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Most buyers should pick Mailchimp.
Choose Mailchimp if you need a free entry point, SMS options, and marketing automation tied to behavioral audience data. Its paid plans start at $13/month, but send limits, contact caps, and seat limits matter; the listed prices are 12-month promotions. Choose Campaign Monitor for branded campaign tools, journey automation, and unlimited users, or when unlimited sends matter on Essentials. It has no free plan, starts at $11.70/month billed annually, and contact-tier increases can raise the bill.
01Side by side
| Mailchimp | Campaign Monitor | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; paid plans start at $13/month | $11.70/month billed annually |
| Free plan | Yes; 250 contacts and 500 monthly emails | No; 30-day free trial |
| Best for | Early-stage senders through growing businesses | Teams wanting branded campaigns and journeys |
| Core strength | Automation and behavioral audience data | Branded campaigns and visual journeys |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Integrations/data | Real-time behavioral data; integrations not listed | Industry benchmarks; integrations not listed |
| Team/seat costs | 3 seats on Essentials; 5 on Standard | Unlimited users on listed paid plans |
| Support | 24/7 email and chat on Essentials | Phone support on Premier |
Mailchimp Choose Mailchimp if
- You need a free plan to test the basics.
- You want SMS options alongside email marketing.
- You need behavioral data and marketing automation.
Campaign Monitor Choose Campaign Monitor if
- You want unlimited users on listed paid plans.
- You need unlimited sends on Essentials.
- You want branded campaign tools and visual journeys.
02Pricing compared
Mailchimp is the cheaper place to start: its Free plan costs $0 and caps you at 250 contacts, 500 emails a month, one seat and one audience. Paid plans start at $13/month for Essentials, with up to 10 sends per contact monthly and three seats. The listed Mailchimp prices are 12-month promotional rates; Standard is $20/month and Premium $350/month.
Campaign Monitor has no free plan. Its Lite plan starts at $11.70/month when billed annually, or $13 month to month, for 500 contacts and 2,500 emails. Essentials starts at $27.90/month annually and includes unlimited sends at the 500-contact tier. Both services offer a trial: 14 days for Mailchimp Standard and 30 days for Campaign Monitor. Watch contact tiers: Campaign Monitor moves accounts above its thresholds to a higher tier, but does not publish overage rates.
03Features and depth
Mailchimp combines email and SMS marketing, automation, and behavioral audience data. Its homepage describes AI-assisted tools that flag opportunities such as re-engaging inactive customers. Standard includes generative AI features and up to 200 automation flows; Premium adds A/B and multivariate testing and predictive segmentation, according to the pricing page. SMS is an add-on, and its price is not listed here.
Campaign Monitor focuses on branded email campaigns and customer journeys. Its homepage promotes a visual journey designer, campaign translation, tools for turning an email into an Instagram post, and AI recommendations through Marketing Studio and Email Booster. The platform also offers Marketing Monitor, which compares campaigns with industry benchmarks and recommends improvements. Essentials and Premier include unlimited email sends at the listed 500-contact starting tier; Lite allows 2,500 monthly emails. That makes the plans different in kind: Mailchimp’s offer is broader across email, SMS and audience automation, while Campaign Monitor puts more emphasis on campaign production and reporting. Check the contact tier before comparing costs.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The available product descriptions don’t establish which service is easier to learn, so we wouldn’t treat either as an automatic win. Mailchimp bundles campaigns, audience data and automations, with plan limits on seats, audiences and automation steps that can shape how a team works. Essentials allows three seats and up to four automation flow steps; Standard allows five seats and up to 200 flows.
Campaign Monitor’s visual journey designer and branded campaign tools give teams a defined workflow for building emails and automations. Its listed plans include unlimited users, which avoids a seat cap at those tiers. Before switching, map your contact count, sending volume and workflow needs against each plan; Campaign Monitor’s higher contact tiers can change the price, while Mailchimp’s promotional rates apply for 12 months.
Questions people ask
What is an alternative to Mailchimp?
Campaign Monitor is one alternative if you want branded email campaigns, visual journey automation and unlimited users on its listed plans. It has no free plan, though, and its price rises with contact tiers. For ecommerce, users on Reddit also mention moving toward Klaviyo or Omnisend, but the available information here doesn’t compare their prices or features.
What is an example of an email campaign?
A welcome email sent after someone joins a mailing list is one simple example: introduce the business, share a useful next step and invite the subscriber to browse or learn more. Both platforms describe tools for creating email campaigns, and Campaign Monitor also lists automated customer journeys.
Why are people leaving Mailchimp?
The published user-sentiment summary points to ecommerce users on Reddit moving toward Klaviyo and Omnisend. It doesn’t establish one universal reason or prove how common that switch is. Cost, contact limits and plan caps are worth checking before leaving: Mailchimp’s free plan caps contacts and sends, and its paid prices are promotional for 12 months.
How does Flodesk compare to Mailchimp?
The available information doesn’t include Flodesk pricing, plan limits or features, so we can’t make a grounded feature-by-feature comparison. Mailchimp’s listed entry points are a free plan with 250 contacts and a $13/month Essentials plan. Compare Flodesk’s current official pricing and limits against your contact count and sending needs before switching.