GetResponse Review 2022 – Why I Stopped Recommending GetResponse

For years I told my audience that GetResponse was one of the best places to start with email marketing. I included it in trainings on this channel. I built it into courses. I sent people there with my full recommendation. Then one night, while trying to consolidate my email lists into a single account, I discovered that GetResponse had been quietly charging me undisclosed overage fees for months, and when I raised the issue with their support team, the entire response was: it is in the terms of service.

That conversation changed everything. I stopped recommending GetResponse that same night and started the process of migrating to a different platform. This review covers exactly what happened, how GetResponse’s pricing model actually works at scale, what I switched to, and what you should look for when choosing an email autoresponder so you do not get hit with the same billing surprise I did.

What You’ll Walk Out With

The specific GetResponse overage fee structure that tripped me up and how it could affect your monthly bill right now
Why “it’s in the terms of service” is not an acceptable response to a billing concern on a recurring subscription product
A side-by-side comparison of GetResponse vs AWeber pricing with real dollar amounts from the transcript
The one AWeber feature that eliminates the overage risk entirely as your list grows
Five things to check before committing to any email marketing platform
Honest drawbacks of AWeber so you can make an informed choice rather than just taking my word for it
A free tool at finder.platformproof.com that matches your current skills and schedule to the income stream that fits where you are right now

How I Ended Up Recommending GetResponse in the First Place

My original recommendation of GetResponse was made in good faith based on my actual experience using the platform. The user interface is genuinely good. It is visual, clean, and easy to use even if you have never touched an email marketing tool before. GetResponse offered a free tier that let new marketers get started without putting any money down before they had made any. For someone just starting out with affiliate marketing or building an online business, that combination of ease of use and low barrier to entry made it a reasonable starting point.

I recommended it on this channel, included it in my courses, and built it into training materials for people learning affiliate marketing and internet entrepreneurship. I was, as I said in the video, one of GetResponse’s biggest fans for a period of time. That recommendation stood until one specific conversation with their support team changed my view entirely.

The Night I Tried to Consolidate My Email Lists

At the time of this video, my email contacts were spread across multiple platforms. I had over 10,000 contacts sitting in ClickFunnels from when I was actively using that platform. I had around 300 more in a separate account. And I had approximately 2,000 contacts in GetResponse itself. The goal was to migrate everything into one account, clean up the scattered lists, and operate from a single tool going forward.

I opened a support chat with GetResponse and explained what I wanted to do. My plan was to downgrade from my current Plus plan to the Basic plan, since I was not actively using the features that came with Plus, and then add more than 10,000 contacts to handle the full migration from ClickFunnels. That is when I ran into the first problem.

The support agent told me there would be a charge of around $30 to process the downgrade. Read that back. You are a paying customer. You want to move to a less expensive version of the same service. And the platform tells you there is a fee to do that. I asked directly why I would pay them money in order to pay them less money going forward. That question opened the door to a much bigger problem.

The Overage Fees I Did Not Know About

While in that support chat, I learned that GetResponse had been adding overage charges to my monthly bill every single month because my contact count had grown past the 2,500 threshold that applied to my current plan tier. I was on the Plus plan, which at the time covered up to around 2,000 to 2,500 subscribers depending on how you read their pricing. My actual list had grown past that ceiling, and instead of moving me to the next stated tier or sending a notification, GetResponse had been silently billing me for the overage on top of my regular monthly charge.

When I raised this in the chat, the agent’s response was that it was in the terms of service. That was the complete answer. No acknowledgment that a proactive notification would have been simple and useful. No offer to review the charges or credit anything. Just a reference to a document that, as I pointed out, can run hundreds of pages and that most people who sign up for a monthly subscription email tool are not reading in full before entering their payment information.

The agent also pointed me to a blog post that explained the overage structure in more detail. That blog post existed somewhere on the GetResponse website, but the only way I found out about it was because I was in an active support conversation asking pointed questions. If I had never started that conversation, the blog post would have remained something I never encountered, and I would have continued paying inflated bills without any clarity on why.

Why the Overage Model Gets More Expensive as Your List Grows

The part that bothered me most about this was not the specific amount I had already paid in overages. It was the trajectory the model creates for anyone who is actually growing their list the way you are supposed to grow a list. Think about where a new affiliate marketer starts. You have a few hundred contacts. You grow to 1,000. Then 2,500. Then 5,000. That growth is the whole point. But with GetResponse’s overage model, every subscriber you add past a tier ceiling costs you extra money that does not show up as a clear line item you were warned about in advance.

Consider what could have happened if I had stayed on GetResponse and naturally grown from 2,500 contacts to 25,000 contacts over the course of a year or two of active content creation. At 25,000 subscribers, I would have been paying well over $200 per month based on overage charges. The clearly stated plan at that list size was around $142 per month, meaning the overage model could have been costing me $57 to $58 extra every single month. Over a full year, that is nearly $700 in unnecessary charges on a subscription tool I was already paying for.

And none of it required any action on GetResponse’s part beyond sending a single automated email. A message that says you are approaching your tier limit and here is what happens next would resolve the entire problem. The absence of that message is a choice, and it is a choice that benefits GetResponse financially.

What the Better Approach Looks Like

The fix is simple in principle. When a customer approaches the top of their subscriber tier, send them a notification. Tell them their options. Let them decide whether to move to the next plan or to clean their list to stay within their current tier. That respects the customer enough to give them information they need to make an informed choice about a subscription they are already paying for.

The alternative approach is what I switched to: a platform that moves you to the next pricing tier automatically when you hit a threshold, notifies you that it happened, and charges you the stated price for that tier. No overage. No hidden fee on top of the plan fee. Just a clear tier-based structure where the pricing page tells you exactly what you will pay at any list size before you ever sign up.

That platform is AWeber, and that is where I migrated my contacts after this experience.

AWeber Pricing: What the Numbers Actually Look Like

AWeber offers two structures: a free plan and a Pro plan. The free plan covers up to 500 subscribers and lets you send 3,000 emails per month. There is no credit card required to get started, which makes it genuinely useful as a test environment before you commit any money. If you are starting from zero and just want to see how the platform works before your list grows, the free tier gives you real access to do that.

When you upgrade to Pro, the base fee is $19.99 per month, and the per-subscriber pricing is added on top based on your current list size. At 20,000 subscribers, the total monthly cost comes to $146. That is roughly comparable to GetResponse at a similar list size, and in some scenarios slightly more expensive. But the comparison that matters is not the stated plan price. It is what you actually pay when your list grows past a tier boundary.

With AWeber, you move to the next tier. They do not charge you overages on top of your current plan fee. For lists exceeding 25,000 subscribers, AWeber publishes a clear additional rate: $8 per 1,000 subscribers over that threshold. That is a number you can find on their pricing page before you sign up. You can build it into a financial model. You know what you will pay at 30,000 subscribers, at 40,000, and beyond, because the math is transparent and available in advance.

That predictability is the feature that matters most as your list scales, and it is the feature that GetResponse’s overage model does not offer.

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Honest Drawbacks of AWeber

I will not pretend AWeber is a perfect product, because it is not. There is one area where GetResponse is clearly better, and I said so directly in the video: the interface. GetResponse’s user interface is visual, modern, and easy to read at a glance. AWeber’s interface, as of when I reviewed it, feels a bit dated. It does the job, but it does not have the same polished look that GetResponse delivers. If you spend a lot of time inside your email platform managing campaigns and building sequences, the interface difference is something you will notice.

For most users, that is a minor tradeoff when weighed against transparent billing. A slightly older-looking interface that does not charge you undisclosed fees is a better situation than a clean interface with a billing model built to go unnoticed. But if interface quality matters a lot to you, the AWeber free plan lets you test the product before committing to Pro. Use that free tier to decide whether the interface is something you can work with before you move your full list over.

The other practical consideration is migration time. If you have a GetResponse account with complex automation sequences, landing pages, and years of organized campaigns, moving to AWeber is not an afternoon task. You will export contacts as a CSV, import them into AWeber, and rebuild any automations you had in place since those do not transfer automatically between platforms. For a large or deeply integrated GetResponse setup, build in time to test everything before you cancel your GetResponse account so you are not running both platforms in parallel longer than necessary.

Five Things to Check Before Committing to Any Email Platform

Check the overage policy first. Ask support directly: what happens when I hit the subscriber limit for my current tier? Do I get charged overages, or do I automatically move to the next tier? Get the answer in writing from the support chat so you have a clear record of it. If the agent cannot give you a direct answer, that tells you something about how the platform handles billing transparency.

Ask whether there are automated notifications for tier limits. Does the platform send you an email when you approach your subscriber ceiling? If the answer is no, you need to monitor your contact count manually and compare it to the pricing tiers on a regular basis. That is extra work, but it is better than discovering months of overages in a support chat.

Read the pricing page for large-list scenarios, not just starter tiers. Most people look at the free plan and the entry-level pricing, assume the pattern continues at a predictable rate, and sign up. That assumption is often wrong. Check what you would pay at 10,000, 25,000, and 50,000 subscribers before you commit to a platform. If those numbers are not clearly published, ask the sales or support team to give them to you in writing.

Understand the downgrade policy. If you ever need to move to a smaller plan because your list quality has improved and your subscriber count has dropped, can you do that without a fee? With GetResponse, the answer was no. There was a $30 charge to downgrade, which is not standard across the industry. Know what you are getting into before you need to use that option.

Test customer support before you need it urgently. Open a chat and ask a routine question before anything is wrong. The quality of that interaction tells you how the company will treat you when something is wrong and you need a real answer fast. A support team that leads with “it’s in the terms of service” when you raise a billing concern is showing you their standard operating procedure, not an edge case.

Real Numbers: GetResponse vs AWeber Side by Side

To make the comparison concrete, here is how the two platforms compare at different list sizes based on information from this video and the pricing pages at the time of the review.

My situation on GetResponse Plus: Approximately 2,000 to 2,500 contacts. I was being charged overage fees on top of my plan fee because my list had grown past the 2,500 tier threshold without any notification from GetResponse. The support team’s response when I raised this was to point me to the terms of service and a blog post I would never have found on my own.

GetResponse at 25,000 contacts: Estimated $200 or more per month with overage charges. The clearly stated plan at that list size was around $142 per month, meaning the overage model could have cost an extra $57 to $58 every month without any notification that this was happening.

AWeber at 20,000 contacts: $146 per month total. No overage charges. Tier-based pricing where moving past a threshold means moving to the next stated tier, not paying fees on top of the current one.

AWeber above 25,000 contacts: $8 per additional 1,000 subscribers. This rate is published on the AWeber pricing page before you sign up, so you can calculate your expected cost at any list size without needing to ask support or dig through a blog post you only find during a billing dispute.

At these list sizes, the actual monthly cost is roughly comparable between the two platforms. The meaningful difference is predictability. AWeber shows you what you will pay before you pay it. That is the feature that changes the calculation for anyone who is actively growing a list as part of a long-term business strategy.

Find Your X

Email marketing is one part of a broader online income approach. Picking the right tools matters, but so does knowing which income method actually fits your skills and schedule before you start building infrastructure around it. If you are still working out what that method is for you, the free Finder at finder.platformproof.com can help. It walks you through a short series of questions about what you already know, how much time you have, and what kind of work you want to do, then points you toward the specific income stream that makes sense for where you are right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GetResponse still worth using for email marketing?

GetResponse has solid core features and one of the cleaner interfaces in the email marketing space. The concern is not the product itself but the billing model. The overage fee structure and the lack of proactive subscriber tier notifications can lead to unexpected charges that compound over time. If you use GetResponse, check your current subscriber count against their pricing tiers and compare it to what you are actually being charged each month before making any decisions.

Why does GetResponse charge a fee to downgrade a plan?

GetResponse support told me there was a charge of around $30 to process a plan downgrade. I cannot tell you the internal reasoning behind that policy. What I can tell you is that charging customers a fee to move to a less expensive plan is not standard practice in the email marketing industry. If you are considering downgrading, factor that cost into your decision and ask support to confirm the current downgrade policy before you proceed.

How does AWeber handle it when a subscriber count crosses a tier limit?

AWeber moves you to the next pricing tier automatically rather than charging overages on top of your current plan rate. You pay the stated price for the tier that matches your current list size. For lists above 25,000 subscribers, the additional cost is a published $8 per 1,000 additional subscribers, which you can see on their pricing page before you sign up.

Is AWeber free to start using?

Yes. AWeber offers a free plan for up to 500 subscribers that allows you to send 3,000 emails per month. No credit card is required to get started. The Pro plan starts at $19.99 per month as a base fee, with additional per-subscriber pricing layered on top based on your current list size.

What is the most important practical difference between GetResponse and AWeber?

Based on my direct experience, the most important practical difference is billing predictability. GetResponse uses an overage model that can charge you more than the stated tier price when your subscriber count crosses certain thresholds, and there is no automated notification when that happens. AWeber uses transparent tier-based pricing with no overage fees, and the price at any list size is published on their pricing page in advance. GetResponse has a better interface. AWeber has pricing you can plan around with confidence.

How do I migrate my email list from GetResponse to AWeber?

Export your contacts from GetResponse as a CSV file, then import that file into AWeber. AWeber requires that all contacts on an imported list have given you explicit permission to email them, so make sure your list meets that standard before importing. Any automation sequences you built in GetResponse will need to be rebuilt in AWeber manually, since those do not transfer between platforms automatically. For a large or complex setup, test everything on AWeber before canceling your GetResponse account to make sure your sequences are working correctly.

Does AWeber support email autoresponders and broadcast emails?

Yes. AWeber supports both autoresponders and broadcast emails, which are the two primary use cases for affiliate marketers and online entrepreneurs building an email list. Autoresponders let you build a sequence of emails that go out automatically after someone subscribes, over days or weeks. Broadcast emails go out to your full list at a specific time for promotions, updates, or content releases. Both are available on the AWeber Pro plan.

If I am just starting out, should I use GetResponse or AWeber?

If you are starting from scratch, AWeber’s free plan is a strong option because it lets you get real experience on the platform before committing any money, and you can see exactly what you will pay as your list grows before you ever enter payment information. GetResponse also has a free tier and a strong interface that many beginners find easier to learn on. Either platform can work at the early stages. The difference shows up when your list grows past the tier thresholds, which is the point where AWeber’s transparent pricing model becomes more valuable. Start on whichever free tier you prefer, test both if you want to compare the experience, and make a final call before you grow past 500 subscribers.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “GetResponse Review 2022 – Avoid GetResponse,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/bNSD6HZ40iU
AWeber pricing and plan information referenced in video: aweber.com/pricing
GetResponse pricing and plan information referenced in video: getresponse.com/pricing