Mailchimp's pricing scales with contacts, not sends, so a list you stopped emailing still costs money every month.
Check how each alternative counts your audience. Contact-based, subscriber-based and send-based pricing diverge sharply once you pass a few thousand people.
Side by side
| Tool | Pricing | Best for | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Freemium | A writer or course creator who wants a list and simple automations without a marketing ops person. | Web |
| Resend | Freemium | A developer shipping password resets and receipts who wants an API and logs, not a campaign builder. | Web |
| beehiiv | Freemium | A writer building a newsletter they intend to monetize through ads or paid tiers. | Web |
The options, and what each one costs you
- Better if
- A writer or course creator who wants a list and simple automations without a marketing ops person.
- You give up
- Pricing climbs steeply with subscriber count - the jump as you cross each tier is the thing people complain about - and the automation builder is simpler than what a dedicated marketing platform offers.
- Better if
- A developer shipping password resets and receipts who wants an API and logs, not a campaign builder.
- You give up
- There is no campaign builder or audience management, so it is not a newsletter platform, and deliverability still depends entirely on your own domain authentication being set up correctly.
- Better if
- A writer building a newsletter they intend to monetize through ads or paid tiers.
- You give up
- The growth and monetisation features that justify the platform sit behind the paid tiers, and moving a large subscriber list off it later is unpleasant enough that you should be sure before you commit.
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to Mailchimp?
It depends on what you are leaving for. Check how each alternative counts your audience. Contact-based, subscriber-based and send-based pricing diverge sharply once you pass a few thousand people. Our closest match on features and price is Kit.
Is there a free alternative to Mailchimp?
Kit is free to start. Resend is free to start. beehiiv is free to start.
How much does switching from Mailchimp cost?
Migration is usually the expensive part, not the licence: exports rarely preserve permissions, history or automations. Budget a day per active workspace for anything with a database in it.
How we picked
Every tool here is in our Marketing & SEO directory, which means we have used it and written down where it falls short. Nothing on this page is sponsored, and the order is not for sale.