Overview
Mailchimp is an all-round email marketing platform: a drag-and-drop editor, signup forms and pop-ups, landing pages, audience tags and segments, reporting and, on paid plans, automation flows. It connects to more than 300 other services, which is often the reason teams pick it.
Every paid plan is priced by the number of contacts you store, and the monthly send allowance is a multiple of that limit (10x on Essentials, 12x on Standard, 15x on Premium). Unsubscribed contacts still count toward the total unless you archive them, so list hygiene directly affects the bill.
The Free plan is limited to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month and has no scheduling or automation flows. Essentials adds scheduling, A/B testing and flows of up to four steps; Standard is where multi-step automation, send-time optimisation, dynamic content and custom-coded templates become usable. Premium starts at 10,000 contacts and adds unlimited seats and phone support.
Before paying, check the calculator for your real contact count and note that the headline prices are 12-month offers.
Pricing and plans
Free tier · no card
Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends a month (250 a day), 1 audience, 1 seat, Mailchimp branding, no scheduling and no automation flows
At the limit Stops at the limit Sending is held when you go past the free contact limit.
Their branding| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo, 1 seat |
| Essentials | From $13/mo | 500 contacts at entry; sends 10x contacts; 3 seats; flows up to 4 steps; max 50,000 contacts ($385/mo tier) |
| Standard | From $20/mo | 500 contacts at entry; sends 12x contacts; 5 seats; up to 200 flows; max 100,000 contacts ($800/mo tier) |
| Premium | From $350/mo | 10,000 contacts at entry; sends 15x contacts; unlimited seats; phone support |
What it does
- Automation flows
- Customer journeys with triggers and branches; up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium, 4 steps on Essentials.
- Forms and landing pages
- Pop-up forms and hosted landing pages are included on every plan, including Free.
- Segmentation
- Tags and basic segments on all plans; predictive and advanced segmentation on Standard and Premium.
- Testing
- A/B testing from Essentials; multivariate testing and send-time optimisation from Standard.
- Integrations
- 300+ integrations on every plan, plus an API.
- Transactional add-on
- Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill) is a separate paid add-on for app email.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Very large integration catalogue and wide agency and freelancer familiarity
- Forms and landing pages available even on the free plan
- Standard plan offers up to 200 automation flows with branching
- Pay-as-you-go credits for infrequent senders
Limitations
- Free plan is capped at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month
- Essentials limits automation flows to 4 steps
- Unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward the billed contact total
- Headline prices are 12-month offers; full tier prices are only in the calculator
- Overages are billed automatically when you exceed contact or send limits
Who it suits
Good for
- Small businesses that rely on many third-party integrations
- Teams handing email work to agencies or freelancers who already know Mailchimp
- Occasional senders using pay-as-you-go credits
Look elsewhere if
- Budget-sensitive lists above a few thousand contacts
- Developers who want event-driven product email tied to their app data
Pricing history
-
Mailchimp halves its free plan limits
Effective date (announced to customers in January 2026). The Free Marketing plan went from 500 contacts, 1,000 sends a month and 500 a day to 250 contacts, 500 sends a month and 250 a day; free accounts above 250 contacts had sending paused until they archived contacts or upgraded. Source ↗
Alternatives to Mailchimp
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost Open-source publishing and newsletter platform | $18/mo | Free tier | |
| Brevo Email marketing and transactional platform | $9/mo | Free tier | |
| Mailjet Email API, SMTP relay and campaign editor | $9/mo | Free tier | |
| GetResponse Email marketing and automation | $19/mo | Free tier | |
| Notifuse Open-source email platform | $19/mo | ||
| Resend Email API for developers | $20/mo | Free tier |
Questions
How many contacts does the Mailchimp free plan allow?
Up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily limit of 250. Sending is held if you go over the contact limit.
Does Mailchimp Essentials include automation?
Only single emails and automation flows of up to four steps. Multi-step flows with up to 200 per account need Standard or Premium.
Do unsubscribed contacts count toward Mailchimp billing?
Yes. Subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count; archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not.
How many emails can I send on Mailchimp?
Essentials allows 10 times your contact limit per month, Standard 12 times and Premium 15 times.
Sources read for this page