OttoKit
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Comparison · Mkt Auto
Craft CMS vs MailerLite
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Craft CMS and MailerLite — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Craft CMS vs MailerLite: at a glance
What is Craft CMS?
Craft 6's alphas keep converting the plugin API, one removal at a time
Craft is running two lines with very different energy. The 5.10 maintenance branch ships one-bug releases hours apart and nothing else. Craft 6 is in its seventeenth alpha, still migrating onto Laravel: alpha 17 removes Plugin::settingsHtml() in favour of a settingsForm() built on the Control Panel Form system, replaces the Pane.vue component with a craft-pane web component, and moves another management command onto Laravel's schema API.
What is MailerLite?
MailerLite keeps widening the gap between its simple editor and its drag-and-drop one
MailerLite is shipping steadily across three areas: the Simple Editor, automation workflows, and e-commerce triggers. The latest release gives the Simple Editor a Code block for raw HTML, per-heading and global font sizing, a full colour picker in place of eight preset swatches, and an embeddable Video block for YouTube and Vimeo. Automation gained copy-paste for every step type, not just emails.
Craft CMS vs MailerLite: editorial side-by-side
Craft CMS
6.3MKT AUTO
Craft 6's alphas keep converting the plugin API, one removal at a time
◆ Current state
Craft is running two lines with very different energy. The 5.10 maintenance branch ships one-bug releases hours apart and nothing else. Craft 6 is in its seventeenth alpha, still migrating onto Laravel: alpha 17 removes Plugin::settingsHtml() in favour of a settingsForm() built on the Control Panel Form system, replaces the Pane.vue component with a craft-pane web component, and moves another management command onto Laravel's schema API.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern established at alpha 14 has not changed shape, only advanced: every alpha retires another Yii-era extension point and re-lands it on the new stack, with craftcms/yii2-adapter carrying the compatibility burden. Alpha 17 adds an Inertia-native slideout system that renders any CpScreenResponse as an in-page panel, which is the control panel moving from a legacy JavaScript layer to a genuinely Inertia/Vue one rather than wrapping it. The long fix list — stale permission trees, autosave firing on unchanged values, provisional drafts created on page open, queue jobs stuck reserved — reads as the cost of that churn being paid down alpha by alpha.
◆ Prediction
Expect further alphas that remove specific Yii-era plugin APIs with adapter fallbacks, and the 5.10 line to keep shipping single-fix patches until a Craft 6 beta absorbs the team's attention.
MailerLite
5.0MKT AUTO
MailerLite keeps widening the gap between its simple editor and its drag-and-drop one
◆ Current state
MailerLite is shipping steadily across three areas: the Simple Editor, automation workflows, and e-commerce triggers. The latest release gives the Simple Editor a Code block for raw HTML, per-heading and global font sizing, a full colour picker in place of eight preset swatches, and an embeddable Video block for YouTube and Vimeo. Automation gained copy-paste for every step type, not just emails.
◆ Where it's heading
The Simple Editor is being built up toward the capability of the Drag and Drop and Nebula builders rather than kept deliberately minimal — raw HTML and video embeds are not simple-editor features in most tools. In parallel, the e-commerce trigger set is being decomposed into finer events: abandoned cart split from abandoned checkout, purchase frequency added, product triggers extended to variants. Both arcs point at the same thing, moving work that used to require an external tool or a support ticket into the product.
◆ Prediction
Variant support looks set to roll out from Wix to the remaining store integrations, and the Simple Editor's feature gap with the drag-and-drop builders should keep narrowing.
Alternatives to Craft CMS and MailerLite
Other Mkt Auto products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Craft CMS or MailerLite.
Joomla
Two security releases ship the same day, and 6.2 finally clears alpha
Buttondown
Buttondown ships almost daily, and most of it is someone else's bug report closed.
Flodesk
Flodesk just moved its analytics out of the dashboard and into Claude and ChatGPT.
Formidable Forms
Formidable widens MCP compatibility and locks down signature files
Mailtrap
Mailtrap is assembling a full email operations platform, one category step at a time
See all Craft CMS alternatives → · See all MailerLite alternatives →
Recent activity from Craft CMS and MailerLite
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15h agoCraft CMSAlpha 17 retires plugin settingsHtml and adds Inertia slideouts
- 5d agoMailerLiteSimple Editor: Code blocks, video, and more color control
- 13d agoCraft CMSAlpha 16 fixes double-required migrations and a widget gap
- 13d agoCraft CMS5.10.13.2 fixes a SQL error on empty Categories fields
- 14d agoCraft CMS5.10.13.1 restores rendering of sanitized SVGs
- 14d agoCraft CMSCraft 6 swaps its image pipeline to intervention/image and libvips
- 15d agoMailerLiteCopy and paste for any automation step
- 21d agoMailerLite2 new templates, styled to match your brand 🎨
- 27d agoCraft CMSCraft 6 alpha 14 breaks plugin providers and lifecycle hooks ⚡
- 1mo agoMailerLitePurchase specific product trigger gets variant support
- 1mo agoMailerLiteSave brand styles directly from the email builder
- 2mo agoMailerLiteNew e-commerce automation triggers
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Craft CMS and MailerLite?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Craft CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Craft CMS better than MailerLite?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Craft CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Mkt Auto products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Craft CMS?
Top Craft CMS alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Craft CMS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/craft-cms for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to MailerLite?
Top MailerLite alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "MailerLite alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mailerlite for the full list with editorial commentary on each.