11 Of The Best Alternatives For Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the OGs of email marketing automation. Its user-friendly interface, free-forever plan, and full range of features have made it a must-have in every marketer's toolkit. The company makes it easy for anyone to create attractive email newsletters using drag-and-drop features, no experience required. Mailchimp isn't limited to just email marketing anymore, either — the platform offers everything from SMS text messaging to social media marketing and even websites.

However, there are alternatives to just about any business-focused service, from QuickBooks to website building tools, and email marketing is no different. For users looking for features Mailchimp doesn't offer or just interested in cheaper alternatives, plenty of newcomers have emerged. Mailchimp's pricing has crept ever skyward in recent years and users claim innovations haven't kept pace. Better alternatives offer email marketing automation and more, helping you reach your audience at scale. Plus, most Mailchimp alternatives offer free plans or free trials so you can see what you've been missing out on before you make the full transition. Sure, you could just use your Gmail account to schedule emails, but dedicated email marketing tools give you so much more.

Let's take a closer look at these 11 Mailchimp alternatives and how they can help you achieve success in the inbox.

Another OG of email marketing and automation, Constant Contact offers a user-friendly platform that even new marketers can start using immediately. Email is its biggest strength, which allows users to create, send, and track email campaigns. Like Mailchimp, Constant Contact offers a full library of templates where users can drag and drop elements to create custom campaigns. There's also a brand kit that grabs colors, logos, and other elements from your website and imports them into the platform for you to use.

Additional features include polls and surveys, A/B testing, the ability to schedule send times, personalized subject lines, and AI content recommendations. If you're a data nut, there's also an engagement heatmap feature that lets you analyze exactly how users engage with your email so you can tweak and refine your approach. As with other email platforms, features vary depending on the level of service. Users can get a free trial of Constant Contact, with no credit card required. After the free trial, paid plans start at $12 per month based on the number of contacts.

For businesses that just need the basics, MailerLite offers simplified email marketing and landing page software. It's easy to use and more affordable than other solutions, and it doesn't take much effort to start using it. True to its name, MailerLite doesn't promote the "bigger, better, bolder" mentality of full-scale marketing automation platforms. Instead, it stays in its lane and offers simple, effective ways for businesses and creators to stay in touch with their audience.

Aside from email campaigns, MailerLite includes features like website pop-up forms, signup forms, landing pages, and email surveys. Like other email platforms, users can segment audiences based on behaviors and characteristics to improve personalization and create email sequences that are triggered by specific actions. User-wise, the platform targets small business owners, content creators, e-commerce stores, and small businesses, with plans available for agencies and enterprises too. MailerLite offers a free plan for up to 1,000 email subscribers, with paid plans starting at $9 per month.

Where Mailchimp offers limitations, AWeber has made it a mission to create email marketing without limits. It offers unlimited subscribers, no monthly send limits, better segmentation tools, and unlimited email lists — areas where Mailchimp has historically struggled. AWeber also offers free migration when you switch to its platform and phone support, which are two essentials Mailchimp doesn't offer. And, as with many of the big email marketing platforms, AWeber doesn't stop at email. It also includes segmentation, e-commerce landing pages, and sales tracking so you can see how your email efforts are paying off.

Pricewise, AWeber offers similar plans as Mailchimp, but with a few notable differences. AWeber plans start at $12.50 per month if you need to upgrade from the free plan. Mailchimp's plans start at $20 per month with a free 14-day trial. AWeber also offers an unlimited everything plan for $899 per month for big businesses with over 100K contacts. By comparison, Mailchimp's most premium plan is $350 per month and still has limitations on the number of subscribers, user roles, and the number of monthly email sends.

Made for creators, entrepreneurs, and one-person businesses, Kit focuses on email marketing and automation without needless bells and whistles. From building subscriber lists to selling digital products or running a paid newsletter, users can build their own "kit" of features to promote a consistent brand and stay in touch with their followers. However, design features in Kit are limited compared to Mailchimp, with fewer templates and no AI assistance. Emails are also limited to text and images only.

Inspiration is a big part of the Kit platform. The company provides tons of resources to help creators leverage email marketing (and the Kit platform), but it also highlights real creators and how they're using Kit to grow their subscriber base and business at large. Other users learn what's possible by reading about others' journeys in Kit's newsletters, blogs, and other content. As for plans and pricing, Kit plans range from $0 to $50 per month, each with varying levels of functionality.

Klaviyo offers a comprehensive marketing platform for creators, entrepreneurs, and e-commerce store owners. Geared toward driving sales and revenue, Klaviyo lets you build custom workflows to send SMS texts and emails to customers based on trigger actions. For example, if a customer signs up for a newsletter, it can automatically trigger a welcome email or drip campaign. The same can apply when customers submit reviews, abandon carts, complete quiz results, add items to carts, place an order, or cancel an order.

Regarding email marketing, Klaviyo uses customer data centralized through its platform to create and deliver personalized emails. It can dynamically recommend products, segment audiences based on actions or past behaviors, and optimize send times so messages are more likely to be read. The platform includes user-friendly, done-for-you templates that are ready to load your content. There's no coding involved and emails are optimized for desktop and mobile devices. Compared to other email platforms, Klaviyo is a bit more pricey with paid plans starting at $45 per month per user. There's also a free plan available but limits you to 500 email sends per month.

As the name implies, Drip automates email drip campaigns to help users stay constantly connected with their audience. Drag and drop elements into email templates or the automation builder to create complete campaigns and visualize how users engage with every email in the sequence. Drip has covered all the basics, including email list segmentation, personalization, and customer journey data. Customer service also seems to be a stack above the rest. Drip offers live chat and email support across multiple time zones so users can get faster answers.

Unlike Mailchimp, Drip gives you unlimited monthly email sends and more personalized support. The platform will also migrate your existing email data to Drip for free. According to its site, Drip also claims to have an over-92% better click-through rate and a more than 37% better open rate compared to Mailchimp. It also releases 10 or more new features and improvements each month, something Mailchimp customers say the platform has struggled to do. Drip offers a free trial to test drive its features. After that, plans start at $29 per month for up to 2,500 subscribers.

For marketers who feel like they're juggling too many priorities and could use a few extra hands with email marketing, EmailOctopus offers an intuitive email builder that caters to every type of professional. It's strictly focused on email marketing, so you won't end up paying for extra features you don't need or will never use. Similar to Mailchimp, you can drag and drop elements into pre-designed templates. EmailOctopus gives you slightly better control over your design but doesn't compromise on simplicity or user-friendliness.

Compared to Mailchimp, EmailOctopus is about half the price. Plans start at $9 per month and give you unlimited landing pages, forms, and users. There's no contract, and you can still access your data and reports even if you decide to cancel your service. There's also a free plan that gives you 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails sent per month (with a few additional limitations).

For the people just getting started with email marketing and automation or those who just don't have much time to dedicate to the process, Moosend offers beginner-friendly functions. Anyone can sign up and start using the service, even if you've never designed a campaign or automated your email in the past. Email and automation templates are fully customizable for on-brand campaigns. If you choose to automate drip campaigns, Moosend will give a visual workflow builder so you can see what's being sent based on certain actions, set timelines in between emails, and track user actions across the inbox and your website.

Moosend's free trial blows Mailchimp out of the water with a full 30 days of its core features, no credit card required. After that, paid plans start at $9 per month and include unlimited email sends, landing pages, subscription forms, automated workflows, and more. And unlike Mailchimp, Moosend gives you the option to customize your paid plan with features you care about, so you only pay for what you'll use and nothing more.

Sending email marketing messages that work is about more than just good design. It's also about deliverability rates, keeping teams on the same page, personalizing the message, and tracking the impact of every send. Mailjet doesn't skimp on any of these areas. Its platform includes an easy-to-use email editor with pre-designed templates and blank canvases (both of which respond to desktop and mobile devices), personalization and segmentation features, and the ability to add team members for collaboration. You can choose to create your own branded templates, which Mailjet will store for you for easy access later.

Mailjet also takes extra steps to make sure your emails get delivered. People are increasingly using Gmail tricks like applying filters and labels or unsubscribing from newsletters in bulk. If your email doesn't land in the right place, your recipient might apply the wrong action and never see your email again. MailKet validates email addresses and helps you maintain a high sender score so more of your emails land in the inbox instead of spam folders. It has also added AI elements to help you write and design emails faster. (Or, you could use a ChatGPT extension to help you quickly draft email copy.) As for pricing, Mailjet plans start at $17 per month, with up to 15,000 email sends per month included in the base plan. There's also a free forever plan that allows you to send up to 6,000 emails per month.

ActiveCampaign combines email and marketing automation in a single interface. Email marketing is one of its top features, letting users configure drip campaigns or one-off emails. It includes a library of 250-plus pre-made templates you can customize to make your own, no coding required. Drag-and-drop tools let you import your own content, so campaigns can be ready to send in minutes. ActiveCampaign also emphasizes its deliverability to help more emails land in the inbox. With better visibility, recipients can clean up their inbox to organize and sort emails automatically, which lets them interact with your emails at their convenience rather than accidentally deleting them. ActiveCampaign doesn't outsource its deliverability infrastructure and monitors delivery rates, which is especially important for new businesses or email addresses that don't have a high sender score (yet).

Like many email marketing platforms, ActiveCampaign has infused AI into the mix to help with writing headlines, personalizing emails, and maintaining a consistent brand. It can also help you map the customer journey to make your email drip campaigns more effective. And if you're not familiar with how to do this, you can use or tweak one of the included pre-built customer journey maps. Pricewise, ActiveCampaign plans start at $15, with a free 14-day trial available. Its cheapest plan is pretty limited though, so expect to pay upward of $49 per month to unlock unlimited automations and other key features.

Email marketing stands among other essential marketing tools like Square, Intuit Quickbooks, and Trello. But for brands or businesses that don't use email often, Campaign Monitor provides a cost-effective solution. It's ideal for low send volume, with plans starting at $12 per month for up to 2,500 emails sent per month. Truth be told, it's not the most powerful email marketing software out there. It's easy to use and doesn't cost a fortune, but it also lacks a bit in terms of email customization and customer support.

Still, if you're looking for basic email marketing software and Mailchimp isn't on your radar, it's worth trying Campaign Monitor. The platform is visually beautiful and turns your tracking data into easy-to-read charts, maps, and elements. It can handle the basics, like automating emails based on user triggers and actions, dragging and dropping elements to create professional-looking emails, and tracking campaign performance. You can also try several of these features and more for a full 30 days for free without handing over your credit card details.