Mailchimp Review 2026: Still the Best Email Marketing Tool?
Mailchimp was once the obvious choice for small business email marketing, but its recent pricing changes have made it significantly less competitive. The free plan is now more restricted, and paid plans cost more than alternatives offering equal or better features. Still works well, but harder to recommend over Brevo or Campaign Monitor at today's prices.
Mailchimp became synonymous with email marketing for small businesses. The brand recognition, the cheerful chimp logo, the reasonably generous free plan — for years it was the default answer to “what email tool should I use?”
That’s changed. Pricing increases and contact limit cuts have eroded the free tier, while competitors have caught up on features. Here’s where Mailchimp actually stands today.
What Mailchimp Does Well
Ease of Use
Mailchimp’s email builder remains one of the most user-friendly available. The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, templates are plentiful, and the preview tools are helpful. For a business owner who needs to send a newsletter without a marketing background, Mailchimp gets you to a decent-looking email quickly.
Integrations
Mailchimp integrates with almost everything — Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, WordPress, Salesforce, and hundreds of other platforms. If your business uses popular tools, Mailchimp almost certainly connects to them natively. This reduces setup friction significantly.
Audience Management
Mailchimp’s segmentation and tagging tools are solid. You can segment by purchase history, engagement, demographics, and custom tags. For businesses that want to send different content to different audience segments without complex technical setup, this works well.
Analytics
Campaign analytics cover open rates, click rates, bounce rates, and unsubscribes with clear visualisation. The revenue reporting (for ecommerce integrations) helps connect email activity to actual sales. Decent without being exceptional.
Brand Recognition
This sounds trivial, but it matters: Mailchimp is what clients, accountants, and partners recognise. If you’re an agency setting up email for clients, Mailchimp requires no explanation.
Where Mailchimp Falls Short
Pricing Has Got Worse
This is the central problem. Mailchimp cut its free plan from 2,000 contacts to 500 contacts in 2023, while simultaneously increasing paid plan prices. The result: Mailchimp is now significantly more expensive than alternatives at most list sizes.
| Contacts | Mailchimp Essentials | Brevo (equivalent) |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | ~£10/mo | Free |
| 2,500 | ~£25/mo | ~£7/mo |
| 10,000 | ~£75/mo | ~£14/mo |
At scale, the price difference is substantial. For a business with 5,000 contacts sending weekly, switching from Mailchimp to Brevo saves hundreds of pounds per year.
Free Plan is Now Stingy
500 contacts is not much. A local business that’s been collecting emails for a year at events, through a website form, and from existing customers will hit 500 quickly. Once you exceed the limit, Mailchimp nudges you to paid — which starts at prices higher than competitors’ paid tiers.
Automation Costs Extra
Basic automations are included on Essentials, but more advanced Customer Journey automations require the Standard plan. This isn’t unreasonable, but Brevo includes automation at all paid tiers with more generous send limits.
Support on Free Plan is Limited
The free plan offers email-only support. Live chat and 24/7 support require the Essentials plan. Given competitors offer better free tiers with comparable support access, this is a mark against.
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly (approx) | Contacts | Monthly Sends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | £0 | Up to 500 | 1,000 |
| Essentials | From ~£10/mo | 500+ | 10× contacts |
| Standard | From ~£15/mo | 500+ | 12× contacts |
| Premium | From ~£265/mo | 10,000+ | Unlimited |
Prices increase with contact list size. Billed monthly — annual billing saves ~15%.
Mailchimp vs Brevo vs Campaign Monitor
vs Brevo: Brevo wins on price at virtually every list size. Mailchimp has a slight edge on template variety and the ecommerce integrations are comparable. For cost-conscious businesses, Brevo is the recommendation.
vs Campaign Monitor: Campaign Monitor is similarly priced to Mailchimp but with a stronger focus on design quality and more sophisticated segmentation. For businesses where email aesthetics matter (design agencies, premium brands), Campaign Monitor is worth the comparison.
Verdict
✅ Pros
- Excellent ease of use — fastest to a good-looking email
- Integrates with almost every popular tool
- Strong audience segmentation
- Good deliverability
- Trusted brand — clients know what it is
❌ Cons
- Pricing has become significantly less competitive
- Free plan cut from 2,000 to 500 contacts
- Paid plans cost more than Brevo for equivalent send volume
- Advanced automations gated to higher tiers
Mailchimp is still a good product — it’s just no longer obviously the best-value one. If you’re already using it and happy, switching has a real migration cost. If you’re starting fresh or re-evaluating, Brevo gives you more sends for less money, and Campaign Monitor is comparable in features at a similar price. The only strong reason to choose Mailchimp today is its integrations ecosystem or existing familiarity.
→ Read our full Brevo review → See our best email marketing tools roundup