Mailchimp What You'll Really Pay
The 800-pound gorilla of email marketing. Intuit-owned Mailchimp dominates with easy automation and templates—but subscriber-based pricing means costs balloon fast as you grow.
billed annually
PW PriceWorld Score
Data-driven rating based on 7 dimensions
Score Breakdown
View raw data
| Dimension | Score | Key Data |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Cost | 3 | Monthly price:$26.5 Plan:Standard Billing cycle:monthly |
| Price Stability | 1 | Price change (24mo):42% Price changes:2024-03: Free plan cut to 250 contacts from 500; 2023-10: Standard plan increased ~15% |
| Hidden Cost Exposure | 1 | Charges for unsubscribed:✅ Yes auto upgrade on limit:✅ Yes overage cost per 1k contacts USD:$6.5 |
| Sends per Dollar | 3 | monthly send limit:12000 Monthly price:$26.5 sends per dollar:452.8 |
| Scaling Cost | 2 | cost at 10k USD:$135 Plan:Standard |
| Automation Depth | 5 | automation features count:8 Features present:welcome sequence, tag triggers, purchase triggers, date triggers, behavioral triggers, conditional branching, ab testing in flows, multi step workflows |
| Data Portability | 3 | portability score count:3 Features present:one click csv export, export includes tags, api bulk export Features absent:export includes engagement history, no export lock in |
Last verified: 2026-02-19 · Full methodology
01 All Plans at a Glance
Prices shown for base tier. Costs increase with subscriber count.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Savings | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Free Best for tire-kickers and side projects under 500 subs | $0/mo | $0/mo | 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/mo, 1 user | |
| 02 Essentials Best for creators sending weekly newsletters to a small list | $13.00/mo | $11.05/mo | −15% | 500 contacts, 5,000 emails/mo, 3 users |
| 03 Standard Recommended Best for growing businesses ready for automation & A/B testing | $20.00/mo | $17.00/mo | −15% | 500 contacts, 6,000 emails/mo, 5 users |
| 04 Premium Best for enterprise teams with complex segmentation needs | $350.00/mo | $297.50/mo | −15% | 10,000+ contacts, 150,000 emails/mo, unlimited users |
Free
Essentials
Standard
Premium
02
Hidden Costs &
Fine Print
What they don't put on the pricing page.
Subscriber-based pricing
Prices increase as your list grows. The base prices above are for 500 contacts. At 5,000 contacts, Standard jumps to $100/mo.
Monthly sends limit
Each plan has an email send limit. Overage charges apply if you exceed your monthly quota—typically $1 per 1,000 extra emails.
Feature gating
Advanced features like custom-coded templates, comparative reports, and phone support require Standard or Premium plans.
Remove Mailchimp branding
Free plan emails include Mailchimp branding in the footer. Paid plans remove it automatically.
Pay-as-you-go credits expire
If you use Pay As You Go instead of monthly billing, unused email credits expire after 12 months.
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