Mailchimp alternatives
Email Marketing · mailchimp.com
Mailchimp is an email marketing and automation platform offering campaign creation, audience management, marketing automation flows, and reporting across tiered plans based on contact count.
Also written Mail Chimp.
Switching to EmailOctopus, which covers 60% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Mailchimp alternatives
We compared 14 products and found 11 cheaper options (7 of them cover at least half the compared features) · vs Mailchimp Essentials · 2.5k at $45/mo · scenario: 2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/month, monthly billing, USD.
Mailchimp costs $45/mo on the Essentials · 2.5k plan at 2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/month, monthly billing. We found 11 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 4 of them cover at least 75% of the 5 compared capabilities. The cheapest option that covers everything we compared is Sender at $27/mo (Standard · 2.5k plan), 40% less.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK EmailOctopus Pro · 2.5k plan · missing: A/B testing, SMS marketing | 60% | $20/mo how? ⓘ | $300 / year 56% cheaper | |
Brevo Starter · 2.5k plan · missing: Remove branding, SMS marketing | 60% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | $240 / year 44% cheaper | |
Sender Standard · 2.5k plan | 100% | $27/mo how? ⓘ | $216 / year 40% cheaper | |
GetResponse Starter · 2.5k plan · missing: SMS marketing | 80% | $29/mo how? ⓘ | $192 / year 36% cheaper | |
Buttondown Standard plan · missing: Email templates, Remove branding, A/B testing, SMS marketing newsletter — adjacent | 20% | $29/mo how? ⓘ | $192 / year 36% cheaper | |
Moosend Pro · 3k plan · missing: Remove branding, SMS marketing | 60% | $32/mo how? ⓘ | $156 / year 29% cheaper | |
MailerLite Comfort · 2.5k plan · missing: SMS marketing | 80% | $33/mo how? ⓘ | $144 / year 27% cheaper | |
ActiveCampaign Starter · 2.5k plan · missing: Email templates, Remove branding, A/B testing | 40% | $39/mo billed yearly only how? ⓘ | $72 / year 13% cheaper | |
Omnisend Standard · 2.5k plan | 100% | $44/mo how? ⓘ | $12 / year 2% cheaper |
Which Mailchimp alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best full coverage
- Sender — $27/mo (Standard · 2.5k plan) · covers 100%
- Best paid drop-in
- Sender — $27/mo (Standard · 2.5k plan) · covers 100%
- Need marketing automation or email templates?
- Kit — from $0/mo (Newsletter plan)
- Need remove branding?
- EmailOctopus — from $20/mo (Pro · 2.5k plan)
- Need A/B testing?
- Brevo — from $25/mo (Starter · 2.5k plan)
- Need SMS marketing?
- Sender — from $27/mo (Standard · 2.5k plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Mailchimp has that the top alternatives lack.
- Marketing automation — Automate email sends based on triggers and customer behavior.Missing from beehiiv.
- Remove branding — Remove the provider's branding from sent emails.Missing from Kit, beehiiv, Brevo.
- A/B testing — Test variations of an email to see which performs better.Missing from Kit, beehiiv, EmailOctopus.
- SMS marketing — Send marketing messages by text message.Missing from Kit, beehiiv, EmailOctopus, Brevo.
Price at your volume
The same comparison recomputed at three sizes. Plan caps change who is cheapest.
| Usage | Mailchimp | Cheapest assessed alternative |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 contacts, 4,000 emails/month | $26.50/moEssentials · 1.5k | $0/mocheaperKit · Newsletter |
| 2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/month | $45/moEssentials · 2.5k | $0/mocheaperKit · Newsletter |
| 10,000 contacts, 40,000 emails/month | $110/moEssentials · 10k | $0/mocheaperKit · Newsletter |
Feature comparison
Mailchimp vs the top alternatives, on the 5 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Mailchimp | Kit | beehiiv | EmailOctopus | Brevo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing automation | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email templates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Remove branding | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| A/B testing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SMS marketing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $45/mo Essentials · 2.5k | $0/mo Newsletter | $0/mo Free | $20/mo Pro · 2.5k | $25/mo Starter · 2.5k |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Mailchimp covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Marketing automation
- ✓ Email templates
- ✓ Remove branding
- ✓ A/B testing
- ✓ SMS marketing
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-11-01)
- https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/#content (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-26)
Frequently asked
How much does Mailchimp cost?
Mailchimp's Essentials · 2.5k plan costs $45/mo in our scenario (2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/month, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Mailchimp alternative?
We have not verified a free plan that fits this scenario among the assessed alternatives.
What is the cheapest Mailchimp alternative?
In our scenario (2,500 contacts, 10,000 emails/month, monthly billing), Kit is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Newsletter plan).
What is the cheapest Mailchimp alternative with SMS marketing?
Sender covers SMS marketing and costs $27/mo (Standard · 2.5k plan) in our scenario.
Does Mailchimp have a free plan?
Yes. Mailchimp's free plan is limited to 250 contacts/month, 1 seat.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-10-28 and 2026-11-01, on the vendors' official pricing pages.