Mailchimp Free Plan Review: What You Actually Get

Look, Mailchimp’s pricing isn’t rocket science, but it’s gotten messier over the years. They’ve got four main tiers — Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium — plus this pay-as-you-go thing for people who send emails about as often as they clean their garage.

Here’s the thing though: everything changed when Intuit bought Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion. Suddenly, you’re paying for contacts who unsubscribed months ago. The free plan got chopped down from 2,000 contacts to 500. And prices? They went up across the board.

It’s kind of like when your favorite local coffee shop gets bought by a chain — still decent coffee, but now you’re paying extra for oat milk. The core pricing model is based on how many contacts you have and how many emails you want to send. Simple enough, except for all the fine print that wasn’t there before.

A Quick Overview of Mailchimp and Its Features

Mailchimp started in 2001 as this scrappy email tool that just worked. Twenty-plus years later, it’s morphed into this full-blown marketing platform that does everything from emails to landing pages to customer analytics.

The drag-and-drop email builder is genuinely user-friendly — even your cousin who still uses Internet Explorer could probably figure it out. They’ve got templates, automation tools, and some pretty solid analytics. Mailchimp claims their automation features can get you up to 7x more orders compared to regular bulk emails. Big number, but honestly? Most of the good stuff is locked behind paid plans.

So yeah, it’s comprehensive. But comprehensive doesn’t always mean accessible, especially when the free version feels more like a really long demo.

What Do You Get with the Mailchimp Free Plan?

The free plan gives you 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. There’s also a daily limit of 500 sends, which sounds generous until you realize you can’t schedule anything. Want to send your newsletter at 9 AM when people actually check email? Too bad — you’re manually hitting send whenever you happen to be awake.

You get one audience (that’s Mailchimp-speak for “email list”), seven basic templates, and some fundamental analytics. The email builder works fine, and you can track opens, clicks, and bounces. It’s enough to get started, but it feels a bit like getting a car with no radio. Functional? Sure. Fun? Not really.

What’s Actually Included:

• 500 contacts max (and they count unsubscribed people too)
• 1,000 monthly emails with a 500-per-day cap
• 7 email templates (out of 137 total)
• Basic campaign stats
• One audience/list only

The analytics are decent for a free plan. You’ll see who opened your emails, what they clicked, and where they’re located. But don’t expect deep insights — that stuff costs extra.

Key Features of the Free Plan

Email Builder and Templates

The drag-and-drop builder is probably Mailchimp’s strongest feature on the free plan. It’s intuitive without being dumbed down, and the mobile optimization happens automatically. You can add images, social media feeds, even products from your online store.

Seven templates isn’t exactly overwhelming choice, but they cover the basics — newsletters, promotions, events. The catch? No stock photos. So unless you’ve got a decent image library already, you’re either using your phone camera or hunting down free stock photos elsewhere.

What Works:

• Clean, responsive designs that look professional
• Easy customization without coding knowledge
• Integration with Instagram and product catalogs
• HTML editing for anyone who wants to dig deeper

The templates are… fine. They’re not going to win design awards, but they won’t embarrass you either. Think of them as the email equivalent of business casual — appropriate for most situations, just not particularly memorable.

Basic Analytics and Reporting

Here’s where things get interesting. The free plan actually gives you solid campaign insights — open rates, click-through rates, bounces, unsubscribes. You can see what devices people used and where they’re located geographically.

It’s enough data to start understanding your audience. Are people opening emails but not clicking? Your subject lines are working, but your content isn’t. High open rates on mobile? Maybe keep those emails short and scannable.

Available Metrics:

• Campaign performance (opens, clicks, bounces)
• Geographic and device breakdowns
• Subscriber activity tracking
• Basic engagement insights

The limitations show up when you want to compare campaigns or track revenue. That deeper analysis requires upgrading, which makes sense from a business perspective but can be frustrating when you’re trying to optimize on a budget.

Landing Pages and Signup Forms

You get a landing page builder with seven templates total — four styled ones and three blank canvases. The URLs will have “mailchimp” in them, which is fine if you’re just starting out but looks less professional as you grow.

The signup forms are pretty flexible. You can embed them on your website, use them as pop-ups, or create standalone pages. Customizing them beyond the basics requires some CSS knowledge, which is either exciting or terrifying depending on your relationship with code.

Lead Generation Tools:

• 7 landing page templates
• Multiple form types (embedded, pop-up, standalone)
• Mobile-optimized by default
• Basic customization without coding

The forms work well for capturing emails, but they’re not going to blow anyone away. They’re functional rather than beautiful — which, honestly, might be exactly what you need when you’re focused on growing your list rather than winning design competitions.

What’s Missing in the Mailchimp Free Plan?

This is where it gets painful. No email scheduling — probably the most basic feature you’d expect from any email platform in 2025. Most competitors include this for free, but Mailchimp makes you pay for the privilege of not being chained to your computer at send time.

No automation either. You can build workflows and stare at them longingly, but they won’t actually do anything unless you upgrade. It’s like having a car in your driveway with no keys.

Restricted or Limited Features

Email Automation: This one stings. You can design welcome sequences, abandoned cart emails, follow-up campaigns — the whole works. But they’re just pretty diagrams until you pay up. It feels deliberately frustrating, like a free trial that never actually lets you try the good stuff.

Advanced Segmentation: Want to send different emails to different types of subscribers? That’ll be $20 a month, please. The free plan treats your entire list like one homogeneous blob of email addresses.

A/B Testing: Can’t test different subject lines or send times. You’re flying blind on what actually works with your audience.

Customer Support: You get 30 days of email support, then you’re on your own. Got a problem on day 31? Good luck with the help docs.

Hidden Costs and Limitations

Here’s what they don’t mention prominently: transactional emails cost extra. Order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications — $20 for 25,000 emails that expire every month. For anyone running an online business, this adds up fast.

The contact counting is particularly sneaky. Mailchimp counts everyone in your list toward your limit, including people who unsubscribed or never confirmed their email. So your “500 contact” limit might actually be more like 350 people you can email.

Additional Costs:

• Transactional emails: $20/month for 25,000 emails
• SMS marketing: Paid plan required + credit purchases
• Professional appearance: Paid plan to remove Mailchimp branding
• Actually useful features: Everything costs extra

The branding thing is minor but noticeable. Every email you send has a little “Sent with Mailchimp” footer. Not a deal-breaker, but it’s one more reminder that you’re using the free version.

Who’s the Mailchimp Free Plan Perfect For?

Honestly? Not many people anymore. It works if you’re just testing the waters — maybe you’re a freelancer sending quarterly updates to 50 clients, or you run a book club that emails monthly meeting reminders.

The sweet spot is probably solo entrepreneurs or very small businesses that send infrequent, simple emails. Think local yoga instructors, hobby bloggers, or consultants who just need to stay in touch with past clients.

Good fit for:

• Side projects with minimal email needs
• Local businesses with small, stable customer bases
• Content creators just starting to build an audience
• Anyone who genuinely sends less than 1,000 emails per month

But here’s the thing — if you’re serious about email marketing, you’ll outgrow this plan fast. The moment you want to send welcome emails automatically or segment your list, you’re looking at paid options.

🚩 Red Flags: If you’re planning to grow your business through email marketing, need professional branding, or want basic automation features, the free plan is probably going to frustrate you more than help you. At that point, you might want to look at competitors like Sender, which offers 2,500 subscribers and automation features in their free tier.

How Does the Mailchimp Free Plan Compare to Paid Plans?

The jump from free to Essentials ($13/month) is huge. Suddenly you can schedule emails, remove the branding, get customer support, and actually use basic automation. It’s like the difference between a bicycle and a motorcycle — same destination, completely different experience.

Most people hit the upgrade wall when they reach 500 contacts or need to schedule their first campaign. The Essentials plan bumps you up to 50,000 contacts and 5,000 monthly emails, which is plenty of room to grow.

Feature Comparison

Essentials ($13/month) fixes the most annoying free plan limitations. Email scheduling, A/B testing, all the templates, and 24/7 support. The automation is still pretty basic — only 4 journey points — but it’s better than nothing.

Standard ($20/month) is where things get interesting. Full automation capabilities, unlimited audiences, send-time optimization, and predictive segmentation. If you’re running a real business, this is probably where you’ll end up.

Premium ($350/month) is overkill unless you’re managing huge lists or need phone support. Most of the features overlap with Standard, just with higher limits and some enterprise-y extras that most people won’t use.

When It Makes Sense to Upgrade

Simple: when the free plan stops you from doing what you need to do. Hit the contact limit? Time to upgrade. Need to schedule emails? Pay up. Want automation? That’ll be $13 a month, minimum.

Upgrade Triggers:

• Reaching 500 contacts (happens faster than you think)
• Needing email scheduling for optimal send times
• Wanting automated welcome sequences or follow-ups
• Running an online business that needs transactional emails
• Getting tired of explaining why your emails say “Sent with Mailchimp”

But before you upgrade, consider shopping around. The email marketing space is competitive, and Mailchimp isn’t always the best value anymore.

Bottom Line: Mailchimp’s free plan feels more like a teaser than a real solution. It’ll get you started, but you’ll probably need to upgrade sooner than you’d like. And with competitors offering more generous free tiers, it’s worth exploring your options before committing to the Mailchimp ecosystem.