Mailchimp Pricing: How Much Will It Cost You in 2025

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 fast. 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 Mailchimp will cost you 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 a default email marketing service provider for people who wanted to start email marketing. 

However, with the entry of better marketing automation platforms and constantly increasing prices, consumers expect more from a platform like Mailchimp. 

If we talk about the Mailchimp free plan, it supports up to 500 contacts and 1000 email sends; the Mailchimp subscription costs steeply go up from there, charging you based on the number of contacts you’ve in your list. 

Here’s a quick, no-fluff summary of Mailchimp billing plans 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 $15/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 the most comprehensive features.

Though the free plan seems generous, users and independent reviewers confirm there’s more to its pricing than what’s visible. 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’s got nothing to hide. It’s Free Forever plan gives you access to many powerful features, including email automation, drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation, popups, and campaign reports.

Mailchimp Plans Comparison

Now 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. 

But What MailChimp Pricing Plan Should You Choose?

Not sure which Mailchimp pricing tier to pick? 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, we’ll walk you through each one so you can pick the right fit without the headache.

Monthly Costs: Mailchimp Pricing Plans 

You need to sign up for monthly plans to execute your email marketing strategy. Let’s quickly look at what you’ll get when you pay monthly 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 email marketing but with some limitations. This plan is great for experimenting with email campaigns without any upfront investment.

Features of the Free Plan

• 500 contact limit. Store up to 500 contacts in a single email list with basic tags and profiles; 
• Forms and landing pages. Drag-and-drop builder for creating forms/landing pages to capture leads and grow your audience; 
• Basic email templates. Simple, customizable email designs for your campaigns; 
• No automation. No support for automated customer journeys on the free plan. 

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 plan is just above the free version with basic features. You pay $15/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. 

Features of the Essentials Plan

• Higher contact limits. Start with 500 and go up to 50,000 contacts on this plan; 
• Increased monthly send limit. Up to 10x of your contacts for sending regular campaigns; 
• More templates. Access to a wider range of email templates, giving you more creative freedom; 
• Automation. Set up automation flows for up to 4 journey points; 
• A/B testing. Test different versions of your emails to see what works best with your audience;
• Segmentation. Set up to 3 unique audiences with custom tags, segments, and profiles.  

This monthly plan offers a good balance between useful features and affordable pricing, offering basic capabilities but not something fancy or advanced for a full-blown email marketing strategy. 

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. 

This plan is designed for businesses that are not just growing but are ready to leverage more sophisticated marketing strategies. 

Features of the Standard Plan

• Advanced audience insights. Get deeper insights into your audience, helping to tailor your marketing more effectively; 
• Retargeting ads. Extend your reach beyond email by retargeting your audience on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram; 
• Advanced automation. Automate your marketing more complexly and efficiently with automated customer journeys for up to 200 journey points; 
• Dynamic content. Show personalized content to every subscriber using segmentation based on behavior or online activity; 
• Creative assistant. AI-powered design assistant for creating designs and layouts for emails and social media. 

Premium Plan

Mailchimp’s Premium plan is Mailchimp’s top-tier offering, starting at $350/month. 

It’s designed for large businesses or those with extensive, sophisticated marketing needs. This plan unlocks the full power of Mailchimp, offering the most comprehensive set of tools and features.

Features of the Premium Plan

• Deeper segmentation. Tailor your campaigns with highly detailed segmentation options, including predictive segmentation; 
• Multivariate testing. Test multiple variables in your campaigns to optimize your marketing strategies; 
• Unlimited seats and audiences. Ideal for larger teams, offering unlimited user access and audience segmentation;
• Priority support. Access the highest level of customer support, including phone support.

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 plan with every update and increasing overage charges.

Recently users on Reddit reported that Mailchimp is discontinuing 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.

Mailchimp SMS Pricing

SMS marketing on Mailchimp is available as an add-on on paid plans, 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 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. 

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 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 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)

Additional 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. 

This is especially relevant for businesses experiencing rapid growth or seasonal spikes in their audience size. Monitoring your subscriber count and email activity is crucial to avoid unexpected charges.

Add-Ons and Hidden Costs 

There are a lot of complaints and discussions about Mailchimp’s ambiguous pricing, all over the internet. Here’s a Reddit thread on Mailchimp subreddit: 

Users aren’t very happy on X either:

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, in blocks of 25,000 emails. As we mentioned before, there’s quite a lot of ambiguity about the actual costs of operations when you pick Mailchimp.

One thing we found out is that Mailchimp also charges you for inactive contacts on your list, which can skyrocket your costs pretty soon. 

Understanding and Managing Overage Costs

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. ​

Mailchimp’s Pricing for Transactional Emails

Mailchimp’s transactional email service is a paid add-on for its users. 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.

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. 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 the plans for website and commerce 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, they do. 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. 

Also read:

• 14 Mailchimp Alternatives Compared (2025 Update)
• 7 Mailchimp Alternatives for Nonprofits & Charity

About author

Thomas Radavicius

Author

Sender

Thomas Radavicius is an email marketing expert with extensive knowledge in various digital marketing topics. He loves staying current with industry trends and enjoys learning about strategies to enhance and grow business marketing efforts. In his free time, Thomas explores new technologies, reads about marketing innovations, and hikes outdoors.

Writer - Anmol Ratan Sachdeva