Since its inception in 2001, Mailchimp has become the biggest name in email marketing software. Today, the platform accounts for over 60% of market share with 12 million global users.
What originally started out as a simple email provider has grown to become an all-in-one marketing solution. As well as sophisticated automation, Mailchimp now offers a website builder, social ads manager and even the ability to send direct mail to customers.
For small businesses wanting to manage all of their marketing within the one platform, it’s hard to beat. And this explains why Mailchimp’s closest competitor only accounts for 9.52% of the email market.
But with more features comes higher prices. And unless you’re using all of these available features, Mailchimp quickly becomes expensive.
This no doubt partly explains why search volume for the query “Mailchimp alternatives” has been steadily increasing over the years, up 27.85% between September 2019 and August 2020 compared to the previous period.
Thankfully for marketers, entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp. In fact, the current number of email service providers out there tallies to a mind-blowing 404. That’s a lot to research.
Which is why we’ve done the hard work for you and investigated the top eight cheapest Mailchimp alternatives.
But first, a word on how we narrowed down the choices to just eight alternatives.
Page Contents
What constitutes a cheaper alternative to Mailchimp?
Truth be told, there are more than eight cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp out there. In fact, we disregarded at least two dozen other email marketing platforms when researching this list.
Why?
Because not all are made equal. And not all are that much cheaper. So when approaching this comparison piece, we used the following criteria:
The software must offer essential email marketing tools
Mailchimp can serve as a CRM but many people only use Mailchimp for its email marketing capabilities. And where you’ll save the most money is by looking at alternatives that focus solely on email marketing.
That’s why all of the alternatives in this list have a core set of features including an email editor, sign-up form builder, list management and campaign reporting, at the very least.
The alternative must be at least 25% cheaper
If you’re looking to switch email marketing providers, savings need to be big for that move to be worthwhile. After all, who wants the hassle of switching for just $10 in savings per month?
And even if you’re starting your mailing list from scratch, planning ahead and choosing a platform that’s going to be affordable as you grow is equally as important. That’s why for this round-up, we’ve only considered alternatives with savings of at least 25% across the majority of comparable pricing tiers.
The pricing model must be the same
Mailchimp offers pricing plans based on your subscriber count. And so, for easier comparison, all of the alternatives we’ve looked at do the same. However, there are email marketing platforms out there that charge based on the number of emails sent each month instead of subscriber numbers – you just won’t find them on this list.
And although some email marketing platforms offer discounts for annual subscriptions, all of the prices you see here are also based on monthly subscriptions, which is generally the preferred option among users.
The software must run on its own in-built delivery server
When you use Mailchimp for your marketing campaigns, they send your emails rather than relying on an external SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server to do it. It’s all done within the one platform.
However, there’s a growing number of platforms that integrate with external SMTPs, such as Amazon SES and MailGun, that often work out to be even cheaper. But they require a lot more set-up and are better suited to more technical users.
So for the sake of simplicity and to compare as close to like-for-like as possible, we’ve disregarded those particular types of platforms and will save them for another time.
And now that we have those parameters in place, it’s time to look at which alternatives made the cut.
1. EmailOctopus
EmailOctopus was founded in 2014 to make email marketing cheaper and easier. The dashboard is clean and uncluttered, which reduces the stress of sending an email campaign – especially when compared to Mailchimp and its array of features and, sometimes, confusing labels for things.
It’s a great option for beginners and time-poor business owners or founders who want to send out great-looking and effective campaigns without much bother. The learning curve is short and the customer support is excellent.
EmailOctopus is also popular with small businesses looking to keep costs down. And a growing number of authors, newsletter creators, charities and record labels are using EmailOctopus to build and reach their audience. Plus, unlike Mailchimp, EmailOctopus is affiliate and crypto-friendly.
EmailOctopus features
Similarly to Mailchimp, EmailOctopus includes:
- An email editor with a library of templates
- Embedded inline and pop-up forms, plus customisable landing pages
- Advanced segmentation on list fields and email activity
- Unlimited time-based automated email sequences
- Personalisation using merge tags
- Real-time campaign reports
- Privacy-friendly options – disable open/click tracking
- Direct integrations include Carrd, BookFunnel, WordPress and OptinMonster
What sets EmailOctopus apart is that there are no limits on account users. Whether you’re on the free or paid plan, you can invite however many team members to your EmailOctopus account as you like, whereas Mailchimp limits the number of seats depending on the plan you’re on. This makes it a great choice for organisations who have multiple team members working on their email marketing campaigns.
Price comparison – EmailOctopus vs Mailchimp
EmailOctopus is one of the most affordable email marketing platforms on the market. Compared to Mailchimp, it’s up to 64% cheaper each month. And over the course of a year, that’s a lot of money saved on your email marketing costs.
To keep it simple, EmailOctopus offers just one paid plan with prices increasing as your mailing list grows. Mailchimp also charges you based on your number of contacts. However, they have three different pricing plans – Essentials, Standard and Premium. Each has a top limit of contacts so you may be forced to pay for features you don’t need as your audience grows and you’re bumped up the pricing tiers.
Here’s the difference in pricing between the two platforms based on the number of subscribers:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | EmailOctopus price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | Free | -100% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $24.00 | -54.71% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $36.00 | -54.42% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $48.00 | -64.44% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $60.00 | -64.71% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $85.00 | -63.04% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $130.00 | -51.85% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $250.00 | -53.70% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $360.00 | -62.11% |
2. MailerLite
MailerLite was born in 2010 with the aim to remove the complexity from email marketing while still offering advanced features. The interface is easy to navigate and building emails, landing pages and automated workflows is a breeze.
With a suite of ecommerce tools including abandoned cart email automation, MailerLite is a popular option among ecommerce brands. It also appeals to agencies managing multiple clients, as well as a broad range of small to mid-sized businesses and freelancers.
MailerLite features
As well as the standard email marketing tools, some of the notable features MailerLite also offers include:
- Auto resend of unopened campaigns
- RSS campaigns for sending blog content via email
- Multi-language unsubscribe page
- Dynamic content for selecting which group of subscribers sees what content
- Image editor for applying filters and overlaying text
- A/B split testing
- Interactive in-email surveys
- Website builder, customisable landing pages and pop-up forms
- Automation sequences based on subscriber activity and customer behaviour
- Delivery based on time zones (paid plans only)
- Direct integrations include Shopify, WooCommerce and Squarespace
The email editor is sophisticated with a great choice of features for building great-looking and effective campaigns. However, it’s not always the most intuitive of experiences and sometimes simple actions like swapping an image in a default block can take some working out.
But aside from these minor frustrations, MailerLite provides an impressive toolkit of email marketing features at great value.
Price comparison – MailerLite vs Mailchimp
Depending on your subscriber count, MailerLite can be up to half the price of a similar Mailchimp plan, though the average monthly saving is around 40%.
However, unlike Mailchimp, MailerLite does not limit the number of emails you can send each month. Regardless of your subscriber number, you can send as many emails as you need to, while Mailchimp limits the number of emails to 10x, 12x or 15x the number of subscribers in your list (depending on the plan). So for this reason, MailerLite provides much better value.
Here’s how the pricing compares between the two platforms:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | MailerLite price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $15.00 | +$15.00 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $15.00 | -51.60% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $30.00 | -43.39% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $50.00 | -36.70% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $75.00 | -44.44% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $100.00 | -41.18% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $140.00 | -39.13% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $210.00 | -22.22% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $360.00 | -33.33% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $510.00 | -46.32% |
3. SendX
Founded in 2017, SendX is one of the younger names on this list. However, over the course of four years they’ve built an intuitive, affordable and feature-rich email marketing software to attract over 3,000 customers from around the world.
Many of those customers are marketers and small business owners. Though like EmailOctopus, SendX welcomes affiliate marketers and crypto enthusiasts. And they also offer account management features designed especially for agencies.
SendX features
SendX provides a comprehensive list of features including:
- Robust email editor with access to a library of free stock images
- Video preview image automatically generated in the email editor
- Customisable embedded forms, pop-up forms, and landing pages
- Automation based on triggers including subscriber activity
- 1-click resend to unopeners
- Campaign sending according to geo locations of subscribers
- Dedicated IP for high-volume senders
- A/B split testing
- Direct integrations include WordPress, ClickFunnels, PayPal and Intercom
One cool feature you’ll find in the campaign set up is what SendX calls ‘Smart Send’ – using AI, the platform will identify when a contact is most likely to open based on historical data and send your campaign at that time. This is a great tool if your subscribers are from different parts of the world.
The segmentation feature is advanced with lots of ways in which you can segment your list. However, it’s not the most intuitive of user experiences and requires a bit of self-education, though you can always reach out for assistance, even if it might be a little slow.
Price comparison – SendX vs Mailchimp
Unlike Mailchimp, SendX does not offer a free plan but you can take advantage of their 14-day free trial. The lack of free plan does mean that for those just starting to build their mailing list, SendX won’t be the cheapest option. But once you get over 2,000 subscribers, you start to save up to 42% each month with SendX.
However, a noticeable difference between the two platforms is that SendX offers unlimited emails in their paid plans. Whereas Mailchimp limits the number of emails you can send each month, depending on your subscriber count. So depending on your campaign frequency, SendX works out to be even better value than Mailchimp.
Here’s the difference in pricing between the two platforms based on the number of subscribers:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | SendX price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | $9.99 | +$9.99 |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $19.99 | +$19.99 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $19.99 | -35.50% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $39.99 | -24.53% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $59.99 | -24.05% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $79.99 | -40.75% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $119.99 | -29.42% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $179.99 | -21.74% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $229.99 | -14.82% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $399.99 | -25.93% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $549.99 | -42.11% |
4. Moosend
Moosend has been around for a decade, starting life in 2011. It pitches itself as an all-in-one marketing platform, though the emphasis is still very much on email.
It’s especially good for brands with online stores thanks to a collection of ecommerce-focused features, including cart abandonment email automation and dynamic email content for product recommendations. Moosend also integrates directly with ecommerce platforms including Magento and WooComerce.
Travel brands benefit from automated abandoned booking notifications, weather-based recommendations and specially-designed email templates. And Moosend is also a good choice for agencies as the platform can be customised with your own branding and domain.
Moosend features
Users will find that Moosend provides a robust package of features including:
- RSS campaigns for sending blog content via email
- Lead scoring
- Advanced personalisation using AI for product recommendations
- Real-time analytics including social shares
- A/B split testing
- Segmentation based on demographics and behaviour
- Powerful automation workflows with templates
- Customisable landing pages with countdown timers
- Direct integrations include Prestashop, Convertbox and Drupal
The segmentation feature in Moosend is surprisingly powerful, with options to segment your audience not just by campaign activity and purchasing behaviour, but by email client, device type and even operating system as well. Though this is perhaps only truly useful when dealing with larger mailing lists.
Price comparison – Moosend vs Mailchimp
Moosend has a less generous free plan, limited to just 1,000 subscribers, as opposed to Mailchimp’s 2,000 subscriber limit. So if you’re just starting out, Mailchimp will be free for longer.
But once you grow beyond 2,000 contacts, Moosend becomes much cheaper. Like a few other names on this list, Moosend offers unlimited emails in their paid plans, while Mailchimp has a limit. This makes Moosend even better value with savings of up to 42%, depending on your audience size.
Here’s the monthly prices between the two platforms compared:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | Moosend price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $10.00 | -100% |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $20.00 | -35.50% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $30.00 | -24.53% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $55.00 | -24.05% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $125.00 | -40.75% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $125.00 | -29.42% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $205.00 | -21.74% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $205.00 | -14.82% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $390.00 | -25.93% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $585.00 | -42.11% |
5. Sender
Sender has been around since 2012 and has grown a customer base of startups, bloggers, freelancers, and small-to-medium-sized businesses.
It’s a great email and SMS marketing platform to help ecommerce companies with automated abandoned cart and purchase follow-up emails (and much more!). Sender has direct integrations with Magento, Shopify, Prestashop, and WooCommerce. And once you’ve connected your online store with Sender, you can import product details directly into your email campaigns with just one click.
However, it’s not a great platform for affiliate marketers or crypto enthusiasts as they implement an outright ban on any related content.
Sender features
Many of the essential email marketing tools are available in Sender, including:
- Automation workflows triggered by dates, subscriber activity and customer behaviour
- Email and SMS campaigns
- Simple email drag-and-drop builder and free templates library
- Customizable embedded and pop-up forms
- Smart segmentation based on behaviour
- Built-in image editor and access to library of free images
- Conversion of video URLs into an animated GIF image
- 1-click auto resend to subscribers who did not open a campaign
- Advanced campaign analytics, including date and time analysis, click maps, and subscriber profiles
- Direct integrations include Magento, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, and Prestashop.
Compared to the other platforms on this list, one feature that is noticeably missing from Sender is landing pages, though according to their website, they’ll soon be releasing this feature.
Price comparison – Sender vs Mailchimp
Sender offers a generous free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers, compared to Mailchimp’s limit of 2,000 subscribers. And once you hit the paid plans, Sender is up to 79% cheaper than Mailchimp. Depending on the size of your audience, you could be saving up to $595 per month with Sender.
Here’s what those monthly savings look like for different subscriber tiers between the two platforms:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | Sender price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | Free | 0% |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | Free | -100% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $15.00 | -71.69% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $25.00 | -68.35% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $37.50 | -72.22% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $50.00 | -70.59% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $75.00 | -67.39% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $125.00 | -53.70% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $250.00 | -53.70% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $375.00 | -60.53% |
6. Mad Mimi
Mad Mimi is one the oldest email marketing software on this list, founded in 2007. And it shows, with a dated-looking interface and website. However, if you don’t mind kitsch, it’s a reliable option for beginners and small business owners.
Artists and crafts people selling their wares on Etsy will appreciate Mad Mimi’s direct integration with the ecommerce website. While consultants and freelancers will find the Acuity Scheduling and FreshBooks integration useful.
Once inside the Mad Mimi dashboard, key features are easy to find and creating a campaign is straightforward. However, unlike some of the other names on this list, the choice of email templates is not as extensive or attractive.
Mad Mimi features
The features in Mad Mimi are not as robust as Mailchimp or some of the other platforms featured here, but you will find:
- Automated email sequences based on time intervals and event dates
- Standard campaign reporting on clicks, opens, unsubscribes and bounces
- Customisable embedded sign-up forms for websites
- Display names for lists to enable subscribers to opt out of certain lists
- RSS to email capabilities
- Multi-user accounts
- Direct integrations include Etsy, SurveyMonkey, FreshBooks and SalesForce
Mad Mimi is another email marketing software currently missing landing pages as a feature. However, via the Zapier integration it’s possible to build landing pages for your sign-up forms with apps including WuFoo and LeadPages.
Price comparison – Mad Mimi vs Mailchimp
Mad Mimi does not offer a free plan, or even a free trial. So for those just starting out with email marketing, it’s more expensive than Mailchimp, which offers a free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers.
However, once you pass that limit, Mad Mimi can be up to 56% cheaper each month. So it’s competitively priced, especially given that with Mad Mimi you get unlimited emails, unlike what Mailchimp offers.
Here’s exactly how much you might save when comparing the two platforms:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | Mad Mimi price | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | $12.00 | +$12.00 |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $16.00 | +$16.00 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $16.00 | -48.37% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $27.00 | -49.05% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $42.00 | -46.83% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $59.00 | -56.30% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $89.00 | -47.65% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $139.00 | -39.57% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $199.00 | -26.30% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $369.00 | -31.67% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $549.00 | -42.21% |
7. SendPulse
Founded in 2015, SendPulse has built an impressive user-base across Europe and English-speaking countries thanks to its multilingual website, interface and customer support. Users from Turkey, Spain, Portugal, the Ukraine and Russia can navigate and work in SendPulse in their native tongue, making it a great choice for people from these countries.
With its impressive feature list, it’s suitable for medium to large sized businesses. Though the affordable prices also make it attractive to smaller organisations, startups and entrepreneurs.
SendPulse features
SendPulse is one of the more feature-rich options in this list and, like Mailchimp, could double up as a CRM. These are just some of the features SendPulse offers:
- Landing pages with payment system integrations
- In-built email verifier and spam checker
- A/B split testing
- Automatic resend for unopened campaigns
- Subscriber rating based on campaign engagement
- Segmentation according to list fields and campaign activity
- Customisable embedded, pop-up and floating sign-up forms
- Automation workflows triggered by customer actions, subscriber activity and custom events
- Detailed campaign reports including click maps, device type and geo stats
- Capability for transactional emails (an external SMTP such as MailPoet or PHP Mailer is required)
- SMS marketing capabilities (at additional cost)
- Push notifications and chatbot builder for Facebook and Telegram
- Mobile app available for iOS and Android
- Direct integrations include CreateForm, WordPress, Opencart and OptinMonster
These features make SendPulse a solid choice for users looking for a multi-channel marketing automation platform and combined CRM. However, for those who only need key email marketing functions, the interface and its array of options might be a little overwhelming.
Price comparison – SendPulse vs Mailchimp
Although SendPulse offers a free plan, it’s limited to 500 subscribers versus Mailchimp’s more generous 2,000 subscriber limit. And like Mailchimp, SendPulse gives you the choice of three paid plans – Standard, Pro and Enterprise.
The prices in the table below are based on SendPulse’s Standard plan, which comes with restrictions on the number of certain actions or outputs – for example, the number of landing pages you can create. However, even the Pro plan with SendPulse is more than half the price of Mailchimp at some subscriber numbers.
SendPulse also offers a discount for six-month and annual subscriptions so you could save even more money if you’re happy to be tied in for a set period.
But for rolling monthly subscriptions of the Standard plan on SendPulse, here’s how the costs compare with Mailchimp:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | SendPulse price* | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | $11.00 | +$11.00 |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $17.00 | +$17.00 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $19.00 | -38.69% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $27.00 | -49.05% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $41.00 | -48.09% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $55.00 | -59.26% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $64.00 | -62.35% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $99.00 | -56.96% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $150.00 | -44.44% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $255.00 | -52.78% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | $345.00 | -63.68% |
*SendPulse display prices in GBP, which have been converted to USD using the exchange rate in April 2020.
8. Clever Elements
Founded in 2003, Clever Elements is the oldest email marketing software on this list and just two years younger than Mailchimp. The company is based in Berlin, and so they’ve mostly focused on the German market.
However, with an English-language website, interface and customer support, Clever Elements has attracted big-name global corporations including Coca-Cola and Samsung.
Agencies are well catered for with a white-label solution, customisable interface and a library of mobile-ready email templates. Though this template library is limited and many of the designs look dated.
Clever Elements features
In terms of functionality, Clever Elements is found lacking and the list of notable features is short:
- Full HTML email editor for importing your own coded templates
- Subscriber suppression lists
- Geo-tracking in campaign reports
- Privacy-friendly with the option to disable link tracking
- Detailed subscriber analysis that displays the number of lists each subscriber is in
- Great deliverability with CSA whitelisting and full GDPR compliance
Clever Elements is the only email marketing tool on this list NOT to offer any form of automation or segmentation. These are two glaring omissions on the feature list and something to bear in mind when comparing prices between these eight Mailchimp alternatives. Integrations are another concern simply because there aren’t many.
It’s also has one of the clunkiest interfaces and least user-friendly email editors that we’ve tested for this round-up. And given that Clever Elements is not even the cheapest option on this list, these are hefty concessions to make just to save a few dollars.
But if you prefer coding your emails or importing templates from an email design tool, and if you only need to send bulk campaigns, then Clever Elements might still be worth your consideration.
Price comparison – Clever Elements vs Mailchimp
Clever Elements offers a month’s free trial with a limit of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 emails. So it’s possible to test the platform before making a financial commitment. However, this does mean that you’ll pay more than you would with Mailchimp for lists with fewer than 2,000 subscribers.
But once you’ve outgrown Mailchimp’s free tier, Clever Elements can be up to 44% cheaper each month, with the biggest savings on list sizes between 10,000 and 30,000 contacts. And as Clever Elements gives you unlimited emails, the cost works out to be even better value when compared to Mailchimp.
Here’s how the monthly costs compare:
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp price | Clever Elements price* | Cost difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | $12.00 | +$12.00 |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | $24.00 | +$24.00 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | $24.00 | -22.56% |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $42.00 | -20.74% |
| 5,000 – 10,000 | $78.99 | $60.00 | -24.04% |
| 10,000 – 15,000 | $135.00 | $78.00 | -42.22% |
| 15,000 – 20,000 | $170.00 | $95.00 | -44.12% |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | $230.00 | $130.00 | -43.48% |
| 30,000 – 50,000 | $270.00 | $202.00 | -25.19% |
| 50,000 – 100,000 | $540.00 | $380.00 | -29.63% |
| 100,000 – 150,000 | $950.00 | Custom quote | N/A |
*Clever Elements display prices in EUR, which have been converted to USD using the exchange rate in April 2020.
How all of these Mailchimp alternatives compare on price
We’ve now looked at eight cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp – how they compare in price and what features they offer email marketers. But if you want to see how all eight platforms compare to one another, here it is all in one place.
And as you can see, there’s some serious money to be saved.
| Subscriber count | Mailchimp | Sender | EmailOctopus |
Send Pulse |
Mad Mimi |
MailerLite | Moosend | SendX |
Clever Elements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 1,000 | Free | Free | Free | $11.00 | $12.00 | Free | Free | $9.99 | $12.00 |
| 1,000 – 2,000 | Free | Free | Free | $17.00 | $16.00 | $15.00 | $10.00 | $19.99 | $24.00 |
| 2,000 – 2,500 | $30.99 | Free | Free | $19.00 | $16.00 | $15.00 | $20.00 | $19.99 | $24.00 |
| 2,500 – 5,000 | $52.99 | $15.00 | $24.00 | $27.00 | $27.00 | $30.00 | $30.00 | $39.99 | $42.00 |
| 5k – 10k | $78.99 | $25.00 | $36.00 | $41.00 | $42.00 | $50.00 | $55.00 | $59.99 | $60.00 |
| 10k – 15k | $135.00 | $37.50 | $48.00 | $55.00 | $59.00 | $75.00 | $125.00 | $79.99 | $78.00 |
| 15k – 20k | $170.00 | $50.00 | $60.00 | $64.00 | $89.00 | $100.00 | $125.00 | $119.99 | $95.00 |
| 20k – 30k | $230.00 | $75.00 | $85.00 | $99.00 | $139.00 | $140.00 | $205.00 | $179.99 | $130.00 |
| 30k – 50k | $270.00 | $125.00 | $130.00 | $150.00 | $199.00 | $210.00 | $205.00 | $229.99 | $202.00 |
| 50k – 100k | $540.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 | $255.00 | $369.00 | $360.00 | $390.00 | $399.99 | $380.00 |
| 100k – 150k | $950.00 | $375.00 | $360.00 | $345.00 | $549.00 | $510.00 | $585.00 | $549.99 | N/A |
| 150k – 250k | N/A | N/A | $550.00 | $452.00 | $749.00 | $885.00 | N/A | $799.99 | N/A |
| 250k – 500k | N/A | N/A | $1010.00 | $665.00 | $1,499.00 | $1,650.00 | N/A | $1,599.99 | N/A |
This table is loosely arranged with the cheapest platforms on the left and the more expensive platforms on the right. However, all eight platforms are cheaper than Mailchimp by at least 25% across most pricing tiers. So you’ll be saving money regardless of which alternative you opt for.
How to pick the right Mailchimp alternative for your needs
Mad Mimi is the only email marketing platform on this list NOT to offer a free plan or free trial. But all other platforms do, which means you can take them for a test drive before spending any money.
We’ve outlined the major features each alternative offers in this article. And when you’re shopping around for an email marketing platforms, it’s a good idea to have a list of the essential features you need to get the job done.
But as well as that, each platform offers a very different user experience, so once you’ve shortlisted your favourites, it’s worth creating a test campaign in each one to see which you prefer using.
Saving money might be your first goal, but finding a platform that makes email marketing easy and enjoyable is equally as important.
You should also consider integrations and which other apps you need to connect with. Mailchimp offers more direct integrations than most other providers. But with tools like Zapier and Integromat, you can connect all the platforms on this list (except Clever Elements) with over 2,000 other apps. However, this may increase your costs as both Zapier and Integromat are only free up to a certain point.
Summing up the cheaper Mailchimp alternatives out there
If you’re looking for a simple and more affordable email marketing solution without the feature bloat, these are the alternatives to consider:
- EmailOctopus – one of the best value options with unlimited time-based autoresponders and account users, and advanced segmentation
- MailerLite – great all-rounder with affordable prices, a sophisticated email editor and advanced automation sequences
- SendX – good option for high-volume senders with dedicated IP addresses available and useful access to a stock library of images in the email editor
- Moosend – geared towards ecommerce brands with features including cart abandonment emails and advanced personalisation driven by AI
- Sender – the cheapest of all eight Mailchimp alternatives and another good option for brands with online stores thanks to ecommerce-friendly features
- Mad Mimi – a little tired and dated, and missing landing pages, but a straightforward option for bulk email campaigns
- SendPulse – robust offering of features at a very reasonable price with options for SMS marketing and transactional email
- Clever Elements – more expensive than the others with fewer features but good for marketers who like to import or design their own HTML email templates
And there you have it – eight cheaper alternatives to Mailchimp for you in 2021, fully researched, with numbers crunched and platforms tested.
Thanks for making it this far!
DISCLAIMER: All prices are correct at time of publishing based on publicly available pricing taken from vendor websites and using the day’s current exchange rate where currency conversions have been used. If you spot any pricing discrepancies, please let us know in the comments section below.
