How it worksPricingLog InSign Up Free

Mailchimp alternatives, free and paid

Most comparison pages lead with starting prices. This one compares the same contacts and sends through each vendor’s own pricing rules, and includes a dedicated look at the genuinely free options, since that is usually the real question.

Mailchimp pricing checked September 4, 2026. Mailchimp sets its own prices and can change them any time.

Verdict

The short answer

If your list is under a few hundred contacts
Stay on a free plan, ours or theirs. Klaviyo, Omnisend and MailerLite all match or beat Mailchimp's own free tier; see the free-and-low-cost section below.
If you send often and want the price question to end
OnVoard's top send stop is unlimited at a fixed price. At 10,000 contacts and 40,000 sends/mo it prices at $55/mo against Mailchimp's $109/mo (Essentials).
If you are on the tightest budget and still want automation
MailerLite's Comfort plan is the lowest list price of the vendors checked on this page, at the contacts and sends shown here.
If you specifically need deep segmentation or SMS
Klaviyo and Omnisend go further than Mailchimp on ecommerce-specific automation and native SMS, at a higher list price.
Free and low-cost

The genuinely free options

At 500 contacts and 2,000 sends a month, a small store's real workload. "Free" below means a real $0 plan at that contact count, not a trial.

WorkloadFree planPaid plan at this workload
MailchimpFree, up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo$15.00/mo
KlaviyoFree, up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo$20.00/mo
OmnisendFree, up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo$16.00/mo
MailerLiteFree, up to 250 contacts, 2,500 sends/mo$12.00/mo
OnVoard Marketing PlatformFree, no limit on contacts, 500 sends/mo$17.00/mo

Scroll the table sideways to see every vendor.

OnVoard's free plan works the other way round from the vendors above: no limit on contacts, capped at 500 email sends a month. Past that, the entry cost is one $15 contact block plus whatever send multiplier covers your volume.

Where they win

When you should stay with Mailchimp

You use Mailchimp for more than email
Mailchimp also sells landing pages, social ad management and direct-mail postcards in the same account. None of the vendors on this page, OnVoard included, replace that if you rely on it.
Under a few hundred contacts
Mailchimp's own free plan runs to 250 contacts. If your list is genuinely that small, there is no case for paying anyone yet.
Your team already knows the interface
Mailchimp is one of the most widely used platforms in ecommerce; if your team, agency or existing templates are built around it, retraining cost is real and should be weighed against the monthly saving this page shows.
The one number that matters

Mailchimp vs OnVoard, same contacts and sends

Same workload, both vendors' real published rules. OnVoard's number moves with a send multiplier you can also change below; Mailchimp's moves only with its contact bracket.

Mailchimp Essentials, at 10,000 contacts$109/mo100,000 sends included, fixed to this bracket.
OnVoard Marketing Platform, same contacts$55/mo10,000 contacts / 4x send multiplier

At 10,000 contacts and 40,000 sends/mo. Change either number in the calculator below to see every vendor at your own workload.

Calculator

Every alternative, at your own numbers

Contacts and sends feed the same resolver that priced the card above, live, for every vendor with verified data.

The multiplier buttons set sends relative to your contact count (4x means 4 emails a month per contact).

Billing basis

We use the audience number entered above as the billable contact, profile or subscriber count for each platform. Vendors define billable audiences differently, and a real count after migration can differ.

Estimated monthly cost by vendor for 10,000 contacts and 40,000 emails a month, monthly list pricing, cheapest first.
VendorEstimated pricePlanFits workloadPricing basisDetails
OnVoardLowest estimated cost$55.00/moMarketing PlatformFitsBy contacts + sends
MailerLite$89.00/moComfortFitsBy contacts
MailchimpPromo availablePartially verified$109.00/moEssentialsFitsBy contacts
OmnisendPromo availablePartially verified$132.00/moStandardFitsBy contacts
Klaviyo$150.00/moMarketing (Email)FitsBy contacts
Brevo$729.00/moProfessionalFitsBy sends

Pricing is not feature equivalence. These estimates show what each platform charges for the workload you entered. Plans can include different automation, segmentation, SMS, support, ecommerce, and other features.

Comparing Klaviyo instead? See Klaviyo alternatives, or use the full standalone calculator.

The alternatives

Four Mailchimp alternatives, compared

Best for, how each prices, the qualifying price at the workload above, key limits, the strongest real reason to pick it, and one honest limitation.

OnVoard Marketing Platform
Best forStores who want the send question closed for good rather than metered plan to plan.
Pricing modelTwo independent settings: $15 per 10,000 contacts, plus a send multiplier from 1x to 8x at $1 per 1,000 sends. 8x is unlimited sends at the same price 8x always cost.
Qualifying price$55/mo at 10,000 contacts, 40,000 sends/mo
  • Free plan caps at 500 email sends a month; paid starts at one contact block ($15) plus a 1x send multiplier.
  • Email and lifecycle automation only, no landing pages, social ads or direct mail.
Strongest reason to pick it

Sending frequently does not push you onto a more expensive plan tier the way Mailchimp's bracket system does; only your multiplier and contact count matter.

Honest limitation

No native SMS channel, and a newer integrations marketplace than Mailchimp's.

Klaviyo
Best forEcommerce brands that want deep segmentation and native SMS, and can afford to skip the free tier once the list grows.
Pricing modelA single plan, priced purely on active-profile brackets, with roughly 10x that many sends included automatically.
Qualifying price$150/mo at 10,000 contacts, 40,000 sends/mo
  • One plan, one axis (contacts): there is no way to buy a cheaper tier by sending less.
  • No self-serve annual pricing.
Strongest reason to pick it

The largest ecommerce-specific integration and agency ecosystem of the vendors on this page.

Honest limitation

More expensive than Mailchimp at most contact counts we checked, with no non-email marketing tools bundled in.

Omnisend
Best forStores that want SMS and email on one contact ladder and will read the promo price as a promo.
Pricing modelContact-bracket pricing on Standard and Pro. The number shown by default on Omnisend's own site is a 3-month-prepay promo, not the list price.
Qualifying price$132/mo list (Standard) at 10,000 contacts, 40,000 sends/mo
  • Pro's included-sends figure is only published as unlimited at 3,500+ contacts.
  • No self-serve annual plan.
Strongest reason to pick it

Native SMS bundled with email on the same ladder, unlike Mailchimp where SMS is a separate add-on credit system.

Honest limitation

The advertised price is promotional; the list price a new customer eventually pays is meaningfully higher.

MailerLite
Best forThe tightest budget among the vendors checked here, with automation still included.
Pricing modelContact-bracket pricing on Comfort (metered sends) and Power (unlimited, fair-use), each also offered at a lower annual rate.
Qualifying price$89/mo (Comfort) at 10,000 contacts, 40,000 sends/mo
  • Fewer ecommerce-specific triggers out of the box than Klaviyo or Omnisend.
  • Power's unlimited sending is fair-use, not a stated numeric ceiling.
Strongest reason to pick it

The lowest list price of every vendor checked on this page at the contacts and sends shown here, and its free plan's send allowance is the most generous of the group.

Honest limitation

Built as a general email tool first; ecommerce integrations are present but shallower than a commerce-native platform.

For reference

Mailchimp's own pricing ladder (Essentials)

Centred on the 10,000-contact tier used above; expand for the rest. Rows above the entry tier are derived from Mailchimp's own SGD/USD numeric parity, marked below.

ContactsIncluded sendsPrice / mo
up to 5005,000 / mo$15
up to 1,50015,000 / mo$29
up to 2,50025,000 / mo$44
up to 5,00050,000 / mo$74
up to 10,000100,000 / mo$109
up to 15,000150,000 / mo$189
up to 20,000200,000 / mo$230
up to 25,000250,000 / mo$270

Derived, not Mailchimp’s own published figure. Non-entry tiers are derived by applying Mailchimp's own numeric SGD/USD parity, verified only at the 500-contact entry row, to the rest of the published ladder.

Methodology

How this page was built

Every price above comes from a vendor's own published, list-basis pricing (never a promotional price), matched to the exact billing interval requested (monthly compared to monthly, never monthly to annual). A vendor beyond its own published contact ladder is marked contact sales rather than extrapolated. Anything we could not verify is left off rather than guessed.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a genuinely free Mailchimp alternative?

Klaviyo, Omnisend and MailerLite each publish a real free plan at 250 contacts and roughly 500 sends a month, the same shape as Mailchimp's own free tier. MailerLite's free plan includes the largest monthly send allowance of the three. OnVoard's own free plan works the other way round: no limit on contacts, 500 email sends a month.

What is the cheapest paid Mailchimp alternative?

At a small store's workload (500 contacts, 2,000 sends/mo), MailerLite's Comfort plan priced lowest among the vendors we checked ($12.00/mo), against Mailchimp Essentials at $15.00/mo. At 10,000 contacts and 40,000 sends/mo the ranking is not the same, which is why the calculator on this page recomputes rather than naming one fixed winner.

Why would I leave Mailchimp if it works?

Price is the only argument this page makes. If Mailchimp's automation, deliverability, or the fact it also runs your landing pages and social ads is working for you, there is no case here for switching.

How was this page's pricing checked?

Every vendor's ladder was read directly off its own public pricing page (see Sources below) and re-verified independently. Mailchimp's own tiers above the 500-contact entry row are derived from its published SGD/USD numeric parity rather than independently re-verified row by row; that is marked in the table below. Mailchimp's data was checked September 4, 2026.

See it against your own numbers.

Set your contacts and sends in the calculator above, or start OnVoard free and find out.