Mailchimp Pricing 2026

Mailchimp pricing starts at $13/month for Essentials (500 contacts). Standard costs $20/month, and Premium starts at $350/month. Prices scale based on contact count - for example, 10,000 contacts on Standard costs about $100/month.

Mailchimp has a free plan limited to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends (max 250/day). This is significantly reduced from previous limits. The free plan includes Marketing CRM, website builder, forms, and landing pages, but email support is only available for 30 days.

Mailchimp uses contact-based pricing. You pay a base price for a plan tier, which includes a set number of contacts and sends. As your list grows, the price increases in tiers. For example, Essentials starts at $13/month for 500 contacts, but 10K contacts costs about $87/month.

For small lists, Mailchimp is cheaper. Mailchimp Essentials at $13/month (500 contacts) beats ConvertKit's $13/month (300 subscribers). At scale, pricing is similar. ConvertKit's free plan (1,000 subscribers) is more generous than Mailchimp's (500 contacts).

Yes, Mailchimp counts unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts toward your contact limit, though at a lower tier. This is a common complaint - you pay for contacts who can't receive your emails. Archiving contacts removes them from billing.

Mailchimp is mid-range for email marketing. It's more expensive than Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) and MailerLite at comparable contact levels, but cheaper than ActiveCampaign and HubSpot Marketing Hub. ConvertKit offers more generous free tiers for creators.

Mailchimp offers 15% discounts for nonprofits, annual billing pay-as-you-go credits for infrequent senders, and occasional promotional discounts for new users. No standard annual billing discount exists - most plans are billed monthly regardless.

Yes, Mailchimp offers 15% discounts for verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits - apply through their nonprofit page. This is less generous than competitors like Constant Contact (20-30%). Educational institutions don't have a specific discount program.

Mailchimp Premium ($350+/month for 10K contacts) includes unlimited users and audiences, advanced segmentation, comparative reporting, multivariate testing, phone support, and dedicated onboarding. For larger enterprises, custom pricing includes dedicated account management.

Mailchimp bills monthly based on your contact count and plan tier. Pricing automatically scales as your list grows. You can also use pay-as-you-go credits for occasional sends. Contacts include subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed - archive to remove from billing.

Mailchimp has limited negotiating flexibility for standard plans. For high-volume senders (100K+ contacts) or enterprise needs, contact their sales team for custom pricing. Annual prepayment may unlock 10-15% savings on Premium plans through direct negotiation.

Exceeding contact limits automatically moves you to a higher pricing tier with prorated charges. Exceeding monthly send limits may pause campaigns until the next billing cycle or trigger overage charges. Free tier exceeding 500 contacts requires immediate plan selection.

For 10,000 contacts: Free plan is not available (500 limit), Essentials costs approximately $87/month, Standard costs approximately $100/month, and Premium starts at $350/month. Standard is the most popular choice at this level due to included automation features.

For 50,000 contacts: Essentials costs approximately $350/month, Standard costs approximately $350/month, and Premium costs approximately $650/month. At this scale, many businesses evaluate whether Premium's advanced features justify the higher cost.

Mailchimp counts all contacts in your audience toward billing limits, including unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts. To stop paying for these contacts, you must archive or permanently delete them. This is a common complaint and differs from competitors like ConvertKit that only charge for active subscribers.

Mailchimp remains a solid choice for businesses wanting an all-in-one marketing platform with excellent deliverability. However, for pure email marketing, alternatives like MailerLite and Brevo offer better value. Mailchimp's strength is its ecosystem including landing pages, social ads, and CRM features.

Mailchimp pricing is based on the number of contacts in your audience. As your list grows, you move into higher pricing tiers. Multiple users report this scaling happening faster than expected, especially for businesses actively growing their subscriber base.

Advanced automation workflows, A/B testing, and enhanced segmentation are locked behind higher-tier plans. Users have reported discovering mid-campaign that features they want require an upgrade, forcing them to either start over or pay more.

The free plan is useful for very small lists under 500 contacts sending fewer than 1,000 emails per month. However, multiple G2 reviewers note the free plan has significant limitations that force upgrades quickly as lists grow, and the free plan includes Mailchimp branding on all emails.

Support quality and speed vary by plan. Users on lower-tier plans report slow or inconsistent response times, requiring more self-service troubleshooting. Several reviewers cited support as a notable limitation of the platform.

According to G2 reviewers, Mailchimp no longer stands out on cost the way it once did for early adopters. As one reviewer put it: "Email marketing is getting expensive, and Mailchimp is no exception. These days, though, it's priced right in line with everyone else, so it no longer stands out on cost."

Free plan users receive email-only support for the first 30 days only. After that, there is no support included. Users report that account issues like lockouts, 2FA problems, or technical errors are effectively unresolvable without upgrading to a paid plan (Essentials at $13/month or higher).

Mailchimp's pricing is primarily contact-based — your monthly cost increases as your audience grows, regardless of how many emails you send (up to the plan's send limit). The Free plan includes up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails/month. The Essentials plan starts at $13/month and Standard at $20/month, both scaling upward with contact count.

No. Cancelling your paid plan will prevent scheduled campaigns from sending. Mailchimp recommends pausing your plan instead of cancelling if you need to send a future campaign — pausing stops charges but keeps your account active.

Yes. Unsubscribed and cleaned contacts count toward your contact limit on all Mailchimp plans, including the Free plan's 500-contact threshold. Your billable contact count can be significantly higher than your active subscriber count as a result. Regularly removing unsubscribed and cleaned contacts is the primary way to keep costs in check.

Not reliably. At least one Trustpilot reviewer documented being unable to return to the free plan after upgrading, as Mailchimp was no longer offering the free plan to returning users. Free plan availability and terms can change without advance notice to existing users.

Yes. If the same subscriber is in more than one audience in your account, Mailchimp bills for each instance separately. To avoid this, use tags and segments within a single audience rather than maintaining multiple separate audiences — this preserves targeting flexibility without inflating your billable contact count.

Support access varies by plan. Free plan users receive email support for the first 30 days only, with no ongoing support after that. Paid plan users have access to chat and email support, but multiple Trustpilot and G2 reviewers report slow response times and unresolved account lockouts even on paid tiers. Account issues on the free tier are described as practically unresolvable without upgrading.

Both, but contact count is the primary billing driver. Each plan tier sets a contact limit that determines the base price — the Essentials plan starts at $13/month and the Standard plan at $20/month, with both scaling upward as your list grows. Email send limits also apply (the Free plan caps at 1,000 sends/month), and importing contacts past your current tier's limit triggers an immediate bill increase.