MailerLite vs Mailchimp: Pricing and Limits Compared (2026)

For a list under 1,000 subscribers, MailerLite gives you more for less. Its free plan covers 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and three automations. Mailchimp's free plan also stops at 250 contacts but allows only 500 emails a month and no automation. Paid plans start at $12 a month for MailerLite and about $13 for Mailchimp. Mailchimp makes more sense when you need its larger set of integrations or its more advanced automation on the Standard plan.

This comparison uses the plan details published on each company's pricing page, checked on October 6, 2026.

MailerLite vs Mailchimp at a glance

Free plans compared

Both companies have cut their free plans over the years, and both now stop at 250 contacts. What you can do inside that limit is very different.

What the send limits mean in practice

With a full list of 250 people, MailerLite's 2,500 emails work out to ten sends per subscriber each month. That is enough for a weekly newsletter plus a welcome sequence.

Mailchimp's 500 emails work out to two sends per contact each month. A weekly newsletter to 250 people needs about 1,000 sends, so it does not fit. The 250-a-day cap also means a full list can receive only one campaign on any given day.

The automation gap matters as much. A welcome email that goes out when someone subscribes is the most basic automation there is. MailerLite's free plan allows three automations. Mailchimp's does not include automation at all, so even a single welcome email needs a paid plan.

Free plan verdict: MailerLite, clearly. Mailchimp's free plan works for testing the editor and sending an occasional announcement.

Paid plans compared

MailerLite paid plans

Prices rise with your subscriber count. The figures above are the starting points shown on the pricing page.

Mailchimp paid plans

Mailchimp often advertises a discount for the first 12 months. When you compare, use the regular price, since that is what you pay from the second year. The same caution applies to web hosting, as we show in Web Hosting Renewal Prices.

How Mailchimp's send multiplier works

Mailchimp ties the number of emails you can send to the contact tier you pay for. On Essentials with a 500-contact plan, the limit is 10 times 500, or 5,000 emails a month. On Standard it is 12 times 500, or 6,000.

For a weekly newsletter that is plenty. Four sends to 500 people is 2,000 emails. It becomes a limit if you send daily. Twenty weekday sends to 500 people is 10,000 emails, which is more than either plan allows at that tier.

MailerLite lists "unlimited monthly emails" as a feature of its Power plan.

How each tool counts contacts

This detail changes what you pay more than any headline price.

Mailchimp bills on the size of your audience, and its documentation has long counted unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts toward that total unless you archive them. Someone who unsubscribed a year ago can still occupy a paid slot. To avoid that, archive unsubscribed and cleaned contacts regularly. Archiving keeps their history without counting them toward your plan.

MailerLite has historically billed on active subscribers, so people who unsubscribe drop out of the count.

Billing rules change, so confirm both on the companies' help pages before you choose. Then do this simple check on your own list: export it, count how many contacts are unsubscribed or bounced, and work out which pricing tier you would fall into under each method. On an older list the difference can be a full tier.

Automation

On the entry paid plans, the two tools take different approaches. MailerLite limits how many automations you can have. Mailchimp limits how long each one can be. Four steps is enough for a welcome email, a wait, a follow-up and one more message. It is not enough for an onboarding series with branches.

If automation is central to your plan, compare MailerLite Comfort at $12 with Mailchimp Standard at about $20, because Mailchimp Essentials will feel cramped quickly.

Mailchimp's strength is depth at the Standard level and above: more prebuilt journeys, more e-commerce triggers and behavior-based targeting. A store with a large product catalog and purchase data to work with will find more to use there.

Websites, landing pages and selling

Both tools offer a website builder and landing pages. MailerLite's free plan allows one website and one landing page. Comfort raises that to ten and adds the ability to sell up to five digital products, such as an ebook or a paid download, directly through MailerLite.

Neither builder replaces a real website. They work for a single signup page or a simple product page. If you are building a full site, you will want proper hosting, which starts at a few dollars a month. See How to Choose a Web Hosting Provider.

Integrations

Mailchimp has been the default email tool for so long that almost every e-commerce platform, form builder, CRM and booking tool offers a ready-made Mailchimp connection. If you rely on a niche tool, it probably connects to Mailchimp and may not connect to MailerLite.

MailerLite covers the main platforms, including WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify, and connects to most other tools through Zapier or Make.

Before choosing, list the three tools your email platform must talk to and check each one's integration page. This takes ten minutes and prevents the most common reason people switch back.

Support

If live chat matters to you, note that MailerLite lists it under Power, not Comfort. We did not record Mailchimp's support channels for each tier when we checked, so compare them on its plan page.

Deliverability: what you control

No comparison of plan features tells you whether your emails will reach the inbox. Both companies run reputable sending infrastructure. The larger factor is your own setup, and it is the same whichever tool you choose.

Gmail requires every sender to authenticate with SPF or DKIM, and anyone sending 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail accounts must set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC and offer one-click unsubscribe. Gmail also expects spam complaint rates to stay below 0.3%.

Both tools walk you through authenticating your domain. Do it on the first day, before sending a campaign. SPF, DKIM and DMARC Explained shows the records to add.

What will you actually pay? Three examples

These use the published starting prices. Your price depends on list size, so treat them as a floor and confirm at checkout.

Example 1: New newsletter, 200 subscribers, weekly send

• MailerLite Free: $0. About 800 sends a month fits inside 2,500, and you can run a welcome automation.
• Mailchimp Free: $0, but 800 sends exceeds the 500 limit, and there is no welcome automation. You would need Essentials at about $13.

Example 2: Small business, 500 contacts, weekly send plus a welcome series

• MailerLite Comfort: from $12 a month. Fifty automations is far more than needed.
• Mailchimp Essentials: about $13 a month. 2,000 sends fits inside the 5,000 limit. A welcome series of up to four steps fits.

At this size the two are within a dollar. Choose on the editor you prefer and the integrations you need.

Example 3: Online store, 500 contacts, abandoned cart and post-purchase flows

• MailerLite Comfort or Power: from $12 or $25 a month. Power adds multiple triggers per automation.
• Mailchimp Standard: about $20 a month. Flows are no longer capped at four steps, and e-commerce features are deeper.

Here Mailchimp Standard is a reasonable choice, particularly if your store platform has a mature Mailchimp integration.

How to switch from one to the other

Moving lists is simple if you do it in order.

1. Export your contacts as a CSV file, including subscribed, unsubscribed and bounced contacts in separate files.
2. Import only subscribed contacts into the new tool. Then import the unsubscribed and bounced lists as suppressed, so you never email them again.
3. Authenticate your domain in the new tool by adding its SPF and DKIM records. Leave the old tool's records in place until you have fully moved.
4. Rebuild your signup forms and replace the embed code on your website.
5. Recreate your automations. These do not transfer. Screenshot each one before you leave.
6. Send a small campaign first. A new sending setup has no reputation yet. Start with your most engaged subscribers and increase over a week or two.
7. Cancel the old plan once a full month has passed without problems.

Which should you choose?

For most new newsletters, bloggers and small service businesses, MailerLite is the better starting point. For established stores with purchase data, Mailchimp Standard earns its price.

Frequently asked questions

Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailchimp?

At small list sizes the paid prices are close: MailerLite Comfort starts at $12 a month and Mailchimp Essentials at about $13. MailerLite is cheaper in practice because its free plan includes 2,500 emails and three automations, and because Mailchimp's fuller automation needs the Standard plan at about $20.

Does Mailchimp still have a free plan?

Yes. As of October 2026, Mailchimp's free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with a cap of 250 a day and one user seat. It does not include marketing automation. It is useful for trying the product and sending occasional announcements.

How many subscribers can I have on MailerLite's free plan?

MailerLite's free plan allows up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. It includes three automations, three signup forms, one website and one landing page, two user seats and community support, according to its pricing page on October 6, 2026.

Which is better for beginners?

MailerLite is usually easier for beginners. The interface is simpler, the free plan includes the welcome automation most newsletters need, and there is no send multiplier to track. Mailchimp has more features, which also means more menus to learn.

Does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?

Mailchimp bills on audience size, and unsubscribed contacts have counted toward that total unless they are archived. Archive unsubscribed and cleaned contacts regularly to keep them out of your billed count. Check Mailchimp's current help documentation, since billing rules can change.

Can I move my list from Mailchimp to MailerLite?

Yes. Export your Mailchimp audience as a CSV file, import the subscribed contacts into MailerLite, and import unsubscribed and bounced contacts as suppressed. Automations and forms do not transfer and must be rebuilt. Authenticate your domain in MailerLite before sending.

Is MailerLite good for e-commerce?

MailerLite integrates with WooCommerce and Shopify and supports abandoned cart and post-purchase automations. Its Comfort plan also lets you sell up to five digital products directly. Mailchimp's Standard plan offers deeper e-commerce features, which suit larger stores.

Sources

Plan details were read on October 6, 2026. Both companies adjust pricing often, so confirm before you subscribe.

• MailerLite pricing
• Mailchimp marketing pricing
• Google Workspace Admin Help: Email sender guidelines