MailerLite and Mailchimp both send newsletters, run automations and build sign-up forms, but they price and limit things very differently. One gives you 2,500 free emails a month, the other 500. We compared them on price, free plans, automation, pages, testing and support, using each official pricing page in October 2026, so you can pick the one that fits a small business like yours.
MailerLite is better for most small businesses and coaches: it has a more useful free plan, paid plans from $12 a month for 500 subscribers, and automation and landing pages from the start. Mailchimp, from $13 a month for your first year, is better if you sell online and want deeper reports, more seats and its larger integration list.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and small business owners choosing between MailerLite and Mailchimp for their email list.
Choose MailerLite if you are a coach, consultant or small business with a list under a few thousand people and you want a clean editor, automations, landing pages and forms at a low monthly price. Choose Mailchimp if you run an online shop, want detailed reports and lots of ready-made integrations, and you are happy to pay more once the first-year discount ends.
For most of the people we work with, MailerLite is the better starting point. Its free plan is genuinely usable: 2,500 emails a month, 3 active automations and A/B testing included. Mailchimp's free plan is now small. It caps you at 500 emails a month and leaves out automation flows, so most people pay sooner.
Mailchimp still earns its place. It is a mature product with more seats on its higher plans, role-based access, onboarding sessions on Standard and Premium, and a huge range of connections to other tools. If you already use it and it works, read the section on who should not switch before you move 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.
Price is where these two differ most, and it is also where it is easiest to get caught out. We checked MailerLite'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 both tools price by the size of your list.
MailerLite has four plans. The Free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 2 user seats, 3 active automations, 1 landing page, 1 website and 3 active forms. Support on Free is the knowledge base, and the MailerLite logo stays on your emails.
Comfort starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers, or $10.80 a month if you pay yearly. You get 5,000 emails a month at that tier (MailerLite allows 10 times your subscriber tier), 3 seats, 50 active automations, 10 landing pages, email support and no MailerLite logo. Power starts at $25 a month for 500 subscribers ($22.50 billed yearly) and adds unlimited emails under a fair use policy, unlimited seats, unlimited landing pages and live chat support. Enterprise is a custom price for lists of 200,000 or more and adds a dedicated IP and deliverability support.
Prices rise as your list grows. On MailerLite's own calculator, 1,000 subscribers costs $19 a month on Comfort, and 5,000 subscribers costs $49 a month. Paid plans come with a 14-day free trial and no card is needed.
Mailchimp also has four plans. The Free plan covers 250 contacts, with a maximum of 500 emails a month or 250 a day. It has 1 seat, no marketing automation flows, limited templates, no email scheduling and email support for the first 30 days only. Mailchimp branding stays on your emails, and sending pauses if you go over a limit.
The paid plans are on an introductory offer at the time of writing. Essentials shows $13 a month for 12 months, Standard $20 a month for 12 months and Premium $350 a month for 12 months, each labelled as 50% off. After 12 months you move to the full price for your contact tier, which the pricing page shows once you pick a list size, so check current pricing before you commit. At 500 contacts, Essentials allows 10 times your contacts in sends, Standard allows 6,000 emails a month and Premium allows 15 times your contacts.
One more thing to know: on paid plans, Mailchimp says it will bill you automatically for overages if you go over your contact or sending limit. If your list grows fast, keep an eye on it. Our guide to how much email marketing costs shows what a list of your size usually pays across tools.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices are monthly, in US dollars, for the cheapest tier.
| What you need | MailerLite | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free, then $12 a month (Comfort, 500 subscribers) | Free, then $13 a month for 12 months (Essentials, 50% off), then full price |
| Free plan | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month | 250 contacts, 500 emails a month or 250 a day |
| Contacts on the cheapest paid plan | 500 subscribers, 5,000 emails a month | 500 contacts, sends of 10 times your contacts |
| Automation | 3 active automations free, 50 on Comfort, unlimited on Power | None on Free, up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, up to 200 flows on Standard |
| Landing pages and forms | 1 landing page and 3 forms free, 10 of each on Comfort | Popup forms on every plan, landing page builder available |
| A/B testing | Email A/B testing on every plan, multivariate on paid plans | Testing on paid plans, multivariate and A/B on Premium |
| Seats | 2 free, 3 on Comfort, unlimited on Power | 1 free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard |
| Deliverability help | Dedicated IP and deliverability support on Enterprise | Phone and priority support on Premium |
| Support | Knowledge base free, email on Comfort, live chat on Power | Email for 30 days free, 24/7 email and chat on paid plans |
| Best for | Coaches, creators and small service businesses | Online shops and teams that want deep reports and integrations |
If you are also weighing up Brevo, our Brevo vs MailerLite comparison covers how its send-based pricing changes the maths.
With 2,500 emails a month on Free, you can send a weekly newsletter to 250 people and still have room for a welcome sequence. You also get 3 active automations, A/B testing on emails, a landing page and 3 forms. On Mailchimp's free plan, a weekly email to 250 contacts would use 1,000 of your 500 monthly sends, so you would hit the cap in the first fortnight.
Most coaches need one automation more than anything else: a welcome sequence that starts the moment someone downloads a guide. MailerLite gives you that on Free, and 50 active automations of up to 100 steps on Comfort. Mailchimp has no automation flows on Free and only up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, so a proper nurture sequence really starts on Standard. If you are writing your first one, our welcome email sequence guide shows what to put in it.
MailerLite's prices are shown in full, with no first-year discount to wear off. At 1,000 subscribers Comfort is $19 a month, and at 5,000 it is $49 a month. Mailchimp's headline prices are introductory, so the price you plan around in month one is not the price you pay in month thirteen.
MailerLite includes landing pages, simple websites and embedded forms on every plan, with 10 of each on Comfort and unlimited on Power. For a coach who needs one opt-in page and one sales page, that can replace a separate page builder.
Mailchimp leans into e-commerce. Its pricing page talks about connected stores, predictive segments on Standard and Premium, and automation flows built around orders. If you sell physical or digital products through a store and want emails that react to what people buy, Mailchimp is the stronger pick of the two. If your store is the whole business, it is also worth comparing Mailchimp with Klaviyo, which is built for shops.
Mailchimp's plans add more structure as you grow: 5 seats and 5 audiences on Standard, unlimited seats on Premium, role-based access, and onboarding sessions on Standard and Premium. Premium adds phone and priority support. If several people touch your email, that control is worth having.
Mailchimp lists 300+ integrations on every plan, including Free. Most website builders, booking tools and shop platforms you are likely to use already connect to it. It is also a tool many freelancers and assistants have used before, which can save time if you hire help.
Premium includes multivariate and A/B testing and up to 150,000 emails a month at its starting tier. That suits a larger business that tests subject lines and content on every send. For a small list, it is far more than you need.
If you are on an older Mailchimp plan that works, your automations run and your price is fair, moving is rarely worth the disruption. You would need to rebuild your automations, forms and templates, re-test every sign-up and warm up sending from the new platform. Switch when a clear limit is costing you, not because another tool looks cheaper on paper.
Changing platform also will not fix inbox placement. If your emails land in spam or the Promotions tab, the cause is usually your domain setup, your list or the way your emails are written, and it comes with you to the new tool. Our guide to why Mailchimp emails go to spam walks through the common causes, and our free email deliverability checker tests your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records in a minute.
Neither tool will fix a weak offer, a lead magnet nobody wants or follow-up that arrives two days late. A coach with a clear offer and a good welcome sequence will get clients from either platform. A coach without those will get very few from both.
If you are still unsure, answer these three questions honestly.
If you sell coaching, consulting, courses or services, MailerLite covers what you need for less. If you sell products through an online shop, Mailchimp's store features may be worth the higher price.
Under 250 people and emailing weekly, MailerLite's free plan works and Mailchimp's does not. Between 500 and 5,000, compare the full prices for your exact tier on both pricing pages, and remember Mailchimp's first-year discount ends.
If it is just you, pick the tool you find easier and will actually open every week. If a team or an assistant runs it, Mailchimp's seats, roles and onboarding may matter more than price. For a wider view, our guide to the best email marketing platform for coaches compares more options.
Whichever you choose, the tool is the easy part. The hard part is writing the emails, building the follow-up and keeping it running every week. A done-for-you studio fits when you know email matters but you do not have the hours to set it up properly and keep it going. We find where your marketing is losing people first, then build the fix on whichever platform suits you. You can start with a free marketing audit.
For most coaches and small service businesses, yes. MailerLite has a more useful free plan, automation from the start and lower prices that do not depend on a first-year discount. Mailchimp is better for online shops and teams that want deeper reports, more seats and a bigger integration list.
Yes, but the free plan is small. At the time of writing (October 2026) it covers 250 contacts and a maximum of 500 emails a month or 250 a day, with 1 seat and no automation flows. Sending pauses if you go over a limit.
MailerLite has a free plan for up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. It includes 3 active automations, 1 landing page, 3 forms and 2 seats. The MailerLite logo stays on your emails, and support is the knowledge base.
MailerLite is usually cheaper. Comfort starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers, while Mailchimp Essentials shows $13 a month for the first 12 months at 50% off, then its full price. Compare the exact tier for your list size on both official pricing pages before you decide.
Yes. You can export your contacts from Mailchimp and import them into MailerLite, then rebuild your forms, automations and templates. Test every sign-up form and automation before you cancel Mailchimp, so no new subscriber falls through the gap.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.