Mailchimp alternatives: where to go and how to switch without losing anything

Why switch to Brevo. Mailchimp charges you for every contact you store, even the ones who get one email a month. Brevo charges mostly for the number of emails you send: you pick a monthly volume, and your list can grow without the bill following it. If you run a club, a nonprofit or a small business that sends one monthly newsletter to 15,000 people, the gap is real. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) also bundles SMS and transactional email in the same account.

Who it's for. Small businesses that email a large list now and then, and teams that want SMS or transactional email in one place.

Who it's not for. A daily newsletter. Once you send every day, send volume becomes the expensive variable.

The catch. The free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts but caps you at 300 emails per day, so one campaign to your whole list goes out over several days, with the Brevo logo. Starter begins around $9 a month for 5,000 emails, but that first tier only holds 500 contacts. At the 20,000-email tier (around $29 a month) the contact cap goes away. Removing the logo costs about $10 more per month.

How to migrate. Brevo has a Mailchimp integration: you log in, pick your lists, map your fields, and the sync keeps running while it's active. Known trap: Mailchimp tags don't come across, and the postal address lands in a single field. Turn your tags into fields or lists before the import.

Why switch to MailerLite. It's the closest thing to what Mailchimp felt like before the price hikes: a clean editor, forms, landing pages, and automations on the free plan. Plenty of bloggers and authors who made the move say they didn't look back.

Who it's for. Small businesses, freelancers and blogs that want a complete tool with no learning curve.

Who it's not for. An online store that wants segments built on purchase history, or a team that needs heavily branched workflows.

The catch. Free stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 3 active automations of 5 steps each. Past 250 subscribers, campaigns and automations are blocked until you upgrade, just like Mailchimp, but paid plans start at $12 a month.

How to migrate. MailerLite imports straight from Mailchimp: Subscribers tab, "Import from Mailchimp", connect, choose the list, map fields. Two tips. First, the import only works once your account is approved, so sign up a few days early. Second, MailerLite groups play the role of Mailchimp tags. If a group triggers an automation, the tool asks whether to include imported subscribers. Say no, or your whole list gets your welcome sequence.

Why switch to Kit. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is built for creators who earn from their newsletter: signup pages, recommendations between newsletters, digital product sales. Its free plan goes up to 10,000 subscribers, long after Mailchimp would have started billing you.

Who it's for. Writers, course creators, podcasters and creators who mostly send plain-text emails.

Who it's not for. A brand that wants very visual emails, or a company running several separate audiences.

The catch. Free is limited to one sequence and one visual automation. Creator starts at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers (about $33 billed yearly), pricier than MailerLite at the same size. And Kit has one list only: your Mailchimp audiences merge.

How to migrate. Kit's importer turns your Mailchimp setup into tags: each list name, each tag, and each list-plus-interest combination ("Newsletter:Tech"). Above 5,000 subscribers on a paid plan, Kit migrates your subscribers, tags and forms for free. After the import, check that subscriber and tag counts match what you had.

Why switch to beehiiv. beehiiv was built by people who wanted to run a newsletter as a business: a hosted website for your archive, a recommendation network to grow, an ad network and paid subscriptions on the higher plans. Free covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends.

Who it's for. Media-style newsletters and creators who want growth tools and monetization, not just an email editor.

Who it's not for. A store or a B2B company that needs product-based segments or long nurture workflows.

The catch. The jump to paid is steep: Lite starts at $49 a month billed yearly ($59 month to month), and at 5,000 subscribers you're looking at around $95 to $109 a month. That's far more than MailerLite or Sender for a simple newsletter.

How to migrate. Export your subscribed contacts from Mailchimp as a CSV and import them in beehiiv's subscriber settings. Bring only the subscribed file: unsubscribes stay behind, and you keep the Mailchimp export as your proof of consent. Your Mailchimp automations have to be rebuilt.

Why switch to Klaviyo. Mailchimp talks about opens and clicks. Klaviyo talks about orders: you segment on purchase history, products bought, customer value. The abandoned cart flow is ready in its library. For a store that makes real money from email, it's the reference.

Who it's for. Shopify or WooCommerce stores that already have volume.

Who it's not for. Any business that doesn't sell online: you'd pay for features you never use.

The catch. Free covers 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month, with Klaviyo branding. The Email plan starts around $20 a month for 251 to 500 profiles, but prices climb fast as the list grows, and the official page makes you build your plan instead of showing a price grid.

How to migrate. Connect your store to Klaviyo first: order history flows in, and that's where the tool earns its price. Then import your subscribers from the Mailchimp export. Tip: load the unsubscribed and cleaned files into a suppression list before any other import, so none of them gets your first send by mistake.

Why switch to Omnisend. It covers the core of Klaviyo for a store (abandoned cart, post-purchase, email and SMS) with gentler pricing. Standard costs $16 a month for 500 contacts and 6,000 emails, Pro $59 for 2,500 contacts and unlimited sends. The prices highlighted on the page ($11.20 and $41.30) are a 30% discount if you prepay three months: compare the full price.

Who it's for. Stores that are starting out or plateauing and want ecommerce workflows without Klaviyo's price.

Who it's not for. A newsletter with no store, or a brand that needs very fine segmentation on product data.

The catch. Free stops at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, the same as Mailchimp's. It's for testing the import and the workflows, not for sending: Omnisend's value is its ecommerce automations, and they really run on paid plans.

How to migrate. One of the cleanest migrations: create an API key in Mailchimp, paste it in Omnisend (Audience, add contacts, Mailchimp), and the tool brings over emails, fields, tags and subscription status. The sync takes 1 to 24 hours. Vendor tip: add a "Migrated from Mailchimp" tag on import so you can track that batch. Omnisend also advertises a service that rebuilds workflows, segments and forms in about five days: ask for it before redoing everything yourself.

Why switch to ActiveCampaign. Where Mailchimp Essentials stops a flow at 4 steps, ActiveCampaign gives you branching workflows with if/else conditions, waits on behavior and contact scoring. For a SaaS or a services business that nurtures leads by email, it's another league.

Who it's for. Teams with long, conditional workflows and someone to build them.

Who it's not for. A simple newsletter: you'd pay for power you don't need.

The catch. No free plan, only a 14-day trial with no credit card. Starter runs about $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts ($19 month to month), and the sales pipeline is a paid add-on on every plan.

How to migrate. Contact migration is included on every plan, with priority help on Pro and Enterprise. Workflows still get rebuilt by hand: use the move to simplify them.

Why switch to GetResponse. Mailchimp makes you plug in other tools the moment you want to sell a course or run a webinar. GetResponse puts email, landing pages, forms and, on its upper plans, live webinars in one account. For a course creator or a small business filling a sales funnel by email, that's one subscription instead of three.

Who it's for. Course creators, coaches and small businesses that sell through webinars or funnels.

Who it's not for. A plain newsletter: you'd pay for features you won't open.

The catch. Starter, around $19 a month for 1,000 contacts (about $15.60 billed yearly), sends without limits but keeps only one custom automation workflow. Live webinars require the higher Creator plan. On the free account, a recorded webinar is capped at 10 people.

How to migrate. GetResponse has a dedicated import: Contacts, Add contacts, "Migrate list" tab, pick Mailchimp, then upload the CSV. It asks whether the Mailchimp address should go into one field or several: pick several, so you can filter by city later. Templates and workflows are rebuilt by hand. Use the 14-day no-card trial to import everything before you pay.

Why switch to Sender. Its free plan goes up to 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month, with no end date and with automations. For a list of 1,000 to 2,500 people that Mailchimp would bill you for, it's the most direct saving.

Who it's for. Small teams, nonprofits and freelancers whose list passed 250 contacts but whose budget didn't.

Who it's not for. A team that wants lots of native integrations or very fast support.

The catch. Free carries Sender branding. Standard starts at 1,000 subscribers, around $15 a month billed monthly, and allows 12 times your list size in emails per month. At 5,000 subscribers, expect about $39 a month. The pricing page often highlights a first-year discount: check the price that comes after it.

Tip. 15,000 free emails a month means six sends to 2,500 people. A weekly newsletter fits inside the free plan.

How to migrate. Start from Mailchimp's CSV export, one file per status. Import subscribers as subscribers, then the unsubscribed file into a suppression list. Workflows are rebuilt by hand.

Why switch to EmailOctopus. It does few things, but does them well and cheaply: 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month for free, then Pro from $9 a month billed yearly. Several people who left Mailchimp when unsubscribed contacts started counting toward the bill landed here.

Who it's for. A regular newsletter, with no store and no complex workflows.

Who it's not for. Ecommerce or advanced automation.

The catch. Free keeps EmailOctopus branding, one user, one form, one landing page, and only 30 days of reports.

How to migrate. Import the Mailchimp CSV status by status. Keep your old Mailchimp reports (the account export has them): they don't carry over.

Write down everything that runs: audiences, tags, groups, custom fields (merge fields in Mailchimp), every flow with its emails and delays, the forms on your site, the integrations (Shopify, WordPress, Zapier, a CRM). One screenshot per flow is enough.

Why bother? Anything you didn't write down won't make the trip. A simple sheet, one row per item with its equivalent in the new tool, becomes your checklist on switch day.

Archive contacts inactive for over a year. They stop counting toward your Mailchimp bill, their data stays, and you don't drag them into a new tool that also bills by contact or volume. To archive in bulk, build a segment, select all, then Actions, Archive.

Careful: archiving isn't deleting. Someone who asks for their data to be erased must be deleted, not archived.

Run two exports. The audience export gives you a ZIP with one CSV per status: subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, cleaned; archived contacts come out separately. The account export (Manage my data) adds your templates as HTML, your campaigns as HTML and text, your reports and your ecommerce data.

Three traps: one account export per 24 hours, up to 24 hours of waiting for a large account, and audience exports that only stay available for 30 days. The language field doesn't come out. Download everything and store it outside Mailchimp.

Mailchimp segments are saved filters: they don't export. Create your fields and tags in the new tool first, with the same names, then map each column during the import. In MailerLite a tag becomes a group, in Kit a list becomes a tag, in Brevo you turn tags into fields beforehand.

A tag you used once three years ago doesn't need to come with you.

The golden rule: subscribers as subscribers, unsubscribed and cleaned addresses into the new tool's suppression (or blocklist). Never the other way round. Emailing someone who unsubscribed is a guaranteed spam complaint, and a breach of their consent.

If the tool offers a direct import (Brevo, MailerLite, Kit, Omnisend), check the counts afterwards: subscribed, unsubscribed, tags. And switch off automatic entry of imported contacts into your welcome flows.

No export moves a Mailchimp flow. You rebuild the trigger (signup, purchase, tag), the delays and each email. Copy your email content from the account export before you close anything.

Start with the two flows that make money (welcome, abandoned cart). For contacts who are mid-sequence on switch day, start the new sequence for new signups only, and let the old one finish in Mailchimp for a week or two.

These three DNS records prove to inbox providers that your new platform may send on your behalf. Gmail and Yahoo require at least SPF or DKIM from every sender. Above roughly 5,000 messages a day to their users, they require aligned SPF, DKIM and DMARC, one-click unsubscribe and a spam rate below 0.30% (aim for under 0.10%). Outlook has applied the same rules to bulk senders since 2025, and sends non-compliant mail to Junk first.

Each tool gives you its own DKIM keys. Remove Mailchimp's only after its last send has gone out.

To Gmail or Outlook, your new sending platform is a stranger. Start with contacts who opened or clicked in the last 90 days, then widen over one to two weeks while you watch complaints and bounces in Google Postmaster Tools.

The same day, replace every form on your site and every integration, then keep Mailchimp open (downgraded to free if possible) until everything checks out.