Mailchimp Pricing: Plans & Cost Calculator 2026
Essentials at $13/mo suits growing senders, while 3 other plans scale to $350/mo. A generous free tier is available for up to 500 contacts.
Mailchimp plans and pricing
Free
<250 contacts; manage early growth
Essentials
Right content at right time; testing & scheduling
Standard
Sell more: automations, personalization, optimization
Mailchimp pricing: the quick answer
Mailchimp runs from free to $350 per month across four plans, with a free tier. The plans are Free (up to 500 contacts), Essentials at $13/mo, Standard at $20/mo, and Premium at $350/mo, all quoted at the 0 to 500 contact band. Your list size, not your team size, is what moves this bill. SMS costs extra on top.
- FreeFree
- Essentials$13/mo
- Standard$20/mo
- Premium$350/mo
At $13/mo to start, Mailchimp sits 13% below the $15/mo median across 19 email marketing tools we track.
Mailchimp cost calculator
Mailchimp Hidden Costs & Pitfalls
The sticker price is the entry contact band at full rate. Two things move the real bill: your list size, which climbs through 20 contact bands, and the promo that halves the first year before doubling back.
Mailchimp pricing, read against its live plans and category
Positioning
Mailchimp lists Essentials at $13/mo and Standard at $20/mo, against a category median of $15/mo/mo. Those rates apply to the smallest 0 to 500 contact band, so the entry price is a floor, not a forecast. Price scales through 20 contact bands as your list grows, and Standard climbs from $20/mo near 500 contacts to roughly $315/mo around 75,000 contacts. Premium starts at $350/mo. For growing lists the value degrades as you pay rising rates for what remain basic email features.
Cost drivers
- 1Promo pricing: the advertised 50 percent-off rate lasts 12 months, then the price returns to the standard number, so the Standard band shown at $10/mo reverts to $20/mo.
- 2List-inflation billing: Mailchimp counts unsubscribed, inactive, or duplicate contacts toward your paid band limit unless you prune them.
- 3SMS is a separate paid add-on in select countries, with credits that expire monthly and no rollover.
Watch-outs
Users report frequent, unannounced price hikes, sometimes tied to features they never adopted. The most cited complaint is the billing model counting unsubscribed contacts toward the paid band.
Strengths
The Essentials plan at $13/mo pairs a generous free tier with a strong editor.
- Free plan covers up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month
- Solid email editor with pre-built templates and a creative assistant
- Strong brand recognition and a gentle learning curve for beginners
What users say
“It”
“We”
Editor’s take
The Free plan works for hobbyists under 100 contacts, and Essentials at $13/mo fits small businesses with static lists. If your list grows fast and you want to stop paying for unsubscribed contacts, look at ActiveCampaign at $15/mo for stronger automation and fairer list-size scaling.
Oleh KemFounder & Lead AnalystMailchimp price history
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Frequently asked questions
Sources & verification
| Source | What was checked | Last checked |
|---|---|---|
| Official Pricing Page | Source of verified tiers | July 8, 2026 |
| Official Website | Official vendor website | — |
| G2 | G2 verified user reviews · 4.4/5 · 12,920 reviews | — |
| Capterra | Capterra verified user reviews · 4.5/5 | — |
| TrustRadius | TrustRadius verified reviews | — |
| PeerSpot | PeerSpot enterprise peer reviews | — |
| StackShare | StackShare developer community | — |
Every fact on this Mailchimp pricing page is tied to a named source and a verification date. Freshness-sensitive figures trace to the sources above; verify against the vendor before relying on them.
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