Sure, it might be the best known email marketing software, but what if you could save hundreds (even thousands) of dollars a year by switching to a Mailchimp alternative?
Mailchimp is the king of price hikes.
With a 16% price increase in December 2022 and a heavy reduction of the free plan, Mailchimp’s becoming more and more expensive. Even stricter limits were imposed on free users from March 10, 2023.
Following this trend, Mailchimp just increased its pricing on November 2nd, 2023 for all plans with 1,500 or more contacts. This could cost you up to 14.5% more depending on the plan you use (Essentials, Standard, or Premium).
You’ve probably hit a wall with some of Malchimp’s biggest CONS yourself already and the price is not helping you stay.
The good news is, better and cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp exist.
We compared 11 Mailchimp competitors based on functionality, use cases, user reviews, and of course, price. Which one is best for your needs? And which alternative would save you money compared to Mailchimp?
What are the best Mailchimp alternatives?
At a glance, the best Mailchimp alternatives are:
- Brevo — best Mailchimp alternative by CRM capabilities & price
- Moosend — good option for beginners
- ConvertKit — for content creators
- HubSpot — for big teams with data expertise
- MailerLite — a light solution
- Klaviyo — focused on Shopify sellers
- AWeber — simple and robust solution
- ActiveCampaign — for advanced automation users
- Constant Contact — suitable for NGOs
- Campaign Monitor — intuitive email tool for low-volume senders
- Omnisend — for ecommerce businesses
Why switch to a Mailchimp alternative?
Mailchimp became the go-to email service because of its free and entry-level plans. However, that’s no longer the case.
It’s raised prices a few times in the past year alone. And the most popular free plan now covers only 500 contacts and 1,000 emails since March 10, 2023! Support is only available the first 30 days (and is email only). After that, upgrade or you’re on your own.
What’s worse, once your email list starts to grow, Mailchimp’s cost goes up way too fast.
On Mailchimp, every single contact is a billable contact, even unsubscribers. Yes, you read that right. You’re charged for contacts you cannot email. Plus, if a contact appears on two lists, it’s billed twice!
In fact, Mailchimp’s score on Trustpilot is bad: 1.4 out of 5.
Common pain points we identified and users report over and over:
- Very limited free plan: 500 contacts, 500 emails a day but only 1,000 emails a month!
- Paying for contacts, even unsubscribed and repeat ones
- Getting locked out of your account for no reason and with no support
- Workflow bottlenecks in UX
- No official integration with Shopify
- No multichannel tools
- Very poor value for money
Last but not least, do you need to send transactional emails? Mailchimp will charge you for an add-on of email batches that expire at the end of the month.
An overview of the best Mailchimp alternatives
If you’re looking to move away from Mailchimp, surely your first concern is the features you’ll get elsewhere and the cost. Luckily, there are quite a few Mailchimp competitors with comparable features and often better prices.
Price comparison: find cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp
Here’s a price comparison of the top Mailchimp alternatives by contact list size. Note that all tools except Brevo charge per contact — essentially, for contact storage rather than emails actually sent. This inflates the price a lot.
We compared pricing for sending one email per month to specific numbers of contacts.
Prices based on monthly plans (cheapest plan available)
Comparing ‘free forever’ plans: The best free alternatives to Mailchimp
Is Mailchimp free? It offers a free plan, true, but it’s very limited and the price goes up steeply from there.
Naturally, if you’re an email marketing beginner, a small business owner, or just starting out in ecommerce, you might find that too expensive.
Free plans are an ideal opportunity to test-drive an email tool before committing to a paid plan. Free plans are essentially Mailchimp free alternatives. The best email marketing services usually offer them to get you started.
Email marketing services that don’t have a free plan
- ActiveCampaign: 14-day free trial. Starting price of $15/month for 500 contacts
- Constant Contact: 30-day free trial. Starting price of $9.99/month for 500 contacts
- Moosend: 30-day free trial. Starting price of $9/month for 500 contacts
The 11 best Mailchimp alternatives for 2024
1. Brevo: the best Mailchimp alternative
Trustpilot rating: 4.1
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.5
Brevo is an affordable, user-friendly email marketing software with all functionality to substitute Mailchimp. Users love Brevo’s ease of use, quick setup, flexible contact management, and beautiful email templates.
What makes Brevo the best Mailchimp alternative?
Main advantages over Mailchimp:
- A robust email deliverability infrastructure to help land your emails in the inbox
- It’s a complete CRM suite offering omnichannel digital marketing tools that work together
- Pricing based on the number of emails, not the number of contacts: Brevo lets you store unlimited contacts across all plans. No matter how big your email list grows, it won’t impact the pricing. Mailchimp, on the other hand, charges per contact stored. As one user describes Brevo: “No need to worry about growing your database and seeing your costs explode like with Mailchimp.”
- Transactional emails included in each plan: You can send order confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets, etc. as part of your monthly plan. With Mailchimp, transactional emails are a paid add-on and incur pretty hefty transactional fees.
- Brevo’s free plan is very generous compared to that of Mailchimp, letting you build your email strategy and grow your list in peace
- The platform is available in 6 languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
What people say about us compared to Mailchimp, link to review
Brevo’s email marketing features
- Unlimited subscribers
- Drag-and-drop email builder & HTML email editor
- Customizable email templates
- Advanced list segmentation
- Dynamic personalization
- A/B testing of email content and subject lines
- AI subject line generator on all plans
- Advanced analytics
- Email subscription forms
- Native integrations with WordPress and other CMS
- Transactional emails
Automation tools
Ready automation recipes in Brevo
- Autoresponders
- Visual workflow builder
- Ready automation recipes to use
- If/then/else workflows
- Website event and user action triggers
- Multichannel automations easy to set up: email + SMS + WhatsApp + push
Ecommerce
- Transactional emails (included in monthly email plans)
- Abandoned cart emails
- Detailed ecommerce dashboard: products, revenues, customers, retention, and more
- Native plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop
Multichannel
But that’s not all. It’s also an all-in-one CRM suite, offering omnichannel features and tools.
- Sales Platform for deal pipeline management
- SMS marketing
- WhatsApp marketing
- Facebook ads
- Push notifications
- Landing page builder
- Live chat
- Integrated Instagram DMs & Facebook Business messages
- Chatbot
- Business phone
- Meetings scheduling and hosting
- Payment links
| Brevo | Mailchimp | |
| Trustpilot rating | 4.1 | 1.4 |
| G2 rating | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Capterra rating | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| What is it? | Complete CRM suite | Email marketing tool |
| Price | From $25/mo/unlimited contacts | From $13/mo/500 contacts |
| Free plan | Forever, unlimited contacts 9,000 emails/month | 500 contacts 1,000 emails/month |
| What’s possible with it? | Email marketing, transactional emails, complex automations, sales management, meetings, phone calls, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, chatbot, push, landing pages, ecommerce analysis | Email marketing, email automations, websites, content creation, social media posting |
Don’t take our word for it, this is just one happy business owner (link to review)
Check out our Brevo vs Mailchimp guide for a detailed comparison of pricing and features.
Or you can sign up for our free plan and see for yourself. You’ll get 300 emails a day and unlimited subscribers. We also offer a free and easy migration from Mailchimp to get you started in no time.
2. Moosend
Trustpilot rating: 2.6
G2: 4.7
Capterra: 4.6
Moosend is another affordable email marketing solution and marketing automation platform you can use instead of Mailchimp. It has everything you need to create and send successful email campaigns.
Why choose Moosend as a Mailchimp alternative
Moosend’s main advantage over Mailchimp is that it’s a lot cheaper and offers a generous free plan. Overall it’s a good choice for small businesses and infrequent senders.
Moosend email marketing features
- Unlimited emails
- List segmentation
- Newsletter templates
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Email subscription forms
- Real-time analytics
Automation possibilities
- Automation workflow editor
- Automation templates
- Lead scoring
- Conditional triggers
Ecommerce
- Abandoned cart emails
- Transactional emails
- SMTP server
- Integrations via Zapier and Piesync
Multichannel
- Landing pages
Cons: Unfortunately not as many multichannel features. Also, compared to some other Mailchimp alternatives, it lacks certain native integrations and multichannel marketing features.
3. ConvertKit
Trustpilot rating: 2
Capterra: 4.7
ConvertKit promotes itself as the email marketing platform for creators. This includes bloggers, artists, musicians, YouTubers — basically anyone running a creative business.
Advantages of ConvertKit compared to Mailchimp
- ConvertKit doesn’t charge twice for same subscriber in different lists
- You can create multiple signup forms for different opt-in incentives and content assets. This makes it easy to grow a subscriber list with content upgrades.
- There’s a free concierge migration service if you have over 5,000 subscribers
ConvertKit email marketing features
- Email campaigns
- RSS to email
- Mobile responsive
- Form builder
- Analytics & engagement scoring
- A/B tests
- Option to run a paid newsletter (transaction fee applies)
Automation possibilities
- Visual automation builder
- Autoresponders
- Email marketing automation
- Link triggers
Ecommerce
- Ecommerce integrations
- API
Multichannel
- Landing pages (+ templates)
- Possibility to sell digital products
- Newsletter referral system
- Facebook custom audiences
Cons: ConvertKit’s email marketing tool is optimized with this audience in mind. If that’s not your business, check out ConvertKit alternatives.
4. HubSpot
Trustpilot rating: 3.3
G2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.5
If you’re looking for more than just an email marketing tool, HubSpot is a great Mailchimp alternative to consider. HubSpot’s email marketing service is backed with a full suite of marketing and automation tools, to help you create unique, personalized experiences for your audience.
How HubSpot compares to Mailchimp
Here’s why HubSpot is one of the best alternatives to Mailchimp:
- Marketing automation: HubSpot’s automation features go well beyond simple autoresponders. While Mailchimp offers automated kickback emails and drip campaigns, HubSpot lets you create automation workflows to manage your contact database, pass off prospects to other teams, and even automatically create support tickets. You can also add delays and conditional logic.
- Growth platform: With forms and popups, live chat and bots, ad management, landing pages, and more, HubSpot has everything you need to kick off your marketing strategy, as well as more advanced features that you can grow into. The HubSpot CRM also supports your sales and customer service teams for a seamless cross-functional customer experience.
HubSpot email marketing features
- Forms
- Popups
- Segmentation
- Email analytics and health insights
- Mobile optimization
Automation possibilities
- Autoresponders
- Automate drip campaigns
- Advanced sequences (conditional logic)
- Lead scoring
Multichannel
- CRM
- Live chat and conversational bots
- Plans to support sales and customer support teams
- Landing pages
- Ad retargeting & management
Cons: The free plan has a generous feature set but HubSpot becomes expensive if you have more than 1,000 subscribers. For this reason it’s probably best suited to mid/large enterprises rather than small businesses on a budget. As well, the wealth of advanced functionalities makes Hubspot a better option for experienced pro marketers.
Take a look at HubSpot alternatives too
5. MailerLite
Trustpilot rating: 4.5
G2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.7
MailerLite is another cheaper alternative to Mailchimp and a solid choice if you’re just looking for a simple, intuitive email tool.
What makes MailerLite better than Mailchimp
There are only two pricing plans, free and paid. This means you can access all features on the paid plan (unlike Mailchimp which has different pricing tiers).
MailerLite email marketing features
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Popup signup forms
- Simple reporting dashboard
- Segmentation
- Email templates
- Time zone scheduling
- Auto resend
- A/B testing
- Rich text & HTML editor
Automation possibilities
- Autoresponder
- Simple automation sequences
Multichannel
- Landing pages (+ custom domains for landing pages)
- Free website with up to 5 landing pages
MailerLite is a lightweight solution that offers great value for money given its ease of use. Ideal for small businesses.
Cons: It’s probably not the tool for you if you’re looking for more advanced feature (automation, etc.) Another point to note is that MailerLite doesn’t offer any phone support, even on their paid plan.
6. Klaviyo
Trustpilot rating: 3.4
G2: 4.6
Capterra: 4.7
Klaviyo’s email marketing service is built for ecommerce and integrates easily with Shopify.
Klaviyo excels particularly in advanced analytics and insights. If you want to dig deep into customer data, Klaviyo is one of the best Mailchimp alternatives for this.
What makes Klaviyo better than Mailchimp
Main advantages over Mailchimp:
- Granular segmentation: Klaviyo provides a ton of behavioral and transactional data with which you can segment contacts. It also has predictive analytics to determine Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and the risk of churn.
- Pre-built templates for automation workflows: Save time setting up automated workflows thanks to Klaviyo’s library of ready-made templates for your abandoned cart, welcome, and win-back flows.
- Measure email marketing ROI: Easily track all the sales coming directly from your email marketing efforts.
Klaviyo email marketing features
- Segmentation and personalization
- A/B testing
- 1-click integrations with many apps and services
- ROI-based reporting
- Signup forms and popups
Automation possibilities
- Workflow builder
- Automated workflow templates
- Pre-built autoresponders
Ecommerce
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Native integrations for Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and more
- API
- Product recommendations
- Dynamic data block
Multichannel
- SMS
- Facebook & Instagram advertising
Cons: It gets pricey fast. If you don’t sell online where emails have a good ROI, it might not be the tool for you. Consider Klaviyo alternatives instead.
7. AWeber
Trustpilot rating: 2.5
G2: 4.2
Capterra: 4.4
AWeber has been around since 1998 and is still a popular email marketing tool for small businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs. It offers a huge gallery of ready-made email templates and gives lots of options for email automation and personalization.
Here’s why AWeber is one of the best Mailchimp alternatives:
- An all-inclusive pricing model: With AWeber you get access to all features, no matter what plan you’re on. With Mailchimp, a limited number of features are available on the cheaper plans. For example, A/B testing and advanced segmentation are only available as you move up the different pricing tiers.
- Customer support via phone, chat and email: AWeber customers have a number of options to contact its award-winning customer support 24/7. Mailchimp, on the other hand, has no direct contact support options for its free users, and phone support is a luxury that’s only available on the premium plan (starting at $299).
AWeber email marketing features
- Newsletters
- RSS to email
- Email templates
- Drag and drop email editor
- Signup forms
- WordPress plugin
- Basic segmentation
- Analytics
Automation possibilities
- Autoresponder
- Behavioral automation
Ecommerce
- No transactional emails
- Sales tracking
- Purchase tagging
Multichannel
- Web push notifications
- Stock photos
- Landing pages
Cons: If you’re used to Mailchimp’s sleek interface and quirky branding, AWeber might seem a bit dated.
8. ActiveCampaign
Trustpilot rating: 3.1
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.6
ActiveCampaign’s email marketing tool is just one feature of its many marketing software capabilities.
ActiveCampaign makes it easy to personalize your emails using contact data. You can also split test up to five different email versions to work out which content performs best.
Plus, there’s also a built-in spam tester to check if emails are likely to go to junk.
ActiveCampaign as a Mailchimp alternative
Main advantages over Mailchimp:
- Automation and workflow recipes to get you started
- Suits the more advanced marketer
ActiveCampaign email marketing features
- Newsletter
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Email templates
- Analytics
Automation possibilities
- Autoresponders
- Marketing automation
- Automation map
- Contact & lead scoring
Ecommerce
- Product blocks for email
- Ecommerce integrations
- Conversion tracking
Multichannel
- CRM
- Landing pages
- Site messages
- SMS marketing
- Social media tool integrations
Cons: It’s one of the most expensive tools we looked at, even for its entry tier. If budget’s a concern, you’d better look at ActiveCampaign alternatives.
9. Constant Contact
Trustpilot rating: 3.5
G2: 4.0
Capterra: 4.3
Constant Contact helps small businesses create websites, online stores, branded email marketing campaigns, and more.
Why choose Constant Contact over Mailchimp
- Ease of use and intuitiveness, especially for organizing lists
- Accessible customer support on low priced plans
- Donations tool to support email marketing for nonprofits
No free plan but paid plans come with unlimited emails.
Constant Contact email marketing tools
- Email campaigns
- Email templates
- Resends to non-openers
- A/B split testing for subject lines
Automation possibilities
- Automated email series/nurturing workflows
Ecommerce
- Abandoned cart email reminds for Shopify
- Integrations with Shopify, Eventbrite and Mindbody
Multichannel
- Survey tool
- Donation collection
- Social media scheduling and ads
- Landing page builder
Cons: No free plan. Not sure? Discover more Constant Contact alternatives.
10. Campaign Monitor
Trustpilot rating: 4.5
G2: 4.1
Capterra: 4.5
Campaign monitor is another cost-effective Mailchimp alternative to consider, particularly for lower volume senders. Their platform offers beautiful email newsletter templates for everything from announcements to holiday campaigns to reengagement messages.
What makes Campaign Monitor better than Mailchimp
Campaign Monitor is a good Mailchimp alternative for a few reasons. First off, for most email sending volumes, they’re less expensive than the industry leader. Second, they’re visual journey builder is great for beginners looking to get started with more advanced automations.
Overall, Campaign Monitor users find that their platform is far easier to use than Mailchimp’s. If you’re looking for an intuitive email marketing tool, this is one to consider.
Campaign Monitor email marketing features
- Email campaigns
- Drag and drop email builder
- Over 100 customizable templates
- Free image gallery
- A/B testing
- Popups and forms
- Real time reporting analytics
- RSS-to-email
Automation possibilities
- Automation visualization
- Advanced link tracking
Ecommerce
- Transactional emails
- Various plug-ins / integrations
Multichannel
- CRM plugin
- CMS plugin
- Landing pages
- Social media marketing alignment
Cons: The free plan is almost non-existent with 5 contacts and no support (even though emails are unlimited). If you want a free test before you commit, discover more Campaign Monitor alternatives.
11. Omnisend
Trustpilot rating: 4.7
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.7
Omnisend’s the last alternative to Mailchimp we explored. It offers an easy-to-use platform for ecommerce email marketing, SMS, and automation.
Omnisend positions itself for ecommerce businesses and boasts a variety of helpful tools for running an online shop.
Omnisend email marketing features
- Email campaigns
- Drag-and-drop editor
- List segmentation
- Sign-up forms
- A/B testing
- Campaign reports and click maps
- Email templates
- Analytics
Automation possibilities
- Pre-built workflows
- Ecommerce-focused personalization
Ecommerce
- Ecommerce integrations
- Cart abandonment
- Order/shipping confirmation
- Product recommendations
Multichannel
- Landing pages
- Web-push notifications
- SMS
- Social media integrations
Cons: While Omnisend’s functionality is top-notch, the pricing is steep, even more than Mailchimp’s for certain volumes.
Choosing an alternative to Mailchimp: FAQ
Comparing email marketing services is overwhelming, especially for email marketing beginners. Here’s a quick rundown of the top questions you’re probably asking yourself now.
Is Mailchimp HIPAA and GDPR compliant?
Mailchimp is not HIPAA compliant. They don’t have a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which is needed for HIPAA compliance. Their terms state that Mailchimp users are responsible for making sure their email marketing complies with regulations like HIPAA.
Mailchimp offers GDPR compliant tools such as signup forms and double opt-in.
Is there something similar to Mailchimp?
There are many tools that offer similar email marketing features. Each software comes with advantages and disadvantages, depending on your budget and how you plan to use it.
For example, Brevo is a good Mailchimp alternative if you’re looking for an affordable email marketing service that’s part of an all-in-one CRM suite. SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, live chat, and marketing automation are just a few of Brevo’s other features.
Is there a cheaper option than Mailchimp?
There are several Mailchimp alternatives with cheaper pricing plans (look at our tables above). Many also offer free plans that include higher email and contact limits than Mailchimp.
Brevo stands out due to their pricing structure: you only pay for the emails you send — not your number of subscribers like with Mailchimp. Even Brevo’s free plan comes with unlimited contacts. Mailchimp, on the other hand, can get pricey as your email list grows.
What is the best Mailchimp alternative?
There are many Mailchimp alternatives you can consider depending on your budget, needs, and skills. The best is the one that gives you more than Mailchimp at a better price.
Brevo can be a great choice for both small and large businesses given their easy-to-use interface, wide range of features including multichannel, and much better pricing. Grow your list and business without being punished for it!
Try out some Mailchimp alternatives
Test, test, test. It’s the best way to find the ideal email service provider for your business.
Take advantage of free plans and free trials to get a feel for the software. You’ll quickly start to notice the differences and learn your own preferences.
We hope this guide has helped you see where you can save the most money with Mailchimp alternatives.
Try Brevo and do more for lessAll-in-one CRM suite with vital email features integrated with automation, live chat, push notifications, signup forms and more. And always unlimited contacts. |
