MailerLite vs Mailchimp (2026): Which Should You Pick?

For most newsletters and small businesses, MailerLite is the better pick in 2026. It costs less at every list size we checked ($49 against $75 a month at 5,000 contacts), bills only for active subscribers, and includes automation on its free plan. Pick Mailchimp if you want 24/7 chat support on the cheapest paid plan, SMS in the same tool, phone support, or its larger catalog of 300+ integrations. Both free plans now stop at 250 contacts.

MailerLite vs Mailchimp at a glance

Last validated: September 2026 against both vendors' pricing pages and help docs (linked in References). Prices are USD with monthly billing.

Which is cheaper, MailerLite or Mailchimp?

MailerLite is cheaper at every list size we checked, though the gap narrows past 5,000 contacts. Both price by list size, but they count different things.

Pricing compared

Entry plan monthly price by list size

• MailerLite Comfort
• Mailchimp Essentials

Entry plan monthly price by list size

Item	MailerLite Comfort	Mailchimp Essentials
500 contacts	$12	$13
5,000 contacts	$49	$75
10,000 contacts	$89	$110

One exception: at 500 contacts, Mailchimp Standard ($20) is cheaper than MailerLite Power ($25). Past a few thousand contacts, MailerLite's plans cost less than their Mailchimp counterparts.

What counts toward the bill matters as much as the price. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts toward your plan. If nobody archives unsubscribes, you pay for people you can't email. MailerLite counts only active subscribers, though anyone active during the monthly billing cycle still counts until it resets.

A worked example. Say you send a weekly newsletter to 5,000 subscribers, about 22,000 emails a month:

• MailerLite Comfort: $49 a month ($588 a year). The 5,000 tier allows 50,000 emails, so you have room to spare.
• Mailchimp Essentials: $75 a month ($900 a year), also with a 50,000-email limit. If 1,000 unarchived unsubscribes push you past 5,000 contacts, you pay overage charges or move up to the 10,000-contact tier ($110 a month).

Pricing compared

Monthly cost at 5,000 contacts

• MailerLite
• Mailchimp

Monthly cost at 5,000 contacts

Item	MailerLite	Mailchimp
Entry plan (Comfort / Essentials)	$49	$75
Mid plan (Power / Standard)	$69	$100

Send limits work differently. MailerLite Comfort includes 10 times the top of your subscriber tier each month. MailerLite's billing help says going over auto-upgrades you to a higher tier until your plan renews, while its pricing FAQ says you can upgrade to Power or wait for the allowance to reset. Power has no monthly cap beyond a fair-use policy. Mailchimp allows 10, 12, or 15 times your contact limit depending on the plan and bills overages automatically.

Discounts: MailerLite takes 10% off annual plans and 30% off for nonprofits. Mailchimp offers a 14-day free trial of Essentials or Standard, 15% off the first 12 months for accounts with 10,000+ contacts, and 15% off for nonprofits.

Which has the better free plan?

MailerLite, even though both now cap at 250 contacts. MailerLite's free plan dropped from 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails on June 16, 2026. Mailchimp's free plan is 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with a limit of 250 a day.

By the numbers

Free plan monthly email limit

• MailerLite
• Mailchimp

Free plan monthly email limit

Item	MailerLite	Mailchimp
Emails per month	2,500	500

Neither is enough for a real business for long, but MailerLite's lets you learn the whole tool, including automation, before you pay.

Email builder

Both have drag-and-drop editors, and both let you build a good-looking email without code. MailerLite's is calmer: fewer block types, tasteful templates, and a simple layout that new senders get through quickly. Mailchimp's does more, with more content blocks and dynamic content that changes by segment on Standard and Premium, at the cost of a busier interface.

For a weekly update from a solo founder, MailerLite's editor is the faster one. For an experienced marketer running segmented campaigns, Mailchimp's extra options can earn their keep. Either way, starting from a proven layout saves time; our email marketing templates have structures and copy you can adapt.

Automation

MailerLite includes automation on every plan and is far less restricted at the low end. Mailchimp saves most of its automation for Standard.

• MailerLite Free: 3 active automations, up to 5 steps each.
• MailerLite Comfort ($12+): 50 active automations, up to 100 steps each.
• MailerLite Power ($25+): Unlimited automations, with multiple triggers per automation.
• Mailchimp Free: No automation flows.
• Mailchimp Essentials ($13+): Flows of up to 4 steps.
• Mailchimp Standard and Premium ($20+): Up to 200 steps per flow, with up to 3 triggers and branching.

For a welcome series or a simple nurture sequence, MailerLite Comfort covers it without an upgrade. If you run behavior-driven journeys fed by connected apps and stores, Mailchimp Standard goes further. For what to put in those flows, see our guides to drip campaigns and welcome email examples.

Segmentation and reporting

Both segment by fields, tags, and behavior such as opens and clicks. MailerLite covers the common cases, plus dynamic email content on paid plans, click maps, and a comparative report that puts campaigns side by side.

Mailchimp goes deeper on Standard and Premium, with custom reports, plus purchase data from connected stores. If you mainly want to know whether last week's email worked, MailerLite shows it with less clutter. If you want to slice results by revenue and segment, Mailchimp has more.

Integrations

Mailchimp lists 300+ integrations; MailerLite lists 100+. Both cover the common platforms, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Zapier, and both have public APIs. Count the three or four integrations you actually need rather than the total. Mailchimp's longer list matters only if your stack includes something unusual.

Deliverability

Deliverability is roughly a wash, and we haven't found a recent, reliable test that separates them. Both send from shared IPs by default and support SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication. MailerLite offers a dedicated IP only to accounts sending 50,000+ emails a week, after an assessment.

What moves inbox placement is on your side: a clean opt-in list, an authenticated domain, steady volume, and content people want. Our email deliverability guide covers the setup.

Support

Mailchimp gives you more support for less money at the entry level.

• MailerLite: Free accounts get the knowledge base and community, plus email and live chat during the 14-day trial. Comfort gets 24/7 email; live chat starts on Power (or at 50,000+ subscribers).
• Mailchimp: Free accounts get email support for 30 days. Essentials and Standard get 24/7 email and chat. Premium adds phone and priority support.

SMS and transactional email

Mailchimp can do both inside one account, for extra money. MailerLite sends you to a sister product.

• SMS: Mailchimp sells SMS as a paid add-on on Essentials and higher in selected countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. MailerLite has no SMS marketing; MailerSend, a separate product, has an SMS API for the US and Canada.
• Transactional email: Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill) is a paid add-on for Standard and Premium. MailerLite's transactional email is MailerSend, with its own account and pricing.

If password resets and receipts need to come from the same tool as your newsletter, neither is ideal. See our transactional email services guide.

So which one should you pick?

Pick MailerLite if you're a creator, small business, or solo founder who wants a clean tool, automation from day one, and a bill that grows slowly. It's the better default for most people, and the savings add up: $312 a year at 5,000 contacts on the entry plans.

Pick Mailchimp if you want 24/7 chat on a cheap plan, SMS in the same account, phone support, or an integration only Mailchimp has, and you'll archive unsubscribes to keep the bill in check. The best Mailchimp alternatives covers the rest of its tier.

Pick neither if you need a much bigger free plan (Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers) or cheap sending to a huge, quiet list (Brevo prices by emails sent). Our MailerLite alternatives guide compares them.

Where Dreamlit fits

MailerLite and Mailchimp are both do-it-yourself tools: you decide what to send, write it, and check the numbers. For newsletters and small-business promotions, pick one of them.

Dreamlit, the company behind this blog, takes activation email off your plate. Our experts find where users drop off, run the emails that turn signups into paying users, and own the results.

Running a product with 500+ signups a month? Get a free activation audit.

References

• MailerLite pricing⁠
• MailerLite plan and billing⁠
• MailerLite free plan update FAQ (June 16, 2026)⁠
• MailerLite support options⁠
• MailerSend pricing⁠
• Mailchimp marketing pricing⁠
• About Mailchimp pricing plans⁠
• About your Mailchimp contacts⁠
• About Mailchimp SMS marketing⁠
• About Mailchimp Transactional email⁠

---

Frequently asked questions

Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailchimp?

Yes, at every list size we checked. At 5,000 contacts, MailerLite Comfort costs $49 a month and Mailchimp Essentials $75. At 10,000, it's $89 against $110. Mailchimp also bills for unsubscribed contacts until you archive them, while MailerLite counts only active subscribers (checked September 2026).

Which has the better free plan, MailerLite or Mailchimp?

MailerLite. Both free plans now stop at 250 contacts, but MailerLite allows 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations, and 2 users. Mailchimp's free plan allows 500 emails a month (250 a day), one user, and no automation flows or scheduling.

Is MailerLite or Mailchimp better for beginners?

MailerLite. The dashboard has fewer menus, the editor is simpler, and automation works on the free plan, so you can learn the whole tool before you pay. Mailchimp is fine too, but you'll hit plan limits sooner.

Which has better customer support?

Mailchimp, at the low end. Its $13 Essentials plan includes 24/7 email and chat, and Premium adds phone support. MailerLite's Comfort plan has 24/7 email support only; live chat needs the Power plan or 50,000+ subscribers.

Does MailerLite or Mailchimp send SMS?

Mailchimp does, as a paid add-on on Essentials and higher in selected countries. MailerLite's marketing app has no SMS; MailerSend, a separate product from the same company, has an SMS API for the US and Canada.

Is Mailchimp's deliverability better than MailerLite's?

We haven't found a recent, reliable head-to-head test that separates them, so don't choose on deliverability. Both send from shared IPs by default and support SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Your list quality and domain setup matter more than the vendor.

Can I move from Mailchimp to MailerLite?

Yes. Export your contacts as a CSV and import them into MailerLite, which also offers migration help for large lists. Automations don't transfer, so document each flow and rebuild it, and expect MailerLite's account approval before you can send.