Constant Contact vs Mailchimp (2026): Which Is Better?

Mailchimp is the better choice for most small businesses: it has a free plan, costs a little less than Constant Contact on comparable plans at most list sizes, and has deeper automation on its Standard plan. Constant Contact is better if you want live phone support on every main plan, built-in event registration, or a cheaper top tier, since its Premium plan costs $275/month at 10,000 contacts vs $350 for Mailchimp Premium.

Last validated: September 2026. Prices are US list prices on monthly billing from each vendor's pricing page.

Constant Contact vs Mailchimp at a glance

Which is cheaper, Constant Contact or Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is cheaper on its entry and mid plans at almost every list size, and it's the only one with a free plan. Constant Contact is cheaper on the top tier. Both charge by contact count, so compare the tier you'll actually be on:

Pricing compared

Monthly price at 10,000 contacts

• Constant Contact
• Mailchimp

Monthly price at 10,000 contacts

Item	Constant Contact	Mailchimp
Entry (Lite / Essentials)	$120	$110
Mid (Standard)	$160	$135
Top (Premium)	$275	$350

Three details change the real bill:

• Who counts as a contact. Constant Contact bills on active contacts, so people who unsubscribe from email stop counting unless they're still subscribed to SMS. Your tier is set by the highest active count during the billing period, so removing contacts mid-period doesn't lower that bill. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts until you archive or delete them, so archiving people you no longer email lowers your bill.
• Discounts. Constant Contact takes 15% off for prepaying a year, which makes Standard $29.75/month at 500 contacts. Mailchimp's current new-customer offer is 15% off the first 12 months at 10,000+ contacts.
• Going over your send allowance. Constant Contact keeps sending and bills $0.002 per extra email. Mailchimp also bills overages automatically.

If price across list sizes is your main concern, our roundup of the best email marketing for small business⁠ compares more tools.

Which has better automation?

Mailchimp, once you're on Standard. This is where the two differ most.

Constant Contact keeps automation simple. Lite allows one active prebuilt automation path, such as a welcome, birthday, or anniversary email. Standard allows three, adds automatic resends to non-openers, and includes an AI Campaign Builder that drafts a sequence for you. Custom automation paths, ecommerce automations, and unlimited paths need Premium. That covers what most small businesses and nonprofits run: a welcome series and the occasional triggered email.

Mailchimp's builder, Marketing Automation Flows (formerly Customer Journey Builder), goes further. Essentials allows flows of up to 4 steps. Standard allows flows of up to 200 steps with branching on behavior, purchases, tags, and conditions, plus send-time optimization and predictive segments. If your marketing depends on "if they clicked this, send that, otherwise wait three days and try again," Mailchimp Standard is built for it.

For the common sequences either tool can run, see our guide to drip campaigns⁠.

Templates, editor, and events

Both have drag-and-drop editors and large template libraries, and for ordinary newsletters the gap is small. Mailchimp's editor feels more modern. Constant Contact's is easier to learn.

Events are Constant Contact's clear edge. Every plan includes event registration and ticketing with free or paid tickets, so you can send the invitation, collect RSVPs and payments, and follow up from one place. With Mailchimp, you'd typically connect a separate ticketing app.

Both include AI writing help for drafts and subject lines. Use it for a first draft, not a finished email.

Segmentation and reporting

Mailchimp pulls ahead on segmentation. You can combine conditions on behavior, purchase history, engagement, location, and custom fields, and Standard adds predictive segments that estimate who's likely to buy. Its reports go deeper too, with ecommerce tracking that ties sends to orders once you connect a store.

Constant Contact gives Lite one custom segment, Standard ten, and Premium unlimited. Standard reports show who opened and clicked; revenue reporting needs Premium. If your list is one audience and your campaigns are simple, you won't feel the gap. If you slice your list many ways, Mailchimp handles it better. See also Klaviyo vs Mailchimp⁠ if ecommerce reporting is the priority.

Support

Support is Constant Contact's biggest advantage. Live phone and chat support plus 1:1 onboarding come with Lite, Standard, and Premium, and Premium gets a priority team.

Mailchimp's free plan includes email support for the first 30 days only. Essentials and Standard get 24/7 email and chat. Phone support is Premium only. If talking to a person quickly matters and you won't pay $350 a month, Constant Contact is the safer bet.

Deliverability

Both are long-established senders, and both land in the inbox in normal use. Your list quality, domain authentication, and sending habits matter far more than which of these two you pick. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC before your first campaign; our email deliverability guide⁠ walks through it.

Who should pick which?

Pick Constant Contact if you're a small business, nonprofit, or event organizer who wants easy tools, a person on the phone, and event ticketing, and you don't need complex automation. It's also the cheaper route if you want top-tier features: Premium costs less than Mailchimp Premium at every list size in the pricing table above.

Pick Mailchimp if you want to start free, need branching automation, or run an online store. Its Standard plan is the better marketing engine for campaigns that depend on behavior. Watch the per-contact pricing and archive unsubscribed contacts regularly.

A quick test: list the three things you do most with email. If two are "send a newsletter" and "promote an event," Constant Contact fits. If two are "trigger a flow when someone does X" and "track which email drove a sale," Mailchimp fits. Let price break the tie.

For each tool on its own, read our Constant Contact review⁠ and Mailchimp review⁠. If neither fits, see the best Mailchimp alternatives⁠, or compare Mailchimp with MailerLite⁠, Brevo⁠, and HubSpot⁠.

Where Dreamlit fits

Dreamlit, the company behind this blog, isn't a newsletter tool, so it isn't in this comparison. It takes the whole job off your hands. Our experts decide what to send, run the emails that turn signups into paying users, and own the results. It's for teams with 500+ signups a month. If you're a small business, nonprofit, or store, choose between Constant Contact and Mailchimp using the guide above.

The verdict

For most small businesses choosing between these two, it comes down to two questions. Do you need branching automation, a free starting point, or an online store? Pick Mailchimp. Do you want simplicity, a person on the phone, and event tools? Pick Constant Contact.

If you're torn, both let you try before paying: Mailchimp's free plan or 14-day trial, and Constant Contact's 30-day trial. Build the same campaign in both, send it to a test list, and keep the one you fight with less.

References

• Constant Contact pricing and fee schedule⁠
• Constant Contact free trial⁠
• Constant Contact plan comparison⁠
• Constant Contact prepayment guidelines⁠
• How you're billed for Constant Contact⁠
• Constant Contact Community: are unsubscribed contacts billed?⁠
• Move your Mailchimp assets to Constant Contact⁠
• Mailchimp marketing pricing⁠
• Mailchimp pricing plans⁠
• Mailchimp: About your contacts⁠
• Mailchimp support options⁠
• Mailchimp automation flows⁠
• Migrate from Constant Contact to Mailchimp⁠
• Mailchimp Transactional Email pricing⁠

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Frequently asked questions

Is Constant Contact or Mailchimp cheaper?

Mailchimp, on most plans and list sizes. It has a free plan, and Mailchimp Standard costs $100/month at 5,000 contacts vs $110 for Constant Contact Standard. Constant Contact is cheaper on the top tier: Premium is $275/month at 10,000 contacts vs $350 for Mailchimp Premium. Prices checked September 2026.

Does Constant Contact have a free plan?

No. Constant Contact offers a 30-day free trial with 100 total email sends and no credit card required. Mailchimp is the only one of the two with a permanent free plan, capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month.

Which has better automation, Constant Contact or Mailchimp?

Mailchimp, from its Standard plan. Standard allows flows of up to 200 steps with branching, plus send-time optimization and predictive segments. Constant Contact allows one prebuilt automation path on Lite and three on Standard; custom paths need Premium.

Which is easier for a non-technical small business?

Constant Contact. Its editor is simpler, and live phone and chat support plus 1:1 onboarding come with Lite, Standard, and Premium. Mailchimp is more capable but has more to learn, and phone support is limited to its Premium plan.

Which is better for events?

Constant Contact. Every plan includes event registration and ticketing with free or paid tickets, so invitations, RSVPs, payments, and follow-ups happen in one account. With Mailchimp, you'd typically connect a separate ticketing app through an integration.

Can I move my list from Constant Contact to Mailchimp, or the reverse?

Yes. Both export and import contacts as CSV files, and templates can move as exported HTML (Constant Contact can also import Mailchimp email campaigns directly). Automations don't transfer, so plan time to rebuild any active sequences. Clean out old contacts before importing so you don't pay for them.

Which is better for an online store?

Mailchimp. It has deeper ecommerce integrations and product blocks, campaign reports show orders and revenue once you connect a store, and Standard adds custom reports. Constant Contact includes prebuilt ecommerce segments on Standard, but ecommerce automations and custom ecommerce segments require Premium. Stores that live on order data often look at Klaviyo too.