Last updated: 2026-06-14
Mailchimp Pricing (2026)
Mailchimp pricing for 2026: every published tier, subscriber caps, deliverability, and how to buy direct from Intuit Mailchimp for email marketing campaigns.
Mailchimp prices as the mass-market general-purpose email platform — Free covers 250 contacts, Essentials at $13/mo (500 contacts), Standard at $20/mo adds automation, Premium at $350/mo (10K contacts minimum) for high-volume senders. The listed pricing looks competitive but real-world Mailchimp costs run 20-40% higher due to billing quirks: Mailchimp bills on unsubscribed and duplicate contacts (unlike most competitors who bill only on active subscribers), which inflates tier-upgrade timing. The Free plan was reduced from 500 to 250 contacts in 2025, tightening the free-to-paid upgrade path. For small business mass-market email marketing (service businesses, nonprofits, local retail), Mailchimp remains the default because of brand recognition and the widest integration ecosystem; for ecommerce, Klaviyo; for creators, Kit or Beehiiv.
Published pricing tiers
Every pricing tier Intuit Mailchimp publishes for Mailchimp, verified against the vendor's public pricing page on 2026-06-14. Email platforms typically gate by subscriber/contact/profile count — budget for your 12-month subscriber-growth projection, and account for how the vendor counts contacts (active only vs. including unsubscribed and duplicates) to avoid surprise tier upgrades.
The classic mass-market email platform. Free 250 contacts. Essentials $13/mo. Standard $20/mo. Premium $350/mo (200k contacts). Bills on unsubs + duplicates.
| Tier | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Free (250 contacts) | Free/mo |
| Essentials (500 contacts) | $13/mo |
| Standard (500 contacts) | $20/mo |
| Premium (10k contacts min) | $350/mo |
How to buy Mailchimp direct
Buy Mailchimp direct at mailchimp.com — self-serve signup for Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium tiers. Annual billing isn't offered separately; monthly is the only option. Mailchimp's integration ecosystem is the widest in the category — 300+ integrations including every major ecommerce platform, CRM, event tool, and CMS — which is the primary reason Mailchimp remains default for small businesses with existing tool stacks. No reseller channel. For enterprise (100K+ contacts), contact Mailchimp sales for custom pricing. The Intuit acquisition (Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit in 2021) means Mailchimp is now integrated with QuickBooks for accounting workflows, which is a legitimate advantage for small businesses already on QuickBooks.
Pricing gotchas most senders miss
The real costs with Mailchimp: (1) Mailchimp bills on unsubscribed and duplicate contacts, not just active subscribers. A list with 5,000 active + 2,000 unsubscribed + 500 duplicates bills on 7,500 contacts, not 5,000 — this inflates cost 20-40% vs. competitors. Regularly purge unsubscribed and duplicate contacts via Mailchimp's cleanup tools to keep billing tight. (2) The 2025 Free-plan reduction from 500 to 250 contacts pushed many small businesses into paid tiers earlier than expected. (3) Automation is materially weaker than Klaviyo or Kit — basic trigger flows work but conditional logic, A/B testing within flows, and advanced segmentation all have feature gaps. (4) Premium jumps to $350/mo for 10K contacts, which is a steep cliff from Standard at $20/mo — mid-market senders (5K-20K contacts) are in an awkward middle zone. (5) AI content generation and subject line optimization are useful for marketers but don't differentiate vs. Klaviyo's or Kit's native features. For small business mass-market use cases (service businesses, nonprofits, community organizations), Mailchimp works; for serious ecommerce or creator workflows, it's not the right call.
What's included at every pricing tier
Baseline email marketing capabilities shipped with Mailchimp regardless of which tier you pick — these are the features Intuit Mailchimp considers core to running an email program:
- 4 plan tiers + all-in-one marketing hub
- Landing pages + websites + surveys
- Built-in CRM (basic)
- SMS + social + retargeting add-ons
- AI-powered content + subject line optimizer
- Mature integrations ecosystem
See Mailchimp in context
Pricing is only one axis — the right email platform depends on deliverability profile, subscriber growth trajectory, automation depth needs, CLTV expectations, and whether you're creator/newsletter-focused, ecommerce-focused, or mass-market small business. See how {product.name} stacks up:
About this pricing page
Email Marketing & Conversion Tools maintains this Mailchimp pricing page as a neutral reference — not a sales page. We verify pricing directly against Intuit Mailchimp's public pricing page every time we push changes, and we flag price changes in our changelog. If you spot an outdated number, tell us via the contact form and we'll correct within 24 hours. Some outbound links are affiliate links — we may earn commission at no cost to you, and commission rates do not influence which products we cover.