How can I send a 1,000-subscriber newsletter without a monthly email marketing plan?

Hi! For an occasional 1,000-subscriber opt‑in newsletter, the safest “pay only when you send” approach is to use a reputable ESP that sells prepaid credits (so you still get built-in unsubscribes, bounce handling, and decent deliverability) rather than trying to send from Gmail/Outlook or rolling your own SMTP setup.

Two reputable pay‑as‑you‑go options that fit what you described:

• Brevo (Sendinblue) prepaid email credits: You can buy a block of credits and use them whenever you send; credits are designed for infrequent sending and (as of their current docs) don’t expire. You still get normal email marketing features like unsubscribe management and reporting.
• Mailchimp Pay As You Go (credits): Similar “credits per recipient per send,” but credits do expire (currently 12 months), so it’s best if you’ll definitely send at least a few times a year.

If you’re optimizing for “lowest cost possible,” you’ll see people recommend Amazon SES (true pay‑as‑you‑go), but it’s not usually the safest for a small local newsletter unless you’re comfortable with more technical setup (and you’ll need to handle list management, unsubscribes, complaints/bounces, and compliance details correctly—often by adding extra software). For most non-technical teams, an ESP with a proper newsletter interface is the better deliverability-and-unsubscribe choice.

A safe low-cost checklist (works with any ESP)

1. Authenticate your sending domain: Set up SPF + DKIM, and add DMARC once SPF/DKIM are passing. This is one of the biggest deliverability levers.
2. Use a consistent “From” name/address and send from your domain (not a free mailbox).
3. Make unsubscribing effortless: One-click unsubscribe link in every email, and don’t re-add people unless they opt back in.
4. Keep the list clean: Don’t import purchased/scraped contacts; remove hard bounces automatically; consider reconfirming very old subscribers if you haven’t emailed in a long time.
5. Send a small “warm-up” issue first (optional but helpful): If the domain is brand new to email marketing, starting with a smaller segment and then sending to the full list can reduce spam-folder surprises.

If you tell me roughly how often you’ll send (e.g., quarterly vs. a few times a year) and whether you’re comfortable doing DNS changes (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), I can point you to the option that’s likely to be cheapest without sacrificing deliverability or unsubscribe compliance.