Thinking about Mailchimp in 2025? You’re not alone. It’s one of the most talked-about email marketing tools out there. But before you jump in, let’s talk about money.
Mailchimp rates can look simple, initially, but once you get it working, you’ll notice the ‘extras’ add up faster than Christmas’ grocery list. So, if you’re a solo founder, a small business, or just someone testing the waters, read this post till the end.
Let’s skip the corporate speak and break down exactly how much did Mailchimp price increase and how much Mailchimp costs in 2025.
Mailchimp Pricing: Overview
If you’ve been anywhere remotely near the email marketing horizon in your life, you must’ve heard about Mailchimp. Once, it was the default email marketing service provider for people who wanted to have a go at email marketing.
However, with the entry of better marketing automation platforms and constantly increasing prices, Mailchimp has started losing its tight grip on the market.
Here’s a quick, no-fluff summary of Mailchimp pricing tiers to help you find the sweet spot for your business’s needs and budget.
- Mailchimp Free plan. Perfect for beginners, enthusiasts, or hobbyists. You get basic features with a cap on contacts and email sends. Cost: $0;
- Mailchimp Essentials plan. Starting at $13/month for 500 subscribers, this plan steps up the game with up to 5,000 monthly sends and 24/7 support. Ideal for small businesses;
- Mailchimp Standard plan. Starting at $20/month, it offers features like dynamic content, send time optimization, predictive segmentation, etc. for 6,000 email sends to 500 subscribers;
- Mailchimp Premium plan. Starting at a steep $350/month, this is the top-tier plan for large-scale operations, offering extended support options and unlimited access to marketing tools.
Though the free plan seems generous (up to 500 contacts and 1,000 email sends) and Mailchimp’s entry prices don’t bite, users and independent reviewers confirm there’s more to its pricing than what meets the eye. Recent changes like the increase in pricing and how they count contacts make it a less viable option for small business owners.
Unlike Mailchimp, Sender has nothing to hide. Its Free Forever plan gives you access to many powerful features, including email automation, drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, popups, and campaign reports.
Even the most budget-conscious startups can run email marketing campaigns without breaking the bank with Sender!
Mailchimp Pricing at a Glance — Quick Summary
To execute your email marketing strategy you need to sign up for a monthly billing cycle. Let’s quickly look at what you’ll get when you pay the monthly bill for Mailchimp paid plans.
Free Plan
Mailchimp’s Free Plan is the first step in your digital marketing journey. It’s designed for those who are just starting and want to test the waters.
Think of it as a “try before you buy” option. You get essential tools to kickstart your marketing journey but with significant limitations, including basic reporting, no multi-step automation, and limited templates. This plan is good for experimenting with email campaigns without any upfront investment.
While the Free Plan is a great starting point, it’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding what can be done with email marketing. As you grow, you’ll need higher limits and advanced features to get things done.
Essentials Plan
The Essentials Plan is where Mailchimp starts getting useful. Designed for small businesses, this core plan is just above the free version with basic features. You pay $13/month for 500 contacts and can use the plan for up to 50,000 contacts (at $350/month) with a 10x email send limit.
It’s designed for those who have tested the tool, outgrown the free plan, and are ready for real campaigns. It’s a great starting point for small business owners who want to send regular email campaigns to a small list and can do without priority support.
This monthly plan offers a good balance between useful features and affordable pricing, offering basic capabilities but not something fancy, like dynamic content, which is only accessible on Standard or Premium plans.
Standard Plan
Mailchimp’s standard plan offers several features that are useful for day-to-day email marketing. It starts at $20/month for up to 500 contacts but you can use the plan for up to 100,000 email contacts (for approx $800/month) with higher sending limits than the essential plan.
One of the most recent inclusions is Mailchimp’s creative assistant powered by AI, which is only available on Standard and Premium plans. This plan is designed for businesses that are not just growing but are ready to leverage more sophisticated marketing strategies.
Premium Plan
Mailchimp’s Premium plan is Mailchimp’s top-tier offering, starting at $350/month and giving the ability to have unlimited contacts. It’s designed for large businesses or those with extensive, sophisticated marketing needs looking to accelerate business growth.
This plan unlocks the full power of Mailchimp, including the Premium support team that specializes in top-tier tech help day or night, offering the most comprehensive set of tools and features. This marketing plan also gives you access to custom coded templates, which are great if you seek maximum control over personalization.
Mailchimp Plans Comparison Table
Now that you know the options, here’s a quick comparison of all the different Mailchimp pricing plans to understand what you’ll get when you pick Mailchimp for email marketing.
| Features | Free | Essentials | Standard | Premium |
| Starting price (per month) | $0 | $13 | $20 | $350 |
| Single-step automations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-step automation workflows | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly email sending limit | 1000 | 10x maximum contact count | 12x maximum contact count | 150,000 (increases after 15k contacts) |
| Email templates | Basic | All | All | All |
| Abandoned Cart | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A/B Testing | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reports | Basic | Basic | Advanced | Advanced |
| Segmentation | Basic | Basic | Advanced | Advanced |
| Landing pages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CRM | Basic (1 audience) | Yes (1 audience) | Yes (3 audiences) | Yes (unlimited audiences) |
| Chat and Email Support | No (Knowledge base + 30 days email support) | Yes | Yes | Premium support team |
| Mailchimp advertisement | Yes (small banner) | No | No | No |
| Retargeting (Facebook, Google, Instagram) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
But What Mailchimp Pricing Plan Should You Choose?
Not sure which Mailchimp’s monthly marketing plan to pick? How much does Mailchimp cost? Don’t worry. With so many plans (and even a pay-as-you-go option), it can get confusing.
But here’s the thing—don’t overthink it. Just ask yourself: What do I really need? And what can I actually afford right now?
Every plan has its pros and cons. In the next sections, I will walk you through each one so you can pick the right fit without the headache.
Additional Mailchimp Pricing Options & Information
Mailchimp vs. Sender Pricing
If you’re thinking about Mailchimp, it’s better to know the more affordable alternatives like Sender. Sender offers a generous free plan. Plus, you can save up to 6x of what you’ll spend with Mailchimp if your subscriber count is growing fast.
Here’s a side-by-side pricing breakdown of Mailchimp vs. Sender plans for different subscriber counts.
| Monthly Plan | Sender | Mailchimp | Savings (up to 4 times) |
| Up to 2,500 Subscribers | $13 | $60 | $44.17 |
| Up to 5,000 Subscribers | $23 | $100 | $72.50 |
| Up to 10,000 Subscribers | $40 | $135 | $87.50 |
| Up to 25,000 Subscribers | $82 | $310 | $212.50 |
| Up to 50,000 Subscribers | $159 | $450 | $291 |
| Up to 100,000 Subscribers | $257 | $800 | $543 |
Mailchimp Pay As You Go Plans
Mailchimp’s Pay As You Go pricing plans are marketed as flexible email plans for occasional users. Think of it as an à-la-carte email marketing option.
You purchase email credits in advance; each email deducts one credit from your balance. For example, a business emailing 100 contacts will use 100 credits, aligning costs directly with usage. This system is perfect for those with seasonal campaigns or sporadic emailing needs, as it bypasses the commitment to a monthly Mailchimp subscription.
The plan’s features are on par with the Essentials plan, ensuring you have a standard toolkit at your disposal, even on an irregular schedule.
A Closer Look at the Costs and Constraints
The Pay As You Go plan’s pricing is straightforward: buy credits in bulk and use them as needed. The more credits you buy, the cheaper the cost per email, with prices ranging from $0.026 to $0.04 per email, depending on the volume purchased.
However, there’s a catch—these credits expire after 12 months. This expiration policy requires businesses to plan their email campaigns wisely to avoid wasting credits.
While this plan offers great flexibility and cost-effectiveness for infrequent senders, it’s crucial to be mindful of the expiration date to maximize the plan’s value.
Key Features and How It Works
- Mirrors the Essentials plan in terms of features, offering a solid range of tools like A/B testing and automation;
- Buy credit when you need it. Each email sent costs one credit. For instance, an email to 100 contacts costs 100 credits;
- Credits expire after 12 months, a change from their previous ‘never expire’ policy.
Approx Pricing for Credits
- 5,000 emails: $200 ($0.04/email);
- 10,000 emails: $260 ($0.026/email);
- 50,000 emails: $1,300 ($0.026/email);
- 75,000 emails: $1,950 ($0.026/email).
Mailchimp SMS Pricing
SMS marketing on Mailchimp is available as an add-on on a paid Mailchimp account, subject to approval by Mailchimp’s team. There are lots of limitations on who will get the approval or not. Plus, there are restrictions like:
- Limited coverage, like Australian messaging is available only for contacts with a +61 country code;
- You must be vetted in advance before you can purchase any SMS marketing credits;
- SMS marketing credits are issued monthly and unused credits do not roll over;
- MMS services are only available for US and Canada.
The actual Mailchimp credits cost is not listed publicly. Pricing details about credit usage can be checked in this article by Mailchimp.
Mailchimp’s Pricing for Transactional Emails
Mailchimp’s transactional email service is a paid add-on for its users and is only available on several pricing plans. It’s designed to send transactional emails from websites and applications via a delivery API.
Transactional emails include order confirmation, shipping confirmation and updates, order refunds, and subscription confirmations.
The transactional email service is charged based on blocks, where each block includes up to 25,000 transactional emails. The service starts from $20/month for up to 25,000 emails.
Here’s a breakdown of Mailchimp transactional email pricing per block based on email volume:
- 1 to 20 blocks (1 to 500k emails): $20/block;
- 21 to 40 blocks (500k to 1M emails): $18/block;
- 41 to 80 blocks (1M to 2M emails): $16/block;
- 81 to 120 blocks (2M to 3M emails): $14/block;
- 121 to 160 blocks (3M to 4M emails): $12/block;
- 161+ blocks (4M+ emails): $10/block.
For an additional $29.95/month, Mailchimp also offers a dedicated IP for sending transactional emails.
Changes in Pricing
Mailchimp used to offer a 15% discount for people opting for an annual plan and paying upfront. Recent communication on their landing pages is ambiguous about whether they offer such discounts anymore on Mailchimp annual pricing plans.
Here’s what we’ve found out about Mailchimp’s current discounts:
- Nonprofit discount. Mailchimp offers a 15% discount to verified nonprofit organizations and charities. One has to sign up for a free account and contact their billing team to avail the discount;
- Promotional offers. Occasionally, Mailchimp provides promotional pricing discounts, such as 15% off for businesses with 10,000 or more contacts during their first 12 months. These offers are time-limited and may have specific eligibility criteria.
Recent Pricing Hikes
Mailchimp has adjusted its pricing structure and offerings several times in the past 3 years. Nevertheless, Mailchimp has been severely limiting the free marketing plan with every update and increasing overage charges. Naturally, more and more users started realizing how expensive Mailchimp truly is.
Recently users on Reddit reported that Mailchimp has discontinued classic automation builder feature on the free plan.
Here’s how Mailchimp’s pricing plans have changed since 2022:
- Free Plan. No price change, but heavily restricted now. Contact limit was cut from 2,000 to 500, and automations were restricted in Dec 2023. Monthly email cap reduced to 1,000 emails (daily max 500). Latest updates suggests discontinuation of classic automation on free plan;
- Essentials Plan. Increased from $11 to $13/month in late 2023. Free trials introduced in Jan 2024;
- Standard Plan. Went from $17 to ~$20–$23/month between 2023–2024. Now includes several premium features and priced at $20-23/month;
- Premium Plan: Price hiked from $299 to $350/month in 2022, then up to ~$375–$400 in late 2023. Currently the pricing table on the website shows $320/month with a base limit of 10,000 contacts;
- Since April, 2024 charges apply to all contacts in your account, including unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts.
Hidden Costs & Overage Charges
When it comes to Mailchimp’s pricing plans, one critical aspect to be aware of is the potential for additional overage charges. These charges kick in when you exceed the prescribed limits of your chosen plan, particularly regarding the number of contacts or emails sent.
For example, if your business grows and your subscriber list exceeds the limit of your current plan, you’ll incur additional fees—and, as you’d expect, plenty of users aren’t happy about it.
Here’s a Reddit thread on Mailchimp subreddit:
Users on X aren’t too jazzed about it either:
How Overage Charges Work
Even after paying a monthly subscription fee, there are many ‘overages’ you’ll pay separately for. These are primarily applicable when:
- You bypass the number of subscribers you chose on your monthly plan;
- You send more emails than the designated sending limits on your plan;
According to Mailchimp’s official documentation, overage fees are applied through add-on contact blocks, which vary in size and cost based on the plan and contact tier.
Here are the basics of overage charges on Mailchimp:
- Overage charges. If you exceed your plan’s limits, Mailchimp automatically adds extra contact blocks to your account, ensuring uninterrupted service;
- Plan variations. The size and cost of these add-on blocks depend on your subscription plan (Essentials, Standard, or Premium) and your current contact tier. For example, the average cost for sending an additional 5,000 emails when you’re on the Essentials plan can be $12.75, while the same can be $19 when you’re on the standard plan for 5,000 contacts;
- Cost. Overage fees can accumulate if not monitored. For instance, in the Essentials plan, exceeding the contact limit by 250 contacts may incur an additional $6.50.
Add-On Costs Breakdown
Here’s the deal: Mailchimp’s pricing model has lots of ‘hidden fees’ in the names of overages and pricing add-ons. Usually, they kick in when you surpass the limits on your plan, as explained in the overage charges section above.
Plus, there are several charges for additional services like SMS marketing, transactional emails, etc., which are charged separately from your plans. And while you can plug-in custom domains to your Mailchimp marketing dashboard, that will cost you additional $9/month.
For instance, here’s a full breakdown of their transactional emails, which are available as an add-on to Standard and Premium plans, or the custom-priced (Legacy) monthly plan.
| Total Blocks | Emails per Month | Price per Block |
| 1 to 20 blocks | 1 to 500k emails | $20 / block |
| 21 to 40 blocks | 500k to 1M emails | $18 / block |
| 41 to 80 blocks | 1M to 2M emails | $16 / block |
| 81 to 120 blocks | 2M to 3M emails | $14 / block |
| 121 to 160 blocks | 3M to 4M emails | $12 / block |
| 161+ blocks | 4M+ emails | $10 / block |
How to Manage and Avoid Extra Costs
One thing I found out is that Mailchimp also charges you for inactive contacts on your list, which can skyrocket your costs in the blink of an eye. Here’s a three-step solution on how to avoid this bullet that will make your wallet bleed dry:
- Use segmentation to spot subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails or made a purchase. Archive these inactive contacts to keep your list lean and lower your billable contact count.
- Segment your audience to find contacts who no longer open your emails or buy from your store. Remove or archive them to streamline your list and cut unnecessary costs.
- After you’re done with segmentation, archive dormant contacts to optimize your list and save on billing.
Another rule of thumb I always suggest is double checking whether you really need advanced features or if a lower plan meets your needs. Review Mailchimp plan overview and avoid paying for features you won’t use.
Websites & Commerce Plans
If you want to use Mailchimp to create a website or sell products, subscribe to its website & commerce plans. This will give you access to the Mailchimp Store for creating and publishing your branded store.
Mailchimp offers three plans for its Websites and commerce products:
- Free. Costs nothing except a 2% transaction and Stripe fee. Free websites plan comes with basic features to launch a store;
- Core. Starts at $13 per month + 1.5% transaction and Stripe processing fee;
- Plus. Starts at $29 per month + 0.5% transaction and Stripe processing fee.
All website plans offer free access to features like email and social media posting, too.
Mailchimp FAQ
Are there hidden costs with Mailchimp?
Yes, there are several hidden expenses despite the pricing plans covering most things. That’s the reason costs are going up quickly. You will pay extra for add-ons, when contacts stored are more than your contact tier, or when you breach the sending limits.
Do unsubscribed contacts count in Mailchimp?
Yes, Mailchimp does indeed count unsubscribed contacts. Even if someone unsubscribes, Mailchimp still counts them towards your contact limit. If you want to lower your bill, you’ll need to delete them from your audience.
What is Mailchimp’s pricing for nonprofits?
Mailchimp offers a 15% discount to verified nonprofits and charities. If you’re a charity or nonprofit in the US, you’ll need to send a digital copy of the 501c3 determination letter to claim the discount. For other countries, the document list is shared by Mailchimp’s team on review of the nonprofit’s website.
How to get started with the free version?
One can sign up on Mailchimp’s website to start with the free plan. Choose the free plan after you create an account to start using the free plan features.
What counts as a contact at Mailchimp?
Mailchimp counts every entry into your email list as a contact – unsubscribed, imported, or any other contact. So, the cost of running your email marketing campaigns can escalate quickly (as you’re also charged for unsubscribed people from your list).
Are there any additional costs?
Yes, Mailchimp charges additionally for overages over your plan’s email sending limit. You can also be charged for additional contacts, add-ons, and services the provider offers over and above your plan inclusions.
Conclusion
After all is said and done, there’s a lot to like (and not) about Mailchimp’s approach to pricing. Whether you see it as a flexible, feature-rich platform worth the premium depends entirely on your business size, goals, and how deeply you plan to use its ecosystem.
Is Mailchimp worth it? Yes, if your business relies on strong integrations and you value an all-in-one marketing platform. It’s great for teams that want convenience and are willing to pay for it. However, if you’re just starting out or mainly need simple email automation, there are better alternatives to Mailchimp.
Who should use Mailchimp? Mailchimp is best suited for established businesses that already have multiple tools in their tech stack. If you’re managing ecommerce stores or complex workflows, you’ll appreciate its deep integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, and hundreds of other platforms. It’s also ideal for marketing teams that have the budget to take advantage of its full suite of tools.
Who should look elsewhere? If you’re a small or growing business focused on affordability, Mailchimp might not be the best fit. The pricing scales quickly as your contact list grows—and since unsubscribed or inactive contacts still count toward billing, you can end up paying for people who never engage. From my experience, it’s also not ideal for those who just need simple, cost-effective email marketing or want to experiment with automation.
Speaking of affordable, easy-to-use Mailchimp alternatives, Sender is one of the finest email marketing automation tools on the market. Sender offers unlimited automations, advanced segmentation, and access to every premium feature on all plans. Still not convinced? Take it for a spin with its generous Free Forever plan and see how effortless email marketing can be.