Flodesk and Mailchimp both help you build a list and send good looking emails, but they suit different people. Flodesk is built for creators who care about design and want unlimited sends. Mailchimp is the familiar all rounder with a small free plan and more seats. We compared pricing, free plans, automation, pages and checkout using each official pricing page in October 2026.
Flodesk is better if you want beautiful emails, unlimited sends and a built in checkout, from $19 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers. Mailchimp is better if you need a free plan that actually sends email, more team seats and detailed reports. Flodesk's free plan builds your list but does not send emails.
Who this is for: Coaches, creators and small business owners choosing between Flodesk and Mailchimp for their email list.
Choose Flodesk if you are a coach or creator who wants emails that look like your brand, sends often and would like to sell a course or a programme from the same tool. Choose Mailchimp if you want to send emails free while your list is tiny, need several people to log in or want more detailed reporting and testing as you grow.
For most coaches with a list of a few hundred to a few thousand people, Flodesk Pro is the simpler fit. You get unlimited sends, unlimited workflows and one checkout from $25 a month billed yearly. Mailchimp's cheaper plans are on a 12 month offer and limit how long your automations can be, so its real cost depends on what you need after year one.
If you just want to start collecting emails this week, either free plan will do it. Just know that only Mailchimp's free plan will send them anything.
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.
We checked Flodesk's official pricing page and Mailchimp's official pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). All figures are in US dollars.
Flodesk is no longer one flat price. Its original unlimited plan was retired for new members on 2 December 2025, and pricing now scales with your active subscribers. People who paid before that date keep their legacy plan while they stay subscribed. There are now four plans, and every paid plan includes unlimited email sends.
Free costs nothing and gives you forms, landing pages and link in bio pages, but no email sending or workflows. Lite is $25 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly, for up to 1,000 subscribers, with 1 seat and a cap of 25,000 subscribers. Pro is $28 a month, or $25 billed yearly, and adds unlimited workflows, advanced reports, the option to hide the Flodesk footer, 2 seats and 1 checkout. Everything is $54 a month, or $49 billed yearly, with unlimited checkouts, sales pages, payment plans and abandoned cart automations.
At 10,000 subscribers, Lite is $72 a month, Pro $79 and Everything $137 on monthly billing. Flodesk counts only active subscribers, so people who unsubscribe or bounce do not add to your bill, and paying yearly gives you one month free. There is also a free trial of the paid features with no credit card needed.
Mailchimp's Free plan covers up to 250 contacts, a maximum of 500 sends a month or 250 a day, 1 user and email support for the first 30 days. 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 for up to 500 contacts, and Premium from $350 a month for up to 10,000 contacts.
The full price after the offer was not shown when we checked, so check current pricing before you budget. Sends are capped at a multiple of your contacts: 10 times on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium, with overages if you go over.
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 | Flodesk | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) | $13 a month for 12 months on the current offer |
| Free plan | Yes, forms and landing pages only, no email sending | Yes, 250 contacts and 500 sends a month |
| Contacts on the cheapest paid plan | 1,000 (Lite) | 500 (Essentials) |
| Email sends | Unlimited on every paid plan | 10 to 15 times your contacts, by plan |
| Automation | 1 workflow on Lite, unlimited from Pro | None on Free, 4 flow steps on Essentials, up to 200 flows from Standard |
| Landing pages and forms | Popup, embedded and hosted forms plus landing pages, even on Free | Popup forms on every plan; landing pages offered too |
| Checkout and sales pages | 1 checkout on Pro, unlimited on Everything | Not listed on the pricing page |
| Deliverability help | Dedicated IP as an add on | No inbox testing listed; onboarding sessions from Standard |
| Seats | 1 on Lite, 2 on Pro, 3 on Everything | 1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard |
| Best for | Creators and coaches who value design and sell digital offers | Small teams, tiny lists and people who want more reports |
If neither fits, our guide to the best email marketing platform for coaches compares more options side by side.
Flodesk is known for its templates, and they are the main reason coaches choose it. You can pick a layout, add your fonts and colours and send an email that looks like your website in a few minutes. Custom fonts, personalised links and custom domains are part of the branding tools. If your audience notices how things look, that matters.
Every paid Flodesk plan includes unlimited email sends, so you can email daily during a launch without watching a send counter. Mailchimp caps sends at a multiple of your contacts and charges overages. Flodesk also only counts active subscribers, which rewards you for keeping your list clean. Our guide on how to clean an email list shows how to do that safely.
Pro includes one checkout, and Everything adds unlimited checkouts, sales pages, payment plans, subscriptions and abandoned cart automations. Flodesk says it adds no platform fee on checkout, with payments handled by Stripe at Stripe's standard rate. For a coach selling a small course or a paid workshop, that can replace a separate checkout tool.
The catch is that the cheapest plans are thin. Free does not send email, and Lite has a single workflow, which is not enough for a welcome sequence plus a sales sequence. Most coaches will need Pro. Reporting and testing are also simpler than on bigger platforms.
Mailchimp's Free plan lets you send up to 500 emails a month to up to 250 contacts. That is small, but it means you can run a basic newsletter for nothing while you test an idea. Flodesk's Free plan only collects subscribers, so you pay as soon as you want to email them.
Essentials includes 3 seats and Standard includes 5, against 1 on Flodesk Lite and 2 on Pro. Standard adds custom reports, dynamic content, branded templates and up to 200 automation flows, and Premium adds A/B and multivariate testing and phone support. If you have a team or want to dig into your numbers, Mailchimp gives you more to work with.
Mailchimp lists 300 plus integrations on every plan, and many assistants and freelancers already know it. That makes handover easier. If you are also looking at ecommerce tools, our Klaviyo vs Mailchimp comparison covers that side.
The catch is cost over time and automation on the cheaper plans. The current prices are a 12 month offer, Essentials caps flows at 4 steps, and sends are capped. Mailchimp also has no checkout listed on its pricing page, so selling usually means another tool.
Moving from Mailchimp to Flodesk, or the other way, will not move you from the Promotions tab to the Primary inbox on its own. Inbox placement depends on your domain setup (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), how engaged your list is and what your emails look like. Heavily designed emails with lots of images can look more like marketing to Gmail, which is worth knowing if you pick Flodesk for its templates. Our guide on why emails go to Promotions explains what helps.
Neither tool writes a welcome sequence people want to read, or turns a vague offer into one people buy. A beautiful email with a weak reason to click still gets ignored. And neither will follow up with a lead who downloaded your guide and went quiet, unless someone builds that workflow and checks it each month.
So do not switch if your list is small, your current tool is cheap and your results are fine. The time you would spend migrating is better spent on your next three emails. Switch when a missing feature is costing you sales, such as a checkout, more seats or a longer automation.
1. Do you need to send emails for free right now? If yes, Mailchimp is the only one of the two whose free plan sends email. If you can pay from the start, Flodesk's paid plans are simple to compare.
2. Do you want to sell from your email tool? If you sell a course, workshop or digital product and want checkout in the same place, Flodesk Pro or Everything covers it. If you already use a separate checkout or a funnel builder, that advantage matters less.
3. How many people need to log in, and how much testing do you want? For a solo coach, Flodesk's seats are fine. For a team that wants reports and testing, Mailchimp Standard or Premium gives more. Our roundup of the best email marketing software helps if you are still unsure.
If you would rather not run any of this yourself, that is when a done for you studio fits: you know your list should be making you money, but you do not have the hours to write the sequences, build the workflows and check the numbers each week. We find where subscribers drop off first, then build the fix on whichever tool you use. You can start with a free marketing audit.
For coaches and creators who care about design, send often and want a built in checkout, usually yes. Mailchimp is better if you need a free plan that sends email, more team seats or deeper reporting. Pick on the features you will use in the next year.
At the time of writing (October 2026), Flodesk Lite is $25 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly, for up to 1,000 subscribers. Pro is $28 a month ($25 billed yearly) and Everything is $54 a month ($49 billed yearly). Prices rise with your active subscriber count.
Not for new members. Flodesk retired its flat rate unlimited plan on 2 December 2025 and now prices by active subscribers. If you were on a paid plan before that date, Flodesk says you keep your legacy plan for as long as you stay subscribed.
Yes, but it does not send email. The Free plan lets you build forms, landing pages and link in bio pages to grow your list. There is also a free trial of the paid features with no credit card needed.
Yes. 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 has no automation flows and only 30 days of email support.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.