Mailchimp Review
Email and SMS marketing platform with automation and a free tier for small lists
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Looking for a Mailchimp alternative? See our ranked comparison.→What is Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is an email and SMS marketing platform owned by Intuit. You build audiences, send campaigns and automated flows, and track opens and clicks from one dashboard. It also does landing pages, basic CRM-style audience management, and light SMS marketing.
Pricing is based on contact count, not just plan tier, so the price you see on the pricing page assumes a small list. The bill grows as your audience grows, even on the same plan. The free plan is real but capped low: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
Mailchimp screenshots
Who it's for
- ✓ Small businesses and solo marketers who want a free plan to start on
- ✓ Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce stores that want built-in e-commerce tracking
- ✓ Teams that want AI-assisted campaign drafting without a separate add-on fee
Who should look elsewhere
- ✗ Fast-growing lists, since the price jumps sharply as contact count rises within the same plan
- ✗ Teams needing strict multi-user permissions on the Free or Essentials plans, which cap seats at 1 and 3
- ✗ Companies that want predictable, publicly listed annual pricing rather than quote-based annual discounts
Pros
- + Genuinely free plan for very small lists, no credit card needed
- + Generative AI features included in Standard and Premium at no extra add-on cost
- + Broad e-commerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix) with built-in revenue tracking
- + 24/7 email and chat support starting at the Essentials tier
Cons
- – Price scales with contact count, so a list of 5,000+ contacts costs far more than the advertised starting price
- – Free plan lost half its contact and send limits on February 17, 2026 (down to 250 contacts, 500 sends from 500 contacts, 1,000 sends)
- – Automation is capped at 4 steps on Essentials; full branching flows require Standard or above
- – Unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts still count toward your plan limit unless you manually archive them
Mailchimp pricing
What you pay for
You pay based on plan tier and contact count together, not a flat seat fee. Mailchimp discloses list prices for Essentials, Standard, and Premium at their lowest contact tier, but the real bill rises as your list grows within the same plan. Annual pricing is not published and requires a sales quote.
At about $13/month to start, it sits mid-pack on price in Email Marketing & Automation.
| Plan | Price | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Up to 250 contacts · 500 sends/month, 250/day cap · 1 seat · 1 audience · Email support for first 30 days only |
| Essentials | $13/mo | Starts at 500 contacts · Sends up to 10x contact count/month · 3 seats · 3 audiences · A/B testing, up to 4 automation steps · 24/7 email and chat support |
| Standard | $20/mo | Starts at 500 contacts · Sends up to 12x contact count/month, up to 6,000/month · 5 seats · 5 audiences · Up to 200 automation flows, generative AI tools at no extra cost · Predictive segmentation, custom-coded templates, popup forms |
| Premium | $350/mo | Starts at 10,000 contacts · Sends up to 150,000/month · Unlimited seats · Predictive segmentation · Phone and priority support · Dedicated onboarding specialist |
Prices shown are the standard monthly rate at the lowest contact tier (500 contacts for Essentials/Standard, 10,000 for Premium); price rises as your contact count grows. Mailchimp advertises 'save 15% on 10,000+ contacts' for the first 12 months on paid plans. Annual billing exists but is quoted through sales rather than listed publicly. Both subscribed and unsubscribed contacts count against your plan limit unless you manually archive them.
Pricing verified July 7, 2026 · source
How Mailchimp's pricing compares
Mailchimp next to its closest alternatives on entry price, billing, and whether pricing is public.
| Tool | Starting price | Billing | Free option | Pricing disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $13/mo | tiered | Yes | Public |
| Brevo | $9/mo | tiered | Yes | Partly public |
| ActiveCampaign | $15/seat/mo | tiered | Trial (14 days, no credit card required) | Public |
| Klaviyo | $20/mo | tiered | Yes | Partly public |
| Customer.io | $100/mo | tiered | No | Partly public |
| MailerLite | $12/seat/mo | tiered | Yes | Partly public |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | $39/seat/mo | per-seat | Yes | Public |
Is Mailchimp still actively developed?
Last significant update: May 2026. Added Analytics AI for automated performance reporting, expanded the site tracking pixel to Wix and WooCommerce (previously Shopify only), and added a Claude connector so Standard and Premium users can build campaigns with Claude or ChatGPT.
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Mailchimp FAQ
Is Mailchimp really free?+
Yes, up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day). Mailchimp cut the free plan from 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month down to these limits on February 17, 2026, so the free plan is smaller than it used to be.
How much does Mailchimp cost for a bigger list?+
The advertised starting prices ($13 for Essentials, $20 for Standard) apply at 500 contacts. The price rises as your contact count grows, even within the same plan, so check the live pricing page with your actual list size before comparing to competitors.
Does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?+
Yes, by default. Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts all count toward your plan's contact limit unless you manually archive the ones you no longer need.
Is annual billing cheaper than monthly?+
Mailchimp offers annual plans but does not list annual prices publicly on its pricing page; you need to contact sales for an annual quote.