Alternatives

Mailchimp Alternatives in 2026: Official Prices, and When a Switch Makes Sense

Official USD prices for Mailchimp and commonly compared tools — ActiveCampaign, MailerLite, Klaviyo, Brevo, Kit, GetResponse, and Omnisend — checked on November 14, 2026. Honest about when official Mailchimp Free, Essentials, or Standard still fits.

By the The Inbox Review editorial team · Updated 12 min read

On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. How we researched this guide
  3. When official Mailchimp still fits
  4. When an official alternative may fit better
  5. Official prices at overlapping list sizes
  6. Official Mailchimp limits that change the comparison
  7. Official ActiveCampaign limits in the same frame
  8. FAQ
  9. Sources and method

The short answer

Mailchimp is often the default comparison when people look at email marketing tools. Sometimes an official alternative is a better published fit — a different free-plan cap, a yearly-billed contact ladder, a CRM add-on path, or a send rule that is not a 10× or 12× contact multiple. Sometimes official Mailchimp Free, Essentials, or Standard is still the better published match.

On November 14, 2026 (America/Denver), Mailchimp's official pricing page and the official USD pricing API that page loads described four marketing plans — Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium — plus a Pay As You Go credit alternative. Official help on pricing plans, opened the same day, adds the contact and send rules that make a like-for-like quote harder than it looks:

  • Free: up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily send limit of 250; 1 audience and 1 seat with Owner permissions.
  • Essentials: official USD prices start at $13 a month for 500 contacts and 5,000 sends. Official help: up to 50,000 contacts, a monthly send limit of 10× the contact limit, 3 audiences, and 3 seats.
  • Standard: official USD prices start at $20 a month for 500 contacts and 6,000 sends. Official help: up to 100,000 contacts, a monthly send limit of 12× the contact limit, 5 audiences, and 5 seats.
  • Premium: official USD prices start at $350 a month for 10,000 contacts and 150,000 sends. Official help: up to 200,000 contacts before a custom plan, a monthly send limit of 15× the contact limit, and unlimited audiences and seats.
  • Mailchimp's paid Essentials and Standard ladder in the official USD API jumps from 500 to 1,500 contacts. There is no official 1,000-contact Essentials or Standard row.

Official help also states that Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts toward the billable total; archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts do not. Test and transactional emails count toward the monthly sending limit.

Common official alternatives, recorded the same day:

  • ActiveCampaign: no official free plan; Starter from $15 / $19 a month at a 1,000-contact minimum; Plus from $49 / $59. See ActiveCampaign pricing and ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.
  • MailerLite: official Free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month; Comfort from $12 a month ($10.80 yearly-billed) at 500 subscribers. See MailerLite alternatives.
  • Klaviyo: official free plan up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month; Email from $20 a month at 500 active profiles; Marketing list price from $25 at the same step (the official page also advertised a limited-time $1 first-month Marketing offer). See Klaviyo alternatives.
  • Brevo: official free-forever plan; Starter $9 a month or $97 a year, from 5,000 emails a month; Standard $18 or $194 a year. See Brevo alternatives.
  • Kit (formerly ConvertKit): official Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33 a month or $390 billed yearly at the official 1,000-subscriber display. See Kit (ConvertKit) alternatives.
  • GetResponse: official Starter $19 a month or $15.58 annually at 1,000 subscribers, with unlimited monthly sends; official Marketer $59 or $48.38 annually. See ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse.
  • Omnisend: official Free at $0 for up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. On the official pricing page, with the list-size control on the 251–500 band (the Standard card then said up to 500 contacts), Standard displayed a 30% “pay 3 months upfront” offer at $11.20 a month ($48 three-month total, $33.60 due today) and Pro displayed $41.30 a month ($177 three-month total, $123.90 due today), with 6,000 emails on that Standard card.

We could not verify official Constant Contact prices from our research environment (the official pricing page returned HTTP 403). We also could not extract a usable official HubSpot price table from the public Marketing pricing page on this date (the fetch returned a script shell without the rate card). We are not inventing those figures. Related guides: Constant Contact alternatives and HubSpot alternatives.

See ActiveCampaign's official plans

Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy through this link. You pay the same price.

How we researched this guide

Mailchimp plan names, trial copy, the 15% nonprofit request process, Pay As You Go language, and the 15% first-12-months offer for businesses with 10,000+ contacts come from mailchimp.com/pricing, checked November 14, 2026 (America/Denver). Dollar amounts, seats, and per-tier send limits for Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium come from Mailchimp's official USD pricing payload at https://mailchimp.com/forms/pricing/?currency=USD&locale=en. Contact maxima, send multiples, what counts as a contact or a send, and several feature bullets come from Mailchimp's official help article About Mailchimp Pricing Plans, opened the same day.

Other vendors are sourced from their official pricing pages or the official catalogs those pages load, as cited below and in the related guides. We did not invent prices, testimonials, or a hands-on ranking. We also did not fill in Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign tiers the official catalogs do not list.

All dollar amounts below are USD. Mailchimp's official pricing payload also listed other supported currencies; we did not record those rates for this article.

When official Mailchimp still fits

Stay, or start, on Mailchimp when the official published limits match the work:

  • You have 250 or fewer contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day) is enough: official Free already includes a path to try landing pages and forms, with the Free-plan caps above. Several alternatives also have official free plans, but Mailchimp's official Free cap is a documented reason it still wins for some small lists.
  • You want official Essentials or Standard at 500 contacts ($13 or $20 a month). Official ActiveCampaign does not publish a 500-contact price and starts at 1,000 contacts.
  • You want official Pay As You Go credits instead of a recurring monthly plan. Official help says Pay As You Go comes with the same feature set as Essentials and is aimed at infrequent senders.
  • You qualify for Mailchimp's official 15% nonprofit and charity discount, which the pricing page says you request from Billing after signing up, or for the official 15% off Standard for 12 months offer advertised for businesses with 10,000+ contacts. Those are vendor offers, not coupons from this site.
  • Official Mailchimp Premium at 10,000 contacts ($350 a month, 150,000 sends, unlimited seats) is the published package you want, including official phone and cobrowse support listed in help.

If those official limits are why Mailchimp works, a switch is optional, not required.

When an official alternative may fit better

ActiveCampaign is a reasonable official alternative when you want a four-plan, yearly-billed contact ladder, mid-market automation, and — from Plus upward — official landing pages, generative AI, cross-channel marketing, and CRM or SMS add-ons. At 1,000 contacts, official Starter is $19 a month or $15 yearly-billed, with a 10,000-send cap (10×). Official Plus is $59 or $49 yearly-billed. Official ActiveCampaign also advertises a 14-day trial with no credit card needed and a 30-day money-back guarantee. See ActiveCampaign CRM for the official add-on path.

It is not an automatic upgrade. Official ActiveCampaign has no free plan on the pricing page we checked, a 1,000-contact minimum, and Starter caps (five automation actions, five lists, 25,000 contacts, two seats maximum) that can be tighter than official Mailchimp Standard at a similar list size. If official Essentials already covers you, paying for ActiveCampaign Plus is a choice, not a default. For official prices aimed at smaller lists, see email marketing for small business.

MailerLite may fit if official Free's 2,500 emails a month at 250 subscribers is the reason to switch (Mailchimp Free is 500 sends a month), or if official Comfort at $12 a month ($10.80 yearly-billed) for 500 subscribers, with a 10× send cap, is the quote you want. Official MailerLite billing counts active subscribers; unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not count, with a cumulative in-cycle rule stated in the official FAQ.

Klaviyo may fit if you bill on official active profiles and want official Email at $20 a month (500 profiles, 5,000 emails) or $30 at 1,000 profiles, or official Marketing at the published list prices. Official Klaviyo Marketing is a different product bundle than official Mailchimp Standard; see ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo and email marketing for ecommerce.

Brevo may fit if official Starter at $9 a month (from 5,000 emails) or Standard at $18 is the quote you want. The public cards we recorded were framed around monthly email amounts. Confirm how Brevo's official calculator bills your usage.

Kit may fit if you are a creator and official Free up to 10,000 subscribers is the reason to switch, or if official Creator at the 1,000-subscriber yearly display ($33 a month, $390 billed yearly) with official “no sending limits on any plan” FAQ language is the package you want. Official Kit still says “Formerly ConvertKit.”

GetResponse may fit if official unlimited monthly sends on Starter at $19 a month (or $15.58 annually) for 1,000 subscribers matter more than Mailchimp Essentials' official 10× cap.

Omnisend may fit if official Free (250 contacts, 500 emails) or the official Standard/Pro cards — including the 30% three-month upfront offer displayed on the pricing page — match how you want to buy. Official copy says you are billed for subscribers and non-subscribers who received automated messages, and that unsubscribed contacts are not billed. Confirm the live calculator for your list size; we are not inventing a full Omnisend ladder beyond the default 500-contact display we recorded.

Official prices at overlapping list sizes

Mailchimp's official paid ladder does not include a 1,000-contact Essentials or Standard row. ActiveCampaign's official ladder starts at 1,000 contacts and has no official 500-contact row. The table respects those gaps. Parentheses are official yearly-billed monthly equivalents where a vendor published them.

List size Mailchimp Essentials Mailchimp Standard ActiveCampaign Starter ActiveCampaign Plus MailerLite Comfort MailerLite Power
250 Official Free ($0, 500 sends/month, 250/day) if you stay within Free caps Official Free if within Free caps No official AC tier below 1,000 No official AC tier below 1,000 Official Free ($0, 2,500 emails) if you stay within Free caps Official Free if within Free caps
500 $13, 5,000 sends, 3 seats $20, 6,000 sends, 5 seats No official AC tier No official AC tier $12 ($10.80 yearly-billed), 5,000 emails $25 ($22.50 yearly-billed), unlimited emails (fair use)
1,000 No official 1,000-contact row (next official Essentials step is 1,500 contacts at $26.50, 15,000 sends) No official 1,000-contact row (next official Standard step is 1,500 contacts at $45, 18,000 sends) $19 ($15 yearly-billed), 10,000 sends $59 ($49 yearly-billed), 10,000 sends $19 ($17.10), 10,000 emails $39 ($35.10), unlimited (fair use)
5,000 $75, 50,000 sends $100, 60,000 sends $99 ($79), 50,000 sends $179 ($145), 50,000 sends $49 ($44.10), 50,000 emails $69 ($62.10)
10,000 $110, 100,000 sends $135, 120,000 sends $189 ($149), 100,000 sends $239 ($189), 100,000 sends $89 ($80.10), 100,000 emails $129 ($116.10)

At 10,000 contacts, official Mailchimp Premium is $350 a month with 150,000 sends and unlimited seats — a different official band than Essentials, Standard, or ActiveCampaign Plus/Pro at that size. Official ActiveCampaign Pro at 10,000 contacts is $469 month-to-month or $375 yearly-billed, with a 12× (120,000) send cap.

Klaviyo official Email / Marketing list prices at published profile steps we recorded the same day included $20 / $25 at 500 active profiles, $30 / $40 at 1,000, and $100 / $130 at 5,000. Those profile steps are not identical to Mailchimp's contact count.

Compare official ActiveCampaign plans

Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy through this link. You pay the same price.

Official Mailchimp limits that change the comparison

A row price is only useful if both calculators would count the same people and the same sends.

Official Mailchimp help, checked November 14, 2026:

  • A contact is an individual audience member. Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts are included in the contact count.
  • Archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts do not count toward the contact total or the plan price.
  • The contact limit is the maximum you can store at any point in the billing cycle, set when you choose a plan. If the total rises above that limit, official help says service continues and an additional charge can appear, unless you update the tier or reduce the audience.
  • A send is one email to one contact. Official help says test and transactional emails count toward the monthly sending limit.
  • If you exceed 250 contacts on official Free, a hold is placed on sending live or test emails until you upgrade or reduce the contact total. You can still work on emails and templates and collect or import contacts.

We did not find an equally short official definition of an ActiveCampaign “contact” on the pricing page we checked, so we are not asserting that the two vendors count a list identically. If the billable population would differ, official prices at “5,000 contacts” may not describe the same people.

Official ActiveCampaign limits in the same frame

The official ActiveCampaign comparison grid, checked the same day, lists:

  • No free plan on the pricing page; a 1,000-contact minimum.
  • Starter: 10× send cap, one included seat (two maximum), five lists, 15 business goals, five automation actions, email only, 25,000-contact cap. Enhanced CRM add-ons and SMS are not included.
  • Plus: 10× send cap, one included seat, landing pages, generative AI, cross-channel marketing, and access to official Pipelines / sales-engagement and SMS add-ons.
  • Pro: 12× send cap, three included seats, predictive sending, conditional content, advanced segmentation, and attribution.
  • Enterprise: 15× send cap, five included seats, SSO, HIPAA support as listed on the page, and premium CRM integrations such as Salesforce.

Those are vendor-published inclusions, not a claim that we configured every feature in a production account. The public grid does not print a complete CRM or SMS add-on rate card. Get those quotes from the official calculator.

FAQ

Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Mailchimp?

It depends on the official plans and on which list sizes both catalogs actually publish. Official Mailchimp Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts; official ActiveCampaign has no 500-contact price. At 5,000 contacts, official Essentials is $75 and official Standard is $100, while official ActiveCampaign Starter is $99 month-to-month or $79 yearly-billed, and official Plus is $179 or $145 yearly-billed. Compare features and how each vendor counts contacts, not only the row price.

Does Mailchimp still have a free plan?

Yes. Official help: up to 250 contacts, 500 sends a month, and a daily send limit of 250, plus the Free inclusions listed above.

Do you offer a Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign coupon?

No. Official vendor discounts (Mailchimp's 15% nonprofit request process, the advertised 15% Standard offer for 10,000+ contacts, MailerLite annual or nonprofit discounts, official Omnisend or Kit promotions) are the vendors' offers. This site does not publish coupon codes.

Why is there no 1,000-contact Mailchimp price in your table?

The official USD pricing API we recorded lists paid Essentials and Standard tiers at 500 contacts, then 1,500, then 2,500. We are not inventing a 1,000-contact Mailchimp row.

How does Mailchimp count contacts for billing?

Official help: subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts count; archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts do not.

Sources and method

Checked November 14, 2026 (America/Denver): Mailchimp pricing and official USD pricing API at https://mailchimp.com/forms/pricing/?currency=USD&locale=en; official help, About Mailchimp Pricing Plans; ActiveCampaign pricing and official USD catalog at https://www.activecampaign.com/marketing/api/v1/pricing-catalog?c=ac2024&currency=USD; MailerLite pricing and official FAQ and USD plan-price data on that page; Klaviyo pricing and official plan-price data on that page; Brevo pricing; Kit pricing (formerly ConvertKit); GetResponse pricing; Omnisend pricing. Constant Contact official pricing returned HTTP 403. HubSpot's public Marketing pricing page did not yield a usable official rate card in this environment.

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