We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It never changes a score or a ranking. How we make money
It's a split decision.
Choose Mailchimp if you need email and SMS campaigns, automations, and audience segmentation; its Free plan starts at $0 but caps you at 250 contacts and 500 emails monthly. Choose Thinkific if your product is courses or memberships: Start costs $82 per month billed annually ($109 monthly), with unlimited courses and up to 10,000 current students. These are not substitutes; compare what you sell before switching.
01Side by side
| Mailchimp | Thinkific | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; paid plans start at $13/month | $82/month billed annually; $109 monthly |
| Free plan | Yes; 250 contacts, 500 monthly emails | No free plan listed |
| Best for | Email and SMS marketing campaigns | Creating and selling online learning |
| Core strength | Automations and behavioral audience segmentation | Course creation, community, and commerce |
| Learning curve | Not published | Not published |
| Integrations/data | Behavioral audience data; integrations not listed | Imports SCORM, video, and slide content |
| Team/seat costs | Free: 1 seat; Essentials: 3 seats | Grow: 6 admins; Expand: 15 admins |
| Support | Essentials lists 24/7 email and chat support | Support coverage not published |
Mailchimp Choose Mailchimp if
- Choose Mailchimp if you need email and SMS campaign tools.
- Choose Mailchimp if you want automations and behavioral audience data.
- Choose Mailchimp if a free plan matters and its contact cap works.
Thinkific Choose Thinkific if
- Choose Thinkific if you sell courses or memberships.
- Choose Thinkific if you need communities and learner spaces.
- Choose Thinkific if you need course checkout, subscriptions, or payment plans.
02Pricing compared
Mailchimp has a $0 Free plan, but it stops at 250 contacts and 500 emails per month (or 250 per day); SMS is not included. Essentials is listed at $13 per month and Standard at $20, each as a 12-month promotional rate with a 14-day trial. Standard’s page also shows up to 6,000 emails per month. Premium is $350 per month on a 12-month promotional rate. Month-to-month rates may be higher after promotions end. Thinkific has no free plan listed. Start costs $82 per month billed annually, or $109 monthly, and includes unlimited courses and 10,000 current students. Grow is $164 annually billed or $219 monthly; Expand is $374 annually billed or $499 monthly. Thinkific’s Branded Mobile App is a separate $199 per month add-on.
03Features and depth
These products solve different jobs. Mailchimp is for email and SMS marketing: its homepage describes AI-assisted tools, automations, audience segmentation, behavioral data and campaign design. The pricing page lists A/B and multivariate testing and predictive segmentation on Premium. Automation limits vary by plan: Essentials allows up to four flow steps, while Standard lists up to 200 automation flows. SMS is a paid add-on on eligible plans, not part of Free. Thinkific is built to create, deliver and sell learning products. Its listed tools include a drag-and-drop course builder with AI-assisted content tools, an AI teaching assistant, content import for SCORM, video and slides, and self-paced, live and blended learning formats. It also lists learner communities and commerce tools such as subscriptions, payment plans, upsells and B2B invoicing. If you need campaign marketing, compare Mailchimp; if you sell courses or memberships, compare Thinkific. Neither is a direct substitute for the other based on these feature sets.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Thinkific’s drag-and-drop course builder and AI-assisted content tools are designed for assembling learning products, but the published materials do not establish how much setup or migration work a particular course requires. Mailchimp’s automation, segmentation and campaign tools mean setup depends partly on your plan and audience: Free allows one audience, while Essentials allows three and Standard five. The reviews score ease of use at 6.5 for Mailchimp and 8 for Thinkific, but those scores do not explain the methods behind them. Treat them as a directional signal, not proof that either will be easier for your team. Before switching, map your existing contacts, course content, automations and sales flows against the limits listed for the plan you would buy.
Questions people ask
Why are people leaving Mailchimp?
One Reddit thread describes ecommerce users moving toward Klaviyo and Omnisend instead. The published review also rates Mailchimp’s value at 5 and user sentiment at 4. Those signals do not establish why every customer leaves; check whether its audience, sending and automation limits fit your use case.
Who is Mailchimp's biggest competitor?
The published material does not identify a single biggest competitor. It says ecommerce users on Reddit mention Klaviyo and Omnisend as alternatives. Which one is relevant depends on what you need; this comparison does not include their features or pricing.
What are the downsides of Mailchimp?
The Free plan caps usage at 250 contacts and 500 emails per month, with no SMS and email support only for the first 30 days. Paid rates listed here include promotional pricing, and month-to-month prices may be higher after the promotion ends.
Is Thinkific better than Teachable?
The published information covers Thinkific, not Teachable, so it is not enough to make a grounded comparison. Thinkific’s Start plan is listed at $82 per month billed annually or $109 monthly, with unlimited courses and 10,000 current students. Compare Teachable’s current pricing and limits before deciding.