My Honest Take on Mailchimp: Why I Finally Made the Switch (And You Might Want To, Too)

Last month, I got my Mailchimp bill and literally said “What the hell?” out loud. $147 for basically the same list I was paying $60 for last year. That was my breaking point.

I’ve been doing email marketing since 2018, and mailchimp was always the obvious choice. Everyone recommended it, it had that friendly monkey mascot, and the free plan seemed generous enough. But after watching my costs skyrocket while the platform got more confusing, I decided to spend way too many late nights figuring out what is mailchimp really offering versus what else is out there.

Here’s what I found after diving deep into alternatives – and why I keep telling people to look elsewhere when they ask about email marketing platforms.

Table of Contents

• TL;DR: The Bottom Line on Mailchimp

• What I Found (The Good, Bad, and Ugly)

• Mailchimp: The Email Marketing Giant

• Plot Twist: There Are Way Better Options Now

• Questions Everyone’s Asking

• Final Thoughts: Time for a Change?

TL;DR: The Bottom Line on Mailchimp

Mailchimp has gotten crazy expensive, especially after Intuit bought them. They charge you for people who can’t even receive your emails anymore – duplicates, inactive contacts, even people who unsubscribed months ago. It’s like paying rent on an apartment you got evicted from.

Customer support is basically non-existent unless you’re dropping $350+ monthly for Premium. I’ve gotten better help from random Reddit users.

They keep cramming more features into the dashboard, and now I can’t find anything. It’s like when your junk drawer gets so full you need a map. The integrations are still solid though – pretty much everything connects to Mailchimp, which used to make leaving feel impossible.

Better alternatives definitely exist now. I switched to MailerLite and immediately cut my monthly costs by 60% while getting access to way better automation templates and actual human support when I need help.

Mailchimp isn’t broken, but it’s not the scrappy, small-business-friendly platform it used to be.

What I Found (The Good, Bad, and Ugly)

What I Looked At	Score	Real Talk
Pricing & Value	2/5	They nickel and dime you for everything – even people who can’t get your emails
Easy to Use	3/5	Looks clean but good luck finding anything after they moved stuff around
Email Templates	3/5	250+ templates that all kinda look the same and feel outdated
Automation	3/5	The builder works but you’re basically starting from scratch every time
Contact Management	2/5	Good at organizing contacts, terrible at letting you manage them without paying twice
Email Delivery	3/5	Gets the job done but nothing special compared to competitors
Integrations	5/5	This is honestly their strongest point – everything connects
Customer Support	2/5	Support is basically non-existent unless you’re dropping serious cash
Reports & Data	4/5	Actually pretty solid – I can see all the nerdy stuff I want
Growing with You	2/5	The bigger you get, the more they punish you with pricing

Mailchimp: The Email Marketing Giant

What Everyone Knows Them For

Mailchimp built their reputation as the go-to platform for small businesses who didn’t want to deal with complicated email marketing. You probably know them for that monkey mascot and their free plan that actually used to be generous back in the day.

They’ve been around since 2001, which makes them practically ancient in internet years. The platform got popular because it made mailchimp email marketing accessible to people like me who aren’t tech experts. While other platforms focused on big corporations, mailchimp was helping bloggers and small business owners who couldn’t afford expensive enterprise solutions.

Understanding what is mailchimp today means recognizing they’ve completely changed from that original mission. They went from being the underdog championing small businesses to a corporate-owned platform that seems more interested in maximizing revenue than making users happy.

What They Actually Offer Now

Mailchimp does way more than just mailchimp email marketing these days. They call themselves an “all-in-one marketing platform,” though honestly, this expansion created a lot of the problems I’m about to complain about.

The drag-and-drop email editor is still decent, with over 250 templates that work on mobile. Their Customer Journey Builder handles automation workflows, but here’s the thing – you’re basically building everything from scratch because they barely have any useful pre-made templates.

They’ve also thrown in AI-powered content tools, landing page builders, and social media posting. Contact management includes segmentation options and audience insights. The reporting dashboard gives you detailed analytics with custom reports and Google Analytics integration.

They’ve added website building, social media management, and even basic CRM stuff that goes way beyond traditional mailchimp email capabilities. But honestly, this feature creep just made everything more confusing without actually improving the core email experience.

What They Actually Do Well

The Integration Thing is Legit

Okay, I’m not here to completely bash Mailchimp. This is honestly where they still shine. With 300+ integrations covering everything from Shopify and WordPress to Salesforce, you can connect mailchimp to pretty much any tool you’re using.

I’ve never had trouble connecting mailchimp to my existing tools, which is more than I can say for some newer platforms. The integration library is well-organized and most connections actually work without breaking.

Their Reports Are Pretty Good

I’ll give them this – the analytics dashboard is solid. I can see who’s opening what, when they’re most active, all that nerdy stuff I love. You get detailed campaign performance, audience insights, and custom reporting options.

The A/B testing works well, and the visual reports make it easy to understand trends. This is still one of mailchimp‘s better features, especially if you’re data-driven about your marketing.

AI Features That Don’t Completely Suck

Mailchimp‘s AI helps with subject line optimization, send time recommendations, and content creation. It’s not groundbreaking, but these tools can save time and give you decent suggestions for improving performance.

Email Delivery That Works

Despite some issues I’ll mention later, mailchimp handles the technical side of email sending pretty well. They’ve got proper authentication tools (SPF, DKIM) and generally reliable delivery. It’s not amazing, but it gets the job done.

Where They Lost Me

The Pricing Makes Me Genuinely Angry

This is my biggest frustration with mailchimp. They charge you for people who can’t even receive your emails. Duplicates, inactive subscribers, people who unsubscribed six months ago – you’re still paying for all of them every month.

You know what’s wild? I have 2,800 active subscribers but I’m paying for 4,200 contacts because they count everyone who ever unsubscribed. For 5,000 contacts, you’re looking at around $100 monthly on the Standard plan, which is way higher than competitors.

If someone’s on multiple lists, you pay multiple times for the same email address. Make it make sense.

Support is a Joke

Unless you’re paying $350+ monthly for Premium, good luck getting help. Free users get only 30 days of email support, and even paid users wait forever for responses.

I called support once and got transferred three times before someone told me I needed to upgrade to get phone support. Cool, thanks for wasting my afternoon. Chat support is mostly unhelpful bots.

Finding Anything is Like a Treasure Hunt

As mailchimp added more features, finding stuff became impossible. The other day I spent 15 minutes looking for where they moved the landing page builder. Turns out it’s under “Campaigns” now. Because that makes total sense, right?

You know that feeling when you’re trying to find something in their dashboard and it’s just… not where it should be? Yeah, that’s daily life with Mailchimp now.

Automation Templates? What Templates?

The Customer Journey Builder looks nice, but good luck finding useful pre-built templates. Most available templates are super basic, so you end up building complex workflows from scratch every time.

This isn’t beginner-friendly despite mailchimp‘s reputation. I spent hours creating automations that other platforms give you ready-to-use.

List Management That Drives Me Crazy

Mailchimp‘s list setup is frustrating because you can’t efficiently manage contacts across multiple lists. Each list is its own island, leading to those duplicate charges I mentioned and making it nearly impossible to keep your database clean.

How They Measure Up (My Real Experience)

Pricing & Value: 2/5

The way they count contacts makes mailchimp expensive compared to alternatives. I’m paying nearly double what I paid two years ago for the same list size. The pricing increases have way outpaced any new value they’ve added.

Easy to Use: 3/5

The interface looks clean enough, but navigation is a mess. Features are scattered in weird places, making the platform way less intuitive than it used to be. Even experienced users get lost in all the extra stuff they’ve added.

Email Templates: 3/5

The 250+ templates work and they’re mobile-responsive, but they feel repetitive and kinda outdated. The drag-and-drop editor is fine, though nothing special compared to newer competitors.

Many templates look too similar, and customization options are more limited than I’d like for creating something that actually matches my brand.

Automation: 3/5

The Customer Journey Builder works for complex workflows if you know what you’re doing, but the lack of good pre-built templates makes it way harder than it should be for simple stuff.

Contact Management: 2/5

Segmentation options are solid, but the way they handle lists and charging for inactive contacts creates major headaches for actually managing your database efficiently.

Email Delivery: 3/5

Mailchimp provides standard tools and decent deliverability, but it scores lower than many competitors in tests. Some people report more emails ending up in spam, though this varies.

Integrations: 5/5

Still their strongest area. The depth and reliability of integrations remain unmatched by most competitors, which honestly made it harder for me to leave.

Customer Support: 2/5

Widely criticized for good reason. Limited access for most users, long wait times even for paid subscribers. Quality support requires expensive Premium plans.

Reports & Analytics: 4/5

Comprehensive reporting with detailed analytics and custom reports make this one of mailchimp‘s better aspects. The data visualization is actually pretty good.

Growing with You: 2/5

Costs scale way too steeply as your list grows, making mailchimp crazy expensive for growing businesses. The pricing structure literally penalizes success.

What Real People Are Saying

Recent community sentiment toward mailchimp has gotten pretty negative. People consistently complain about high costs, terrible support, and those annoying contact charging policies across review platforms.

On Reddit’s r/EmailMarketing, users are constantly talking about leaving mailchimp because of cost issues. One user put it perfectly: “Mailchimp charged me for 3,000 unsubscribed contacts that I couldn’t even email. Switched to MailerLite and cut my costs by 60%.”

Similar complaints show up regularly on Trustpilot and G2. Marketing blogs echo these concerns. ConvertKit’s blog has multiple case studies of users switching from mailchimp, mostly because of cost and usability problems.

Email marketing experts consistently recommend alternatives for small to medium businesses now. The consensus is that while mailchimp still works, it’s no longer the obvious choice it used to be.

People appreciate the integrations and reporting but find the overall experience frustrating and overpriced compared to newer options.

The Money Breakdown

Mailchimp‘s pricing has become one of its biggest problems. The Free plan now limits you to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails monthly with basically no useful features.

Essentials starts at $13 monthly for 500 contacts, Standard begins at $20 monthly, and Premium requires $350 monthly minimum. But here’s what really gets me – how they count contacts.

Someone on multiple lists? You pay for them multiple times. Unsubscribed contacts still count toward your total. Inactive subscribers who haven’t opened emails in months? Still paying for them.

This inflates costs big time compared to platforms that only charge for active, unique contacts. The whole pricing model seems designed to squeeze as much money as possible rather than provide fair value.

Where to Find Mailchimp

You can sign up for mailchimp at mailchimp.com with their free account to test basic features. But honestly, given everything I’ve outlined, I’d recommend checking out alternatives before committing to their paid plans.

Understanding what is mailchimp offering today versus competitors is crucial for making a smart decision about your email marketing platform.

Plot Twist: There Are Way Better Options Now

After getting fed up with Mailchimp, I went down a rabbit hole researching alternatives. Here’s what I found that actually doesn’t suck:

These platforms directly solve the problems I had with mailchimp: expensive pricing, terrible support, and unnecessarily complex interfaces. Each one excels in different areas while being way better value overall.

MailerLite: Where I Ended Up (And Should Have Switched Sooner)

MailerLite directly fixes mailchimp‘s pricing problems with much more affordable plans and unlimited emails on all tiers. Their free plan includes 1,000 contacts and 12,000 emails monthly, which is way more generous than mailchimp‘s offering.

The interface is cleaner and actually makes sense. You’ll find solid automation capabilities with pre-built templates that actually help beginners get started quickly instead of making you build everything from scratch.

Customer support is responsive and available to everyone, not just premium subscribers. I’ve gotten helpful responses within hours rather than days, which was refreshing after dealing with mailchimp‘s support black hole.

Visit MailerLite to see what user-friendly email marketing actually looks like.

Brevo (Used to be Sendinblue): Smart Pricing That Makes Sense

Brevo does something smart that Mailchimp doesn’t – they charge by emails sent rather than contacts stored, which means unlimited contacts on all plans. Their free plan includes unlimited contacts with 9,000 emails monthly, perfect for businesses with big lists but infrequent sending.

Beyond email marketing, Brevo includes CRM functionality, transactional emails, and SMS marketing in their core offering. This makes it ideal if you want multiple marketing channels without paying for separate platforms.

The automation features are more sophisticated than mailchimp‘s offerings, with better segmentation options and workflow builders that actually make sense. Their contact management system is way more logical and user-friendly.

Check out Brevo for their unlimited contacts approach.

ActiveCampaign: If You’re Into the Automation Stuff

If you’re serious about marketing automation, ActiveCampaign offers way better tools than mailchimp‘s basic Customer Journey Builder. They provide hundreds of pre-built automation templates, advanced segmentation, and sales integration capabilities.

While more expensive than budget options, ActiveCampaign still costs less than mailchimp for similar features and gives you significantly more automation power. The learning curve is steeper, but the results justify the investment if you’re growing.

Their customer support is excellent across all plan levels, which is night and day compared to mailchimp‘s premium-only support model. The platform feels built for serious marketers rather than casual users.

Explore ActiveCampaign for advanced marketing automation that doesn’t suck.

Omnisend: Built for Online Stores

Built specifically for ecommerce, Omnisend offers store-focused features that mailchimp‘s general approach can’t match. You’ll find product recommendation engines, cart abandonment workflows, and sales tracking that connects directly with your store’s performance.

Their automation templates are designed specifically for ecommerce scenarios, making setup faster and more effective than trying to adapt mailchimp‘s generic templates for online retail.

The platform also includes SMS marketing and push notifications as standard features, giving you multiple ways to reach customers without additional platform costs.

Visit Omnisend for specialized ecommerce email marketing tools.

Questions Everyone’s Asking

Should I still use Mailchimp, or am I missing something?

Honestly? Probably not. I mean, it works, but you’re likely overpaying for what you get. Unless you’re super dependent on their integrations and money isn’t tight, there are better options now.

I recommend mailchimp only if you heavily rely on their integration ecosystem and can afford the premium pricing for decent support.

Why did Mailchimp get so expensive?

The Intuit acquisition changed everything. They now charge for inactive, duplicate, and unsubsc ribed contacts, which dramatically increases costs compared to their old model and what competitors offer.

The corporate ownership shift prioritized making money over keeping users happy, resulting in policies that maximize billing rather than provide fair value to customers.

What’s the most annoying thing about Mailchimp’s contact management?

The way they handle lists forces you to pay multiple times for the same contact if they’re on different lists. Combined with charging for inactive and unsubscribed contacts, this creates unnecessarily high costs that competitors avoid.

This system punishes businesses with complex customer journeys or multiple product lines, making it expensive to keep your contact database organized without getting nickel and dimed.

Which alternative gives you the best bang for your buck?

MailerLite gives the best overall value for most people, offering way more generous free plans, unlimited emails, and actual human customer support without the premium pricing barriers that make mailchimp frustrating.

But your specific needs matter – if you’re running an online store, Omnisend might be better, while automation-focused marketers should definitely look at ActiveCampaign.

Final Thoughts: Time for a Change?

Look, I spent three years with Mailchimp, and I don’t regret it – they helped me get started when I knew nothing about email marketing. But they’re not the same company they used to be.

After all my testing and comparison, I can confidently say that mailchimp has lost what made it special. The platform that once made email marketing accessible for small businesses has become expensive and frustrating to use.

While their integration ecosystem is still impressive, it’s not enough to justify the inflated costs and poor user experience. The alternatives I’ve outlined fix mailchimp‘s specific problems while offering better pricing, clearer interfaces, and support that doesn’t require you to mortgage your house.

Whether you’re just starting with email marketing or looking to escape mailchimp‘s rising costs, exploring these options will likely save you money and headaches. My switch to MailerLite has been overwhelmingly positive – lower costs, better templates, and when I email support, actual humans respond.

Understanding what is mailchimp today versus what it was during its golden years helps explain why so many people are making the switch. The platform isn’t broken, but it’s definitely not the obvious choice it once was.

The email marketing landscape has evolved big time, with newer platforms learning from mailchimp‘s mistakes and building better user experiences from scratch. Don’t let brand recognition or fear of switching keep you stuck with something that’s not working for you anymore.

If you’re happy with Mailchimp and the price works for your budget, stick with it. But if you’re like me and getting tired of watching your bill creep up every month while the experience gets more frustrating, it might be time to look around.

Just don’t let the hassle of switching keep you locked into an expensive platform that no longer serves your best interests. Your email marketing should make your life easier, not give you a headache every time you log in.