The Bottom Line
- Price
- From $13/mo (free plan available). Compare plans
Key facts
- Leading email marketing platform with AI-powered automation, used by millions of businesses worldwide
- Free plan supports up to 250 contacts and 500 emails/month; paid plans offer various tiers
- Includes drag-and-drop builder, audience segmentation, A/B testing, SMS marketing, and 300+ integrations
Pros
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor accessible to non-technical users
- Comprehensive free plan to get started with basic email marketing
- Powerful automation workflows rivaling dedicated automation platforms
- Extensive template library with mobile-responsive designs
- Strong deliverability rates backed by Intuit infrastructure
- Built-in AI tools for subject lines, content, and send-time optimization
Cons
- Free plan capped at just 250 contacts and 500 sends per month
- Pricing scales steeply as contact lists grow beyond initial tiers
- Advanced segmentation and multivariate testing require higher tiers
- Phone support only available on the highest tier
- Removing Mailchimp branding requires a paid plan
What is Mailchimp?
Available on: Web
Ratings Across the Web
Mailchimp holds an aggregate rating of 3.9 out of 5 from 31,997 reviews across Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra, last checked September 17, 2026.
What people say
“Mailchimp customer service has failed immensely, and their deceptive practice of trying to force people off the free tier is disgraceful.” via Trustpilot
Ratings aggregated from independent review platforms. Learn more
Preview
Key Features
- Drag-and-drop email builder with pre-designed and custom templates
- Marketing automation with multi-step customer journey workflows
- AI-powered content generation and send-time optimization
- Audience segmentation with behavioral and predictive targeting
- A/B testing and multivariate testing for campaign optimization
- SMS and MMS marketing campaigns (select countries)
- Landing page and website builder with custom domains
- Detailed analytics with comparative reporting across campaigns
- Integration with 300+ apps including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Salesforce
- Transactional email via Mandrill add-on with 99.99% delivery rate
Pricing Plans
Free TrialPricing checked Oct 5, 2026
| Plan | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
+4 more Show less
|
| Essentials | $13/month |
+6 more Show less
|
| Standard | $20/month |
+8 more Show less
|
| Premium | $350/month |
+5 more Show less
|
Is Mailchimp worth the price?
Mailchimp was once the default email marketing tool for small businesses, and its free tier was legendary.
Not anymore. The Free plan now caps at 250 contacts and 500 emails/month, barely enough to test the platform.
The worst gotcha: ALL contacts count toward your bill, subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed. You pay for dead contacts unless you manually archive them.
For pure email marketing, cheaper alternatives (Brevo, Mailerlite, ConvertKit) send more emails to more contacts for less money. Mailchimp's advantage is its breadth: email + landing pages + ads + CRM + automations in one platform.
But at Mailchimp's current pricing, that bundling is increasingly hard to justify.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
ALL contacts count
subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, and 'cleaned' contacts all count toward your plan limit. You pay for contacts who unsubscribed last year unless you manually archive them. This inflates costs by 20-40% for most lists
Free plan is a demo
250 contacts and 500 emails/month is enough for about 2 sends to a tiny list. Any real business needs Essentials ($13+/mo) from day one
Costs roughly triple every 4x contact increase
Monthly email send limits
Essentials gets 10x your contact count (500 contacts = 5,000 emails). Standard gets 12x. Premium gets 15x. Going over requires upgrading or paying overages
Intuit Mailchimp branding on all Free emails
the 'Sent via Mailchimp' footer only disappears on paid plans
Landing pages and ads features sound free but require paid plans for useful functionality: A/B testing, behavioral automations, and advanced analytics are Standard+
Mailchimp charges for contact-based add-ons
Website Builder is included but Transactional Email (Mandrill) is a separate $20/mo + per-email cost on top of your marketing plan
Reviews
Review Mailchimp, get a free AI guide
Share your experience and we will send you Improve Your Thinking Patterns Using ChatGPT, free.
Across 31,997 verified user reviews on Capterra, G2, Trustpilot
Add your hands-on experience using the offer above to help the next buyer.
Best Mailchimp Alternatives
Top alternatives based on features, pricing, and user needs.
CRM platform for scaling businesses
Autonomous marketing platform with AI-powered email, SMS, and WhatsApp automation.
All-in-one marketing platform for email, SMS, and customer engagement
Established email marketing for small businesses
Email marketing, landing pages, and webinars in one platform
One AI-powered customer platform for all your marketing and sales needs.
Email marketing for e-commerce
Automated messaging based on user behavior
Still deciding?
Most buyers shortlist 2 or 3 tools before committing. Pull a side-by-side comparison or browse the full alternatives shortlist below.
Explore More
Mailchimp FAQ
How does Mailchimp help businesses manage their email campaigns?
Which teams benefit most from using Mailchimp?
How is Mailchimp priced?
What kind of limitations does the free plan have?
Can Mailchimp integrate with other business tools?
How does Mailchimp compare to a competitor like ActiveCampaign?
Does Mailchimp offer advanced testing capabilities?
Source: mailchimp.com
Guides & Articles
Best Marketing Automation Software in 2026
Features Mailchimp
Best Email Marketing Software in 2026
Features Mailchimp
Best AI Email Marketing Tools
Features Mailchimp
Email marketing software statistics 2026
7 min read
Best Email Marketing Platforms in 2026
9 min read
Essential Software for Small Business Management in 2026
10 min read