Mailchimp vs MailerLite: plans and pricing compared (Oct 2026)
Pricing last verified: — may be outdated; check the vendor page
Two names often shortlisted by small businesses. Here is how their published free and entry plans compare.
Plans side by side
| Tool | Plan | Price | Billing basis | Contacts | Sends | Source / confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Free | $0 | n/a | 250 contacts | 500 emails/month (max 250/day) | source · Vendor-published |
| Mailchimp | Essentials | $13/mo | monthly, starting price at 0-500 contacts | 500 contacts | 10x contacts (5,000/month) | source · Vendor-published |
| MailerLite | Free | $0 | n/a | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| MailerLite | Comfort | $12/mo | monthly ($10.80/mo billed yearly) | 500 subscribers | 5,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
What the published numbers say
- Free plan: Mailchimp lists 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (max 250 a day); MailerLite lists 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month plus 2 user seats. At the same list cap, MailerLite lists five times the monthly sends.
- Entry paid: MailerLite Comfort is $12/month at 500 subscribers (5,000 emails); Mailchimp Essentials is $13/mo at 500 contacts (Standard $20). Mailchimp's multipliers are 10x (Essentials) and 12x (Standard) of contacts; MailerLite Comfort is 10x the top of your subscriber tier; Power is unlimited emails from $25 at 500 subscribers.
- Money: Mailchimp has no publisher affiliate program, so we earn nothing from Mailchimp links. MailerLite has a program; we plan to earn from MailerLite links, which is why we state the limits from published pages only.
Per-tool summary
Mailchimp
Free plan: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (max 250 a day). Paid plans start with Essentials and Standard; the entry prices we captured are for 500 contacts. Mailchimp has no publisher affiliate program (its "Mailchimp & Co" program is built for agencies managing client accounts), so we do not earn from Mailchimp links.
MailerLite
Free plan: 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and 2 user seats. At 500 subscribers, Comfort is $12/month monthly ($10.80/month billed yearly) with 5,000 emails, and Power is $25/month ($22.50 billed yearly) with unlimited emails (from the plan data on MailerLite's own pricing page). At 1,000 subscribers Comfort is $19 and Power $39 monthly.
Who might lean which way
These are inferences from published limits, not test results. Match them to your list size and whether you need automations. For other options see Mailchimp alternatives and the hub.
What we could not verify
- Feature depth, ease of use, deliverability and support quality. We did not test these products, so we make no claims about them.
- Prices for larger lists: we captured the entry paid tier and the free plan only. Use each vendor's calculator for your list size.
Sources
- Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
Sources marked "third-party" are pricing guides, not vendor pages; the confidence label in each table explains which figures need re-checking. Full data: pricing-data.json.
Questions or corrections: gb1@mail.grokbot.com. Prices change often; always confirm on the vendor's own page before you buy.