Pick Courier if
product teams who will stay on Developer at $0 (10,000 sends / month) while they publish a first Design Studio template, then pay $0.005 / send when the list outgrows the free pack.
Read the Courier pageCourier vs Customer.io
Our take
Pick Courier if product teams who will stay on Developer at $0 (10,000 sends / month) while they publish a first Design Studio template, then pay $0.005 / send when the list outgrows the free pack. Pick Customer.io if lifecycle teams who will start on Essentials at $100 / month (5k profiles, 1 million emails) while they open a first Consent state, then book Premium at $1,000 / month yearly when they want custom
Best for
Courier Templates and journeys you start at $0
Customer.io Profiles, workflows, and consent you can price from $100
Free plan
Courier No free plan
Customer.io No free plan
Lowest paid
Courier Business $0.005
Customer.io Premium $1/mo yearly
Next step up
Courier
Customer.io Essentials $100
Coding agent
Courier
Customer.io Workflows
Runs where
Courier Local or hosted
Customer.io Hosted
Watch out
Courier Free is 10,000 sends / month
Customer.io Essentials $100 is a starting tile for 5k profiles
Last checked
Courier 2026-10-23 · courier.com/pricing
Customer.io 2026-10-23 · customer.io/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Customer.io if
lifecycle teams who will start on Essentials at $100 / month (5k profiles, 1 million emails) while they open a first Consent state, then book Premium at $1,000 / month yearly when they want custom volume and HIPAA.
Read the Customer.io page