Mailchimp: newsletters, automations and email campaigns
The reference email marketing platform to send your newsletters, automate your follow-ups and track your results, with a free plan up to 250 contacts
What is Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is the best-known email marketing platform in the world, now owned by the Intuit group. You import your contacts, build a newsletter with a drag-and-drop editor, schedule automations and track what happens after sending: opens, clicks, sales. Over time, the tool has grown beyond email: forms and landing pages, optional SMS, ads, and 300+ integrations with the tools you already use.
Who is Mailchimp for?
Freelancers who want to keep a regular relationship with their clients and prospects: monthly newsletter, welcome sequence after a download, automatic follow-up after a quote, announcements of new offers. If your list has fewer than 250 contacts, the free plan is enough to get started. If you write a newsletter like a media outlet, with paid subscriptions, look at Kit or Substack instead. If you want a European tool billed by send volume rather than contact count, Brevo is the natural candidate.
What you can do with Mailchimp
- Create newsletters: drag-and-drop editor, templates customisable for your industry, send scheduling.
- Automate: welcome flows, follow-ups, abandoned carts, birthdays, with journey templates ready to adapt.
- Segment: target part of your list by behaviour, tags or purchase history.
- Collect contacts: pop-up forms and landing pages linked to your audience.
- Measure: reports on opens, clicks and attributed revenue when your store is connected.
- Connect: 300+ integrations (Shopify, WordPress, Stripe, Zapier, Canva...).
Mailchimp pricing in 2026
Mailchimp bills by contact count, in tiers (0 to 500, 501 to 1,500, and so on). Prices are shown in euros but converted from dollars: the exact amount varies with the exchange rate, and is before tax.
- Free: €0 under 250 contacts. 1 user, 1 audience, up to 500 sends per month (250 per day), basic features and a few templates.
- Essentials: sends limited to 10 times your contact count, 14-day free trial. Price shown on mailchimp.com depending on your list size.
- Standard: from €18.05 per month for 500 contacts, sends limited to 12 times your contact count, onboarding assistance, 14-day free trial.
- Premium: designed from 10,000 contacts, sends limited to 15 times your contact count, priority support by email, chat and phone, dedicated onboarding specialist. Price shown on mailchimp.com.
A 15% discount for 12 months applies above 10,000 contacts, and 15% for non-profits. If you exceed the contact or send limit, Mailchimp automatically bills additional charges. Prices checked on mailchimp.com in November 2026.
Why we recommend Mailchimp
At FreelanceKit, we picked Mailchimp because it is the tool that connects to everything: whatever your website, store or CRM, there is a ready-made connection, and thousands of tutorials. For a freelancer starting a newsletter with fewer than 250 contacts, the free plan lets you build the writing habit without spending a euro.
The weak point to know: the price as your list grows. Tiered billing by contact count, converted from dollars, climbs fast, and the Essentials and Premium plans do not even show their price until you select your list size. Add a US company hosting your data across the Atlantic, and you understand why many French freelancers end up migrating to Brevo or MailerLite.
Mailchimp or another solution?
If you are hesitating between Brevo, MailerLite, Kit or Fromly, see our page on alternatives to Mailchimp.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Free plan up to 250 contacts and 500 sends per month to start at no cost
- Drag-and-drop email editor with ready-made templates
- Marketing automations (welcome, follow-ups, abandoned carts) and segmentation
- 300+ integrations: Shopify, WordPress, Stripe, Zapier, Canva...
Weaknesses
- Pricing depends on your contact count: the bill climbs fast as your list grows
- Prices in dollars converted to euros, with an amount that varies with the exchange rate
- US company (Intuit): worth checking against GDPR if you handle sensitive data
Frequently asked questions about Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an all-in-one email marketing platform. You manage your contacts, create newsletters with a drag-and-drop editor, schedule automations (welcome email, follow-ups, abandoned carts) and track opens, clicks and generated sales. It belongs to the Intuit group.
The free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends per month. The Standard plan is shown from €18.05 per month for 500 contacts (amount converted from dollars, before tax), with a 14-day free trial. The Essentials and Premium plans are priced by contact count, amount shown on mailchimp.com. Prices checked on mailchimp.com in November 2026.
Yes, under 250 contacts: the free plan includes 1 user, 1 audience, up to 500 sends per month (250 per day maximum) and the basic features with a few templates. Sending is paused if you exceed the contact or send limit.
They differ by send volume (10 times your contact count on Essentials, 12 times on Standard, 15 times on Premium), by the automations and segmentation available, and by support. Standard and Premium include onboarding assistance, Premium adds priority and phone support. Standard and Essentials come with a 14-day free trial.
Mailchimp provides the expected tools (consent forms, unsubscribe, exports, deletion) and a data processing agreement. The company is American and data transfers outside the EU rely on the legal mechanisms in force. If you handle sensitive data or your clients require European hosting, a tool like Brevo will be easier to justify.
Mailchimp is the historical reference, with the widest integration ecosystem and a very mature interface. Brevo is European, bills by email volume rather than contact count and often stays cheaper as your list grows. With a small list, both free plans are equivalent: try both on a real newsletter.
Alternatives to Mailchimp
What we would use instead, in the same category.
Compare all the alternatives to Mailchimp
See our full comparison of the 4 alternatives to Mailchimp in 2026: prices, features and strengths, in detail.
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