Best Email Marketing Software 2021

Mailchimp Competitors & Alternatives

Are you considering purchasing Mailchimp for your email marketing campaigns? Before making the purchase, it’s best to learn about the top competitors in the space. This article walks through the top Mailchimp competitors to help you understand which software is best for your business.

Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing tool used by small businesses. Mailchimp received a SoftwarePundit Analyst rating of 90, making it one of the highest rated products in this vertical. Mailchimp is very easy to use and reasonably priced, and its tool kit is sufficient for most moderately complex marketing campaigns.

However, there are a variety of different solutions on the market today that may be better for your specific needs and budget. In this article, we will compare Mailchimp to seven of its top competitors to familiarize you with the market. When comparing Mailchimp’s features and pricing to its competitors, Mailchimp ranks near the middle.

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If you want to learn more about Mailchimp, you can read our in-depth Mailchimp review. All of the information in this article is based upon research, discussions with marketers, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the leading email marketing software platforms. The details of our research process can be found on our email marketing software page.

Table of Contents

Mailchimp Features

Before we compare Mailchimp against its competitors, it’s important to understand the features included in Mailchimp. We highlight seven of the most important features found in Mailchimp in the table below.

FeatureDescription
Data Integration and StorageEmail marketing solutions allow you to collect and store data about your audience. This data is key to segmentation, personalizing content, and implementing trigger emails.
SegmentationEmail marketing solutions allow you to use data fields to create segments of your audience. Using segments is a best practice to increase the relevancy of your emails, and save cost by reducing send volume.
Email BuilderDrag-and-drop email builders allow you to create custom email templates. You can add and arrange elements, like images and buttons, in your emails, and customize the layout and formatting of your email templates.
Email Testing and PreviewMost email marketing platforms offer basic email testing features, so you can preview how emails appear on desktop and mobile devices. More robust solutions offer better email testing tools that show you how emails will appear on a variety of different email clients and devices.
A/B TestingMost email marketing solutions offer an A/B testing tool that can be used to optimize your emails. You can create multiple versions of an email, and the system automatically sends each version to a portion of your customers. You can A/B test different variables, such as email content, from name, send time, and subject lines.
Drip CampaignsEmail marketing solutions allow you to send a series of automated emails to your audience. The best solutions allow you to build complex workflows with splits and branching points based on your contacts' behavior and data. Less robust are limited to sending emails in a single sequential order. This limitation should be a deal breaker if your business is serious about creating targeted and personalized email campaigns.
DeliverabilityYou should choose an email system that gets a high percentage of your emails into recipient inboxes. In the email world, this is known as deliverability. The email marketing solutions on our list all have strong reputations for deliverability.

Reporting and AnalyticsEmail marketing solutions help you monitor the performance of your emails and campaigns. These solutions allow you to track important metrics like click rate, open rate, and bounce rate.

Mailchimp Competitor Overview: Features

We created a chart comparing the features included in each solution. Mailchimp includes all of the most important email marketing features found in similar-priced solutions. Mailchimp’s feature suite is ideal for small B2C businesses. It is not a multichannel marketing automation platform, and doesn’t include features like SMS marketing or a built-in sales CRM.

Mailchimp feature comparison chart vs. competitors

Mailchimp Competitor Overview: Pricing

Mailchimp pricing starts at $9.99 per month, and increases depending on your number of contacts. Mailchimp offers one free plan, and three paid plans.

Below, we created a table comparing the cost of Mailchimp to its top competitors. We used the most popular plan for each solution, and listed the software vendors from least to most expensive. As you can see, Mailchimp is a reasonably-priced solution that ranks in the middle of the list.

Software VendorStarting Monthly PricePrice of 5,000 contacts

Moosend$8$24
SendPulse$6.40$28
AWeber$19$49
Mailchimp$9.99$79
Constant Contact$20$95
Campaign Monitor$29$99
Klaviyo$30$100
ActiveCampaign$9$199

Top Mailchimp Competitors

There are a variety of email marketing solutions available on the market today. Overall, Mailchimp is a solid, easy-to-use solution that is ideal for many small businesses. However, there may be a solution on this list that is better suited for your specific business needs.

1: Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is one of the best overall email marketing solutions for B2C small to medium size businesses. It includes the core set of email marketing features, and is very easy to use. Unlike Mailchimp, this solution offers unlimited email sends in all plans. However, Mailchimp’s free plan is far more generous than Campaign Monitor’s. Also, Mailchimp’s reporting and analytics tools are more robust.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want a free plan
  • You want the more popular solution
  • You want better reporting and analytics in your solution
You'll prefer Campaign Monitor if:

  • You want unlimited email sends
  • You need robust email design testing and inbox preview features
  • You use Shopify
Campaign Monitor
Rating: 90
Starting Price: $9 per month

Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform used by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide. This solution is typically used by small to medium size B2C businesses. Campaign Monitor is well priced, and includes unlimited email sends in every subscription plan. Its features are well organized, easy to use, and is sufficient for most moderately-advanced marketing needs.

Pros:
  • Great overall email marketing tool ideal for most small to medium size B2C companies
  • Features are well organized and easy to use
  • All paid plans include unlimited email sends
Cons:
  • Limited to 50 custom data fields
  • Free plan is less generous than many competitors
  • A/B testing may not be robust enough for advanced marketing needs

2: Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a popular marketing automation solution that includes both email and SMS marketing tools. Klaviyo is more expensive than Mailchimp, but offers a wider and more robust set of features. Klaviyo is the better solution for e-commerce businesses.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want the more affordable solution
  • You only need email marketing
  • You want a email marketing tool that is completely free to use
You'll prefer Klaviyo if:

  • You want the more robust solution
  • Your an e-commerce business that uses Shopify
  • You want SMS marketing tools
Klaviyo
Rating: 87
Starting Price: $20 per month

Klaviyo is a popular email marketing solution used by over 50,000 businesses. Klaviyo is ideal for e-commerce businesses, and offers integrations with many e-commerce platforms. This solution is less affordable than many of its competitors. However, its sophisticated data integration & storage, segmentation, and A/B testing tools make it an ideal option for businesses that are willing to invest in a robust platform.

Pros:
  • Offers seamless integrations with many e-commerce platforms
  • Segmentation is more robust than many of its competitors
  • Allows you to test up to 25 email variations simultaneously
Cons:
  • Ideal for e-commerce businesses, but not suitable for other business types
  • Less affordable than many of its competitors
  • Does not offer multivariate testing

3: SendPulse

SendPulse is a popular email marketing solution used by over 1,300,000 customers. SendPulse is the more affordable solution, and includes several unique features such as SMS marketing and chatbots. However, Mailchimp’s reporting is better than SendPulse’s. Also, Mailchimp offers more integrations to third-party software.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You need a large library of third-party integrations
  • You want better reporting
  • You want a large library of email templates
You'll prefer SendPulse if:

  • You want 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support in your free plan
  • You want the more affordable solution
  • You want SMS marketing tools
SendPulse
Rating: 86
Starting Price: $8 per month

SendPulse is a email marketing platform used by more than 1,300,000 customers. Most SendPulse customers are small and medium-sized businesses with an average email volume of 6,000 to 20,000. This solution includes features such as data integration and storage, segmentation, A/B testing, subscription forms, and a drag-and-drop email builder. SendPulse is more affordable than many other solutions that offer similar functionality.

Pros:
  • Offers phone, email, and 24/7 live chat support in all plans
  • More affordable than many of its competitors
  • Allows you to send and automate SMS messages on its platform
Cons:
  • Reporting is limited compared to competitors
  • SendPulse only allows you to create 50 custom data fields
  • Zapier is required to integrate with many popular third-party platforms

4: ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation tool that is used by both B2B and B2C businesses. It is the more expensive solution, but is more robust and offers a broader suite of marketing features, including a built-in CRM and SMS marketing. Mailchimp is the more affordable solution that is best for small businesses with moderately-advanced marketing needs.

For a direct comparison, check out our ActiveCampaign vs. Mailchimp article.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want a moderately-advanced solution for your small business
  • You want a solution with a free plan
  • You want the more affordable email marketing solution
You'll prefer ActiveCampaign if:

  • You are a B2B business
  • You are willing to invest in a more robust solution
  • You want a built-in CRM and SMS marketing tools
ActiveCampaign
Rating: 86
Starting Price: $9 per month

ActiveCampaign is a Chicago-based tech company with over 250 employees. Their SaaS-based marketing platform helps small and medium-sized businesses automate a wide range of marketing processes, to help grow their business. ActiveCampaign is reasonably priced, making it a suitable option for small and medium-sized businesses.

Pros:
  • ActiveCampaign includes a sales CRM platform
  • ActiveCampaign offers advanced automation capabilities including customizable triggers and workflows
  • ActiveCampaign allows you to split test automation workflows
Cons:
  • CRM and A/B testing is not included in ActiveCampaign’s Lite Plan
  • Some users find ActiveCampaign to have a steep learning curve
  • ActiveCampaign limits the number of conditions you can add to a segment

5: Moosend

Moosend is an affordable email marketing solution that is robust enough for most moderately-advanced marketing needs. At 5,000 contacts, Moosend is less than half as expensive as Mailchimp. However, Mailchimp offers more pre-designed email templates and a higher number of built-in integrations to third-party platforms. Also, Mailchimp’s free plan includes more contacts and monthly email sends.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want a large library of pre-designed email templates
  • You have a complex tech stack, and need many built-in integrations
You'll prefer Moosend if:

  • You want the more affordable solution
  • You want unlimited custom data fields
  • You want unlimited segments
Moosend
Rating: 83
Starting Price: $10 per month

Moosend is an affordable email marketing platform used by businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. With an easy-to-use interface, intuitive automation and advanced list segmentation, Moosend provides a robust set of tools needed to build and maintain strong customer relationships.

Pros:
  • Automation workflows are robust relative to similarly-priced competitors
  • Free plan includes most of the features found in paid plans
  • You can create unlimited custom data fields and segments in this platform
Cons:
  • Moosend only includes about 70 pre-designed email templates
  • Customer support in free plan is limited
  • Moosend’s third-party integrations are limited compared to competitors

6: AWeber

AWeber is a popular email marketing solution used by over 150,000 customers. AWeber is less robust than Mailchimp. You can’t create complex drip campaigns which significantly limits your ability to create personalized and targeted customer journeys. Also, you can not create as many custom data fields in AWeber. However, AWeber is the more affordable solution. At 5,000 contacts, AWeber is 47% less expensive than Mailchimp.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want the more robust solution
  • You want to create complex drip campaigns
  • You want the more generous free plan
You'll prefer AWeber if:

  • You want the more affordable solution
  • You want 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support in your free plan
  • You have basic marketing needs
AWeber
Rating: 74
Starting Price: $19 per month

With over 150,000 customers, AWeber has gained a strong reputation in the industry with its easy-to-use software and award-winning customer service. The software incorporates an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and has over 700 customizable templates, making it quick and easy to build simple autoresponder sequences. The company is available 7-days per week via phone or online chat, while an online knowledge base of video tutorials helps to educate customers and provide valuable email marketing information.

Pros:
  • AWeber is more affordable than many of its competitors
  • AWeber includes unlimited email sends and lists
  • AWeber offers 24/7 customer support by email, live chat, and phone
Cons:
  • AWeber is not as robust as many of its competitors
  • Automation functionality is limited to sequential emails
  • Contacts that have unsubscribed or on multiple lists count towards your total subscriber quota

7: Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of Mailchimp’s oldest and most popular competitors, and is currently used by more than 600,000 businesses worldwide. Mailchimp is the better email marketing solution for most small businesses. Mailchimp is more affordable than Constant Contact, while offering a broader and better suite of email marketing features.

For a direct comparison, check out our Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp article.

You'll prefer Mailchimp if:

  • You want a solution with a free plan
  • You want the solution with better automation and A/B testing tools
  • You want the more affordable solution
You'll prefer Constant Contact if:

  • If you currently use Shopify to manage your online store
  • You want a subscription that includes unlimited email sends and lists
Constant Contact
Rating: 71
Starting Price: $20 per month

Constant Contact is an email marketing platform used by more than 600,000 businesses worldwide. Its target audience is small businesses with basic email marketing needs. Pricing starts at $20 per month, and subscription costs increase depending on your number of contacts. Constant Contact offers a large library of integrations and email templates, but its segmentation, automation, and A/B testing capabilities are not as robust as top competitors.

Pros:
  • Includes over 300 pre-designed email templates
  • Offers live chat and phone support in all subscription plans
  • Offers over 500 built-in integrations to third-party platforms
Cons:
  • Drip campaigns are very limited – they do not allow for workflow branching
  • A/B testing is not as robust as competitors – you can only A/B test subject lines
  • Segmentation capabilities are also limited compared to competitors
Lloyd Park

Lloyd Park is a Research Analyst at SoftwarePundit, where he conducts in-depth analyses of software markets and products. Lloyd also has experience managing the development of software platforms and is an expert in content production & media software. You can connect with Lloyd on LinkedIn.

Lloyd is an expert in several software categories including:

  • Dental software
  • Email marketing software
  • Field service management software
  • Legal software
  • Property management software

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