# Email Open Rate Benchmarks (2026)

> Average email open rates in 2026: about 43% overall, 32% to 56% by industry, from 3.6 million campaigns. Why Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, what a good open rate really is, and the metrics to trust instead.

Source: https://sendbroadcast.net/email-open-rate

The average email open rate is about **43%**, and the average click rate about **2%**. Those are medians from MailerLite's benchmark study of more than 3.6 million campaigns sent from 181,000 accounts between December 2024 and November 2025 ([MailerLite, 2025](https://www.mailerlite.com/blog/compare-your-email-performance-metrics-industry-benchmarks)).

That open rate is higher than the real share of people who read your email. The reason is Apple Mail Privacy Protection.

## Averages at a glance

| Metric | Median, all industries |
| --- | --- |
| Open rate | 43.46% |
| Click rate | 2.09% |
| Click-to-open rate | 6.81% |
| Unsubscribe rate | 0.22% |

## Open rates by industry

| Industry | Open rate | Click rate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Religion | 55.71% | 2.95% |
| Non-profit | 52.38% | 2.90% |
| Government | 48.52% | 3.05% |
| Coaching | 48.07% | 1.42% |
| Health and fitness | 47.81% | 1.45% |
| Consulting | 45.96% | 2.41% |
| Higher education | 43.98% | 2.15% |
| Business and finance | 43.34% | 2.37% |
| Online courses | 43.10% | 1.39% |
| Blogger | 43.03% | 3.00% |
| Media | 42.97% | 4.10% |
| Agency | 40.52% | 1.85% |
| Real estate | 40.37% | 1.72% |
| Software and web apps | 39.31% | 1.15% |
| Retail | 37.47% | 1.27% |
| Marketing and advertising | 37.23% | 1.30% |
| Publishing | 34.24% | 2.82% |
| Ecommerce | 32.67% | 1.07% |
| Travel and transportation | 30.10% | 1.68% |

Source: MailerLite 2025 benchmarks, median values. Lists that send often and sell a lot, like ecommerce and retail, tend to sit lower. Community and membership lists sit higher.

## Why open rates are inflated

Since 2021, Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads every email in the background when it arrives on an Apple Mail app with the setting turned on. Your email software sees that load as an open, whether or not the person ever looked at the message. The more of your list uses Apple Mail, the higher your open rate reads, and the less it means.

What that changes in practice:

- **Don't compare open rates from before and after 2021.** The jump is Apple, not your subject lines.
- **Don't judge A/B tests on opens alone.** Apple opens add noise to both sides.
- **Don't use "opened in the last 90 days" as the only sign of an engaged subscriber.** Apple users who never read will look engaged.

## What a good open rate is

If your open rate is near your industry's median, your list and subject lines are fine. Above it is good. Well below it, 20% or less on a list that should be engaged, usually points to a deliverability problem rather than bad copy: your email may be landing in spam or Promotions. Run the [free deliverability test](/tools/free-email-deliverability-test) on a real send to check.

## The metrics to trust instead

**Click rate.** A click takes a decision, so Apple's background loading doesn't inflate it. About 2% is typical.

**Click-to-open rate.** Clicks divided by opens. It tells you whether the people who opened found the content worth acting on, around 7% on average.

**Replies, conversions and revenue.** The closer a metric is to what you actually want, the less it is distorted.

**Unsubscribe and complaint rates.** An unsubscribe rate around 0.2% per send is normal. Complaints should stay under 0.1%.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the average email open rate?

About 43% across industries in 2025, according to MailerLite's study of 3.6 million campaigns. The real share of people reading is lower because Apple Mail Privacy Protection counts automatic opens.

### What is a good newsletter open rate?

At or above your industry's median, roughly 35% to 50% for most newsletters in these benchmarks. Treat it as a trend line for your own list rather than a score against others.

### Why did my open rate suddenly go up?

Most likely more of your subscribers use Apple Mail with Privacy Protection. It records an open for every email delivered to those inboxes.

### How can I improve my open rate?

Get into the inbox first: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and keep complaints low. Then send consistently, write subject lines that say what is inside, and remove subscribers who haven't clicked anything in months.

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## Related

- [Free subject line tester](/tools/free-subject-line-analyzer)
- [Free email deliverability test](/tools/free-email-deliverability-test)
- [Why your emails land in spam](/how-to/emails-going-to-spam)
- [Hard bounce vs soft bounce](/hard-bounce-vs-soft-bounce)