Mailchimp Pricing: How Much Will It Cost You?

Whether you’re a small business owner taking your first steps into the digital world or a growing enterprise looking to beef up your marketing game, you need an email marketing solution. 

Mailchimp is a popular email marketing service provider, but do you wonder how much Mailchimp will pinch your pocket? The incremental changes in its pricing have left many confused about the cost of email marketing using Mailchimp. 

In this blog, we’ll unravel the cost of using Mailchimp for your business. So, grab a cup of your favorite brew and dive into the nitty-gritty of Mailchimp’s pricing. 

MailChimp Pricing: Overview 

If you’ve been anywhere remotely near the email marketing horizon in your life, you must’ve heard about Mailchimp. Once, it was a no-brainer solution for anyone who wanted to start with email marketing. 

However, with the entry of better marketing automation platforms and constantly increasing prices, consumers expect more from a platform like Mailchimp. 

If we talk about the free plan, it supports up to 500 contacts and 1000 email sends, and the cost steeply goes up from there, charging you based on the number of contacts you’ve in your list. Here’s a quick, no-fluff summary of free and paid plans to help you find the sweet spot for your business’s needs and budget. 

• Mailchimp Free plan. Perfect for beginners, enthusiasts, or hobbyists. You get basic features with a cap on contacts and email sends. Cost: $0; 
• Mailchimp Essentials plan. Starting at $13/month, this plan steps up the game with up to 5,000 monthly sends and 24/7 support. Ideal for small businesses; 
• Mailchimp Standard plan. Starting at $20/month, it offers advanced business features like advanced automation; 
• Mailchimp Premium plan. Starting at a steep $350/month, this is the top-tier plan for large-scale operations, offering the most comprehensive features.

Though the free plan seems generous, users and independent reviewers confirm there’s more to its pricing than what’s visible. Recent changes like the increase in pricing and how they count contacts make it a less viable option for small business owners. 

Unlike Mailchimp, Sender’s got nothing to hide. It’s Free Forever plan gives you access to many powerful features, including email automation, drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, popups, and campaign reports.

MailChimp Monthly Marketing Plans and Prices 

Here’s a quick overview table for all of Mailchimp’s plans for a clear idea about what you’ll get when you choose Mailchimp for email marketing. 

But What MailChimp Pricing Plan Should You Choose?

With multiple tiers and a pay-as-you-go option, choosing the right Mailchimp plan can feel like a maze. 

Before you decide, remember to balance what you need and can afford. 

Are you a startup on a shoestring budget or a growing business ready to scale your marketing? Maybe you’re a large enterprise seeking the most advanced features. 

Each plan has its perks and quirks, tailored to different needs and budgets. Let’s walk through each plan in the coming sections, helping you pinpoint the one that aligns best with your marketing goals. 

Monthly Costs: Mailchimp Pricing Plans 

You must constantly pour money into a monthly subscription for your email marketing strategy to succeed. Let’s look at what you’ll be shelling out monthly with Mailchimp paid plans. 

Free Plan 

Mailchimp’s Free Plan is the first step in your digital marketing journey. It’s designed for those who are just starting and want to test the waters. 

Think of it as a “try before you buy” option. You get essential tools to kickstart your email marketing but with some limitations. This plan is great for experimenting with email campaigns without any upfront investment.

Features of the Free Plan

• 500 contact limit. Store up to 500 contacts in a single email list with basic tags and profiles; 
• Forms and landing pages. Drag-and-drop builder for creating forms/landing pages to capture leads and grow your audience; 
• Basic email templates. Simple, customizable email designs for your campaigns; 
• No automation. No support for automated customer journeys. 

While the Free Plan is a great starting point, it’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding what can be done with email marketing. As you grow, you’ll need higher limits and advanced features to get things done. 

Essentials Plan

The Essentials Plan is where Mailchimp starts getting useful. Geared towards small businesses, this plan is a notch above the free version, offering a higher sending limit (up to 10x your contact list) and a broader range of features. 

It’s designed for those who have tested the tool, outgrown the basics of email marketing, and are ready for real action. With a starting price of $13/month, it balances affordability with useful features, making it a popular choice for small businesses.

Features of the Essentials Plan

• Higher contact limits. Start with 500 and go up to 50,000 contacts on this paid plan; 
• Increased monthly send limit. Up to 10x of your contacts for catering to a larger audience; 
• More templates. Access to a wider range of email templates, giving you more creative freedom; 
• A/B testing. Test different versions of your emails to see what works best with your audience;
• Segmentation. Set up to 3 unique audiences with custom tags, segments, and profiles.  

This monthly plan offers a good balance between useful features and affordability, seeking more capabilities than the Free Plan but doesn’t yet need the full suite of advanced features.

Standard Plan

Mailchimp’s standard plan starts at $20 monthly and offers many useful features for small to medium-sized businesses. You can use the plan for up to 100,000 email contacts (for approx $460-800 per month, depending on promotional offers) and significantly higher sending limits than the essential plan. 

This plan is designed for businesses that are not just growing but are ready to leverage more sophisticated marketing strategies. 

Features of the Standard Plan

• Advanced audience insights. Get deeper insights into your audience, helping to tailor your marketing more effectively; 
• Retargeting ads. Extend your reach beyond email by retargeting your audience on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram; 
• Advanced automation. Automate your marketing more complexly and efficiently using pre-built journeys or custom journey builder. 

Premium Plan

Mailchimp’s Premium plan is Mailchimp’s top-tier offering, starting at $350/month, It’s designed for large businesses or those with extensive, sophisticated marketing needs. This plan unlocks the full power of Mailchimp, offering the most comprehensive set of tools and features.

Features of the Premium Plan

• Advanced segmentation. Tailor your campaigns with highly detailed segmentation options; 
• Multivariate testing. Test multiple variables in your campaigns to optimize your marketing strategies; 
• Unlimited seats and audiences. Ideal for larger teams, offering unlimited user access and audience segmentation;
• Priority support. Access the highest level of customer support, including phone support.

MailChimp Pay As You Go Plans

Mailchimp’s Pay As You Go plans are marketed as flexible email plans for occasional users. Think of it as an à-la-carte email marketing option. 

You purchase credits in advance; each email deducts one credit from your balance. For example, a business emailing 100 contacts will use 100 credits, aligning costs directly with usage. This system is perfect for those with seasonal campaigns or sporadic emailing needs, as it bypasses the commitment to a monthly subscription. 

The plan’s features are on par with the Essentials plan, ensuring you have a robust toolkit at your disposal, even on an irregular schedule. 

A Closer Look at the Costs and Constraints

The Pay As You Go plan’s pricing is straightforward: buy credits in bulk and use them as needed. The more credits you buy, the cheaper the cost per email, with prices ranging from $0.02 to $0.03 per email, depending on the volume purchased. 

However, there’s a catch – these credits expire after 12 months. This expiration policy requires businesses to plan their email campaigns wisely to avoid wasting credits. While this plan offers great flexibility and cost-effectiveness for infrequent senders, it’s crucial to be mindful of the expiration date to maximize the plan’s value.

Key Features and How It Works 

• Mirrors the Essentials plan in terms of features, offering a solid range of tools like A/B testing and automation; 
• Buy credit when you need it. Each email sent costs one credit. For instance, an email to 100 contacts costs 100 credits; 
• Credits expire after 12 months, a change from their previous ‘never expire’ policy.

Approx Pricing for Credits:

• 5,000 emails: $150 ($0.03/email)
• 10,000 emails: $200 ($0.02/email)
• 50,000 emails: $1,000 ($0.02/email)
• 75,000 emails: $1,500 ($0.02/email)

Additional Overage Charges 

When it comes to Mailchimp’s pricing plans, one critical aspect to be aware of is the potential for additional overage charges. These charges kick in when you exceed the prescribed limits of your chosen plan, particularly regarding the number of contacts or emails sent. 

For instance, if your business grows and your subscriber list exceeds the limit of your current plan, you’ll incur additional fees. This is especially relevant for businesses experiencing rapid growth or seasonal spikes in their audience size. Monitoring your subscriber count and email activity is crucial to avoid unexpected charges.

Understanding and Managing Overage Costs

Specific overage costs aren’t uniformly explained within Mailchimp’s pricing documentation, making it challenging to present a clear table of these charges. However, the general principle is that exceeding your plan’s limits will result in additional fees, billed on a per-contact or per-email basis, depending on the plan. 

For businesses close to their plan limits, it’s advisable to consider upgrading to a higher plan to accommodate growth and prevent overage costs. Regularly reviewing your usage against your plan’s limits can help you manage expenses and avoid surprises in your billing.

Mailchimp’s Pricing for Transactional Emails

Mailchimp’s Transactional Email service, known as Mandrill, is a paid add-on for its users. It’s designed to send transactional emails from websites and applications via a delivery API. Transactional emails include order confirmation, shipping confirmation and updates, order refunds, and subscription confirmations.

The transactional email service is charged based on blocks, where each block includes up to 25,000 transactional emails. The service starts from $20/month for up to 25,000 emails. Here’s a breakdown of the pricing per block based on email volume: 

• 1 to 20 blocks (1 to 500k emails): $20/block; 
• 21 to 40 blocks (500k to 1M emails): $18/block; 
• 41 to 80 blocks (1M to 2M emails): $16/block; 
• 81 to 120 blocks (2M to 3M emails): $14/block; 
• 121 to 160 blocks (3M to 4M emails): $12/block; 
• 161+ blocks (4M+ emails): $10/block; 

For an additional $29.95/month, Mailchimp also offers a dedicated IP for sending transactional emails.

Websites & Commerce Plans

If you want to use Mailchimp to create a website or sell products, subscribe to its website & commerce plans. This will give you access to the Mailchimp Store for creating and publishing your branded store. 

Mailchimp offers three plans for its Websites and commerce products: 

• Free. Costs nothing except a 2% transaction and Stripe fee. Comes with basic features to launch a store; 
• Core. Starts at $10 per month + 1.5% transaction and Stripe processing fee; 
• Plus. Starts at $29 per month + 0.5% transaction and Stripe processing fee. 

All the plans for website and commerce offer free access to features like email and social media posting, too. 

Mailchimp Pricing vs Sender  

Mailchimp FAQ

What is Mailchimp’s pricing for nonprofits?

Mailchimp offers a 15% discount to verified nonprofits and charities. If you’re a charity or nonprofit in the US, you’ll need to send a digital copy of the 501c3 determination letter to claim the discount. For other countries, the document list is shared by Mailchimp’s team on review of the nonprofit’s website. 

How to get started with the free version?

One can sign up on the Mailchimp’s website to start with the free plan. Choose the free plan after you create an account to start using the free plan features. 

What counts as a contact at MailChimp?

Mailchimp counts every entry into your email list as a contact – unsubscribed, imported, or any other contact. So, the cost of running your email marketing campaigns can escalate quickly (as you’re also charged for unsubscribed people from your list). 

Are there any additional costs?

Yes. Mailchimp charges additionally for overages over your plan’s email sending limit. You can also be charged for additional contacts, add-ons, and services the provider offers over and above your plan inclusions. 

Looking for more email marketing software alternatives? We’ve done the hard work for you:

• Mailchimp Alternatives: Exploring 13 Competitors ( Paid & Free) 
• 13 Best Email Newsletter Software (Incl. Free Platforms) 

Author bio

Anmol Ratan Sachdeva is a content marketer and small business consultant who has a strong grip on topics like marketing automation, email marketing, and content marketing. He loves to write about starting, improving, and growing a business.