether the margin survives freight, and those are the two things that determine whether a store works.
If the niche is unsettled, my high-ticket niches list is where I would start. Then suppliers, which is the real bottleneck, and I wrote a whole guide to finding high-ticket suppliers about it.
Within the stack itself, the order I would build in is validation first, then the CRM that holds the conversation, then the email tool that automates the follow-up. Doing it in that order means you are not automating messages to addresses that do not exist.
The Whole Thing, in Order
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Validate the list before importing anything, especially on a 500-subscriber allowance |
| 2 | Start on the free plan and confirm at signup whether branding or a card is involved |
| 3 | Build one list with tags rather than several separate lists |
| 4 | Tag source, product interest, quote sent and purchased from day one |
| 5 | Build the quote form, asking for delivery location as a required field |
| 6 | Write the quote follow-up automation first, since it recovers the most revenue |
| 7 | Add the abandoned-request and post-purchase automations, making three |
| 8 | Put your physical postal address and a clear opt-out in the footer of every send |
| 9 | Upgrade when you want a fourth automation, not when the subscriber count worries you |
| 10 | Choose annual billing once you are committed, since it saves roughly two months |
Step 9 is the one that saves money, because most people upgrade on a number rather than on a need.
Set Up the Follow-Up That Closes Quotes
Free covers 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, with one list profile and one automation. Lite starts at $12.50 a month billed annually at the 0 to 500 subscriber band.
Six Mistakes to Avoid
Importing an unvalidated list into a 500-subscriber allowance. Every dead address costs you a fifth of a percent of your cap and risks your first send.
Splitting into several lists on Lite. Lite allows one email list and one custom segment. Use tags on a single list instead.
Upgrading on subscriber count. On Lite the constraint that bites is three automations. Subscriber growth just moves you up Lite’s own tiers, which run to 150,000.
Forgetting the postal address. The FTC guide lists a valid physical postal address among its eight requirements for commercial email under US law.
Missing the opt-out window. The FTC guide says to honor an opt-out request within 10 business days.
Paying monthly out of habit. On most tiers annual billing saves roughly two months, by my arithmetic on AWeber’s published rates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AWeber free?
There is a free plan. AWeber publishes it as lifetime access at no cost, up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails per month, with a single list profile and a single workflow automation or autoresponder campaign. Exceeding 500 subscribers prompts an upgrade to a paid plan. AWeber does not publish a feature list, a support entitlement or a landing-page allowance for the free plan, so treat any longer list you read elsewhere as somebody guessing.
Does the free plan put AWeber branding on my emails?
AWeber’s free-plan page does not say. Both Lite and Plus list “Remove AWeber branding” as an included feature, which implies free carries some, but I could not confirm that from the free-plan page itself. Check it when you sign up.
What do the paid plans cost?
At the 0 to 500 subscriber band, Lite is $12.50 a month billed annually or $15.00 a month on monthly billing, Plus is $20.00 a month billed annually or $30.00 monthly, and Done For You is $20.00 a month billed annually plus a $79 setup fee. Every one of those moves with your subscriber band, so read the table above for yours. There is also AWeber Unlimited at a flat $899 a month, which the pricing page does not list.
What is the difference between Lite and Plus?
Lite allows 1 email list, 3 landing pages, 3 email automations, 3 users and 1 custom segment. Plus makes all of those unlimited, adds priority 24/7 support and states “Send 12x subscriber max, monthly”.
Is there a trial?
AWeber advertises trying it free with a 14-day trial.
How much does 2,500 subscribers cost?
Lite is listed at $35.00 monthly or $350.00 annually, and Plus at $55.00 monthly or $550.00 annually.
Is annual billing worth it?
On most tiers it saves roughly two months against paying monthly, by my own arithmetic on AWeber’s published rates. Lite at 500 subscribers is $15 monthly, so $180 across a year, against $150 billed annually.
What is Done For You?
Everything in Plus plus a branded email template, a professional landing page, a branded thank you page, a signup form, newsletter drafts delivered weekly, a 1:1 setup call and 30 days unlimited edits, for $20.00 a month billed annually plus a $79 setup fee.
How many subscribers can I have?
AWeber’s comparison table lists the subscriber limit as unlimited on Lite, Plus and Done For You alike. What is bounded is the published price ladder, which stops at the 100,001 to 150,000 band on every plan; past that the page offers only a phone number.
Do I need to validate my list first?
Not required by AWeber, but on a capped plan it is my strong preference, because you are paying to store addresses either way.
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Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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