Mailchimp Pricing for Your Email Marketing

Mailchimp Pricing Plans

In essence, Mailchimp’s pricing plans are pretty typical for email marketing platforms. There is a free option to get you started. After that, there are multiple options based on your email list size and the amount of emails you send. It’s important to note that, unlike other platforms including Klaviyo, Mailchimp does charge users for dormant and unsubscribed contacts. There are additional services to consider in each of the plans as well. 

With these factors in mind, let’s dive into each of the different offerings provided by Mailchimp pricing.

Free Plan

While Mailchimp’s free plan may not be as powerful as some competitors, it certainly offers a range of impressive features. New users and beginner email marketers can enjoy single-step campaign automation and advanced ecommerce capabilities.  Any emails sent through the free plan will display Mailchimp branding. There are restrictions on the number of subscribers (500) and email sends (2,500). Personal customer support will only be available for the first 30 days. Furthermore, even though the free plan accommodates numerous subscribers, multiple email campaigns to your audiences are not permitted.  The free plan also includes an extensive landing page builder, a scheduling app, and a robust CRM. These are great features for email marketers wishing to streamline their process. However, despite allowing access to the scheduling app, users cannot schedule campaigns. They must be launched manually. Mailchimp’s base plan serves as an ideal starting point for small businesses venturing into email marketing. It’s also suitable for beginner email marketers. After all, Mailchimp pricing can become a significant business investment, so it’s great to get a free taste first.

Pay-As-You-Go Plan

If you’re ready to start paying a little at a time for your email marketing, then the pay-as-you-go plan in the Mailchimp pricing slate might be your best choice. This option allows you to pay solely for the emails sent to your subscribers. With this plan, there are no limits on the number of contacts in your account… just how often you contact them.  You’ll need to prepay for the total number of emails you plan to send during the month. Obviously, as you send more emails, the cost per email decreases. To help you grasp the pricing structure, here’s a brief chart for your reference:

Essentials Plan

Mailchimp pricing for their entry-level plan, known as the Essentials plan, offers basic features to help you scale your email marketing efforts. This plan starts at $9 per month for managing 500 contacts. As your subscriber base grows, the price increases accordingly. The Essentials plan can accommodate up to 50,000 subscribers at a cost of $240 per month.  Upgrading to the Essentials plan removes Mailchimp logos from your emails. It also grants access to additional features that allow you to create more engaging and sophisticated email campaigns. For instance, you gain access to A/B testing tools, which help you test multiple variations of your campaign before selecting the best-performing one. You also receive unlimited access to Mailchimp’s extensive template library, featuring numerous pre-designed and optimized email templates. Simply add your brand images, logos, and content before hitting send. Speaking of unlimited, you’ll enjoy unrestricted access to Mailchimp’s customer support. New platform features like email previews and delivery by time zone become available under this plan. The email preview feature shows how your template will appear in subscribers’ inboxes and email clients. As the name implies, delivery by time zone enables you to send emails at convenient times.  Like most basic plans, this Mailchimp pricing option does have some limitations. For example, you can only create three segmented email lists. Additionally, your email previews are capped at 25 views per month. Multi-step automations are also excluded. However, the Essentials Plan is ideal for small businesses with a growing customer base and frequent email senders. 

Standard Plan

Mailchimp frequently showcases its Standard plan as its top-selling option. This plan begins at $13 per month for 500 subscribers and increases to $462 per month for 100,000 subscribers. The monthly email send limit also rises significantly to 1.2 million. Overages will automatically apply if you exceed the email send or contact limits. Notably, the Standard package offers 24/7 chat and email support. Email consultants can also add up to five users to the platform. This is great for businesses with email marketing teams.  Advanced CRM features like customer lifetime value and predictive demographics become available with the Standard plan. Also, the Delivery by Time Zone feature is enhanced with Send Time Optimization. This innovative tool helps determine the ideal time to reach different subscriber demographics, maximizing open rates.  Additionally, you can import your personalized HTML templates. The dynamic content feature automatically suggests products and services to customers based on their preferences. The ability to access multi-faceted automation workflows is arguably the Standard plan’s best feature. As far as Mailchimp pricing goes, it’s a fantastic deal. You can now develop multiple email series and layered email campaigns. You can also utilize data collected through emails to improve the quality of retargeting ads on other social media platforms. However, the limitation of segmented email lists persists in the Standard plan, allowing only five email lists. Mid-sized businesses seeking advanced CRM features, behavioral targeting, and complex automations should opt for the Standard plan.

Premium Plan

Mailchimp’s Premium Plan is the most costly option available, with a starting price of $276 per month for just 500 subscribers. For 200,000 subscribers, the cost jumps to $1,014 per month. With subscriber counts beyond this, you’ll need to contact Mailchimp’s customer support to receive a custom quote tailored to your needs. The features provided under this plan are best suited for experienced email marketers. The multivariate testing feature included in the Premium Plan is top-notch, helping you optimize email campaigns for increased engagement rates. You can test various elements, such as send times, subject lines, and email content.  Email segmentation also receives a significant upgrade in this plan. It now allows you to categorize your audience based on more complex parameters like gender, location, online activity, and purchase history. The Premium plan also introduces comparative reports. Analyze the performance of all ongoing and past campaigns from a single screen. This bird’s eye view of your campaigns helps identify potential issues that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.  Customer support also gets an upgrade. In addition to live chat and email support, you gain access to a priority phone line. Support agents will guide you through any difficulties and ensure you receive the best possible assistance. Is the higher price tag for the Premium Plan worth it? For large ecommerce stores, it might be worthwhile if the return on investment (ROI) is favorable. However, at this Mailchimp pricing point, the Premium plan may not be suitable for small and mid-sized businesses.

Does Mailchimp Pricing Offer Discounts? 

Yes, Mailchimp provides discounts on their plan pricing. Non-profit organizations can benefit from a 15% discount on their total bill. Additionally, the platform offers a 10% discount for a month to accounts that enable two-factor authentication. Notably, you can combine these two discounts to receive a total discount of 23.5%. That’s a good deal! 

How Does Mailchimp Pricing Compare to Klaviyo? 

One alternative to Mailchimp is Klaviyo. Another heavy-hitter, this email marketing platform is up and coming in the industry. However, Klaviyo’s standard 10,000 contacts plan is much pricier compared to Mailchimp’s Standard plan—for fewer monthly sends. Mailchimp’s plan for 120,000 monthly sends is only $135 per month. In comparison, with Klaviyo, you can send up to 105,000 emails per month for $175.  There are also numerous features to consider when comparing Klaviyo and Mailchimp pricing. For example, Klaviyo’s free plan is not provided with live chat support. Instead, they offer a suite of articles, videos, and online tutorials only in English. However, Klaviyo does provide SM text marketing, phone push notifications, and social media functionality.  In the end, it all depends on what is best for your business. Take a closer look and compare other platforms before you make a final decision.

Get the Best Bang for Your Business’s Buck

When it comes to email marketing, Mailchimp is a gold-standard platform. One of the reasons for this is the Mailchimp pricing system. If you’re just dipping your toes into the murky (and profitable!) waters of email marketing, there’s a plan for you. And if you’ve leveled up to the highest echelons of digital automation, there’s a plan for you as well. Whatever your business needs, Mailchimp provides a variety of tools and options that will scale your marketing efforts.