The 10 Best Mailchimp Alternatives in 2026

Mailchimp became popular because it made email marketing feel approachable for small businesses. The interface was easy to use, the free plan helped brands get started without a big investment, and for many teams, it was one of the first email marketing platforms they ever used.

But as your business grows, the things you need from an email marketing platform usually change, too. Features that once felt “good enough” may start feeling restrictive, pricing can climb quickly as your contact list grows, and managing email, automation, SMS, customer data, and reporting across separate tools can become frustrating to keep up with.

Mailchimp still offers solid email marketing functionality, but it’s completely normal to outgrow a platform over time. As your business grows, you may start looking for Mailchimp alternatives that feel simpler, more manageable, or better suited to the way you like to work. That’s exactly why we put this guide together.

Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of July 2026.

Top picks: Mailchimp competitors to consider

If you’re currently considering making the switch from Mailchimp, here are the top competitors worth checking out.

• Constant Contact: A strong Mailchimp alternative for small businesses that want a simpler marketing experience. It combines email, SMS, social media, automation, event management, and list-building tools into a single platform, though its automation features are less advanced than some competitors.
• MailerLite: A beginner-friendly email tool with easy automation and useful tools for creators and smaller brands. However, several advanced features are locked behind higher-tier plans.
• Brevo: A good solution for businesses wanting email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, and automation tools. Still, some advanced reporting and automation features require more expensive plans.
• Moosend: An affordable option with advanced automation and unlimited email campaigns on paid plans, though its integrations and customization options are more limited than Mailchimp’s.
• ActiveCampaign: Ideal for businesses focused on automation, CRM, and AI-assisted customer journeys. The downside is that the platform can feel overwhelming for beginners.

How we selected the tools: methodology

There’s no single Mailchimp alternative that works perfectly for every business. Some brands switch because of pricing, others need better automation, stronger ecommerce functionality, simpler workflows, or more flexibility as they grow.

To make this guide genuinely useful, we focused on platforms that businesses consistently compare with Mailchimp and evaluated them based on:

• Pricing structure, subscriber limits, and long-term scalability
• Ease of use and day-to-day workflow efficiency
• Automation depth, segmentation, and reporting capabilities
• Ecommerce functionality, integrations, and AI tools
• Deliverability, onboarding experience, and customer support quality
• Overall value compared to Mailchimp’s feature set and pricing

As part of the review process, we also:

• Created testing accounts or explored live demos for each platform
• Built real campaigns using templates, forms, segmentation, and automation tools
• Compared how features change across different pricing tiers
• Tested deliverability using internal inboxes across major email providers
• Contacted support teams during setup and sender authentication processes
• Reviewed customer feedback on G2 and Capterra to identify recurring strengths and limitations

While Constant Contact is included in this guide, we applied the same evaluation approach across every platform reviewed here. The tools also aren’t ranked from best to worst, since the right Mailchimp alternative ultimately depends on your business needs, budget, and workflow preferences.

Top Mailchimp alternatives: comparison overview

Let’s see a quick overview of the top Mailchimp competitors.

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a popular Mailchimp alternative built with small businesses in mind. It comes with a modern interface that’s easy to use and navigate, regardless of your experience level. 

The platform offers a drag-and-drop email editor that makes it easy to put together newsletters, promotions, seasonal campaigns, and ecommerce emails. And if you don’t want to start from a blank page every time, there are 600+ templates you can quickly customize. Alternatively, the AI template builder can generate an entire email from a prompt, including both the design and the copy, which feels especially useful when you need to launch something fast without relying on a designer or copywriter.

What’s more, the Canva integration lets you add your email, social post, or landing page designs directly into your Constant Contact campaigns.

One feature that stood out during testing was the AI campaign builder. Instead of manually creating separate assets for email, SMS, social media, and event promotion,  you can give the platform a prompt, and it will generate an entire multi-channel campaign for you. This can help you save time and drive results without investing in multiple or complicated tools.

Regarding automation, Constant Contact includes templates for welcome sequences, re-engagement campaigns, abandoned cart reminders, and upsell/cross-sell campaigns. Advanced functionality, however, such as custom automation paths and ecommerce templates, is available on the Premium plan.

Finally, the built-in event marketing tools can be especially useful for nonprofits, local businesses, and community organizations running workshops, fundraisers, pop-ups, or virtual events. You can create branded event pages, send invitations, collect RSVPs, sell tickets through Stripe or PayPal, and promote your event across email, SMS, and social media.

Pros

• Generate email, SMS, social, and event campaigns from a single prompt
• Clean and beginner-friendly campaign editor
• Social media scheduling and reporting

Cons

• A/B testing is mostly limited to subject lines
• More advanced reporting features require higher-tier plans

Pricing

Constant Contact offers three paid plans. The Lite plan starts at $12/month and includes email and social media tools, forms, and basic automation. The Standard plan ($35/month) unlocks advanced reporting, A/B testing, the AI campaign builder, and more. The Premium plan ($80/month) is best suited for experienced users and includes the platform’s most advanced functionality.

If you’re exploring this option, you can read how Constant Contact compares to Mailchimp, or try the platform with a 30-day free trial.

2. MailerLite

MailerLite is a modern platform for creating emails, building websites and landing pages, and setting up automations. If you’re a creator or small business owner who requires a simple yet powerful solution that’s easy to use, even without a marketing background, this alternative.

The platform has a clean drag-and-drop email editor that includes blocks such as images, buttons, products, and RSS feeds. One thing I found particularly useful compared to Mailchimp is the collection of pre-built content blocks. Instead of rebuilding common sections like product highlights, CTAs, or newsletter layouts every time, you can drop them in quickly and put together campaigns much faster.

And if you don’t want to spend too much time writing campaigns from scratch, MailerLite’s AI Writing Assistant can help generate email copy for you. If you’re trying to send campaigns consistently without spending hours writing every email yourself, this can save you quite a bit of time. However, you’ll need the Advanced plan to use it.

MailerLite also includes useful extras like websites, paid newsletters, ecommerce integrations, and automation, giving smaller brands a solid all-in-one setup without pushing them toward expensive plans. For the automation options in particular, I was impressed by how easy it was to set up both simple and more complex journeys. 

However, multiple triggers and access to automation templates are available on the top-tier plan. Even so, MailerLite is still a good option if you’re looking for a free email marketing service that includes more than just the basics.

Pros

• 70+ pre-made content blocks that speed up campaign creation
• AI writing assistant to help you create emails faster
• Easy-to-use automation builder for simple and advanced workflows

Cons

• The free plan has recently become less generous
• Some advanced features are locked behind higher-tier plans

Pricing

MailerLite’s paid plans start at $12/month for 5,000 email sends and certain limitations on automations, landing pages, and forms. For more features, the Power plan starts at $25/month and includes unlimited emails, multivariate testing, and access to unlimited websites and landing pages. Its free plan allows up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails.

3. Brevo

Reviewing Brevo, I liked having email marketing, SMS, live chat, automation, and CRM tools inside the same dashboard. If you’re running a small business and trying to keep customer communication organized without relying on multiple platforms, that setup can be genuinely helpful day-to-day.

One of Brevo’s biggest strengths is its multi-channel approach. Here, I found that you can build automated workflows that combine email and SMS, send transactional emails, manage customer conversations, and track contacts through the built-in CRM without constantly switching between tools. For ecommerce brands and growing teams, this can make day-to-day marketing operations much easier to manage.

The automation builder is flexible and easy to use, providing numerous actions and conditions to build custom paths based on contact and behavioral data. You also get a selection of premade templates to get started fast.

Recently, Brevo expanded its AI functionality, and you can now use AI to craft personalized email copy and optimize send times. My experience with the AI tools was positive overall, but the platform still requires more manual work than some competitors. While AI can help generate and refine content, you still need to build the campaign structure, configure automations, and handle most of the campaign setup yourself.

This Mailchimp alternative also integrates with ecommerce platforms, so you can deliver abandoned cart sequences, back-in-stock alerts, and product recommendations. Lastly, it can help you retarget buyers with ads on Google and Meta.

Pros

• Email, SMS, WhatsApp, and transactional messages in one platform
• Advanced segmentation options through website tracking
• Detailed reporting and analytics

Cons

• Limited automation on the Starter plan
• Advanced analytics are unlocked on more expensive plans

Pricing

Brevo’s pricing model differs from that of most tools here. Instead of charging mainly by subscriber count, Brevo prices its plans primarily based on email volume. Paid plans start at $9/month and include 500 contacts, 5K emails per month, basic reporting, and email support. For more advanced features, you need the Standard plan at $18/month.

As for the free plan, it’s more generous than Mailchimp’s, offering 300 emails/day and multi-channel automation limited to 2,000 contacts.

4. Moosend

If Mailchimp’s automation feels too limited but platforms like ActiveCampaign seem unnecessarily complex, Moosend sits somewhere in the middle. While testing it, I found it much easier to navigate than some automation-heavy tools, yet still flexible enough to build detailed customer journeys without spending hours configuring everything.

The email editor is fast and includes various items such as images, videos, product blocks, and countdown timers to create interactive emails. I found the countdown timers especially useful for limited-time offers and seasonal campaigns, since they make it easier to add urgency without needing extra tools or coding knowledge. You’ll also find a library of 130+ pre-made templates, so you won’t have to start entirely from scratch.

Moving on to the automation options, things get really interesting. Despite Moosend’s affordable price, you still get a wide range of triggers and actions to build both simple and more advanced automation workflows. I was able to create multi-step journeys based on email engagement, website behavior, purchases, and product activity without much friction. The pre-built automation recipes for welcomes, onboarding, and re-engagement were also genuinely useful for speeding up setup.

To track your performance, you get real-time analytics with essential email metrics, click maps, revenue tracking, and geolocation data. Apart from that, the platform includes signup forms and landing pages, so you can grow your audience without relying on additional tools. Finally, you’ll be able to integrate Moosend with many popular apps, albeit the number of integrations offered is more limited than Mailchimp’s.

Pros

• Sophisticated automation at an affordable price
• Unlimited email campaigns on paid plans
• AI Writer for email and landing page copy

Cons

• Limited form and landing page customization options
• No SMS marketing tool

Pricing

Moosend’s paid plans start at $9/month and include all core email marketing features and unlimited email campaigns. If you need additional enterprise-grade tools, you can opt for the Moosend+ or the Enterprise plan (both have custom pricing).

To test the platform, Moosend offers a 30-day free trial.

5. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing service that’s become popular for its advanced marketing automation options. During my recent review of ActiveCampaign, I also found that the platform has leaned heavily into AI.

Instead of starting everything from scratch, you can now use prompts to generate email campaigns, automation sequences, subject lines, and even branded templates. For small teams, this can noticeably reduce setup time. The results I got during testing were decent, but not impressive. I should also mention that ActiveCampaign no longer offers pre-made templates, probably due to the introduction of its AI, Active Intelligence.

Another thing that stood out is the automation builder. You can create highly customized workflows with branching paths, behavioral triggers, goal tracking, dynamic content, and CRM-based actions that go far beyond standard autoresponders. If you want detailed control over customer journeys and lead nurturing, ActiveCampaign will be a great companion.

Compared to Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign has deeper segmentation and CRM options. Specifically, you can track customer activity across emails, website visits, purchases, and sales pipelines. Coupled with predictive sending and lead scoring, these features can help you better target engaged leads and automate parts of your sales process.

That said, if your main goal is to send campaigns quickly without spending much time learning the platform, ActiveCampaign may feel more complex than necessary at first.

Pros

• AI tools can speed up campaign and workflow creation
• Extensive lead scoring options

Cons

• There’s no free plan
• Steeper learning curve than most Mailchimp alternatives
• Advanced features become expensive as you scale

Pricing

ActiveCampaign has four paid plans starting at $19/month with monthly billing. You get limited automation and segmentation, A/B testing, and access to the AI campaign builder. Advanced functionality is unlocked on the Plus and Pro plans, starting at $59/month and $89/month, respectively.

There’s also a 14-day trial, so you can test the platform before committing to a paid plan.

6. Omnisend

If you run an online store and want to drive more repeat purchases without spending hours building complicated automations, Omnisend will probably feel much more tailored to your needs than Mailchimp. During testing, the platform felt intentionally built around ecommerce workflows rather than a general email marketing tool trying to adapt itself to online stores.

Ecommerce store owners get handy features such as abandoned cart recovery, product recommendations, browse abandonment emails, discount automation, and post-purchase sequences built into the platform.

Compared to Mailchimp, I found that Omnisend offers more ecommerce-focused features earlier in its pricing structure, which can make a noticeable difference if you don’t want to upgrade too quickly as your store grows. Many automation, SMS, and sales-focused features feel easier to access and faster to set up. The platform also integrates well with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and other ecommerce platforms, making it easier to sync products, customer data, and purchase behavior into campaigns.

Reporting is another strong point. The tool tracks how much revenue campaigns generate, your audience growth trends, and identifies which segments are performing best.

However, Omnisend’s platform is far less versatile outside ecommerce. Service businesses, creators, nonprofits, or B2B companies may find parts of the platform unnecessary or limiting compared to broader email marketing tools like Mailchimp.

Pros

• Gamified forms such as Wheel of Fortune and scratch cards
• Multi-channel workflows (email, SMS, push notifications)
• 24/7 live chat support

Cons

• Less flexible for non-ecommerce businesses
• It gets expensive to get the full functionality

Pricing

Omnisend offers two paid plans. The Standard plan starts at $16/month for 500 contacts and 6,000 monthly emails. The Pro plan starts at $59/month and includes unlimited emails. SMS pricing starts at $10/month (for the U.S.).

There’s also a free plan with limits similar to Mailchimp, albeit more generous in terms of features.

7. Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email is another option worth considering if Mailchimp has started feeling a little too cluttered or complicated for your needs. During testing, the platform kept things simple in a good way. Creating newsletters, importing contacts, and building signup forms all felt quick and uncomplicated.

One area where Benchmark Email performs well is usability. The drag-and-drop editor is clean, and the template library gives smaller teams a fast starting point for promotions, announcements, and seasonal campaigns.

Compared to Mailchimp, Benchmark Email feels lighter and easier to manage if your main focus is creating and sending campaigns rather than building advanced automations. Also, keep in mind that its automation and reporting capabilities are much more limited, especially now that the platform has shifted more heavily toward email-creation features.

If you’re new to email marketing, you’ll also appreciate Benchmark Email’s free plan. Unlike Mailchimp’s restrictive free tier, this platform allows you to store up to 500 contacts and deliver 2,500 campaigns per month.

Pros

• Beginner-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate
• Modern templates for quick campaign creation
• Email audit checklist (for empty links, missing alt text, etc.)

Cons

• Lack of automation features
• Reporting is more basic than Mailchimp’s

Pricing

Benchmark’s pricing starts at $19/month with the Pro plan, which includes the full functionality of the tool. There’s also an Enterprise plan with custom limits.

As mentioned above, the free plan allows 500 contacts and 2,500 emails/month.

8. GetResponse

GetResponse is an email marketing and automation platform that offers more features than Mailchimp. My overall experience was great, and it felt like an all-in-one marketing and sales tool for brands that want to generate leads, automate follow-ups, and sell products without handling separate platforms.

One thing I found particularly useful is its built-in conversion funnel functionality. You can create landing pages, sign-up forms, automated email sequences, and sales funnels within the same workflow, making campaign setup feel much more connected. The platform also includes webinar hosting tools, allowing businesses to collect registrations, send reminders, and follow up with attendees.

My experience using the automation builder was positive overall. Although the interface isn’t the most modern (and automation is limited on the entry-level plan), you can create behavior-based workflows for post-purchase communication, lead nurturing, and other common use cases.

Like many other email marketing tools, GetResponse incorporates AI across email creation, autoresponders, landing pages, and even websites. And good news, it works as intended.

Finally, the platform comes with monetization tools. You can sell products, digital downloads, paid newsletters, webinars, and online courses directly from the platform. If you’re trying to turn your audience into a more reliable revenue stream, having signup pages, payment collection, and automated follow-ups connected in one place can make the process much easier to manage.

Pros

• Create emails, autoresponders, landing pages, and websites with AI
• Includes webinar and ecommerce tools inside the platform
• Online course creator

Cons

• Advanced functionality is locked behind higher-tier plans
• Gets more expensive than Mailchimp to unlock ecommerce features

Pricing

GetResponse has four paid plans starting at $19/month for 1,000 contacts (Starter plan), with unlimited emails, landing pages, and one custom automation workflow. The Marketer plan unlocks ecommerce functionality ($59/month), the Creator plan includes monetization tools, webinars, and sales funnels ($69/month), while the Enterprise provides tailored solutions and premium support. 

There’s a 14-day trial period that lets you test premium features. After that, your free account lets you add up to 500 contacts and send up to 2,500 email newsletters per month.

9. HubSpot

HubSpot approaches email marketing differently from Mailchimp. During testing, the platform felt more focused on lead management, customer tracking, and sales activity than on straightforward campaign creation.

If you’re focused on managing pipelines, tracking deals, and connecting marketing with sales, that can be a major advantage. HubSpot’s built-in CRM is one of its strongest features, allowing you to track customer interactions, form submissions, website activity, and sales conversations.

However, compared to Mailchimp, the actual email marketing experience can feel quite restrictive at similar pricing points. Basic automation is available, but more advanced workflows and branching logic are pushed into higher-tier plans. The template selection includes only basic designs, which may leave smaller businesses wanting stronger starting points for their campaigns.

Nevertheless, the email editor works great, and you can ensure your campaigns will look good across all devices. You also get in-depth analytics and insights into your email performance, which enable you to optimize your strategy.

Pros

• CRM and lead tracking functionality
• Advanced reporting and analytics tools
• Strong visibility into customer journeys and sales activity 

Cons

• Basic email templates
• Key features like A/B testing and product blocks aren’t available on lower tiers
• Overwhelming platform (especially for beginners)

Pricing

HubSpot’s pricing starts at $20/month with the Starter plan, offering simple automation, ad management, and segmentation. For advanced functionality, prices rise quickly, with the Professional plan starting at $890/month.

There is also a free plan for up to 2 users that includes basic email marketing, forms, CRM tools, and limited automation for up to 1,000 contacts.

10. Kit

Kit is a popular alternative among creators looking to connect with and monetize their audience. Exploring Kit, you get the sense that the service is very focused in its approach, unlike Mailchimp, which tries to serve almost every type of business.

One of Kit’s biggest strengths is its focus on helping you monetize your audience. You can create paid newsletters, sell digital products, run paid recommendations, and grow through creator networks without relying on multiple tools. You also get pre-built automation workflows to generate revenue directly from your audience, depending on your industry (e.g., as a blogger or podcaster). This means you can effortlessly sell content, memberships, or downloads relying solely on Kit.

The email editor differs from Mailchimp’s. While Mailchimp favors drag-and-drop functionality and design-heavy campaigns, Kit focuses on simpler, text-first emails that feel more personal and conversational. This works particularly well for creators who care more about engagement and deliverability than polished promotional designs. However, if you’re looking for visually rich newsletters, you may find Mailchimp’s editor significantly more flexible.

Pros

• Offers monetization tools along with email marketing
• Pre-built automation flows designed for creator use cases
• Easy subscriber tagging and segmentation

Cons

• Limited selection of email templates available
• Limited A/B testing

Pricing

Kit’s pricing plans start with the Creator at $39/month for 1,000 subscribers, including unlimited emails and automations, RSS campaigns, and A/B testing. For more advanced features, the Pro plan starts at $79/month.

There’s also a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, but with limited automation.

Find the right Mailchimp alternative to keep growing

Choosing an email marketing platform usually becomes much easier once you stop looking for the “best” tool overall and start thinking about how you actually work day to day. Some platforms save you time immediately, while others take longer to learn but offer deeper automation and customization later on.

That’s why it’s worth spending time inside the platform before committing long-term. Building a campaign, importing your contacts, or setting up an automation will usually tell you much more than a pricing page ever could.

If you want advanced automation and deep customer journeys, ActiveCampaign or GetResponse may be a better fit. If you run an online store, Omnisend offers some excellent ecommerce-focused tools. And if simplicity, ease of use, and day-to-day campaign management matter most, Constant Contact is still one of the strongest starting points for small businesses looking to manage email, social media, events, and customer communication from one place.

You can start your free trial and see whether it fits into your marketing needs.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about Mailchimp alternatives.

1. What is the best Mailchimp alternative for small businesses?

The best Mailchimp alternative depends on your business needs. Constant Contact is a strong option for small businesses that want an easy-to-use platform with email, social media, event marketing, and automation tools in one place. For ecommerce businesses, Omnisend may be a better fit, while creators may prefer Kit for its audience monetization features.

2. Why are businesses switching from Mailchimp?

Many businesses look for Mailchimp alternatives due to rising prices, free-plan limitations, and advanced features locked behind higher-tier plans. Some users also prefer platforms with simpler interfaces, stronger automation, better ecommerce tools, or built-in CRM and multi-channel marketing capabilities.

3. Is there a free alternative to Mailchimp?

Several Mailchimp alternatives offer free plans, including MailerLite, Brevo, and Kit. These free plans are often suitable for smaller lists, basic newsletters, and simple automation workflows, although advanced features may require a paid plan.

4. What should I look for in a Mailchimp alternative?

When comparing Mailchimp alternatives, focus on the features your business will realistically use most often. This may include automation, ease of use, pricing, ecommerce functionality, CRM tools, reporting, integrations, SMS marketing, or customer support. Testing platforms with free trials can help you see which one best fits your workflow.