5 Best Alternatives to Mailchimp in 2026
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
From our data: 3 of the 5 alternatives listed here (Klaviyo, Brevo, Kit) offer a free tier, matching Mailchimp's own free-up-to-250-contacts plan; Brevo is the only one of the three priced by email volume rather than contact count, so its free tier includes unlimited stored contacts rather than capping at 250.
Klaviyo
Brevo
Kit
Constant Contact
ActiveCampaignHow we picked
- Only Klaviyo has independently verified, on-site pricing; ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Kit, and Constant Contact's dollar figures either come from third-party pricing trackers or weren't independently reverified with a timestamp.
- External ratings were compared against Mailchimp's own 4.5/5 from 17,674 Capterra reviews: ActiveCampaign (4.6/5, 2,568 reviews) and Brevo (4.6/5, 3,512 reviews) both edge above it, while Constant Contact (4.3/5, 2,942 reviews) scores below it and Kit has no external rating captured.
- Pricing model, not just price, was weighted directly: unlike Mailchimp's and Klaviyo's contact-based pricing, where cost climbs as a list grows regardless of send volume, Brevo prices by monthly email volume with unlimited contacts on every plan, a structurally different model for large, low-activity lists.
- Starting price was compared against Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials tier: Brevo (~$9/month) and Constant Contact ($12/month) both undercut it, while ActiveCampaign (~$15/month) and Kit ($25/month) start higher, and Klaviyo's paid tier has no fixed starting number published.
Paid placement never alters editorial rank — read the full methodology.
Mailchimp alternatives at a glance
| Alternative | Best for | Standout | Biggest weakness | Learning curve | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimpreference | small businesses and e-commerce brands that want to run email and SMS campaigns with built-in automation and AI content tools without a separate marketing stack | A drag-and-drop email builder combined with e-commerce automation triggers (abandoned cart, order follow-up) and AI content tools, backed by 300+ third-party integrations. | Pricing scales with contact-list size and jumps sharply between tiers ($13 to $20 to $350/month), so growing lists get expensive fast, and reviewers describe the cost as disproportionate to list growth on the higher tiers; the Free plan's support is email-only and expires after 30 days. | Low | Free tier · paid from $13/mo |
| Klaviyo | ecommerce and D2C brands on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Magento that want email and SMS marketing driven by real order and browsing data rather than a generic contact list | Native, deep ecommerce platform integrations (especially Shopify) that sync orders, products, and browsing events into customer profiles automatically, powering behavior-triggered flows without manual data wiring. | Pricing scales with total profile count, so costs rise automatically as a store's list grows even if send volume doesn't; reviewers also cite a real learning curve for building advanced flows and segments, and email support is limited to the first 60 days on the free plan. | Moderate | Free |
| ActiveCampaign | growing businesses that need branching, behavior-triggered automations across email, SMS, and WhatsApp rather than a flat newsletter tool | Visual automation builder that triggers personalized email, SMS, and WhatsApp sequences off subscriber behavior, combined with built-in lead scoring across all channels. | Contact-based pricing climbs steeply as a list grows past the advertised starter tier, no exact numbers are published on ActiveCampaign's own site, and Capterra reviewers commonly cite an unintuitive page/form builder and recurring bugs requiring workarounds. | Moderate | From $15/mo |
| Brevo | small businesses and marketers with large but mostly-inactive contact lists who want to be billed by emails sent rather than penalized for contacts stored | Prices every plan by monthly email volume rather than contact-list size, so accounts with large stored contact lists don't pay the premium that contact-based competitors like Mailchimp charge for the same sending activity. | The Free plan caps out at just 300 emails/day (roughly 9,000/month), and features like marketing automation and landing pages require jumping past Starter to the Business tier, a bigger price step than some competitors' mid-tier plans. | Low | Free tier · paid from $9/mo |
| Kit | individual creators and newsletter writers who want list building, automation, and paid-newsletter monetization in one platform rather than general-purpose e-commerce email marketing software | Built-in support for selling paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products directly to subscribers, rather than treating monetization as a separate add-on outside the email platform. | Like most subscriber-count-based email pricing, cost scales up automatically as a creator's list grows, and reporting/analytics on the entry Creator tier are noticeably thinner than on Creator Pro, pushing serious growth-focused creators toward the pricier tier. | Moderate | Free tier · paid from $25/mo |
| Constant Contact | small businesses and nonprofits under a few thousand contacts who want phone support and an all-in-one email, social, and landing-page tool | Phone support is included on every paid tier, including the entry-level Lite plan, which is uncommon among lower-priced email marketing competitors | No permanently free plan, and price climbs steeply with list size — reported as high as $425/month at 25,000 contacts — which pushes growing lists toward competitors like Mailchimp or MailerLite that offer either a free tier or gentler scaling. | Low | From $12/mo |
Mailchimp1.Klaviyo — best Mailchimp alternative for ecommerce and D2C brands on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Magento that want email and SMS marketing driven by real order and browsing data rather than a generic contact list
Klaviyo is the best Mailchimp alternative for ecommerce and D2C brands on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Magento that want email and SMS marketing driven by real order and browsing data instead of a generic contact list. Klaviyo's native integrations sync product catalogs, order data, and customer events automatically, powering behavior-triggered flows like abandoned-cart emails and post-purchase sequences without manual data wiring, and Klaviyo reports over 205,000 brands use the platform across 100 countries. Klaviyo's Free plan covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends/month, matching Mailchimp's own free-tier caps, plus $5 of monthly SMS/mobile credit that Mailchimp's free tier doesn't include. Mailchimp is still the better choice for anyone who wants a fixed, easily comparable starting price: Klaviyo's paid Email/Email+SMS tiers price by active profile count rather than a flat fee, and the exact starting dollar figure wasn't captured as a fixed number, unlike Mailchimp's clearly published $13/month Essentials tier, and newer AI features (Composer, Customer Agent) are separate paid add-ons on top of the base plan.
Compared to Mailchimp: native, deep ecommerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento) sync orders and products automatically, unified customer profiles drive email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and push from the same data, free plan adds $5 of monthly SMS credit Mailchimp's free tier doesn't include
Wins:Native, deep ecommerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento) sync orders and products automatically, a stronger ecommerce data pipeline than Mailchimp's third-party integrations · Unified customer profiles drive email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and push from the same behavioral data · Free plan includes $5 of monthly SMS/mobile credit on top of 250 profiles and 500 email sends, which Mailchimp's free tier doesn't include
Loses:Paid Email/Email+SMS tiers price by active profile count with no fixed starting dollar figure captured, unlike Mailchimp's clearly published $13/month Essentials tier · Newer AI features (Composer, Customer Agent) are priced as separate add-ons on top of the base plan · Building advanced segments and multi-step flows has a real learning curve for non-marketers, similar to Mailchimp's own automation complexity at higher tiers
Pros
- Deep native integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento sync order and product data automatically.
- Unified customer profiles let one platform drive email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and push from the same behavioral data.
- Free plan (250 profiles, 500 emails/month) is enough to fully test the platform before paying.
- Strong prebuilt automation flows for abandoned cart, post-purchase, and win-back sequences.
Cons
- Per-profile pricing means costs climb automatically as a store's contact list grows, independent of send volume.
- Newer AI features (Composer, Customer Agent) are priced as separate add-ons on top of the base plan.
- Free-tier email support only covers the first 60 days.
- Building advanced segments and multi-step flows has a real learning curve for non-marketers.
Pricing: Free — Free (250 profiles, 500 sends, $5 SMS credit) matches Mailchimp's free tier; Klaviyo's paid tiers scale by profile count with no fixed starting number captured, versus Mailchimp's published $13/month Essentials (verified undefined NaN, NaN)
2.ActiveCampaign — best Mailchimp alternative for growing businesses that need branching, behavior-triggered automations across email, SMS, and WhatsApp rather than a flat newsletter tool
ActiveCampaign is the best Mailchimp alternative for growing businesses that need branching, behavior-triggered automations across email, SMS, and WhatsApp rather than Mailchimp's more limited automation flows. ActiveCampaign's visual workflow builder triggers personalized multi-channel sequences off subscriber behavior with built-in lead scoring, capabilities gated behind Mailchimp's pricier Standard and Premium tiers or absent entirely. ActiveCampaign holds a 4.6/5 rating from 2,568 Capterra reviews, above Mailchimp's own 4.5/5 from 17,674 reviews, and its 1,000+ native integrations connect to common ecommerce, CRM, and analytics platforms. Mailchimp is still the better choice for anyone who wants a genuinely free starting tier: ActiveCampaign has no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial, while Mailchimp's Free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends/month at no cost, and ActiveCampaign's Starter and Plus tiers cap accounts at 1 user, forcing an upgrade for any team collaboration.
Compared to Mailchimp: multi-channel branching automation across email, SMS, and WhatsApp in one workflow, built-in lead scoring across all channels, higher Capterra rating (4.6/5 vs 4.5/5)
Wins:Automation builder supports complex, multi-channel branching logic across email, SMS, and WhatsApp in one workflow · Built-in lead scoring and a lightweight CRM reduce the need for a separate sales-tracking tool · 4.6/5 Capterra rating from 2,568 reviews, above Mailchimp's own 4.5/5 from 17,674 reviews
Loses:No free plan at all, only a 14-day trial, unlike Mailchimp's free tier for up to 250 contacts · Starter and Plus tiers cap accounts at 1 user, forcing an upgrade for any team collaboration · Capterra reviewers report the page and form builder as unintuitive and hard to customize
Pros
- Automation builder supports complex, multi-channel branching logic across email, SMS, and WhatsApp in one workflow.
- Built-in lead scoring and lightweight CRM reduce the need for a separate sales-tracking tool for small teams.
- Deliverability and reporting are frequently praised by reviewers as more detailed than basic email tools.
- 1,000+ native integrations connect it to common ecommerce, CRM, and analytics platforms.
Cons
- No free plan; only a 14-day trial, and pricing rises quickly as contact count grows past the entry tier.
- Starter and Plus tiers cap accounts at 1 user, forcing an upgrade for any team collaboration.
- Capterra reviewers report the page and form builder as unintuitive and hard to customize.
- Users report encountering bugs and inconsistent features that require repeated troubleshooting.
Pricing: From $15/mo — ~$15/month Starter (at 1,000 contacts, billed annually) vs Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials — both scale with contact-list size, but ActiveCampaign has no free tier
3.Brevo — best Mailchimp alternative for small businesses and marketers with large but mostly-inactive contact lists who want to be billed by emails sent rather than penalized for contacts stored
Brevo is the best Mailchimp alternative for small businesses and marketers with large but mostly-inactive contact lists who want to be billed by emails sent rather than penalized for contacts stored. Brevo's Free plan sends up to 300 emails/day with unlimited stored contacts, a structurally different model from Mailchimp's 250-contact free cap, and every paid Brevo plan includes unlimited contacts since pricing is based on email volume instead. Brevo's Starter plan runs from roughly $9/month for 5,000 emails, cheaper than Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials tier, and Brevo holds a 4.6/5 rating from 3,512 Capterra reviews, above Mailchimp's own 4.5/5 from 17,674 reviews. Mailchimp is still the better choice for teams that specifically want AI content tools and marketing automation bundled at a lower tier: Brevo's marketing automation and landing pages require jumping to the Business tier, a bigger price step than Mailchimp's Standard tier provides, and Brevo's free plan's 300 emails/day cap (roughly 9,000/month) is restrictive for anything beyond very small lists.
Compared to Mailchimp: unlimited stored contacts on every plan since pricing is based on email volume, not contact count, cheaper entry price (~$9/month Starter vs $13/month Essentials), higher Capterra rating (4.6/5 vs 4.5/5)
Wins:Unlimited stored contacts on every paid plan since pricing is based on email volume, not contact count, unlike Mailchimp's contact-based pricing · Starter plan runs from roughly $9/month, cheaper than Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials tier · 4.6/5 Capterra rating from 3,512 reviews, above Mailchimp's own 4.5/5 from 17,674 reviews
Loses:Marketing automation and landing pages require the pricier Business tier, a bigger jump than Mailchimp's Standard tier provides · Free plan's 300 emails/day cap (roughly 9,000/month) is restrictive for anything beyond very small lists · Some users report unclear account policy and compliance enforcement that can affect sending reliability
Pros
- Every paid plan includes unlimited stored contacts, since pricing is based on email volume instead.
- Free plan requires no credit card and includes core email marketing functionality.
- Bundles SMS, live chat, and a lightweight CRM alongside email in one platform.
- Transactional email and SMS APIs are available on the same account as marketing campaigns.
Cons
- Free plan's 300 emails/day cap is restrictive for anything beyond very small lists.
- Marketing automation and landing pages require the Business tier, a larger jump than Starter alone provides.
- Some users report unclear account policy and compliance enforcement that can affect sending reliability.
- Higher-volume Starter pricing (up to ~$69/month for 100,000 emails) scales quickly compared to flat-rate competitors.
Pricing: Free tier · paid from $9/mo — Free (300 emails/day, unlimited contacts) or ~$9/month Starter vs Mailchimp's free tier (250 contacts, 500 sends) or $13/month Essentials
4.Kit — best Mailchimp alternative for individual creators and newsletter writers who want list building, automation, and paid-newsletter monetization in one platform rather than general-purpose e-commerce email marketing software
Kit is the best Mailchimp alternative for individual creators and newsletter writers who want list building, automation, and paid-newsletter monetization in one platform rather than Mailchimp's general-purpose, e-commerce-leaning tool. Kit's free plan supports unlimited landing pages, forms, and broadcast emails for a capped subscriber list, and it natively supports selling paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products directly to an audience, a monetization layer Mailchimp doesn't build in. Kit's Creator tier starts at $25/month, and free account migration is included when moving an existing list over from another platform. Mailchimp is still the better choice for teams that need a broader marketing stack beyond email: Kit has no native mobile app and is web-only, unlike Mailchimp's iOS and Android apps, and Kit's advanced reporting and Facebook custom audience syncing require the pricier Creator Pro tier, similar to how Mailchimp gates automation and predictive segmentation behind its own higher tiers.
Compared to Mailchimp: native support for selling paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products, free plan includes real list-building tools rather than a stripped-down trial, free migration support when moving an existing list over
Wins:Native support for selling paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products directly to subscribers, a monetization layer Mailchimp doesn't build in · Free plan supports real list-building tools (unlimited landing pages, forms, broadcasts) rather than a stripped-down trial · Free migration support when moving an existing list over from another email platform, unlike Mailchimp's self-serve import
Loses:No native mobile app; the platform is web-only, unlike Mailchimp's iOS and Android apps · Advanced reporting and Facebook custom audience syncing require the pricier Creator Pro tier · Pricing scales with subscriber count, so cost grows automatically as a creator's list grows, similar to Mailchimp's own contact-based pricing model
Pros
- Free plan supports real list-building tools (unlimited landing pages, forms, broadcasts) rather than a stripped-down trial.
- Visual automation builder makes tag-based drip sequences approachable for non-technical creators.
- Native support for paid newsletter subscriptions and digital product sales without a separate platform.
- Free migration support when moving an existing list over from another email platform.
Cons
- Pricing scales with subscriber count, so cost grows automatically as a creator's list grows, independent of send volume.
- Advanced reporting and Facebook custom audience syncing require the pricier Creator Pro tier.
- No native mobile app; the platform is web-only.
- Automation builder has a learning curve for creators new to tag-based (rather than list-based) email marketing.
Pricing: Free tier · paid from $25/mo — $25/month Creator (starting tier, scales with subscriber count) vs Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials — Kit starts higher but includes monetization tools Mailchimp lacks
5.Constant Contact — best Mailchimp alternative for small businesses and nonprofits under a few thousand contacts who want phone support and an all-in-one email, social, and landing-page tool
Constant Contact is the best Mailchimp alternative for small businesses and nonprofits that want phone support included on every paid tier, not gated to the top plan the way Mailchimp reserves phone support for its $350/month Premium tier. Constant Contact's Lite tier starts at $12/month at 500 contacts (dropping to $10.20/month if paid annually), close to Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials tier, and it combines email, social posting, landing pages, and automation in one product. Constant Contact holds a 4.3/5 rating from 2,942 Capterra reviews, reflecting a large, established user base. Mailchimp is still the better choice for anyone who wants a genuinely free entry point: Constant Contact has no permanently free plan, only a short trial before billing starts, while Mailchimp's Free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends/month at no cost, and Constant Contact's pricing climbs steeply with list size, reported as high as $425/month at 25,000 contacts.
Compared to Mailchimp: phone support included on every paid tier instead of gated to the top $350/month plan, close entry price ($12/month Lite vs $13/month Essentials), combines email, social posting, and landing pages in one product
Wins:Phone support included on every paid tier, not gated to the top plan the way Mailchimp reserves phone support for its $350/month Premium tier · Combines email, social posting, landing pages, and automation in one product from the entry Lite tier · 12-month prepay discount cuts effective monthly price by up to 15%
Loses:No permanently free plan, only a short trial before billing starts, unlike Mailchimp's free tier for up to 250 contacts · Price scales steeply with contact list size, reported as high as $425/month at 25,000 contacts · Lower Capterra rating (4.3/5 from 2,942 reviews) than Mailchimp's 4.5/5 from 17,674 reviews
Pros
- Phone support included on every paid tier, not gated to the top plan.
- Combines email, social posting, landing pages, and automation in one product.
- 12-month prepay discount cuts effective monthly price by up to 15%.
- 4.3/5 rating from nearly 3,000 Capterra reviews reflects a large, established user base.
Cons
- No permanently free plan; only a short trial before billing starts.
- Price scales steeply with contact list size, reported as high as $425/month at 25,000 contacts.
- Trustpilot reviews skew lower than Capterra, with recurring complaints about cancellation friction and auto-renewal billing.
- Basic Lite tier lacks A/B testing and segmentation, which are standard even on entry tiers at some competitors.
Pricing: From $12/mo — $12/month Lite (500 contacts, drops to $10.20/month annually) vs Mailchimp's $13/month Essentials — close in price, but Constant Contact has no free tier
Which one is right for you?
- You're an ecommerce brand on Shopify and want email and SMS driven by real order dataKlaviyo
- You need branching, behavior-triggered automation across email, SMS, and WhatsAppActiveCampaign
- You have a large but mostly-inactive contact list and don't want to pay a premium for stored contactsBrevo
- You're a creator who wants to sell paid newsletter subscriptions alongside your email listKit
- You want phone support included on every paid tier, not just the top oneConstant Contact
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Mailchimp?
- Yes — Klaviyo, Brevo, and Kit all offer free tiers; Brevo's is the most structurally different, since it caps by email volume (300/day) rather than contact count, so its free tier includes unlimited stored contacts.
What is the closest alternative to Mailchimp?
- Klaviyo is the closest overall match for ecommerce brands: like Mailchimp it combines email and SMS campaigns with automation and a free tier capped at 250 contacts, but with deeper native Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce integrations.
Can Klaviyo replace Mailchimp?
- Yes for ecommerce and D2C brands, since Klaviyo covers the same core email and SMS campaign and automation functionality with deeper order-data integration. Teams that want a fixed, easily comparable starting price should check Klaviyo's calculator first, since its paid tiers price by profile count rather than a flat published number the way Mailchimp's Essentials tier is.
Which Mailchimp alternative is cheapest for a large but inactive contact list?
- Brevo, since it prices by monthly email volume rather than contacts stored, so a large list that rarely gets emailed doesn't push the bill up the way Mailchimp's contact-based pricing would.
Is there a Mailchimp alternative for creators selling paid newsletters?
- Yes — Kit natively supports selling paid newsletter subscriptions and digital products directly to an audience, a monetization layer Mailchimp doesn't build into its core plans.
Which Mailchimp alternative includes phone support on its cheapest paid plan?
- Constant Contact, which includes phone support starting on its $12/month Lite tier, while Mailchimp reserves phone support for its $350/month Premium tier.