Constant Contact Standard: $35/Month—Why Deleting Contacts Doesn't Lower Your Tier

Verdict

Constant Contact Standard currently starts at $35/month. Its pricing model is more important than the headline price: your bill depends on the plan plus your contact tier, and that tier is based on the highest contact count reached during the billing period. Deleting contacts later does not lower that tier. Standard also includes a monthly send allowance equal to 12× your contacts; if you exceed it, emails keep sending and the overage is billed at $0.002 per additional send.

What Standard adds over Lite

Standard currently includes three users, scheduled email sends, subject-line A/B testing, automatic resend to non-openers, three automation templates, AI campaign building, 10 custom segments, and advanced engagement reporting. Its monthly send allowance is 12× the number of contacts, compared with 10× on Lite.

Premium increases the allowance to 24× contacts and adds unlimited custom automations/segments plus other advanced tools. For many small businesses, the question is whether Standard's three users, three automation templates, and 12× send allowance are enough before paying for Premium.

Contact tier follows the highest count, not the ending count

Constant Contact's September 2026 billing guide says your contact tier is based on the highest number of active contacts you've had in the account. It also describes billable contacts as the highest contact count during the current billing period.

That has a practical consequence: deleting contacts after the list grows does not lower the contact tier for that period. If your contact count moves into a higher pricing tier, the higher tier can be reflected in the next bill.

There is no single maximum contact count shared by all plans. Lite, Standard, and Premium use contact tiers, so pricing increases as the audience grows. Review the live pricing selector before importing a large list.

Standard sends 12× contacts, and overage does not stop delivery

Constant Contact currently gives Standard a monthly email allowance equal to 12× the contact count. If you exceed the allowance, the platform says nothing stops—emails continue sending. The overage charge is $0.002 per send, or $2 per 1,000 sends over the allowance.

For example, an account with 1,000 contacts would have a 12,000-send allowance under the current Standard rule. Sending 17,000 emails would be 5,000 over the allowance, which would add $10 at the current overage rate. That is a static usage example, not a quote for a 1,000-contact Standard subscription.

SMS and Inbox Preview can also add cost. On Lite or Standard, SMS currently starts at $10/month for up to 500 messages and is limited to paid US customers.

Monthly versus annual prepay

Standard currently starts at $35/month. Constant Contact also advertises a 15% discount for 12-month prepayment, bringing the starting Standard equivalent to $29.75/month. At the starting price, 12 monthly payments would total $420, while the current annual-equivalent amount totals $357—a nominal $63 saving.

Prepayment does not freeze every future cost. Constant Contact says a prepaid balance can run down sooner if your contact tier rises, you upgrade the plan, or you buy add-ons. Prepayments are generally nonrefundable after cancellation except where the 30-day money-back guarantee applies.

Trial, guarantee, and cancellation

The current Email & Digital Marketing trial lasts 30 days and does not require a credit card. Trial accounts can send up to 100 total emails. If you do not upgrade, the trial ends on its own.

The 30-day money-back guarantee begins after the first payment and has conditions: the account must have uploaded contacts, sent an email, followed the policies, and not been suspended or paused. The guarantee covers the base Lite/Standard/Premium subscription, not add-ons, services, or other fees. Canceling online does not automatically process a refund; the refund request goes through Billing Support.

When a paid account is canceled, service continues until the cancellation date. Constant Contact says it only guarantees storing canceled-account data for 30 days afterward, so export contacts, campaigns, reporting data, and especially the unsubscribed list before switching providers.

Market context and next step

ActiveCampaign Starter is currently referenced at $15/month for 1,000 contacts, but newer accounts can hit a hard contact limit that blocks campaigns and skips automation email actions. GetResponse Starter is $19/month or $15.58/month equivalent annually for 1,000 contacts with unlimited monthly sends. AWeber Lite is $25/month at 1,000 subscribers with a 10× send cap. MailerLite Comfort starts at $12/month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails, while Kit Creator is $33/month equivalent annually at 1,000 subscribers. These are pricing/capacity comparisons, not deliverability rankings.

Use the 30-day trial with a representative list and realistic send frequency. Before paying, estimate both the highest contact count you expect during a billing period and the monthly send volume. Standard is easiest to justify when three users, three automation templates, and a 12× send allowance fit with room to spare.

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