MailTimers advertises the biggest free number in the category: 100,000 views a month. It’s a real number. It’s also worth reading the plan table underneath it before you build anything on it, because the free tier is narrower than the headline and the paid tiers are where the product actually lives.
What MailTimers actually is
A countdown timer generator for email, and only that. Pick a style, set the colours, set the deadline, paste the embed. The timers detect the reader’s local time zone, credits roll over month to month, and the higher plans add background pictures, motion-animated timers and Adobe Photoshop timer support. There are ESP partner pages for placement in HubSpot, Klaviyo and the rest.
Their pricing page puts the free plan at 100,000 views a month, but timers on it carry MailTimers branding, run for a maximum of 30 days, and evergreen timers and custom fonts are premium-only. Startup is $9.95 a month, or $7.99 billed annually, for 150,000 views with branding removed, evergreen and custom fonts. Startup+ covers 450,000. Business is $50 a month, or $39.99 annually, for 1.2 million views and adds motion timers. Corporation and Holding go up from there.
So the honest reading of the free plan is: a branded, fixed-date timer for a campaign shorter than a month. That’s still useful. It just isn’t 100,000 views of the paid product.
Where MailTimers is the better buy
- Cheap evergreen. Per-recipient timers arrive at $9.95 a month on Startup. On Alterable they’re a Pro feature at $49. If an evergreen countdown is the whole requirement, MailTimers wins on price and I won’t pretend otherwise.
- Cheaper per view at volume. 1.2 million views for $50 against 500,000 for $49 on Alterable Pro. Timers alone, at scale, they’re the smaller line.
- Local time zone detection. The timer reads the recipient’s zone rather than one you set. Alterable supports full timezone control too, but MailTimers makes the local case the default.
- Nothing to learn. One product, one generator, one embed. There’s no rules engine because there’s nothing to write rules about.
If you send a lot of fixed-date or evergreen timers and never want anything else in the email, buy Startup or Business and stop here.
Where Alterable is the better buy
Start with the free tier, since that’s what the headline invites you to compare. Alterable’s free plan is 10,000 impressions a month, which is far fewer than 100,000, but it carries no branding, has no 30-day limit, and includes every content type on the platform. Which free plan is bigger depends on what you count.
Then the second thing. Alterable includes countdown timers, dynamic images, dynamic products, local maps, surveys and scratchers, and every one is on every plan including the free one. Teams rarely stop at urgency. The timer works, someone asks whether the product shown can reflect what’s actually in stock, and on a single-purpose tool that’s where it ends or a second vendor appears. Pro adds A/B testing at $49 a month, with overage billed at $1 per thousand impressions rather than cut off.
And automation, which MailTimers doesn’t attempt. There’s no API listed, no Zapier app and no MCP server, so a timer only exists if someone makes it in the dashboard. Alterable has a published API, an MCP server so Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can create and update timers, and a Zapier integration in private beta.
Key differences
| Aspect | MailTimers | Alterable |
|---|---|---|
| What it makes | Countdown timers | Timers, images, products, maps, surveys, scratchers |
| Free plan | 100,000 views, branded, 30-day max, no evergreen | 10,000 impressions, no branding, every content type |
| Paid entry | $9.95/mo or $7.99 annually, 150K views, evergreen included | $49/mo, 500K impressions, includes evergreen |
| Top published plan | $50/mo or $39.99 annually, 1.2M views (Business); larger tiers above | $199/mo, 2.5M impressions |
| Also included | Local time zone detection, credit rollover, motion timers on Business | Rules engine, A/B testing, 22 languages |
| Automation | None listed | API, MCP server and Zapier, from Pro |
When a MailTimers alternative makes sense
Read the free plan’s fine print against your actual campaign. If it runs under 30 days, counts to one date, and their branding on the timer is acceptable, the free plan does the job. If any of those three is a no, you’re on Startup at $9.95, and now you’re comparing a paid timer tool against a free tier that includes the whole platform.
Beyond that, the usual question. If the countdown is the entire plan, MailTimers is good at it and cheaper. If you can name the second thing you’d put in the email, you’re choosing between two vendors or one.
What switching looks like
Nothing to export, because both tools generate the image at open. Rebuild the timers you use, swap the image tags in your templates, and your ESP never knows anything changed. Deadlines, timezones and expiry behaviour all map across.
Two checks first. Motion-animated timers have no Alterable equivalent, so if a template depends on one, decide that before you cancel. And if you were using the free plan’s 30-day timers for short campaigns, an Alterable standard timer has no duration cap, so that constraint simply goes away.