Mailchimp Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get

Mailchimp costs $0 for up to 250 contacts, $13 a month for Essentials, $20 for Standard and $350 for Premium. Prices rise as your list grows.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-13T07:23:10+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-13T07:23:10+00:00

Mailchimp Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get

Mailchimp pricing starts at $0 a month. The free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. Paid plans start at $13 a month for Essentials and $20 a month for Standard, both priced for 500 contacts. Premium starts at $350 a month. The price you pay depends on your contact count. It does not depend on how many emails you send. That single fact shapes the whole bill. This guide explains each plan, what it includes, and how costs grow as your list grows.

Mailchimp pricing at a glance

Mailchimp sells four plans. Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium sit on one ladder. Each step adds seats, audiences, sends and automation. The table below shows the entry tier of each plan.

Prices are monthly rates in US dollars. They rise with your contact tier. There is no standard annual prepay discount on the marketing plans. The monthly sticker is the price you live with. Nonprofits get a 15% discount. Businesses with 10,000 or more contacts can save 15% on Standard for the first 12 months.

What the Mailchimp free plan includes

The free plan is a trial in all but name. It covers up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. Daily sends cap at 250. Sending pauses if you pass a limit. You get one seat and one audience. Email support lasts for the first 30 days only. Mailchimp branding stays in your email footer. Email scheduling is not included. Automation flows are a preview only. You cannot run them properly without a paid plan. The free plan suits a brand-new list. It does not suit a list you plan to grow. Move to a paid plan once you pass 250 contacts or need scheduling.

Mailchimp Essentials: from $13 a month

Essentials is the entry paid plan. It starts at $13 a month for up to 500 contacts. You get 3 seats and 3 audiences. Monthly sends equal 10 times your contact limit. A 500-contact list can send 5,000 emails a month. That covers a five-email sequence to the whole list. Essentials adds A/B testing and email scheduling. It also adds 24/7 email and chat support. Custom-coded templates can be created, but sending them needs an upgrade. Automation flows cap at four steps. That cap is the main reason growing senders leave Essentials. A welcome series with more than four steps needs Standard. Essentials fits small senders with simple needs. It fits a newsletter plus a short welcome flow.

Mailchimp Standard: from $20 a month

Standard is the plan Mailchimp pushes hardest. It starts at $20 a month for up to 500 contacts. You get 5 seats and 5 audiences. Monthly sends equal 12 times your contact limit. A 500-contact list can send 6,000 emails a month. Automation expands to around 200 flows and 200 steps. Predictive segmentation arrives here. So do dynamic content, custom reports and branded templates. Custom-coded templates can be created and sent. A 14-day free trial is available. You can cancel or downgrade to Essentials or Free at any time. Standard fits senders who automate. It fits stores that segment by purchase behaviour. If you run more than one automation, this is the realistic starting point.

Mailchimp Premium: from $350 a month

Premium starts at $350 a month. That price covers up to 10,000 contacts. It stays flat until you pass that ceiling. You get unlimited seats and unlimited audiences. Monthly sends equal 15 times your contact limit. At 10,000 contacts that means 150,000 emails a month. Premium adds phone and priority support. It adds multivariate testing and predictive segmentation. Enterprise single sign-on is included. Dedicated onboarding comes with the plan. A one-month free trial exists for qualified new customers through Sales. Premium fits large teams and high-volume senders. It is far more than most small businesses need.

How Mailchimp pricing scales as your list grows

Mailchimp bills per contact, not per email sent. Your bill climbs in tiers as your list grows. The table below shows monthly prices at four list sizes.

At 5,000 contacts, Standard costs $100 a month. That is $1,200 a year. At 25,000 contacts, Essentials reaches $270 and Standard reaches $310. Premium reaches $620 at 25,000 contacts. Budget for growth, not for the 500-contact headline. Your list will grow. Your tier will follow.

Costs Mailchimp does not put in the headline price

Three billing quirks deserve a line in your budget. First, Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts toward your billable total unless you archive them. Archive unsubscribes after every campaign. Otherwise your next tier jump arrives sooner than it should. Second, SMS is a paid add-on to paid plans only. Text messages are a separate line item, not part of the email plan. Third, Mailchimp bills overages automatically. If you pass your contact or send limit during a trial, it charges the overage. The plan page also offers a pay-as-you-go option. You buy email credits instead of a monthly plan. That suits infrequent senders. It does not suit a regular newsletter.

Bottom line

Mailchimp pricing is simple at the entry tier and steep as you scale. Free works for lists under 250 contacts. Essentials at $13 a month works for small lists with simple needs. Standard at $20 a month is the sweet spot for automation and segmentation. Premium at $350 a month only makes sense at real scale. Check your contact count before you pick a plan. Then check it again in six months. The price follows the list.