Mailchimp is an email marketing platform offering campaign design, list management, automation journeys, landing pages and reporting. Acquired by Intuit in 2021, it remains the most widely recognised entry point to email marketing, though pricing has moved upmarket over time.
Mailchimp at a glance
| Best for | Small businesses sending regular newsletters, Ecommerce stores needing basic lifecycle email, Teams wanting design-led campaigns without a developer |
|---|---|
| Category | Marketing, Sales, AI |
| Starting price | Free; Essentials from $13/month at 500 contacts |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | Free plan acts as the trial; paid tiers often discounted for the first months |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Intuit Mailchimp |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Founders | Ben Chestnut, Dan Kurzius |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Founder verified | No |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Mailchimp pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 1 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: Free plan acts as the trial; paid tiers often discounted for the first months.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | Up to 500 contacts and a low monthly send limit; Mailchimp branding included |
| Essentials | From $13 | per month | Price scales with contact count |
| Standard | From $20 | per month | Adds retargeting, more automation and send-time optimisation |
| Premium | From $350 | per month | Advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, phone support |
Who Mailchimp is for
Best for
- Small businesses sending regular newsletters
- Ecommerce stores needing basic lifecycle email
- Teams wanting design-led campaigns without a developer
Not recommended for
- High-volume senders sensitive to per-contact pricing
- Complex B2B lifecycle automation
- Transactional-only email needs
Key features
- Drag-and-drop email builder with a large template library
- Customer Journey Builder for multi-step automation
- Audience segmentation and tagging
- Landing pages and signup forms
- A/B and multivariate testing on higher tiers
- Ecommerce automations for abandoned carts and post-purchase
- Reporting with revenue attribution
- Transactional email via Mailchimp Transactional
Integrations
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- WordPress
- Canva
- QuickBooks
- Zapier
- Mailchimp Marketing API
Our assessment
Mailchimp is still a reasonable first email platform: the builder is good, the free tier lets you start without a card, and almost every ecommerce and website tool integrates with it. The criticism that has stuck is pricing. Costs scale with total contacts including unsubscribed and non-opening addresses on some plans, and the jump between tiers is steep. Many growing senders find the same capability elsewhere for materially less, and the migration gets harder the longer they wait.
What works in Mailchimp
- Very easy to start — free tier, no card, familiar interface
- Widest integration ecosystem in small-business email
- Solid template library and a genuinely good drag-and-drop builder
- Reporting is clear enough for non-marketers to act on
What doesn't
- Pricing scales aggressively with contact count
- Automation is limited compared with purpose-built lifecycle tools
- Free plan applies Mailchimp branding to every send
- No public affiliate programme for independent publishers
Mailchimp competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| MailerLite | Markedly cheaper at the same list size with a clean automation builder. |
| Klaviyo | The stronger choice for ecommerce, with deeper store data and attribution. |
| Brevo | Combines email and SMS with send-based rather than contact-based pricing. |
What you are really paying for
Mailchimp charges primarily on contact count. That means the cost of a list grows whether or not the people on it open anything. Two practical consequences: clean your list regularly, and check whether your plan counts unsubscribed contacts before you assume a quoted price applies to you.
The free plan is a real starting point
500 contacts and a modest monthly send limit is enough to validate that email is worth doing at all. The trade is Mailchimp branding in the footer of every send, which for a business audience reads as early-stage. Treat free as a testing tier, not a launch tier.
Where it stops being the right answer
Two signals that you have outgrown it. First, your automation requirements involve branching on behaviour across several products — that is a lifecycle tool’s job. Second, your list has passed a few tens of thousands of contacts, at which point competitors are usually substantially cheaper for the same sends. See our guide to the best email marketing software.
On deliverability
Mailchimp’s shared sending infrastructure is well maintained and its reputation is good. Most deliverability problems on the platform trace back to list acquisition, not to Mailchimp. Set up authentication properly, use a real reply-to address, and send to people who asked.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Mailchimp pricing page — checked 1 August 2026
- Intuit press release on the Mailchimp acquisition — checked 1 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email editorial@everyany.one and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.