Comparison
Mailchimp vs ConvertKit: Which Email Tool Wins in 2026
A direct head-to-head between Mailchimp and ConvertKit (Kit) — with a per-vertical verdict, pricing math, and the three questions that decide it for you.
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Verdict: it depends — but here’s how to decide fast
- You’re a creator, writer, newsletter operator, coach, or consultant → ConvertKit wins.
- You run e-commerce and your stack already speaks Mailchimp → Mailchimp wins.
- You have less than 500 contacts and no plans to grow past 2,500 → Either works; pick the UI you prefer.
Read on for the actual comparison, not just the one-liner.
At a glance
| Mailchimp | ConvertKit | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free (500 contacts) | Free (10k subs, no automations) |
| Typical cost at 2.5k contacts | ~$45/mo (Standard) | ~$50/mo (Creator) |
| Typical cost at 10k contacts | ~$110/mo | ~$139/mo |
| Mental model | Audiences, segments, campaigns | Subscribers, tags, sequences |
| Automations | Customer Journeys (complex) | Sequences + Visual Automations |
| Ecommerce integrations | Deep (Shopify, Woo, etc.) | Good but shallower |
| Template builder | Polished, drag-and-drop | Functional, plain-text-first |
| Free tier sends limit | 1k/mo | Unlimited sends (< 10k subs, no automations) |
| Best for | E-commerce, teams, broadcast | Creators, writers, course sellers |
The three questions that decide it
1. Do you think about your audience as “contacts” or “subscribers”?
Contacts → Mailchimp. “Contacts” implies you have relationships with them beyond email — transactions, customer service tickets, purchase history. Mailchimp treats contacts as the atomic unit and segments them across multiple dimensions.
Subscribers → ConvertKit. “Subscribers” implies they opted in to hear from you, the person. ConvertKit treats each person as a tagged entity you can group by interest and engagement.
2. Is ecommerce automation a core part of your email?
Yes → Mailchimp. Abandoned cart, post-purchase sequences, product-based segmentation. Mailchimp’s Shopify and WooCommerce integrations are the deepest on the market.
No → ConvertKit. You don’t need the ecommerce depth, and you gain creator-native features (subscriber tagging from link clicks, tag-based automations, broadcast-to-segment with a single tag).
3. Will your list stay under 2,500 contacts?
Yes → Both are free enough. Pick the UI that matches your mental model.
No → Run the numbers. See the Mailchimp TCO calculator for the actual breakpoints. Beehiiv is also in the picture for newsletter-only operators at 10k+ subscribers.
Where Mailchimp wins
Integrations
Every small-business SaaS has a Mailchimp integration. Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce, Wix, Etsy, WordPress, Square, Stripe — all default to Mailchimp. If your stack already speaks Mailchimp, switching forces integration work you’ll feel.
Template quality
Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop template builder produces HTML emails that look professional without custom design work. ConvertKit is deliberately leaner — great if you send plain-text-style emails, weaker if you run heavily designed campaigns.
Team features
Mailchimp scales to team workflows better. Role-based access, audit logs, shared brand assets. ConvertKit’s team features exist but are less developed — fine for a solo operator, lighter for a marketing department of 3+.
Transactional email bundled
Mandrill is still available as an add-on to Mailchimp for transactional sending. One vendor covering both broadcast and transactional is convenient.
Where ConvertKit wins
The creator model
Tags > lists. Sequences > drip campaigns. Subscriber scoring > segment membership. Every primitive in ConvertKit is designed for a creator who sends to one audience and wants to segment by interest, not by list. Mailchimp’s “Audiences” split your subscribers into top-level buckets that are expensive to move between; ConvertKit’s tags layer on top of one subscriber identity.
Free tier generosity
Up to 10,000 subscribers free, with unlimited sends — if you don’t need automations. That’s massively more generous than Mailchimp’s 500-contact cap. For most solo creators, this tier is enough for 12–24 months.
Deliverability
ConvertKit’s sender reputation benefits from a skew toward engaged-list creators who send thoughtful newsletters rather than heavy broadcast campaigns. Inboxing rates are consistently better — especially for newer senders.
Landing pages
ConvertKit includes unlimited landing pages, even on the free tier. Mailchimp’s landing pages are capped on free tier and limited on paid tiers.
Migration tooling
Kit has first-class importers for Mailchimp, Substack, Beehiiv, and most competitors. They actively make switching to them easy. Mailchimp does not invest equivalent effort in easy exits.
Pricing math
| Contacts / subscribers | Mailchimp Standard | ConvertKit Creator | Difference (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $20 | $25 | +$60/yr for Kit |
| 1,000 | $26 | $25 | -$12/yr for Kit |
| 2,500 | $45 | $50 | +$60/yr for Kit |
| 5,000 | $75 | $79 | +$48/yr for Kit |
| 10,000 | $110 | $139 | +$348/yr for Kit |
| 25,000 | $320 | $299 | -$252/yr for Kit |
| 50,000 | $530 | $459 | -$852/yr for Kit |
At smaller scales, the two are roughly comparable. At larger scales, ConvertKit is meaningfully cheaper — and Beehiiv is cheaper than both. See the full calculator here.
The vertical verdicts
- Freelance writer: ConvertKit. You have 1 audience, you want to tag them by topic interest, and you want deliverability. → See the stack.
- AI coach / prompt consultant: ConvertKit. Creator-native features, stronger automation for course funnels. → See the stack.
- Solo consultant: ConvertKit. Lightweight, low-effort broadcast to your past-client list. → See the stack.
- E-commerce side hustle: Mailchimp. Shopify integration depth wins. → See the stack.
- Real estate agent: Mailchimp, for now. Brokerage templates, community tools, and most farming-list integrations still default to it. → See the stack.
- Online fitness coach: ConvertKit. Course-launch sequences and client-tagging workflows win. → See the stack.
Can’t I just use both?
You can, but don’t. Splitting your email between two tools doubles the cost, doubles the deliverability risk, and splits your data. Pick one, commit, and revisit in 12 months.
If you’re about to migrate
We have a step-by-step Mailchimp → ConvertKit migration guide. Budget 90 minutes for a simple list, a day for anything complex.
Related reading
- Mailchimp review
- ConvertKit review
- Mailchimp alternatives — including the ones we don’t earn commission on.
- Mailchimp real cost calculator.