Mailchimp Review: Features, Pricing and Who It Suits Best
Mailchimp Essentials starts at $13 a month and Standard at $20, but the bill climbs fast as your list grows. Features, pricing, and who it suits.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-14T01:25:21+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-14T01:25:21+00:00
Mailchimp is still the best-known email marketing tool for small businesses. It is easy to start, hard to outgrow in features, and expensive as your list grows. The free plan covers 250 contacts. Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts. Standard starts at $20 a month. Premium starts at $350 a month for 10,000 contacts.
This review covers what Mailchimp does well, what it costs at each list size, and who it suits best. All prices come from Mailchimp's own pricing page, checked in November 2026. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax. They change often, so confirm the live price before you buy.
Mailchimp is part of Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks and TurboTax. That matters for small businesses that already use Intuit products. It also means Mailchimp's billing and support follow Intuit's systems, for better and worse.
Mailchimp review: plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | Contacts | Monthly sends | Seats | Audiences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 250 | 500 total, 250 a day max | 1 | 1 |
| Essentials | From $13 a month | 500 to 50,000 | 10 times your contact limit | 3 | 3 |
| Standard | From $20 a month | 500 to 100,000 | 12 times your contact limit | 5 | 5 |
| Premium | From $350 a month | 10,000 to 200,000 | 15 times your contact limit | Unlimited | Unlimited |
The entry prices apply at each plan's lowest contact tier. Essentials at 500 contacts costs $13 a month. Standard at 500 contacts costs $20 a month. Premium has no tier below 10,000 contacts, so it costs $350 a month even if your list is small.
Your bill rises with your list. At 5,000 contacts, Essentials costs $75 a month and Standard costs $100 a month. At 10,000 contacts, Essentials costs $110 a month and Standard costs $135 a month. Premium stays at $350 a month up to 10,000 contacts, then rises. Unsubscribed contacts count toward your limit, so clean your list often.
Mailchimp offers a 14-day free trial on Essentials and Standard. Premium has a one-month free trial for qualified new customers. Nonprofits get a 15% discount. Businesses with 10,000 or more contacts get 15% off Standard for the first 12 months. There is no standard annual prepay discount on the lower tiers, so the monthly price is the price you live with.
Mailchimp features by plan
Free plan
The free plan suits a first newsletter and little else. It covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250-a-day cap. It includes one seat, one audience, popup forms, and pre-built templates. It does not include email scheduling, automation, or A/B testing. Mailchimp branding stays in your footer. Sending pauses if you exceed the contact or send limit. Treat it as a trial, not a plan.
Essentials
Essentials adds the basics a small business needs. It includes A/B testing, email scheduling, 24/7 email and chat support, and removal of Mailchimp branding. It allows up to 4 automation flow steps. That cap is the main reason growing senders move to Standard. Essentials allows 3 seats and 3 audiences, with sends up to 10 times your contact limit.
Standard
Standard is the plan Mailchimp markets hardest, and for most small businesses it is the right tier. It allows up to 200 automation flows, predictive segments, dynamic content, and custom-coded templates. It includes one onboarding session and 5 seats with 5 audiences. Sends run to 12 times your contact limit, or 6,000 emails a month at the 500-contact entry tier.
Standard also adds generative AI features at no extra cost, plus actionable insights into audience growth and conversion. It includes SMS as a paid add-on and supports up to 200 automation flows. For a store or a growing newsletter, Standard is where Mailchimp starts to earn its price.
Premium
Premium is built for large teams and large lists. It allows unlimited seats and audiences, multivariate testing, phone and priority support, and four personalized onboarding sessions. It includes predictive segmentation, dedicated onboarding, and premium migration services. Sends run to 15 times your contact limit, or 150,000 emails a month at 10,000 contacts.
Premium also adds enterprise single sign-on and role-based access with 5 roles. It is the only plan with phone support. At $350 a month, it only makes sense once your list passes 10,000 contacts and your team needs the extra seats and support.
What Mailchimp does well
Mailchimp's campaign builder is still one of the easiest to use. You can build a clean email in minutes without code. Its template library is large, and its drag-and-drop editor is forgiving. Its reporting is clear, with open, click, and revenue figures in one place.
Its automation tools are strong on Standard and above. You can build welcome flows, abandoned cart flows, and win-back flows without extra software. Its predictive segments help stores target likely buyers. Its integrations list runs past 300 tools, including major ecommerce platforms.
Its deliverability tools are solid. It handles list hygiene, spam checks, and authentication guidance. Its support on paid plans runs 24/7 by email and chat. Standard and Premium buyers also get onboarding help in the first 90 days.
Where Mailchimp falls short
Price growth is the biggest weakness. Your bill climbs with every contact tier, and unsubscribed contacts still count. A list that grows from 500 to 5,000 contacts pushes Standard from $20 to $100 a month. That is five times the price for ten times the contacts, and it keeps climbing.
The free plan is small. At 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, it fits a hobby list, not a business. The Essentials automation cap of 4 flow steps is tight. Many senders hit it within months and must upgrade to Standard.
There is no annual discount on Essentials or Standard. Annual plans exist only for Premium and Standard at 10,000 or more contacts, and only through sales. That means monthly billing is the norm, with no prepay saving. Pay-as-you-go email credits exist for infrequent senders, but they suit only very light use.
Mailchimp vs the alternatives
Cheaper tools exist. Brevo charges by sends, not contacts, which suits large lists with low send volume. MailerLite and Kit charge less at small list sizes. ActiveCampaign offers deeper automation at a similar price to Standard. Mailchimp wins on ease of use, templates, and brand trust. It loses on price growth and on automation depth at the low end.
Switching is possible but not painless. Mailchimp exports contacts and campaigns, and most rivals offer free migration. Premium includes migration services. If you plan to switch, do it before your list grows. The longer you stay, the more automations you must rebuild.
Who Mailchimp suits best
Mailchimp suits small businesses that want email marketing without a learning curve. It suits stores that need solid automation and clear reporting. It suits teams that value templates, support, and a tool their staff already know.
It suits you less if your list is large and growing fast, if you send rarely, or if you need deep automation on a tight budget. In those cases, compare Brevo, MailerLite, or Kit before you commit. Run the numbers at your real contact count, not the entry tier. The entry price is the cheapest Mailchimp will ever be.
Bottom line
Mailchimp is a good tool at a fair entry price and a steep growth price. Essentials at $13 a month suits a small list with simple needs. Standard at $20 a month suits most growing businesses and is the best value tier. Premium at $350 a month suits large teams with large lists. Pick the tier that fits your list today, and check the price at your list size in a year. If the growth maths scares you, a send-based rival may fit better.