Is Mailchimp a Good Deal?
The most recognizable email marketing platform — simple but increasingly expensive
$0–350/mo
Quick Verdict: Is Mailchimp Worth It?
Wait — Deal Score: 5.2/10
| Price | $0–350/mo |
| Free Tier | Yes |
| Best For | You already have an established Mailchimp setup with complex integrations — migration cost exceeds the savings from switching |
| Skip If | You're starting fresh or under 5K contacts — MailerLite or Brevo offer more features for less money |
✓ Pros
- Drag-and-drop email builder is among the most intuitive in the market
- 350+ email templates and 300+ integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.)
- Strong reporting with geo-tracking, click maps, and e-commerce tracking
✗ Cons
- Free plan gutted in 2026: only 250 contacts / 500 emails — nearly useless
- Prices explode with list growth: $90/month for just 5,000 contacts on Standard
- Bills for unsubscribed and inactive contacts — universally criticized practice
Our Analysis
Mailchimp is the most recognized name in email marketing, but 2025-2026 has been a rough stretch for its reputation. The free plan — once the gold standard that helped Mailchimp achieve market dominance — was gutted to 250 contacts and 500 emails per month in January 2026. For context, MailerLite offers 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails for free. Brevo offers 300 emails/day with unlimited contacts. Mailchimp's free tier is now essentially a preview, not a usable product.
Paid plans tell a similar story. Essentials starts at $13/month for 500 contacts, which sounds reasonable until you grow. At 5,000 contacts, Standard costs $90/month. At 50,000 contacts, you're looking at $385-800/month depending on the plan. Critically, Mailchimp bills for every contact in your account — including people who unsubscribed. This practice is the single most mentioned complaint across G2 (4.3/5, only 3.6/5 on value), Reddit, and Trustpilot. You must manually archive contacts to stop paying for them.
The drag-and-drop email builder remains genuinely excellent — arguably the best in the industry for simplicity. The template library is extensive, integrations are comprehensive, and the reporting (click maps, geo-tracking, e-commerce revenue attribution) is solid. If you're already embedded in the Mailchimp ecosystem with complex automations, landing pages, and integrations, the switching cost may exceed the savings from migrating. But if you're starting fresh? There's little reason to choose Mailchimp over ActiveCampaign (better automation), MailerLite (better free plan), or Brevo (better pricing model). Over 400,000 users have migrated away from Mailchimp since 2024.
Cost Breakdown
Free plan too limited to be useful; paid plans overpriced vs ActiveCampaign and MailerLite for similar features
What Real Users Report
The cost is absurd. Small businesses are penalized for having a larger email list. they went from $20 to $90/month just by crossing the 5K contacts threshold, and half of those contacts are inactive.
Mailchimp's drag-and-drop builder is genuinely the best they've used. For simple newsletters, nothing beats it. But the moment you need real automation, you hit a wall.
Since they started paying, their emails are landing in spam more often than when they was on the free plan. Their deliverability has gotten worse, not better.
Worth it if
You already have an established Mailchimp setup with complex integrations — migration cost exceeds the savings from switching
Skip if
You're starting fresh or under 5K contacts — MailerLite or Brevo offer more features for less money
