Mailchimp's free plan now stops at 250 contacts and has no automation, so many coaches and small businesses are looking elsewhere. We compared seven alternatives on price, free plans, automation, landing pages and who each one suits, using each vendor's official pricing page in October 2026. You will find the best free option, the cheapest paid one and the best pick for selling courses.
The best Mailchimp alternative for most coaches and creators is Kit, which is free for up to 10,000 subscribers. For the cheapest paid plan, pick Brevo from $9 a month or MailerLite from $12. Choose Systeme.io if you sell courses, and ActiveCampaign if you need detailed automation.
Who this is for: Coaches, creators and small businesses looking for a cheaper or better email tool than Mailchimp.
Choose Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you are a coach or creator who wants a free plan that grows with you and simple automations that sell. Choose Brevo or MailerLite if you want the lowest monthly bill for a small list and a tool that feels familiar after Mailchimp.
Here is the short version by situation. The best free Mailchimp alternative is Kit, which is free for up to 10,000 subscribers. The cheapest paid options are Brevo from $9 a month and MailerLite from $12 a month. The best all-in-one for coaches who sell courses is Systeme.io, free for up to 2,000 contacts. ActiveCampaign is the pick for detailed automation, Flodesk for good-looking emails with little effort, and beehiiv for a business built around a newsletter.
If you only remember one thing, move to a tool whose free or entry plan includes the welcome sequence you actually need. That is the gap most coaches hit first on Mailchimp.
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.
Mostly price and limits. We checked Mailchimp's official pricing page for this review. The Free plan now covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with no more than 250 a day. It has one user, one audience and no marketing automation flows, and email support only lasts for your first 30 days.
The paid plans start at $13 a month for Essentials and $20 a month for Standard, both for up to 500 contacts, and the price climbs as your list grows. Essentials limits automation flows to 4 steps, so a proper welcome sequence and nurture series really means Standard. When we checked, Mailchimp was offering 50% off for the first 12 months, which is worth having, but plan around the full price you will pay in year two.
For a coach with a free guide, a five-email welcome series and a weekly newsletter, that adds up quickly. Mailchimp is still a capable tool, with more than 300 integrations, popup forms on every plan and 24/7 email and chat support on paid plans. If you sell physical products through an online shop, it can be the right fit.
One warning before you move. If your real problem is that emails land in spam, changing platform may not fix it. Read why Mailchimp emails go to spam first, because the cause is often your domain setup or your list, and those travel with you.
We picked these seven because each one beats Mailchimp on at least one thing coaches care about: price, the free plan, automation or selling. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page.
Kit suits coaches, course creators and newsletter writers who sell digital products. The Free plan on Kit's official pricing page covers up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. Kit says there are no sending limits on any plan.
The Creator plan is $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers, or $33 a month billed yearly ($390 a year). It adds unlimited visual automations and email sequences, A/B tests on subject lines, 24/7 email and chat support and free migration from your old tool.
The catch: automated sequences are not on the Free plan, so your welcome series means paying for Creator. Product sales carry a 3.5% plus 30 cent fee. Price from: free, then $39 a month ($33 billed yearly).
MailerLite suits solo coaches and small businesses who want a clean editor and solid automation for very little money. According to MailerLite's official pricing page, the Comfort plan starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails, with 50 automations, 10 forms, 10 sites and 3 user seats. Power starts at $25 a month and removes the caps on automations, forms and sites, with 24/7 live chat support.
The Free plan gives you 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations, one website and one landing page.
The catch: the free plan is now about as small as Mailchimp's, so plan to pay once your list grows. Comfort comes with email support, and live chat only arrives on Power. Price from: free, then $12 a month, or $10.80 billed yearly. Our Brevo vs MailerLite comparison goes deeper.
Brevo suits businesses with a large list who send a few campaigns a month. Its plans are priced mainly by how many emails you send. Brevo's official pricing page lists Starter from $9 a month for 5,000 emails and 500 contacts, and Standard from $18 a month. From the 20,000 emails a month tier, Brevo lets you store up to 500,000 contacts, which can be far cheaper than paying per contact.
The Free plan needs no card and lets you send up to 300 emails a day once your account is approved. Standard adds unlimited automated workflows, A/B tests, landing pages and removes the Brevo logo.
The catch: marketing automation starts on Standard, not Starter, and removing the logo on Starter costs $10.80 a month extra. Price from: free, then $9 a month.
Systeme.io suits coaches who want their email list, sales funnel, course and checkout in one place. Systeme.io's official pricing page lists a Free plan with 2,000 contacts, unlimited email sends, 3 sales funnels, 1 course, 1 blog and 1 custom domain, with 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign. Startup is $17 a month for 5,000 contacts, Webinar is $47 for 10,000 and Unlimited is $97. Every plan has 0% transaction fees.
For a coach selling a $200 course, that replaces several tools at once. We compare it with a bigger funnel builder in Systeme.io vs ClickFunnels.
The catch: the email tools are simpler than a specialist platform, and the free plan only allows one automation rule, so a full nurture setup needs a paid plan. Price from: free, then $17 a month.
ActiveCampaign suits coaches and consultants with a longer sales process who want follow-up that reacts to what each lead does. ActiveCampaign's official pricing page shows Starter from $15 a month, billed yearly, for 1,000 contacts, with multi-step marketing automation, 10,000 sends a month and one user. Plus starts at $49 a month billed yearly and adds landing pages, site messages and cross-channel marketing.
There is a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, plus free contact migration.
The catch: there is no free plan, landing pages need Plus, and there is more to learn than on Kit or MailerLite. It pays off when you will really use the branching automations. Price from: $15 a month billed yearly. See how it stacks up in Kit vs ActiveCampaign.
Flodesk suits coaches with a visual brand who want emails that look designed without touching code. Flodesk's official pricing page lists Lite at $25 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly, for up to 1,000 subscribers. Pro is $28 a month ($25 yearly) and Everything is $54 a month ($49 yearly). Every paid plan includes unlimited sends.
Pro adds unlimited workflow automations and one integrated checkout. Everything adds unlimited checkouts, sales pages, payment plans and abandoned cart automations.
The catch: the Free plan builds forms, landing pages and link-in-bio pages but cannot send email, and Lite allows only one workflow automation and 25,000 subscribers. Most coaches who want a welcome series and a nurture series will need Pro. Price from: $19 a month billed yearly.
beehiiv suits coaches and creators whose main product is the newsletter itself, or who want to earn from sponsors and paid subscriptions. beehiiv's official pricing page lists a Free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, email templates, landing pages and a recommendation network.
Lite starts at $49 a month billed yearly and adds automations, paid subscriptions, polls and A/B testing. Pro starts at $95 a month billed yearly and adds webinars, coaching features and removes beehiiv branding. beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription and digital product revenue, though Stripe's processing fee still applies.
The catch: automations need a paid plan, and the tool is built for publishing first, so a coaching funnel with booked calls can feel bolted on. Price from: free, then $49 a month billed yearly.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026), in US dollars. "Price from" is the cheapest paid plan, and the contact limit is what that plan includes at its starting price.
| Tool | Price from | Free plan | Contacts on cheapest plan | Automation | Landing pages or forms | Deliverability help | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $13 a month | 250 contacts, 500 emails a month | 500 | Up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, 200 flows on Standard | Popup forms on every plan | Not listed on pricing page | Online shops |
| Kit | $39 a month ($33 yearly) | Up to 10,000 subscribers | 1,000 | Unlimited on Creator | Unlimited, even on Free | Deliverability reporting on Pro | Coaches and creators |
| MailerLite | $12 a month | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | 500 | 50 on Comfort, unlimited on Power | 10 sites on Comfort | Email verifier tool | Small budgets |
| Brevo | $9 a month | Up to 300 emails a day | 500 | Unlimited from Standard ($18) | Forms on Starter, landing pages on Standard | Specialist on Professional | Big lists, fewer sends |
| Systeme.io | $17 a month | 2,000 contacts, unlimited sends | 5,000 | 1 rule free, more on paid plans | 3 funnels free | Not listed on pricing page | Courses and funnels |
| ActiveCampaign | $15 a month billed yearly | No, free trial only | 1,000 | Multi-step on every plan | Landing pages from Plus ($49) | Not listed on pricing page | Detailed automation |
| Flodesk | $19 a month billed yearly | Forms and pages, no sending | 1,000 | 1 workflow on Lite, unlimited on Pro | Yes, even on Free | Not listed on pricing page | Visual brands |
| beehiiv | $49 a month billed yearly | Up to 2,500 subscribers | 1,000 | From Lite | Landing pages on Free | Not listed on pricing page | Newsletter businesses |
If you are still torn, our guide to the best email marketing platform for coaches walks through the choice by business type.
Stay put if Mailchimp already does what you need and the bill is fair for your list. Moving tools takes time: rebuilding forms, rewriting automations, re-checking every link and warming up a new sending setup. If you send one newsletter a month to a small list and you are under 250 contacts, the Free plan may be enough for now.
Also stay if your shop runs on Mailchimp's ecommerce integrations and the flows are making money. Swapping a working revenue system for a cheaper one rarely pays back the hours you spend moving.
And be honest about why you want to move. A new tool will not fix emails that land in the Promotions tab or spam, a lead magnet nobody wants, or a welcome email that goes out three days late. Inbox placement depends heavily on your domain records, your list quality and how people engage, and all of that comes with you. Run your domain through our free email deliverability checker before you decide, so you know whether the problem is the platform or the setup.
Answer these three questions and the list above usually narrows to one or two tools.
1. How big is your list, and how often do you email? Under 10,000 subscribers and you want free for as long as possible: Kit. A large list you email a few times a month: Brevo. A small list on a tight budget: MailerLite.
2. What do you sell? Courses and low-ticket offers with a checkout: Systeme.io or Kit. Booked calls and high-ticket coaching with a longer follow-up: ActiveCampaign. A paid or sponsored newsletter: beehiiv.
3. Who will build and run it? If you will set it up yourself on a Sunday afternoon, pick the simplest tool that does the job, which usually means Kit, MailerLite or Flodesk. A tool you understand and use every week beats a powerful one you never finish setting up.
A done-for-you studio fits when you know email should be bringing in clients but you do not have the hours to write the sequences, set up the automations and check the numbers each week. That is the work we do at Unbury: we find where your marketing is losing people, build the fix on whichever tool suits you, and run it with you. If that sounds useful, start with a free marketing audit.
For most coaches and creators it is Kit, whose Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts. If you also sell courses, Systeme.io is free for up to 2,000 contacts with unlimited email sends. Neither free plan includes full automated sequences, so expect to pay once you need a proper welcome series.
At the time of writing, Brevo starts at $9 a month and MailerLite at $12 a month, compared with $13 for Mailchimp Essentials. Brevo can be much cheaper for a large list because it prices mainly by emails sent. Compare the price at your real list size, not just the starting price.
Yes, but the Free plan is small. It covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with a daily limit of 250, one user and no marketing automation flows. Sending pauses if you go over the contact or email limit.
For coaches and creators, usually yes, because Kit's free plan is far bigger and its automations are simple to build. Mailchimp is often the better fit for online shops that rely on its ecommerce integrations and reports. Pick on what you sell, not on the longest feature list.
Export your audience as a CSV, import it into the new tool and keep tags or groups so your segments survive. Rebuild your forms and automations, set up your domain records on the new platform, and test every sign-up before you close the old account. Kit offers free migration on its paid plans, and ActiveCampaign offers free contact migration.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.