When I was seeking a reliable email marketing service for my digital marketing agency, Mailchimp seemed like the best option.
It had a stellar reputation and most marketers I knew were using it at the time for their email marketing needs.
Furthermore, Mailchimp was one of the few email marketing services that offered a forever free plan, wherein you were allowed to send 12,000 emails per month.
At the time, my agency blog had less than 500 followers, so it was an easy decision to make. I created my free account with Mailchimp and kickstarted my email marketing journey.
A few months later, I started 99signals as a side project to document all the strategies and tactics I was using to grow my agency business. A few posts started performing well in search results and with the help of an in-depth guide on link building, my email list grew from a mere hundred to over 2,000 subscribers. My email list had outgrown Mailchimp’s forever free plan.
Up until that time, I was content with Mailchimp’s free plan. It was only when I crossed the limit and started paying the ever-escalating monthly bills, that I realized that my favorite email marketing software had limitations. It was only when I noticed these chinks in the armor that I started considering Mailchimp alternatives.
But before I reveal these alternatives, let’s get one thing straight — I’m not suggesting that Mailchimp is not a good email marketing tool.
On the contrary, Mailchimp is a phenomenally useful tool, packed with features most marketers and bloggers will find extremely valuable in their quest to engage their followers.
It is the preferred email marketing service provider (ESP) for several businesses and bloggers worldwide. And from a market share standpoint, Mailchimp has no competitors. It commands a market share of over 60% in the email marketing space, dwarfing all the other major players in the segment.
That said, it’s not the best email marketing service for every business and blogger out there.
3 Reasons Why You Need to Consider Mailchimp Alternatives
From my own personal experience, I found 3 main reasons why Mailchimp alternatives are worth considering:
1. Steep Learning Curve
One of the most common complaints users have about Mailchimp is that it has a steep learning curve.
For someone who’s new to email marketing, the interface can seem convoluted and it can definitely take a while before you zero-in on the perfect email template for your business.
It’s definitely not a beginner-friendly tool and it’ll take time before you master all the features within the tool.
2. The Limitations of the Forever Free Plan
Mailchimp is widely known for its forever free plan. It’s perhaps the best “freemium” plan at the moment (second only to Brevo’s forever free plan). But it’s not without its limitations.
After Intuit’s acquisition of Mailchimp in 2021, the free plan’s offerings have become less enticing. Previously, you could send up to 12,000 emails monthly, but this has been reduced to just 1,000 emails per month. Additionally, the subscriber limit on the free plan dropped from 2,000 to a mere 500.
Once you cross that limit, you need to upgrade to one of their paid plans. Furthermore, some of Mailchimp’s best features are not available under the free plan, including my favorite Mailchimp feature — Send Time Optimization.
Send Time Optimization uses data science to determine when your subscribers are most likely to engage, and sends your emails at that time. You no longer have to worry about the right time to send your emails. Unfortunately, in order to use Send Time Optimization, you’ll need to upgrade to one of their paid plans.
[Side note: Check out this resource for a more detailed take on Mailchimp pricing]
3. Lack of Customer Support
I judge brands by the quality of their customer support. Sadly, Mailchimp’s customer support leaves a lot to be desired.
If you’re on the forever free plan, there is no email and chat support. You’ll have to rely on their knowledge base to learn the nitty-gritties of email marketing. Mailchimp cites cost control as the reason for not providing adequate customer service which I find really strange for a brand that commands over 60% market share in the ESP space.
Most of the Mailchimp competitors featured below provide exceptional customer service.
If you’re reading this article, you are likely seeking an alternative service to Mailchimp and perhaps you have your own reasons for doing so. You’ve come to the right place.
In this article, I’ll reveal 8 of the best Mailchimp alternatives and explore some of their key features and pricing plans.
8 Best Alternatives to Mailchimp
Pricing: Starts at $9/mo for 500 subscribers; sign up for a 30-day free trial
Special Offer: Get 25% off your first three months when you switch from Mailchimp to Moosend; Use promo code MC25
If you’re an existing Mailchimp user who’s concerned with the escalating monthly fees, Moosend steps in as the budget-friendly Mailchimp alternative that offers the same features.
Indeed, if you’re making the switch from Mailchimp to Moosend, you’ll find that Moosend is more than 45% cheaper on average.
But let’s dive a bit deeper into what Moosend brings to the table.
Moosend is an email marketing and marketing automation platform designed to cater to both beginners and seasoned marketers. Its user-friendly interface is paired with an impressive suite of features that can challenge other Mailchimp competitors.
With Moosend’s drag-and-drop email editor and automation toolkit, you can seamlessly design and roll out effective email campaigns that resonate with your audience. It also holds a strong sender reputation and effortlessly integrates with various third-party apps and services.
With a focus on user experience, versatility, and delivering high-end features at a fraction of the cost, Moosend is an option worth exploring if you want to get the most bang for your buck.
Moosend: Key Features
- Easy Migration from Mailchimp: Transitioning from Mailchimp to Moosend is hassle-free. With intuitive migration tools, you can seamlessly transfer your contacts, templates, and campaigns, ensuring no disruption to your ongoing marketing strategies.
- Drag-and-Drop Email Editor: Crafting professional-looking emails becomes a breeze with Moosend’s intuitive editor. No coding required; just drag, drop, and design.
- Marketing Automation: Moosend’s automation tools let you set up trigger-based campaigns, allowing for more personalized interactions with your subscribers. From welcome emails to cart abandonment reminders, the platform automates tasks based on user behaviors.
- Segmentation and Personalization: Send targeted emails to specific subscriber groups with Moosend’s advanced segmentation tools. You can also personalize your content to resonate more with individual recipients.
- Detailed Analytics: Track the performance of your campaigns with in-depth metrics. From open rates to click-through rates and beyond, Moosend’s analytics provide actionable insights.
- Integration Capabilities: Moosend seamlessly integrates with a host of third-party apps and platforms, ensuring you can connect it with your existing tech stack or eCommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce.
Moosend: Pricing
Moosend follows a simple list-based pricing structure. You can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Moosend’s Pro plan to try out all the premium features.
- Free Trial – 30 days (No credit card required)
- Pro – $9/mo (500 subscribers, unlimited emails, automation workflows, landing pages & forms)
- Enterprise – Custom
Note: The pricing of Pro will vary based on the number of subscribers in your email list.
Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Moosend Pro
Limited Time Offer: Get 25% off your first three months when you switch from Mailchimp to Moosend; Use promo code MC25
2. Brevo (formerly SendinBlue)
Pricing: Starts at $25/mo for unlimited subscribers; sign up for Brevo’s plan
With over a decade of experience in the email marketing arena, Brevo (formerly SendinBlue) is one of the leading email marketing and automation platforms on the market. It offers a broad range of tools to help you optimize your digital communication strategies, drive customer engagement, and enhance you overall marketing ROI.
Whether it’s designing visually compelling emails, segmenting audience lists for targeted campaigns, or automating complex customer journeys, Brevo provides a complete toolkit tailored to meet the diverse needs of small businesses and startups.
If you’re looking for a feature-rich alternative to Mailchimp, Brevo is a strong contender.
One key difference between Brevo and Mailchimp is their pricing structure. Brevo’s pricing is based on the number of emails sent, whereas Mailchimp’s pricing is often based on the number of contacts. This can make Brevo more affordable for businesses that have a large contact list but don’t send emails frequently.
Brevo’s free plan allows you to send 300 emails per day. Despite being free, it lets you have an unlimited number of contacts in your list and comes with email automation capabilities.
Brevo: Key Features
- Marketing Automation: Set up automated workflows for email campaigns, segmenting contacts based on behavior, scoring leads, or other criteria.
- Segmentation: Organize your contact list by demographics, behavior, or custom parameters to tailor campaigns.
- A/B Testing: Test different versions of emails to find out which one performs better in terms of open rates, click-through rates, and more.
- Landing Pages: Design and create custom landing pages to capture leads or promote specific products/events.
- Reporting and Analytics: Gain insights into campaign performance with detailed metrics like open rate, click rate, and bounce rate.
Brevo Pricing
As mentioned previously, Brevo’s pricing doesn’t rely on list size, but revolves around the volume of emails you send each month.
- Free – $0/mo (300 emails/day, drag and drop editor)
- Starter – $25/mo (Starts from 20,000 emails/mo; No daily sending limit, basic analytics)
- Business – $65/mo (Starts from 20,000 emails/mo; Advanced analytics, marketing automation)
- Brevo Plus – Custom (Enterprise-grade security, advanced integrations)
Sign up for Brevo’s free plan
Pricing: Starts at $16/mo for 500 subscribers; sign up for Omnisend’s free plan
If you’re in the eCommerce space and are looking to improve your omnichannel communication, Omnisend should be your first option.
SMS automation, Facebook custom audiences, and Google remarketing lists are some of the most important features for advanced eCommerce marketing automation. If your business is growing and you’re seeking a great Mailchimp alternative for more advanced eCommerce marketing automation, you should seriously consider Omnisend.
You can also use Omnisend’s easy-to-use Mailchimp migration tool to seamlessly transfer all your data from Mailchimp to Omnisend.
In fact, Omnisend is currently running a special offer for users who are planning to migrate from Mailchimp. You can find out more about this Omnisend Mailchimp migration offer here and understand the steps involved in making the switch from Mailchimp to Omnisend.
Omnisend: Key Features
- Omnichannel Approach: Beyond email, SMS, and push notifications, Omnisend also supports channels like Facebook Custom Audiences and Google Customer Match to provide a unified marketing approach across multiple channels.
- Drag-and-Drop Email Builder: Easily design professional emails without any coding knowledge.
- Pre-built Workflows: Automate common e-commerce sequences such as cart abandonment, post-purchase follow-ups, and welcome series.
- Push Notifications: Engage customers with web browser notifications, even if they’re not on your website.
- Integration: Omnisend can integrate with a wide variety of e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and others.
Omnisend Pricing
Omnisend offers a free plan, where you can send 500 emails, 50 SMS, and 60 web push notifications to 250 contacts every month. You’ll need to upgrade to a higher-tiered plan to access more advanced features and higher limits.
Omnisend follows list-based pricing, which means you pay based on the number of subscribers in your email list. The pricing of Standard and Pro varies depending on the number of contacts in your email list.
- Free – $0/mo (250 contacts, 500 emails/mo, 50 SMS alerts, 60 web push notifications)
- Standard – Starts at $16/mo (500 contacts, 6000 emails/mo, 60 SMS alerts, unlimited web push notifications)
- Pro – Starts at $59/mo (2500 contacts, unlimited emails, 3933 SMS alerts, unlimited web push notifications)
Click here to sign up for Omnisend
Side note: If you’re planning to migrate from Mailchimp to Omnisend, use Omnisend’s Mailchimp Migration tool to easily move your data between the two platforms.
Pricing: Lifetime plan starting at $49 for 5000 subscribers; get lifetime access to SendFox
Launched in November 2019 by serial entrepreneur Noah Kagan (founder of AppSumo and KingSumo), SendFox is an email marketing tool designed specifically for content creators.
SendFox was created as a response to the challenges that Noah and his team were facing with email marketing at AppSumo. Dissatisfied with prevailing email marketing services, including Mailchimp, Noah aimed to introduce an email marketing tool that was both user-friendly and affordable.
To be honest, when I reviewed SendFox back in November 2019, I found it lacking several key features.
Since then, SendFox has worked on adding some new features, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
I’d like to see more email templates, integrations, automation triggers, and font types added to the mix.
I wouldn’t include SendFox in the same league as other Mailchimp alternatives like Moosend and Brevo, but if you’re on a shoestring budget and tired of the restrictions with Mailchimp’s free plan, then you should definitely try SendFox.
SendFox: Key Features
- Smart Campaigns: Automatically generate emails based on RSS feeds, ensuring recent content is sent to subscribers without manual intervention.
- Automated Email Campaigns: Set up automated email sequences for subscribers, ensuring continuous engagement with minimal effort.
- Lifetime Deal: Unlike many other platforms that charge monthly, SendFox offers a one-time payment option, making it budget-friendly for many users.
- Straightforward Interface: Designed with simplicity in mind, the platform is user-friendly even for those new to email marketing.
To learn more about SendFox’s key features and functionalities, you can watch my in-depth review and walkthrough below or read the accompanying article here.
SendFox Pricing
SendFox offers a free plan and a lifetime plan that’s currently live at AppSumo. You can get lifetime access to SendFox for just $49 and send unlimited emails to 5000 subscribers.
SendFox’s lifetime plan has five licence tiers, ranging from 5000 to 25000 subscribers.
- Free – $0/mo (1000 subscribers, throttled sends per month)
- Lifetime plan – $49 (5000 subscribers, unlimited sends, automations, smart pages, and forms)
This deal has been live at AppSumo since October 2019. But since this is AppSumo’s very own email marketing tool, you can expect it to be live for a longer duration than some of the other deals on AppSumo. Because of the lifetime access deal on AppSumo, SendFox is currently the most affordable email marketing tool on the market.
Side note: To remove the SendFox branding from your emails and optimize sending deliverability, you’ll need to opt for the Empire add-on plan which is priced at $18/mo.
Get lifetime access to SendFox for just $49
Pricing: Starts at $14/mo for 750 contacts; sign up for iContact’s free plan
iContact is an email marketing software that offers a wide range of tools to help you market your business, grow your email lists, and engage with your audience effectively and easily.
With iContact’s intuitive drag-and-drop email editor, you can design and send beautiful emails using responsive templates that adapt seamlessly to any device, all without the need for coding.
iContact’s robust segmentation and automation features mirror some of the best aspects of Mailchimp, ensuring a smooth transition for users. Additionally, its pricing structure can be more favorable for certain businesses, especially when considering the feature-to-cost ratio.
All in all, iContact is a great alternative to Mailchimp and it strikes the perfect balance between functionality and user experience.
iContact: Key Features
- Segmentation Tools: Customize your messages by segmenting your audience based on various criteria like behavior, demographics, or past interactions.
- Responsive Email Design: Emails automatically adjust to fit any device, ensuring a consistent viewing experience.
- Advanced Reporting: Get insights into campaign performance, subscriber engagement, and other metrics to fine-tune your strategy.
- SpamCheck: This feature evaluates your emails against common spam filters, providing recommendations to improve deliverability before you send them out.
iContact Pricing
iContact offers list-based pricing with seven tiers. iContact’s Test plan is essentially its free plan; it doesn’t quite measure up to the free plans offered by some of the other Mailchimp competitors on this list. It serves mostly as a free trial, letting you explore the key features within the iContact platform.
- Test – $0/mo (250 contacts)
- Launch – $14/mo (750 contacts)
- Grow – $36/mo (2,500 contacts)
- Expand – $65/mo (5,000 contacts)
- Advanced – $95/mo (10,000 contacts)
- Advanced+ – $199/mo (25,000 contacts)
- Pro – Custom (25,000+ contacts)
Sign up for iContact’s free plan
Pricing: Starts at $9/mo for 300 subscribers; sign up for ConvertKit’s free plan
ConvertKit is one of the most widely used email marketing platforms that’s essentially tailored to the needs of content creators, bloggers, and online entrepreneurs. Over the last few years, it’s emerged as a strong Mailchimp alternative, thanks in no small part to its growing popularity with prominent bloggers and podcasters.
Recognized for its user-friendly interface, ConvertKit offers a suite of tools to create, send, and monitor email campaigns effectively. Its visual automation builder allows you to craft and visualize email sequences seamlessly.
The platform also provides customizable forms and landing pages, aiding in the efficient capture and growth of subscriber lists.
Beyond the basics, ConvertKit offers the ability to quickly set up standalone web pages to promote products, events, or content, all without any coding knowledge.
ConvertKit: Key Features
- Visual Automation Builder: Easily create and visualize email sequences and automation workflows with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
- Customizable Forms and Landing Pages: Design attractive sign-up forms and landing pages to capture leads and grow your email list.
- Subscriber Tagging: Allows for sophisticated audience segmentation based on actions, behaviors, or other custom criteria.
- Integrations: It offers seamless connections to many popular platforms, apps, and tools to enhance its functionality.
- Subscriber-Centric Approach: Unlike many other platforms, ConvertKit doesn’t count the same subscriber multiple times if they are on multiple lists. This ensures more transparent billing and easier list management.
ConvertKit Pricing
ConvertKit follows list-based pricing with three tiers. ConvertKit’s free plan gives you access to basic features and supports up to 1000 subscribers.
- Free – $0/mo (1000 subscribers, basic features)
- Creator – Starts at $9/mo (300 subscribers; advanced features such as automated email sequences and third-party integrations)
- Creator Pro – Starts at $25/mo (300 subscribers; everything in Creator plan + premium features such as subscriber scoring and advanced reporting)
Note: The pricing of Creator and Creator Pro will vary depending on the number of contacts in your email list.
Sign up for ConvertKit’s free plan
Pricing: Starts at $10 for 1000 subscribers; sign up for MailerLite’s free plan
MailerLite is an email marketing platform used by 560,000+ small businesses, entrepreneurs, bloggers, artists, authors, hobbyists, activists, dreamers, and anyone else who wants to build relationships with their audience.
Their goal is to remove the complexity from email marketing with easy-to-use, yet powerful features and exceptional 24/7 customer support with real people always ready to help.
MailerLite offers the same advanced tools and integrations of other Mailchimp alternatives, yet they manage to keep it simple, inexpensive and fun to use for people of all skill levels.
MailerLite: Key Features
- Customizable Templates: Access a variety of pre-designed templates that can be tailored to fit different campaigns and branding styles.
- Pop-ups: Create customizable pop-ups for your website to capture visitor information or promote offers.
- Embedded Forms and Surveys: Add customizable sign-up forms to your website to grow your subscriber list. Create and send surveys directly from the platform to gather feedback from your audience.
- A/B Split Testing: Test different variations of your emails to see which one performs best in terms of opens, clicks, and conversions.
MailerLite Pricing
MailerLite keeps pricing simple as well. While the free plan includes most of the features, all of their paid plans include unlimited emails with every feature.
- Up to 1000 subscribers (limited features) – FREE
- Up to 1000 subscribers – $10/month
- Up to 2,500 subscribers – $15/month
- Up to 5,000 subscribers – $30/month
- Up to 10,000 subscribers – $50/month
- Up to 15,000 subscribers – $75/month
- Over 25,000 subscribers – $120/month
Sign up for MailerLite’s free plan
Pricing: Starts at $1.99 for 1000 emails
Yespo (formerly eSputnik) is a Ukraine-based marketing automation company that helps you set up multichannel campaigns via email, text, web push, and messengers easily and quickly.
With Yespo’s email editor, you can build scenarios for sending ready-made messages – when, to whom, where, and under what conditions. The other great thing about Yespo is that the service doesn’t divide its users into basic and pro users like other email marketing services normally do.
The company adheres to its motto of making professional marketing easy and affordable.
Yespo: Key Features
- Advanced Email Editor: Design responsive emails with a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to create visually appealing campaigns.
- Segmentation: Create targeted customer segments based on behavior, demographics, and purchase history to deliver personalized messages.
- Marketing Automation: Set up automated workflows to engage users at different stages of the customer journey, from welcome series to cart abandonment reminders.
- Integrations: Connect with various e-commerce platforms, CRM systems, and other tools to synchronize data and enhance functionality.
Yespo Pricing
Here are the current email pricing plans Yespo offers:
- Freedom – $1.99/1,000 messages (No subscription fee, unlimited contacts and emails)
- Optimal – $19/mo (up to 10,000 emails per month, unlimited contacts)
- Email Marketing Agency – $599/mo (Yespo will take care of the entire email marketing and marketing automation complex for your business)
Click here to sign up for Yespo
Final Thoughts on Mailchimp Alternatives
So these are eight of the best alternatives to Mailchimp you should consider.
If you have a preferred email marketing service that you think is a better alternative to Mailchimp than the ones listed here, please feel free to mention them in the comments section. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 24 Aug 2016 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.
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