Mailchimp Review 2026: Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons

Mailchimp is the email platform everyone has heard of. Founded in 2001, acquired by Intuit in 2021 for $12 billion, it has been the default choice for small business email marketing for over two decades. By 2026, it has expanded into a full marketing platform with CRM, social posting, website building, and e-commerce tools.

The question for newsletter creators is direct: should you still use Mailchimp when purpose-built alternatives exist? In most cases, the answer is no. This review explains why, and identifies the specific use cases where Mailchimp still makes sense.

What Is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes email campaigns, automations, landing pages, social media scheduling, CRM, audience management, and e-commerce integrations. It serves small businesses, online stores, agencies, and (secondarily) newsletter creators.

After the Intuit acquisition, Mailchimp has increasingly positioned itself as a marketing suite rather than an email tool. Features like Customer Journey Builder, predictive analytics, and behavioral targeting reflect a product aimed at marketing teams, not independent writers. This is not inherently bad, but it means the product is optimized for a different user than someone who just wants to write and send a newsletter.

Key Features

Integration Ecosystem

This is Mailchimp's strongest asset. Over 300 integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Squarespace, Zapier, Salesforce, Canva, and nearly every business tool you can name. If you need your email platform to connect to everything else in your stack, Mailchimp has the broadest coverage. No other newsletter platform comes close in integration breadth.

E-commerce Email Tools

Abandoned cart emails, product recommendation blocks, purchase follow-ups, customer lifetime value predictions, and store-connected audience segments. These features are specifically designed for online stores. If you sell physical or digital products through Shopify or WooCommerce and need email marketing tied directly to purchase behavior, Mailchimp handles this well.

Email Template Builder

Drag-and-drop email designer with dozens of pre-built templates. The builder is mature and produces emails that render reliably across clients. Adding images, buttons, product blocks, and social links is straightforward. For visually-designed marketing emails (as opposed to text-focused newsletters), the template builder is one of the best available.

Customer Journey Builder

Visual automation builder for multi-step email sequences with branching logic, time delays, and conditional checks. Comparable to Kit's automation builder in capability, though the interface is busier. Adequate for welcome sequences, onboarding flows, and purchase-triggered campaigns.

Audience Management and CRM

Tags, segments, custom fields, engagement scoring, and behavioral tracking. Mailchimp's audience tools are designed for marketing teams managing customer relationships, not newsletter operators managing reader lists. Powerful but over-engineered for simple newsletter use cases.

Landing Pages and Signup Forms

Built-in landing page builder and embeddable signup forms. The landing pages are functional but not impressive. Adequate for lead capture, but Beehiiv's pages and Kit's landing pages are both better designed for creator use cases.

Reporting and Analytics

Open rates, click rates, revenue attribution, geographic data, device breakdown, and comparative reports across campaigns. The analytics are comprehensive for marketing teams. For newsletter creators, most of this data is noise. Beehiiv's analytics are more focused on what newsletter operators actually need.

Mailchimp Pricing

Mailchimp's pricing scales steeply with contact count. At 5,000 contacts, the Standard plan costs ~$59/month. At 25,000 contacts, ~$230/month. At 50,000 contacts, ~$350/month. Compare that to Beehiiv at $39/month for up to 100,000 subscribers. The price difference is severe.

The free tier was gutted in recent years: 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month, Mailchimp branding on every email. Beehiiv's free tier gives you 2,500 subscribers. Kit's free tier gives you 10,000. Mailchimp's free offering is no longer competitive.

Mailchimp also counts unsubscribed contacts in your total unless you manually archive them. This means you can pay for contacts who will never receive your emails. This billing practice is widely criticized and is not something you will encounter with Beehiiv, Kit, Substack, Ghost, or Buttondown.

Who Should Use Mailchimp?

• E-commerce businesses that need deep Shopify or WooCommerce integration for transactional and marketing emails
• Small businesses that need email marketing as part of a broader marketing suite (CRM, social, landing pages)
• Agencies managing multiple clients who need a platform their clients already know and trust
• Teams that depend on specific integrations only available through Mailchimp's ecosystem

Who Should NOT Use Mailchimp?

• Newsletter-first creators should use Beehiiv, which has better growth tools and costs $39/month for 100K subscribers
• Writers who want simplicity should use Substack (free, zero setup) or Buttondown (Markdown, minimal)
• Creators selling digital products should use Kit, which has native commerce without Mailchimp's complexity
• Anyone on a budget should avoid Mailchimp - every alternative listed here is cheaper at comparable subscriber counts
• Publishers who want full ownership should use Ghost, which is open-source with 0% fees

Mailchimp vs the Competition

Mailchimp vs Beehiiv: Beehiiv is purpose-built for newsletters with growth tools (ad network, referrals, boosts) and costs a fraction of Mailchimp at scale. Mailchimp has more integrations and e-commerce features. For newsletters, Beehiiv wins. For e-commerce email marketing, Mailchimp wins. Read our Beehiiv review.

Mailchimp vs Kit: Kit has better automations for creators, native digital product sales, and a 10K free tier. Mailchimp has more integrations and e-commerce depth. Kit is better for individual creators. Mailchimp is better for e-commerce businesses. Read our Kit review.

Mailchimp vs Substack: Completely different products. Substack is for writers who want to publish and get discovered. Mailchimp is for businesses that send marketing emails. There is almost no overlap in ideal use cases. Read our Substack review.

Mailchimp vs Ghost: Ghost is open-source, self-hostable, and charges 0% on memberships. Mailchimp is a closed SaaS with aggressive pricing. Ghost is for independent publishers. Mailchimp is for marketing teams. Read our Ghost review.

Mailchimp vs Buttondown: Buttondown is simpler, cheaper, Markdown-native, and designed for writers. Mailchimp is a marketing suite. If you just want to send a newsletter, Buttondown does it better for less money. Read our Buttondown review.