Migration guide

You already liked the simplicity. Keep it, pay less.

MailerLite is a well-built, well-priced tool, and this is a closer contest than most on this page. The move makes sense when your list has grown past the point where paying by subscriber still feels fair.

On MailerLite~$89/mo
On Bluey$30/mo

10,000 subscribers, 40,000 emails/month · Typical migration: 1–2 days of work

In short

MailerLite migrations are straightforward: subscribers, fields and groups export cleanly, and automations are simple enough to rebuild in an hour or two. The reason to move is list size. MailerLite bills by subscriber, so a 10,000-subscriber list is around $89 a month regardless of whether you email weekly or monthly; the same list emailed weekly is 40,000 sends, which is $30 on Bluey Grow. Below a few thousand subscribers the gap is small and MailerLite is a perfectly good tool — this migration is worth doing once your list is large relative to how often you send it.

What transfers, and what you rebuild

Stated up front, because finding out mid-migration is how a two-day job becomes a two-week one.

WhatStatusDetail
Subscribers & fieldsTransfersClean CSV export including custom fields.
Groups & segmentsTransfersGroups export as membership and become Bluey segments.
Unsubscribes & bouncesTransfersExport separately and import before subscribers.
AutomationsRebuildUsually simple on MailerLite — an hour or two to recreate.
Email templatesPartialExport HTML and import; MailerLite templates are clean and usually port well.
Forms & popupsRebuildRebuild in Bluey and update the embed code.
Landing pagesRebuildRebuild in Bluey, or keep them where they are and point forms at Bluey.
Websites built in MailerLiteRebuildNo equivalent. If you use MailerLite's website builder, that content needs a new home.

The migration plan, in order

  1. 1Day 1 — before any send
    Authenticate your sending domainPublish SPF, DKIM and, if you use one, DMARC records for the domain you will send from. Gmail and Yahoo have required authentication and one-click unsubscribe from bulk senders since February 2024, and an unauthenticated first send from a new platform is the fastest route to the spam folder. This is a DNS change and takes about fifteen minutes; allow up to a few hours for propagation.
  2. 2Day 1
    Export subscribers, fields, groups and unsubscribesMailerLite's export is clean and well structured. Export unsubscribes and bounces separately, and import those into Bluey before subscribers.
  3. 3Day 1
    Rebuild automations and formsMailerLite automations are typically simple — a welcome sequence and perhaps one re-engagement flow — so this is usually under two hours. Rebuild forms and popups in Bluey and swap the embed code on your site.
  4. 4Day 1–2
    Port templatesMailerLite's templates are clean HTML and generally import into Bluey's composer without much fuss. Send a test and check mobile rendering.
  5. 5Week 1–2
    Run Bluey and MailerLite in parallelSplit the audience rather than duplicating it: send to one segment from Bluey and leave the rest on MailerLite. You get a like-for-like comparison of delivery, engagement and cost on your own data, and nobody receives the same campaign twice. Do not run both against the same contacts — that is the one way to make a careful migration look sloppy to your readers.
  6. 6Week 2 — gradually
    Ramp volume rather than switching itStart with your most engaged segment — people who opened or clicked in the last 30 days — and increase volume over several days. Receiving servers judge a new sending pattern partly on engagement, so leading with your best contacts builds reputation, while leading with your whole list including two-year-dormant addresses damages it. If you were on a dedicated IP, treat the new one as cold and warm it deliberately.
  7. 7Week 2
    Rehome anything built on MailerLite's website builderIf you used MailerLite to host a site or landing pages, that content needs somewhere else to live before you cancel. Bluey hosts landing pages but is not a website builder.

Mistakes people make leaving MailerLite

Each of these is recoverable, and each is much cheaper to avoid than to fix.

Leaving the suppression list behindExporting subscribers without also exporting unsubscribes, bounces and complaints is the single most common migration error. The result is that people who opted out of MailerLite receive your first Bluey campaign — which is a compliance breach in most markets and a fast way to breach Gmail's 0.3% complaint threshold on your very first send. Export suppressions and import them before anything else.
Migrating before it is worth itThis is the honest one. Below a few thousand subscribers, MailerLite is inexpensive and genuinely good, and the saving will not repay the effort. Run the numbers on your actual list size and send frequency first — if the gap is a few dollars a month, stay where you are.
Forgetting the MailerLite-hosted siteMailerLite includes a website builder, and some accounts run real pages on it. Those do not move to Bluey, which hosts landing pages but is not a website platform. Rehome them before you cancel.
Importing the whole list, including the dead partA migration is the best opportunity you will get to drop contacts who have not engaged in a year or more. Bringing them across because storage is free is a mistake: they do not open, some addresses have gone stale and now hard-bounce, and a few have become spam traps. They will not cost you money on send-based billing, but they will cost you deliverability on the send that matters most — your first.

Migration FAQ

Is it worth switching from MailerLite?

It depends on your list size relative to your sending frequency, and the honest answer is sometimes not. At 10,000 subscribers emailed weekly, MailerLite is around $89 a month against $30 on Bluey — a clear gap. At 1,000 subscribers, the difference is small enough that the migration effort is hard to justify. Do the arithmetic on your own numbers before you start.

How long does it take?

One to two days for most accounts. MailerLite exports cleanly and its automations are usually simple, so there is far less to rebuild than on a mature ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo account.

What do I gain besides price?

A built-in CRM, transactional email on the same account, behavioural targeting, an AI campaign builder and email verification — none of which MailerLite offers. If you only need a newsletter sender, that breadth is not worth much; if you are already paying for a second tool to cover one of those gaps, it is.

Will my templates and forms come across?

Templates export as HTML and import into Bluey's composer, and MailerLite's markup is clean so they usually port well. Forms are rebuilt, which takes minutes, and you will need to swap the embed code on your site.

What about my MailerLite website?

It does not move. Bluey hosts landing pages but is not a website builder, so if you have real pages on MailerLite's site builder, rehome them somewhere else before you cancel the account.

Free · 7 days

Run both in parallel. Then decide.

Seven days of full access, no credit card. Import a segment, send from Bluey while MailerLite handles the rest, and compare delivery and cost on your own data before you move the domain.