Alternatives · Email analytics
Mailchimp alternatives: 5 options compared
The short answer
People leave Mailchimp mainly because pricing rises with contact count and the free plan is small (250 contacts and 500 sends a month in October 2026). Brevo prices by emails sent rather than contacts, Sender and MailerLite have larger free plans, GetResponse adds landing pages and webinars, and Klaviyo is built for ecommerce stores.
On this page 5 sections
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Why people switch from Mailchimp
- Contact-based pricing. Mailchimp's pricing tier is set by contact count, and paid plans also cap monthly sends as a multiple of contacts.
- Small free plan. In October 2026 the free plan allowed 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day), with sending paused when a limit is exceeded.
- Ecommerce depth. Stores often want revenue attribution per flow and SMS in the same tool.
What to check before switching
- How each tool counts contacts (unsubscribed and duplicate contacts can count against limits).
- Authentication: set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for the new sender before your first send.
- Warm-up: start with your most engaged segment for the first sends to protect deliverability.
- Reporting: open rates are inflated by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, so compare clicks and conversions instead.
The options
Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Descriptions come from each vendor’s own site as of October 2026; we have not tested these products in a live account. Prices appear only where we read them on the vendor’s pricing page.
Brevo
Best for: if you want to pay by emails sent, not contacts
Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing with a CRM, with plans priced by email volume rather than contact count.
GetResponse
Best for: if you want email plus landing pages and webinars
Email marketing and automation with landing pages, signup forms, webinars and ecommerce features.
Klaviyo
Best for: if you run an ecommerce store
Email and SMS built around ecommerce data, with deep Shopify integration and revenue reporting per campaign and flow.
MailerLite
Best for: if you want a simple editor and a free plan
Email marketing with a free plan, drag-and-drop editor, automations, landing pages and signup forms.
Sender
Best for: if you want a generous free plan with email and SMS
Email and SMS marketing with automation, popups and forms, aimed at small businesses and ecommerce, with a free plan.
Migration notes
- Export contacts with their consent status and signup source; do not import people who never opted in.
- Export unsubscribes and suppressed addresses separately and import them as suppressed.
- Clean the list with a verification tool before the first send from a new platform. See Bouncer.
- Rebuild automations one at a time and test each with a seed address.
Head to head: GetResponse vs Mailchimp and Sender vs Mailchimp. What to measure: email marketing metrics. More options: best email marketing analytics tools.
Free toolEmail list growth rate calculator: Net list growth rate from new subscribers, unsubscribes, bounces and complaints, and a 12-month projection.
Questions
- How is Mailchimp priced?
- By contact count, with monthly send caps on each paid plan set as a multiple of your contacts (10x on Essentials, 12x on Standard, 15x on Premium in October 2026). The free plan allowed 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
- Will my open rates change after switching?
- They may, because each platform detects opens differently and Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens everywhere. Compare click rate and conversions between platforms rather than open rate.
Sources
Read next
Email marketing analytics and deliverability
Is our email reaching the inbox, and is it producing clicks and sales?
Email marketing metrics that still mean something
Open rate after Apple Mail Privacy Protection, click rate, click-to-open, bounces, unsubscribes and spam complaints, with Gmail's 0.3% spam-rate line and how to measure revenue per email.