MailerLite vs Mailchimp: what the pricing pages actually say
How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
The two pricing pages, side by side
These two are not quoted in the same currency. MailerLite is priced in USD and Mailchimp in EUR, as each page showed it to us. Figures below are what each vendor charges, not a conversion — ranking them against each other depends on the rate your bank applies, and paying in a foreign currency usually adds a fee on top.
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the EU — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
Contacts
What the page says
Free
Free
up to 250
2,500 monthly emails, 2 seats, 3 automations, 1 landing page, community support
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the EU — EUR. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
Plan
Price
Contacts
What the page says
Free
Free
Under 250
Core features; sending pauses if the contact or send limit is exceeded.
Essentials
€11.22/mo
0-500 contact band
Page reads 'Free for 14 days / Then, starts at EUR11.22/month'. No 12-month promotional rate was shown on this plan on 2026-08-27, where our 26 August record had one. Sends capped at 10x contacts, 3 seats, automation flows limited to 4 steps.
Standard
€17.27/mo
0-500 contact band
Page reads 'Free for 14 days / Then, starts at EUR17.27/month'. No 12-month promotional rate shown on 2026-08-27. Sends capped at 12x contacts, 5 seats, up to 200 automation flows, generative AI features.
Premium
€302.17/mo
Unlimited contacts
The only plan still carrying an introductory rate: EUR256.84 per month for 12 months, then EUR302.17. That is about 15% off rather than the 50% our 26 August record noted across the ladder. Sends capped at 15x contacts, unlimited seats, priority support.
Source: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ · read 2026-08-27 (UTC) · Priced by contact tier — the ladder below is the 0-500 band, the lowest of sixteen bands running to 130,001-150,000. Read on the date shown above; the page served euros both in a browser and to our own cookie-free server fetch, so this is what a first-time European visitor sees. Two corrections against our 26 August record: the currency was wrongly stored as USD, and the 50%-off-for-12-months promotion that then sat on every paid plan is no longer shown on Essentials or Standard. Premium alone still carries an introductory rate, at EUR256.84 a month for 12 months against a standing EUR302.17.
What the record says
This is the most-searched budget pairing in email marketing, and the pricing pages settle it faster than any feature list.
MailerLite's numbers mean what they say. Free: 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations, a landing page — a small newsletter can live there indefinitely. Comfort at $12/month (500-subscriber base, $10.8 on annual) adds 5,000 monthly emails and 50 automations; Power at $25 removes every cap. The only promo on the page is a 50%-off first-month code, and it's labelled as exactly that.
Mailchimp prices by contact band: at the lowest 0-500 band, Essentials is €11.22 a month and Standard €17.27, climbing through sixteen bands. Its free tier covers under 250 contacts. When we read the page on 26 August, both paid plans carried a 50%-off-for-12-months promotion; on 27 August that promotion was gone and the standing prices were shown directly. Only Premium still carries an introductory rate. Note the currency: Mailchimp served us euros and MailerLite served us dollars from the same connection, so the two ladders below are not a like-for-like conversion.
The send-cap comparison is stark at the budget end. MailerLite Comfort gives a 500-subscriber list 5,000 monthly emails for $12. Mailchimp Essentials gives the same list 5,000 sends for €11.22 — and since 27 August that is the standing price rather than a promotional one, so there is no month-13 step to plan for on that plan. What has not changed is the ceiling: Mailchimp caps sends at a multiple of contacts on every tier, and MailerLite does not price that way.
Beyond the price tag
Editors & ease
MailerLite's editor is repeatedly rated among the cleanest in the category — a genuine pleasure for beginners. Mailchimp is also polished and famously familiar; most tutorials on the internet assume it.
Ecosystem
This is Mailchimp's real advantage: the largest integration marketplace in email marketing, plus brand familiarity with clients and agencies. MailerLite covers the essentials (including Claude and ChatGPT integrations, per its own page) but can't match the long tail.
Beyond email
MailerLite quietly bundles a creator toolkit even on cheap tiers: websites, landing pages, paid digital products and bookings. Mailchimp's extras concentrate in higher tiers and its ecommerce reporting.
Questions people actually search
Which free plan is better?
MailerLite's: 250 subscribers with 2,500 monthly emails, automations and a landing page, versus Mailchimp's under-250 tier with core features and sending that pauses over the limit. Both read from the vendors' pages, 26 Aug 2026.
What does Mailchimp actually cost now?
€11.22 a month for Essentials at the 0-500 contact base, rising with contact count through sixteen bands. Until 26 August that plan was advertised at a 50%-off-for-12-months rate; when we re-read the page on 27 August the promotion was gone from Essentials and Standard and the standing price was shown directly. Mailchimp served us euros; MailerLite served us dollars.
Which is cheaper long-term?
At comparable list sizes MailerLite is cheaper in year two by construction: its prices don't jump after a promo year, and its $25 Power tier buys unlimited sending that Mailchimp doesn't sell at any small-business tier.
When is Mailchimp the right pick?
When its integration marketplace is the deciding factor — if your stack connects to Mailchimp first, that's a legitimate reason to accept the pricing structure. Go in knowing the promo maths.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick between these two: MailerLite, and it isn't close.
Both have free plans for tiny lists — but MailerLite's free tier includes more (2,500 emails a month, automations, a landing page), its $12/month entry is the real price rather than a promo, and nothing doubles at month 13. Mailchimp's advertised prices are 12-month promos, and every paid plan caps how many emails you may send.
Correction, 2026-08-27: Mailchimp was previously recorded here in US dollars. Its page serves euros to an EU visitor, confirmed in a browser and by our own cookie-free server fetch, and its 0-500 band figures are €11.22 and €17.27. MailerLite genuinely serves dollars from the same connection, so this comparison is cross-currency and no conversion has been applied. Separately, the 50%-off-for-12-months promotion recorded on Mailchimp's paid plans on 26 August was absent on 27 August. We verified the prices and plan limits on both vendors' own pages (dates shown above). Feature descriptions are aggregated from the vendors' public materials. What we did not verify is listed in full in our method. The method →
Found a price that no longer matches the vendor’s page? Tell us — corrections are dated and stay on the page.