15 Best Mailchimp Alternatives (Free and Paid) in 2023
It’s time to rethink your marketing strategy.
Maybe it’s time to start a TikTok. Or a choreographed drone performance. Are flash mobs still a thing?
On second thought, sometimes it’s better to stick to tried and tested basics, like email marketing.
If you’re in the market for a powerhouse email service provider to take your email marketing to the next level, then we’ve got you covered. Below, we’ve compiled the top 15 Mailchimp alternatives in 2023.
Top alternatives to Mailchimp for email marketing
1. SendFox
Automatically send customized emails to your subscribers, followers, and fans.
$49.00 | $240.00
Built by the team at AppSumo, SendFox provides content creators a simpler, more affordable email service provider.
Not every business has the budget of box-office stores or Amazon-size ecommerce platforms. SendFox was built to level the playing field, providing you the essential tools without all the add-ons that small business owners don’t need. Catered to content creators, it’s not too surprising that SendFox makes automation easier than Mailchimp (or many Mailchimp alternatives).
Plus, since AppSumo offers a lifetime deal on SendFox, Mailchimp is exponentially more expensive after just months of use.
- Top features: Automations, streamlined tools, simple interface
- Best for: Content creators like bloggers, podcasters, and vloggers who want to turn fans into customers
- Integrations: Select integrations include Zapier, Sumo, Thrive Leads, and KingSumo.
- Price: While supplies last, AppSumo has a lifetime deal starting at $49.
2. Omnisend
Omnisend is a comprehensive email and SMS marketing automation platform for ecommerce businesses. It has become the preferred choice for Shopify store owners seeking to create highly personalized, captivating, and effective marketing campaigns that deliver a $72 ROI.
Omnisend empowers businesses with personalized communication, advanced analytics, and social advertising tools. Whether you’re an online business or a growth marketer at an ecommerce brand, Omnisend provides the tools you need to connect and engage with your customers effectively.
- Top features: Customizable templates, advanced automation, seamless Shopify integration, multichannel campaigns like SMS and push notifications, segmentation and personalization, abandoned cart recovery
- Best for: Ecommerce businesses who seek to enhance their email and SMS marketing automation
- Integrations: Select integrations include Shopify, Google Ads Customer Match, Gorgias, and Zapier. See more integrations on their site here
- Price: Paid plan starts from $16/month, a free forever plan is available with unlimited features and free 24/7 live chat and email support.
3. Sendinblue
Like HubSpot, Sendinblue brings all your digital marketing into one tool suite. Use a drag-and-drop email builder to create custom emails. Grow a list using a blend of other Sendinblue tools like landing pages and sign-up forms.
Sendinblue was created in 2012. The pricing structure allows digital marketers to send a lot more emails for a lot less money. In other words: Sendinblue is friendlier to scaling businesses than Mailchimp, which can get notoriously expensive for businesses sending a lot of emails every month.
- Top features: Seamless integration with other Sendinblue tools, drag-and-drop email building, scale-friendly pricing structure
- Best for: Small businesses looking to grow
- Integrations: Select integrations include Magento, WordPress, and OptinMonster. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Free up to 300 emails/day with Sendinblue branding. After that, prices start at $22.50/month.
4. HubSpot
Created in 2005, HubSpot is a big name across many digital tools, including email. It also offers famous marketing training courses, a popular CRM, and a suite of marketing tools. When you do email through HubSpot, the true benefit is getting to have all those other marketing tools in the same place.
As you might suspect, Mailchimp offers more focused email marketing functions, while HubSpot offers a wider range of digital marketing tools for seamless collaboration. If you’re only looking for email marketing basics and don’t want to pay for tools you’ll never use, HubSpot may be a worthwhile consideration.
- Top features: Audience segmentation, easy email creation, preview modes for phone and computer, seamless integration with other HubSpot tools
- Best for: Businesses who want to keep all their digital marketing tools in one place, agencies, startups
- Integrations: Select integrations include Gmail, JotForm, and DesignWizard. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: HubSpot starts at $50/month, which includes email, sales tools, and more. However, they also offer many tools for free, including a basic version of their CRM.
5. ConvertKit
Started in 2013, ConvertKit entered the game later than players like Mailchimp and Constant Contact. Today, it’s one of the biggest players in the email service provider market.
How did it rise to the top of the competitive email industry? Focus.
Like Constant Contact, ConvertKit is designed for small businesses. It was originally tailored specifically to authors and bloggers, which snagged it early media hits from popular bloggers who spread the ConvertKit gospel to their followers. While it has since broadened its user base, ConvertKit still carries a lot of that original creative/author-focused mindset.
Reviews on Capterra also suggest that ConvertKit offers better customer support than Mailchimp.
- Top features: sign-up forms, landing pages, simplicity-focused email design tool, automations, reporting and analytics
- Best for: Authors, bloggers, personal brands, creatives
- Integrations: Select integrations include Zapier, Stripe, and WP Engine. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: ConvertKit has a free plan. Paid plans start at $29/month.
6. Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a data-forward email service provider that launched in 2012. The platform wants you to connect and appeal to your customers through personalization.
Klaviyo provides a robust suite of analytics tools, believing that the best customer experiences begin with an understanding of your audience.
With such an emphasis on data, it appeals heavily to the growth marketing world. If you’re disappointed that Mailchimp doesn’t offer more ways to cross-apply your email data with social media, Klaviyo might be a better tool for you.
- Top features: Robust analytics and reporting, customer profile building, audience segmentation, social advertising tools from email data
- Best for: online businesses, growth marketers
- Integrations: Select integrations include Magento, Facebook, and Zapier. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Free up to 250 subscribers, then starts at $20/month.
7. SendGrid
SendGrid was founded in 2009. It markets to businesses trying to scale, which is probably how it acquired unicorn clients like Uber and Airbnb.
If you wish Mailchimp let you customize your emails using code, then look no further than SendGrid. It’s a newsletter tool popular with developers for that exact reason. Just bring your coding chops to this more technical email service provider to fulfill your email-coding dreams.
SendGrid also boasts that they’re the better brand when it comes to sending high-volume emails. If you’re in the business of sending lots of promotions, newsletters, and drip campaigns, this might be the email service provider to consider.
- Top features: Use details from your email list to target social ads, email validation, analytics, easy integration with Twilio products (SendGrid is part of the Twilio tool suite)
- Best for: High-volume email senders, developers, and marketers
- Integrations: Select integrations include AWS, Drift, and Github. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: For newsletters, SendGrid lets you store up to 2,000 contacts (and send 6,000 emails/month) for free. Then prices start at $15/month. This is comparable to Mailchimp’s pricing model, except that Mailchimp paid accounts start at $9.99.
8. ActiveCampaign
Another OG email service provider, ActiveCampaign, hit the scene in 2003. This Mailchimp competitor has carved out a clear niche for itself: drip campaign segmentation.
If you want to build an automated email sales funnel, ActiveCampaign is one of the tools that rises to the top. Use ActiveCampaign to send one-off newsletters or plan a complicated sales funnel that operates on its own in the background of your business.
And as a side note, ActiveCampaign is one of very few email service providers that regularly offers in-person training. Find one of the global Study Halls on its website to network and learn more about the ActiveCampaign tool suite.
- Top features: Automation, comprehensive drip campaign features, audience segmentation, lead nurturing, CRM, A/B testing
- Best for: Small businesses, lean marketing teams
- Integrations: Select integrations include Typeform, Salesforce, and Shopify. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Prices start at $9/month.
9. AWeber
AWeber is a major Mailchimp competitor that started in 1998 to provide email marketing services to small business owners. You can tell from its services and brand messaging that AWeber focuses on connection.
AWeber uses simple newsletter tools — like drag-and-drop email builders and newsletter templates — to help business owners easily create personalized emails that connect. But the downside compared to Mailchimp is that it doesn’t offer free access to business owners with lists under 2,000 subscribers.
- Top features: Landing pages, automated email campaigns, automated email template creator, advanced e-commerce solutions, web push notifications
- Best for: Small businesses, online entrepreneurs, and content creators
- Integrations: 1,000+ integrations like PayPal, WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, and more. See more integrations on their site here.
- Price: Free plan offers unlimited landing pages, sign up forms, automated email campaigns and users, 1,000+ powerful integrations, and customer support. Pro plan starts at $19/month based on the number of subscribers on your list.
10. MailerLite
Started in 2010, MailerLite emphasizes relationship-building and newsletter-growing. If you want to grow your following — or get closer to your existing followers — MailerLite caters to you.
Like many tools on this list, MailerLite uses a drag-and-drop email editor to help even novice designers create stylish emails. And of course, it has templates if you’re looking for an even easier newsletter creation process.
One of the typical benefits of using Mailchimp over other email service providers is price. Fortunately, MailerLite offers a similar starting price, making it affordable for beginning users.
- Top features: Landing pages, pop-ups, automations, newsletters, surveys
- Best for: Businesses and individuals who want to emphasize growing their newsletter following
- Integrations: Select integrations include WordPress, MailerCheck, and Zapier. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: MailerLite has a free version up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails. After that, prices start at $10/month.
11. Campaign Monitor
Since 2004, Campaign Monitor has prided itself on creating aesthetically pleasing emails. It helps companies send branded, stylish emails to followers and customers, providing natural consistency across your email marketing and the rest of your brand. As you might expect, it’s used by some of the most recognized brands in the world, including Adidas and Unicef.
If your company runs a lot of email promotions, Campaign Monitor provides a suite of tools to tailor every campaign to your brand and high visual standards.
- Top features: Branded emails, ecommerce-forward integrations, drag-and-drop newsletter builder, drip features
- Best for: Established brands, companies that want to double down on email promotions
- Integrations: Select integrations include WordPress, Shopify, and Salesforce. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Prices start at $9/month but scale up quickly from there.
12. GetResponse
As the name suggests, GetResponse is a suite of digital marketing tools that are meant to help you make more conversions. It uses a combination of automation and scheduling features to help your email marketing run hands-free.
While many tools on this list (including Mailchimp) emphasize more general email tools, GetResponse specializes in optimizing your funnel. For example, you can expect better advertising functionality (like split testing) in lower-cost plans on GetResponse. The same features are only available in higher, premium plans on Mailchimp.
- Top features: Automation, landing pages, drip campaigns, email templates, automated blog sends
- Best for: Companies who want multiple digital tools in one place, conversion-oriented brands
- Integrations: Select integrations include Salesforce, Facebook, Slack. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Starts at $15/month.
13. Mailgun
Mailgun has one audience in mind: developers. While most email service providers on this list advertise their drag-and-drop simplicity, Mailgun emphasizes flexibility and control.
Mailgun lets you use your favorite programming language for greater customization in your emails. As Mailgun says on its website, “trusted by businesses, loved by developers.” It launched in 2010.
- Top features: Coder-friendly, burst sending, cost-friendly for high-volume email senders, email validation
- Best for: Developers
- Integrations: Select integrations include OneSignal, 250Ok, and bitrise. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Starts with a free trial of 5,000 free emails/mo. for 3 months, then goes to $35/month.
14. Drip
Like Klaviyo, Drip focuses on using data to make email campaigns more personal. It is meant to be plugged in with your online store or sales CRM, giving Drip information data to suggest future campaigns.
As the name suggests, Drip also makes it easy for businesses to create drip campaigns, using collected data to nudge consumers further down your sales funnel. While Mailchimp focuses primarily on email, Drip almost does the opposite. It provides a wide range of marketing tools, with email being just one feature among many. Drip launched in 2013.
- Top features: Robust analytics and reporting, optimization tools,
- Best for: Ecommerce brands
- Integrations: Select integrations include Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Prices start at $49/month.
15. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is designed for small businesses. It’s also one of the oldest existing email service providers around — boasting over 20 years in the business.
Constant Contact provides tools and resources that keep small businesses and nonprofits in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution that lets you do email marketing, manage social media accounts, run surveys, launch events, and create promotions.
Like Mailchimp, Constant Contact uses a suite of drag-and-drop tools to let entrepreneurs design every email. Keep in mind, you’ll need some HTML knowledge to modify templates to your liking. So many email service providers have the same features in common. But at the end of the day, many people find that Constant Contact offers greater customization, as well as more starting templates for email designs.
- Top features: Drag-and-drop email builder, audience segmentation, website building, integrated CRM, email marketing templates, email analytics, ecommerce-focused integrations
- Best for: Small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals
- Integrations: Select integrations include Facebook, WordPress, and Eventbrite. See more integrations on their site, here.
- Price: Constant Contact prices start at $20/month.
Free alternatives to Mailchimp
We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article. But there’s one more point I’d like to make.
One of the benefits of using Mailchimp is its pricing structure: You don’t have to pay until you hit 2,000+ subscribers. That’s a nice perk.
And while there aren’t any completely free Mailchimp alternatives worth mentioning here (that I know of), I do want to point out tools that use a similar freemium pricing structure to Mailchimp.
Here they are:
- Klaviyo – Free up to 250 subscribers
- ConvertKit – Free up to 1,000 subscribers
- SendGrid – Free up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 monthly emails
- MailerLite – Free up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails
- Sendinblue – Free up to 300 emails/day with SendInBlue branding
- Omnisend – Free up to 15,000 email sends per month
At the end of the day, this is a personal question, like asking which taco you should order. It all comes down to personal taste (and the occasional food allergy).
Sometimes, email service providers can all look the same. But as you dig a little deeper into their features and messaging, you start to notice what makes each provider unique.
Additional email marketing resources from the AppSumo blog
Want to learn more about email marketing? Consider reading a few similar articles:
- How Morning Brew’s Insane Referral Engine Gets Them 1,000 Subs/Day
- Ensuring High Email Deliverability
- Getting Your First 1K Email Subscribers
Have a favorite email service provider? Tell us which one and why you love it in the comments.