Mailjet vs Mailchimp: Budget Choice or Feature-Rich Platform?

Let’s be honest — picking the right email marketing tool can be a game-changer for your business relationships, engagement levels, and overall growth. There are tons of options out there, so finding one that fits both your needs and wallet is crucial.

I’ve spent countless hours testing both Mailjet and Mailchimp for different clients, and they each have their own special appeal.

Mailjet has made a name for itself with budget-friendly pricing, straightforward usability, and some pretty neat collaborative editing features — making it perfect for teams who need to work together on campaigns without the headaches.

Mailchimp, on the other hand, is the powerhouse with impressive automation capabilities, tons of integrations, and segmentation tools that can get surprisingly granular — ideal when your brand is growing and needs more sophisticated marketing approaches.

I’m going to break down how these two platforms compare across pricing (because who doesn’t care about that?), features, ease of use, and overall performance. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of which one might be the better fit for where your business is headed.

Mailjet vs Mailchimp — Quick Comparison

Feature Overview

Strengths & Weaknesses Overview

Mailjet vs Mailchimp — Feature Comparison

Mailjet: Simplicity for Teams

Mailjet works best for small businesses and marketing teams that need a straightforward, collaborative email solution without getting lost in complex automation setups.

Their standout feature is definitely the real-time team collaboration — multiple people can work on building and editing campaigns simultaneously without stepping on each other’s toes.

While they do offer basic automation and segmentation, Mailjet clearly prioritizes simplicity, affordability, and user-friendliness. It’s perfect for teams that just need to communicate effectively through email rather than creating elaborate marketing funnels.

Mailchimp: Advanced Marketing Machine

Mailchimp has evolved into a much more sophisticated platform for businesses ready to level up their marketing efforts with complex automation, detailed segmentation, and comprehensive analytics.

They excel at creating multi-step customer journeys, personalizing content dynamically, and providing the kind of in-depth reporting that actually helps you make better decisions. Their massive integration ecosystem is particularly valuable for ecommerce brands and data-driven marketers.

Just be warned — Mailchimp’s pricing increases dramatically as your list grows and you need more features, so it’s better suited for businesses prepared to invest in advanced email marketing strategies across multiple channels.

Mailjet vs Mailchimp — Pricing Breakdown

What this Means for Your Budget

Mailjet offers a really affordable pricing structure, especially if you’re just focused on sending straightforward email campaigns to lots of people. Their pricing scales in a predictable way, making it ideal for small businesses or teams looking for a collaborative email solution without complex marketing bells and whistles.

Mailchimp is noticeably more expensive at every tier — sometimes double the price or more. But in fairness, you’re paying for powerful automation capabilities, more sophisticated audience targeting options, and analytics that actually help you understand what’s working. 

It’s designed for businesses willing to invest more in advanced marketing strategies that can drive measurable results at scale.

Free Plan Face-Off: Mailjet vs Mailchimp

Which Free Plan Makes More Sense?

Mailjet’s free plan is great if you care more about reaching lots of people than having fancy marketing features. You can have unlimited contacts and send up to 6,000 emails monthly — though be aware of that 200/day sending limit. You’ll get basic automation tools, but not much beyond that.

This works well if you’re mostly sending newsletters or simple campaigns to larger audiences.

Mailchimp’s free approach gives you more marketing capabilities — you get unlimited landing pages and basic one-step automation. The big limitation? You’re capped at just 1,000 emails per month total.

This setup works better for small businesses or creators who want to experiment with some automation, build landing pages, or run basic signup campaigns without immediately investing money.

Both platforms will slap their branding on your free plan emails, and neither offers great support access unless you’re paying. Classic freemium model.

Mailjet vs Mailchimp — The Real Pros and Cons

Mailjet: Streamlined Email Marketing

I’ve come to think of Mailjet as the no-nonsense, cost-effective option in the email marketing world. After using it for several client projects, I appreciate how it strips away the complexity and focuses on core functionality.

What makes Mailjet stand out is its approachability for smaller businesses and startups. The pricing won’t give you sticker shock, you’ll never hit subscriber limits, and the real-time collaboration features are genuinely useful if you’ve got multiple team members working on campaigns.

I’ve had clients with minimal technical skills create and launch campaigns within an hour of introducing them to the platform.

The downside? Mailjet isn’t trying to be your all-in-one marketing solution. There’s no landing page builder (a serious omission in my book), the automation capabilities are fairly basic, and you won’t find sophisticated CRM features.

For companies looking to build complex customer journeys or deeply personalized campaigns, these limitations could be dealbreakers.

Mailchimp: Marketing Powerhouse

Mailchimp has evolved dramatically from its newsletter roots, and it shows. After working with dozens of clients on this platform, I’ve seen firsthand how it can transform marketing efforts for growing businesses.

Where Mailchimp really shines is in its marketing ecosystem. The automation capabilities are robust enough for sophisticated workflows, the reporting gives you genuine insights (not just vanity metrics), and the personalization options let you create truly dynamic content.

For businesses ready to invest in advanced targeting and multi-channel marketing, Mailchimp delivers.

But here’s the catch – that power comes at a price, literally. Their pricing structure can be downright painful as your subscriber list grows, and many of the most valuable features are locked behind higher tiers. I’ve had several clients forced to downgrade their marketing ambitions or switch platforms entirely when faced with Mailchimp’s pricing jumps.

Mailjet vs Mailchimp — What Real Users Are Saying

Overall rating:

4.0

/5

G2:

4.0

Trustpilot:

3.8

Capterra:

4.2

See other alternatives

Overall rating:

3.9

/5

G2:

4.3

Trustpilot:

2.8

Capterra:

4.5

See other alternatives

About author

Emily Austin

Author

Sender

Emily is a content manager who has dipped her toes in almost all fields of marketing, including email marketing, PR, social media, and ecommerce. She loves perfecting digital content, ensuring everything is polished and ready to go live.