Software review
Mailchimp Review
The default choice for newsletters — increasingly outgrown by anyone doing real automation.
Local service businesses and small teams that need a straightforward newsletter and basic automated sequences, not deep behavioural automation.
The tool most local-service clients already have when an agency picks them up, more often than the tool we'd choose fresh. It does the newsletter-and-basic-sequence job fine; the moment a client wants real behavioural automation, ActiveCampaign is the conversation.
- From
- $13 / mo
- Free tier
- Yes
- Rating
- 3.6 / 5
Overview
Mailchimp is the email tool most local-service businesses already have when an agency picks them up, more often than the tool an agency would choose fresh. The drag-and-drop builder and template library make it the easiest platform for a client to self-manage later, and the free tier is genuinely usable rather than a disguised trial. The advertised prices are a 12-month introductory rate, not the ongoing cost — worth flagging to a client before quoting, not after.
Best for
Local service businesses and small teams that need a straightforward newsletter and basic automated sequences, not deep behavioural automation.
Not for
Agencies managing multiple client accounts with serious automation needs — the flow builder and reporting both feel thin once ActiveCampaign becomes the comparison.
How it performs
Each row is either our editorial view, drawn from using the product and reading around it, or a capability listed in the vendor’s own documentation — tagged so you know which. None of it is a controlled benchmark.
Free tier is genuinely usable for a small list, not just a trial disguised as free
EEditor’s viewTemplate library and drag-and-drop editor are the easiest entry point for a non-technical client to self-manage later
EEditor’s viewBroad integration ecosystem means it rarely blocks a client's existing stack
EEditor’s viewDrag-and-drop email builder with a large free template library
DDocsBasic automation flows (up to 200 on Standard)
DDocsBuilt-in audience segmentation and A/B testing
DDocsNative integrations with most e-commerce and CRM platforms
DDocsPricing record
Captured from the vendor’s pricing page. Prices change — this is dated.
| Plan | Monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 250 contacts, 500 sends/month or 250/day |
| Essentials | $13 | Introductory rate for 12 months at 500 contacts; scales with list size and reverts to standard pricing after |
| Standard | $20 | Same intro-rate caveat; up to 200 automation flows, generative AI |
| Premium | $350 | Same intro-rate caveat; up to 150,000 emails/month, phone support |
Vendors change plans often — confirm before you buy.
Sources: pricing and feature information captured from mailchimp.com on 16 Sept 2026. Editor comments are our own judgement, not vendor statements.