Mailchimp vs MailerLite
Mailchimp or MailerLite? Here is how they compare on price, free plan, platforms and the jobs each does best, from each vendor's own pages.
| Compared on | Visit | Visit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Intuit's email and SMS marketing platform, free for 250 contacts, with AI writing on Standard and Premium | Email marketing with a free plan for 250 subscribers and paid plans priced by list size and sending |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $13/mo (Essentials)Mailchimp pricing | $10.80/mo billed annually (Comfort)MailerLite pricing |
| What it covers | Starting price for the 0-500 contacts tier; email sends up to 10x the contact count (5,000 a month at 500 contacts); 3 user seats. The price rises with the contact tier, up to $385/month for 50,000 contacts. Overages are billed if contact or send limits are exceeded. Annual plans exist only for Standard and Premium at 10,000+ contacts, through sales. | For up to 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails a month; $129.60 billed yearly (10% off); 3 user seats, 50 automations, 10 forms. The price rises with subscriber count, and the plan moves to the next tier automatically when the limit is passed. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of Essentials or Standard (payment details required at sign-up); a 1-month Premium trial for qualified new customers through sales | 14-day trial of premium features on every new account, no credit card required |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, API | Web, iOS, API |
| Integrations (vendor's figure) | 300+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Zapier, Square, Stripe and Salesforce | 100+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe, ChatGPT and Claude |
| Open source | No | No |
| Made by | The Rocket Science Group LLC d/b/a Mailchimp (part of Intuit) | MailerLite Limited |
Choose Mailchimp if…
- The job is small businesses sending regular newsletters to a few thousand contacts.
- The job is ecommerce stores that want automated flows tied to Shopify or WooCommerce data.
Choose MailerLite if…
- Price matters: its cheapest paid plan is $10.80/mo against $13/mo.
- The job is small businesses sending regular newsletters on a tight budget.
- The job is creators selling digital products, bookings or paid newsletters.
Still weighing it up?
If neither is quite right, Mailchimp and MailerLite are also compared with their other rivals: Mailchimp vs Klaviyo, Mailchimp vs Brevo and Kit vs Mailchimp.
What Mailchimp does
- Drag-and-drop email builder with pre-built and branded templates; custom-coded templates can be sent on Standard and Premium
- Marketing Automation Flows: up to 4 steps per flow on Essentials, up to 200 steps with branching and multiple starting points on Standard and Premium
- Signup forms, pop-up forms, landing pages and surveys on every plan
- Tags and segmentation, with predictive segments, customer lifetime value and purchase likelihood on Standard and Premium
- Intuit Assist generative AI: Write with AI in the email editor, plus send time and send day optimization (Standard and Premium)
- Subject line helper and suggested next actions on every plan
Watch out for
- The free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with no automation flows or scheduling
- Essentials automation flows are limited to 4 steps; generative AI features need Standard or Premium
- Overage charges apply on paid plans when contact or send limits are exceeded
What MailerLite does
- Drag-and-drop, rich-text and custom HTML newsletter editors with templates
- Visual automation builder with ecommerce triggers, RSS campaigns and auto-resend
- Signup forms, pop-ups, landing pages and websites with a blog section
- Dynamic segments and unlimited interest groups
- HeyLite Intelligence: AI writing assistant, AI landing page builder, smart sending and an AI coding assistant in the HTML editor
- MCP server and API for Claude and ChatGPT, with sending on paid plans
Watch out for
- The free plan stops at 250 subscribers and sending locks when the limit is passed
- Comfort caps sending at 5,000 emails a month at 500 subscribers and allows 50 automations and 10 forms
- Transactional email is a separate product, MailerSend
Questions
Is Mailchimp or MailerLite cheaper?
On published entry prices, MailerLite is cheaper: $13/mo (Essentials) for Mailchimp against $10.80/mo billed annually (Comfort) for MailerLite. What each plan includes differs, so compare the limits too.
Do Mailchimp and MailerLite have free plans?
Both do. Mailchimp: Up to 250 contacts; 500 email sends a month with no more than 250 a day; 1 user seat and 1 audience; limited pre-built templates; no automation flows, email scheduling or A/B testing; Mailchimp branding stays on; email support for the first 30 days only. Sending pauses if the contact or send limit is exceeded. MailerLite: Up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month; 3 active automations with up to 5 steps; 1 website and 1 landing page; 3 active forms; 1 digital product or booking; 2 user seats; MailerLite logo on emails; API and MCP access limited, with no sending through them; community support. Sending locks above 250 active subscribers.