Mailchimp vs MailerLite (2026): Prices, Free Plans, Verdict
Short answer: pick MailerLite if you mainly send newsletters and simple automations and want the lower bill. Both free plans now stop at 250 contacts, but MailerLite's lets you send 2,500 emails a month against Mailchimp's 500, and it includes automations, which Mailchimp's free plan does not. Paid MailerLite starts at $12 a month (Comfort, 500 subscribers), and at 100,000 contacts its Power plan costs $489 a month with unlimited sending, against $800 for Mailchimp Standard. Pick Mailchimp if you need its larger ecosystem: 300+ integrations, predictive segmentation, SMS as an add-on and phone support on Premium. Pick it too if its 50%-off-for-12-months offer applies where you are, which changes the first-year maths.
TheToolsVerse read both pricing pages on 24 October 2026 and asked five AI assistants the same question. All ten answers picked MailerLite for most small businesses. None of them used MailerLite's current plan names, and none mentioned Mailchimp's first-year discount.
Mailchimp vs MailerLite at a glance
| Mailchimp | MailerLite | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An email marketing platform with automation flows, an SMS add-on (select countries) and 300+ integrations | Email marketing plus websites, landing pages, digital products and paid newsletters |
| Free plan | 250 contacts, 500 sends a month (no more than 250 a day), 1 seat, no automation flows | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, up to 3 active automations |
| Paid plans | Essentials · Standard · Premium | Comfort · Power · Enterprise |
| Entry price | Essentials: "$13/month" on Mailchimp's own comparison page, priced from 500 contacts | Comfort: $12 a month, or $10.80 billed yearly, for up to 500 subscribers |
| Sending limit | 10×, 12× or 15× your contact limit, by plan | Comfort: 10× the top of your subscriber tier · Power: unlimited (fair use policy) |
| User seats | 3 · 5 · unlimited | 3 (Comfort) · unlimited (Power) |
| Who you pay for | Subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts | Active subscribers only |
| Trial or offer | 50% off paid plans for 12 months (shown 24 Oct); a one-month Premium trial for qualified new customers, through sales | 14-day free trial, no credit card; 10% off yearly billing |
| Nonprofit discount | 15% | 30% |
MailerLite prices come from the price table built into mailerlite.com/pricing, in US dollars billed monthly, and may be subject to tax. Mailchimp's pricing page works out its prices in your browser, and the dollar amounts it showed us, reading from outside the US, did not match the figures Mailchimp prints elsewhere. So for Mailchimp we quote only figures Mailchimp itself prints: "$13/month" (Essentials) and "$20/month" (Standard) on its Mailchimp vs MailerLite page, and "$385/mo" (Essentials at 50,000 contacts) and "$800/mo" (Standard at 100,000) in its plan comparison table. Check the price for your own contact count on mailchimp.com before you decide.
The core difference: a marketing suite versus a lighter email tool
Mailchimp is the suite. It runs from a free plan to Premium, which comes with phone and priority support, unlimited seats and four onboarding sessions. Along the way you get up to 200 automation flows (Standard and Premium), predictive segmentation, dynamic content, custom reports and an SMS add-on in select countries. Its generative AI features are listed as a "No additional cost add-on" on Standard and Premium, and are not included on Essentials or Free.
MailerLite is the lighter tool, and cheaper per subscriber. Both paid plans get the full editor, unlimited templates, multivariate testing and what MailerLite calls HeyLite intelligence: an AI writing assistant, an AI landing page builder, AI-powered A/B testing and smart sending. The plans differ mainly in limits. Comfort caps automations at 50, forms at 10 and seats at 3, while Power lifts all of them and sends without a monthly cap. MailerLite also runs an MCP server, which lets assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT manage your email marketing for you.
"Mailchimp prices you for the marketing department you might become. MailerLite prices you for the newsletter you send today. Most small businesses are the second one for longer than they expect."
What five AI assistants recommend (TheToolsVerse panel, 24 October 2026)
We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Perplexity and Claude "Mailchimp vs MailerLite, which is better?" and "Should I use Mailchimp or MailerLite for email marketing for a small business?" from a US location. That made 10 answers.
| Finding | Answers |
|---|---|
| Recommended MailerLite for most small businesses | 10 of 10 |
| Kept Mailchimp for advanced ecommerce, integrations or reporting | 10 of 10 |
| Said Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts | 4 of 10 |
| Said MailerLite's paid plans have no monthly sending cap (only Power has none) | 3 of 10 |
| Said MailerLite's free plan covers 500 subscribers (it is 250) | 2 of 10 |
| Used MailerLite's current plan names, Comfort and Power | 0 of 10 |
| Mentioned Mailchimp's 50% first-year discount | 0 of 10 |
The assistants agree on the verdict, and the verdict holds up. Where they go wrong is the limits, and at least one stale figure has an obvious source. Mailchimp's own Mailchimp vs MailerLite page, which ChatGPT cited, still says MailerLite's free plan "covers 500 subscribers" and that its paid plans "start at $9/month". MailerLite's pricing page now says 250 subscribers and $12.
Method: ChatGPT and Gemini were read through their web interfaces, Google AI Mode from its live results, and Perplexity (sonar) and Claude (with web search) through their APIs. Answers vary between runs, so treat this as a snapshot of 24 October 2026.
Mailchimp: the suite
Pros & Cons
Pros
- +300+ integrations, the larger ecosystem of the two
- +Up to 200 automation flows on Standard and Premium, with predictive segmentation and dynamic content
- +Generative AI features at no additional cost on Standard and Premium
- +24/7 email and chat support on Essentials and Standard; phone and priority support on Premium
- +50% off paid plans for the first 12 months on the offer shown on 24 October 2026
Cons
- −The free plan allows only 500 sends a month and no automation flows
- −Unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward your contact total until you archive them
- −Essentials limits automation flows to 4 steps
- −Paid plans bill overages automatically if you exceed your contact or send limit
- −Generative AI features are not included on Essentials or Free
MailerLite: the lighter email tool
MailerLite's plans, at the smallest list size (up to 500 subscribers):
- Free ($0): 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, 3 active automations, 1 website and 1 landing page, all three email editors.
- Comfort ($12, or $10.80 billed yearly): 3 seats, 50 automations, 10 forms, 10 websites and landing pages, unlimited templates, HeyLite AI tools, MCP and API access, no MailerLite logo. Sending is capped at 10× the top of your subscriber tier.
- Power ($25, or $22.50 billed yearly): unlimited emails (fair use), automations, forms, sites and seats; multiple automation triggers; 24/7 live chat.
- Enterprise (custom): 200,000+ subscribers, a dedicated IP add-on, deliverability support and onboarding.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Same free list size as Mailchimp, with 5 times the monthly sends and automations included
- +Comfort from $12 a month gives every paid user the full editor, multivariate testing and the AI writing assistant
- +Power sends without a monthly cap, under a fair use policy
- +Bills only active subscribers; unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not count
- +14-day free trial with no credit card, and 30% off for nonprofits
Cons
- −The free plan stops at 250 subscribers, lower than the 500 or 1,000 many comparisons still quote
- −Comfort is capped at 50 automations, 10 forms and 3 seats
- −Comfort's sending stops at 10× your subscriber tier until the month resets, unless you upgrade to Power
- −A subscriber who was active at any point in the billing cycle counts that month, even if you delete them
- −Fewer integrations than Mailchimp: the free plan lists 100+
What it really costs at five list sizes
| Your list | Mailchimp | MailerLite (billed monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 250, just starting | Free: 500 sends a month, no automation flows | Free: 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations |
| 500 | Essentials, listed from $13 a month; 50% off for 12 months on the offer shown 24 Oct | Comfort $12 ($10.80 billed yearly) · Power $25 |
| 5,000 | Not printed outside the pricing calculator | Comfort $49 (50,000 emails) · Power $69 |
| 50,000 | Essentials $385 a month (500,000 sends) | Comfort $319 (500,000 emails) · Power $389 (unlimited) |
| 100,000 | Standard $800 a month (1.2 million sends) | Comfort $439 (1 million emails) · Power $489 (unlimited) |
The two cleanest comparisons are at the top of the table:
- 50,000 contacts: Mailchimp Essentials and MailerLite Comfort allow the same 500,000 sends a month, and MailerLite costs $66 a month less.
- 100,000 contacts: MailerLite Power, which has no monthly sending cap, costs $311 a month less than Mailchimp Standard.
At 500 contacts the answer depends on the discount. Listed price for listed price, MailerLite is $1 cheaper. If Mailchimp's 50% offer applies to you, Mailchimp is cheaper for the first year, and then it isn't.
Before you move your list
Count the contacts you would actually pay for, not your total list. Mailchimp bills unsubscribed contacts until you archive them, while MailerLite bills only active subscribers. If a third of your Mailchimp audience is unsubscribed, archiving them may drop you a whole pricing tier, so do that before you compare prices.
Which one should you pick?
- You are starting a newsletter or a small business list: MailerLite. Its free plan does five times the sending, with automations.
- You send often, or need more than 3 seats: MailerLite Power. It has unlimited sending and seats, and costs less than Mailchimp at large lists.
- You depend on a specific integration, SMS or phone support: Mailchimp.
- You want predictive segmentation and up to 200 automation flows in one place: Mailchimp Standard.
- You are price-shopping for year one only: check whether Mailchimp's 50%-off offer applies to you. Then price year two.
TheToolsVerse keeps full listings for Mailchimp and MailerLite, updated with these figures. Not sure either fits? TheToolsVerse also compares six Mailchimp alternatives on what happens to the bill as your list grows. Other options include Brevo, Kit and beehiiv, or browse all email tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailchimp?
At every list size where Mailchimp prints a price, yes. On 24 October 2026, MailerLite Comfort was $12 a month for 500 subscribers against Mailchimp Essentials, listed from $13. At 50,000 contacts it was $319 against $385 for the same 500,000 monthly sends. At 100,000, MailerLite Power was $489 with unlimited sending against $800 for Mailchimp Standard. The exception is Mailchimp's 50%-off-for-12-months offer, which can make Mailchimp cheaper in the first year.
Does MailerLite still have a free plan for 1,000 subscribers?
No. MailerLite's pricing page now lists its free plan at up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and 2 user seats. Older comparisons still quote 1,000 or 500.
What are MailerLite's plans called now?
Free, Comfort, Power and Enterprise. Comfort starts at $12 a month and Power at $25, both for up to 500 subscribers. Older comparisons still use the names Growing Business and Advanced, which no longer appear on MailerLite's pricing page.
Does Mailchimp's free plan include automations?
No. Mailchimp's plan comparison lists marketing automation flows as "Not included" on the Free plan. Essentials allows flows of up to 4 steps, and Standard and Premium up to 200 flows.
Does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?
Yes. Mailchimp's help centre says subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count toward your contact total. Archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not. MailerLite bills only active subscribers.
Which has better deliverability?
TheToolsVerse did not test deliverability for this comparison, and the figures quoted in other comparisons vary from source to source. If your mail lands in spam on either platform, we compare three placement and engagement tools in InboxAlly vs MailReach vs GlockApps. InboxAlly is a paid partner of TheToolsVerse.
Final verdict
Mailchimp and MailerLite share a free list size and very little else. MailerLite gives a small sender more for less: five times the free sending, automations from day one, and a paid plan from $12 that costs hundreds of dollars a month less once a list reaches 50,000. Mailchimp earns its higher price when you need what MailerLite doesn't have: a 300+ app ecosystem, predictive segmentation, SMS and phone support.
Pick by your list and your stack. A newsletter, a small shop or a creator business: MailerLite. A marketing team tied into integrations Mailchimp has and MailerLite doesn't: Mailchimp.
Compare more email marketing tools
Email platforms with prices read from the vendors, on TheToolsVerse.
Explore email toolsArticle by Sohail Akhtar, Founder of TheToolsVerse. Read on 24 October 2026 from mailerlite.com/pricing, mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing and its compare-plans page, Mailchimp's help article "About Mailchimp pricing plans" and Mailchimp's Mailchimp vs MailerLite page. AI-assistant answers collected by TheToolsVerse on 24 October 2026.
Neither Mailchimp nor MailerLite paid for this comparison. This article was drafted with the help of Claude, an Anthropic model, and every fact was checked against the vendors' own pages. How paid placements work.
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