ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp both send newsletters and automated emails, but they are built for different jobs. Mailchimp is the easy, familiar starting point with a small free plan. ActiveCampaign is the deeper automation tool with a CRM add on. We compared them on price, free plans, automation, pages, deliverability help and support, using each official pricing page in October 2026.
ActiveCampaign is better if automation is the point: unlimited automation actions from Plus, conditional workflows and a sales pipeline add on. Mailchimp is better if you want a free plan, a simple editor and an offer price from $13 a month. Most coaches who sell through follow up sequences will get more from ActiveCampaign.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and founders choosing between ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp for email and follow up automation.
Choose ActiveCampaign if your business runs on follow up: welcome sequences, nurture emails that change based on what people click, reminders before a call and a pipeline of leads you want to track. Choose Mailchimp if you mostly send a regular newsletter, want a free plan to start on and prefer a tool that a new assistant can learn in an afternoon.
For most coaches and consultants who sell through calls, ActiveCampaign is the stronger pick. Its automation builder is the reason people pay for it, and from the Plus plan there is no cap on how many steps an automation can have. Mailchimp's automation flows are capped at 4 steps on Essentials, so you need Standard before it can run a proper nurture sequence.
If your list is under 250 people and you are still testing an idea, start on Mailchimp's free plan. Move when you need a sequence longer than a welcome email.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
Both tools price by the number of contacts on your list, so the bill grows as you grow. We checked ActiveCampaign's official pricing page and Mailchimp's official pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). All figures below are in US dollars and are the starting prices for the smallest list size each plan allows.
ActiveCampaign has four plans, all priced from 1,000 contacts, with a 14 day free trial and no credit card needed. There is no free plan. Starter is $19 a month, or $15 a month billed yearly, with 10,000 email sends a month, 1 user and forms, but no landing pages and a limit of 5 actions per automation. Plus is $59 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly, and adds landing pages and unlimited automation actions.
Pro is $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly, with 12,000 sends a month, 3 users, predictive sending and A/B testing inside automations. Enterprise is $179 a month, or $145 a month billed yearly, with 15,000 sends, 5 users and a dedicated account team. The sales pipeline (deals and lead scoring) is listed as an add on from Plus, so check its price if you want a CRM.
Mailchimp has a Free plan and three paid plans. Free covers up to 250 contacts and a maximum of 500 sends a month or 250 a day, with 1 user and email support for the first 30 days only. At the time of writing, the paid plans are on a 50% offer for the first 12 months: Essentials from $13 a month and Standard from $20 a month, both for up to 500 contacts, and Premium from $350 a month for up to 10,000 contacts.
The full price after those 12 months was not shown on the page when we checked, so check current pricing before you budget a year ahead. Send limits are a multiple of your contacts: 10 times on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium. Mailchimp says overages apply if you go over your contact or send limit.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). "From" means the cheapest plan that includes the feature.
| What you need | ActiveCampaign | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $15 a month billed yearly ($19 monthly) | $13 a month for 12 months on the current offer |
| Free plan | No, 14 day free trial | Yes, 250 contacts and 500 sends a month |
| Contacts on the cheapest paid plan | 1,000 (Starter) | 500 (Essentials) |
| Automation | 5 actions per automation on Starter, unlimited from Plus | None on Free, 4 flow steps on Essentials, up to 200 flows from Standard |
| Landing pages and forms | Forms on Starter, landing pages from Plus | Popup forms on every plan; landing pages offered too |
| Deliverability help | Predictive sending from Pro, inbox preview tests as an add on | No inbox testing listed; onboarding sessions from Standard |
| CRM and pipeline | Pipelines add on from Plus | No sales pipeline listed on the pricing page |
| Users | 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro | 1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard |
| Support | Basic on Starter and Plus, priority email and chat from Pro | 24/7 email and chat on paid plans, phone on Premium |
| Best for | Coaches who sell through sequences, calls and follow up | Newsletters, small lists and teams who want simple |
If you want to see how both compare with Kit, Brevo and others, our roundup of the best email marketing software covers the wider field.
This is the main reason to choose ActiveCampaign. You can build an automation that waits for someone to open an email, click a link, visit a page or book a call, then sends them down a different path. A coach can send one follow up to people who clicked the programme link and a different one to people who did not, without touching it again. From Plus, there is no cap on how many actions an automation can contain.
ActiveCampaign lists Pipelines as an add on from Plus, with deals and lead scoring. That means you can see who downloaded your guide, who booked a call and who went quiet, in one place. If you sell high ticket coaching on calls, that view is worth a lot. Our guide to automating lead follow up shows the sequence we would build first.
On Pro and Enterprise you can A/B test inside an automation, not just on single emails, and predictive sending picks a send time per contact. These matter once your list is big enough for small changes to add up. If you are comparing it with a creator tool instead, read our Kit vs ActiveCampaign comparison.
The catch is the learning curve. ActiveCampaign has a lot of settings, and it is easy to build an automation that sends the wrong email to the wrong person if nobody tests it. Budget time to learn it, or budget for someone who already knows it.
Mailchimp has a free plan that does not expire. It is small, with 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, but it is enough to set up a signup form, collect your first subscribers and send a monthly update. ActiveCampaign only gives you a 14 day trial, so you pay from the start.
Mailchimp's editor and templates are simple, and most people can send a decent looking newsletter on day one. If your email marketing is one well written email a week, Mailchimp gets out of your way. The Standard plan adds up to 200 automation flows, branded templates, dynamic content and generative AI features at no extra cost, which covers most small businesses.
Essentials includes 3 seats and Standard includes 5, while ActiveCampaign's Starter and Plus plans include 1 user each. If you have a VA or a small team who all need to log in, Mailchimp can work out cheaper for that reason alone.
The catch is automation depth and price as you grow. Essentials caps flows at 4 steps, the free plan has no automation at all, and the current prices are an offer for the first 12 months. If emails start landing in spam after you move, our guide on Mailchimp emails going to spam walks through the usual causes.
If you are on one of these tools and your emails are not getting replies or bookings, switching is rarely the fix. Inbox placement depends mostly on your domain setup (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), how engaged your list is and how often you clean it. Both tools send from shared infrastructure that works fine when those basics are right. Run your domain through our free email deliverability checker before you blame the platform.
Neither tool writes a welcome sequence people want to read, and neither turns a vague offer into one people buy. A three email sequence that says something useful will beat a fifty step automation that says nothing. And neither will chase a lead who booked a call and then went quiet, unless someone builds that follow up and checks it works.
So do not switch if your list is small, your emails are a simple weekly newsletter and you are happy with the results. Do switch to ActiveCampaign if you keep wanting "if they clicked this, send that" and Mailchimp's plan will not let you. Do switch to Mailchimp if you are paying for automation you never use.
1. Do you sell through follow up or through a newsletter? If leads book calls after a sequence of emails, lean ActiveCampaign. If people buy from a regular newsletter, Mailchimp or a creator tool may be enough. Our guide to the best email marketing platform for coaches goes deeper on this.
2. How long is your longest automation? Count the emails and the if/then steps. If it is more than 4 steps, Mailchimp Essentials will not hold it, and ActiveCampaign Starter's 5 action limit may not either. Price the plan that actually fits, not the cheapest one.
3. What will it cost at your list size in a year? Both bills grow with your contacts, and Mailchimp's current prices are an offer for 12 months. Work out the price at double your current list before you commit.
If you would rather hand the whole thing over, that is when a done for you studio fits: you know follow up is where clients are lost, but you do not have the hours to map the sequence, write the emails, build the automation and check it every week. We find where leads drop off first, then build the fix on whichever tool suits you. You can start with a free marketing audit.
For automation, yes. ActiveCampaign lets you build longer, conditional automations, with no action limit from the Plus plan, and offers a sales pipeline add on. Mailchimp is better if you want a free plan and a simple tool for newsletters.
Yes. At the time of writing (October 2026), Mailchimp's Free plan covers up to 250 contacts, with a maximum of 500 sends a month or 250 a day and 1 user. It does not include automation flows, and email support is only for the first 30 days.
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14 day free trial with no credit card needed. After that, Starter is $19 a month, or $15 a month billed yearly, for 1,000 contacts.
Mailchimp is cheaper to start, with a free plan and paid plans from $13 a month during its current 12 month offer. ActiveCampaign starts at $15 a month billed yearly but covers 1,000 contacts on that price. Compare both at your real list size, and check Mailchimp's price after the offer ends.
Yes. Export your contacts with their tags and consent status, import them, and rebuild your forms and automations by hand. Warm up gently by emailing your most engaged subscribers first, and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain before your first send.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.