Constant Contact: Miserly or generous?

I recently viewed Constant Contact's program for nonprofits and wasn't very impressed.  To get free service, you must work directly with kids for literacy, arts or education AND be nominated by a current Constant Contact customer.  Otherwise, you can get a "generous" discount: prepay for 6 months and receive a 20% discount or for 1 year and receive a 30% discount. I'm a huge fan of free and feel as though I must ask: why pay for Constant Contact when you can get services for free elsewhere?  If it's the services they provide, think of this: most people don't like getting survey after survey after email ask after email ask.  It really sucks for lack of better terminology. 

Vertical Response: Email Marketing for Nonprofits (and others)

There are so many email marketing services out there: Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.  Why should a nonprofit go with Vertical Response?  Because they have a free program that allows up to 10,000 emails per month and nice discounts on other services (postcards, surveys).  I'm also a fan of their marketing education library, which can be useful too.  A 98% delivery rate isn't bad either. Neither is social media integration.