We have spent countless hours testing, analyzing, and shortlisting the best email marketing software available on the market today. Based on our findings, Mailchimp is the best email marketing service for beginners.
The platform offers a great collection of email templates, an intuitive interface, and a drag-and-drop email builder. Furthermore, it offers you the ability to import your own code, AI-powered recommendations, and excellent reporting features to get you started.
There’s no doubt Mailchimp is a great tool for learning the ropes of email marketing. But is it your best bet? Depending on your background and needs, you may want to try a different software that serves your requirements better.
For example, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is the best for getting unlimited contacts and emails without a plan upgrade, AWeber is well-suited for agencies that run advanced marketing campaigns, and Mailerlite is a well-rounded software suitable for many versatile users.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the best alternatives to Mailchimp and see how they stack up against it.
Let’s get started!
The Best Mailchimp Alternatives
Email is an essential digital marketing tool. According to the Data & Marketing Association, for every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect an ROI of $42—a return of over 4000%.
Moreover, by 2025, 4.6 billion people are expected to be using email regularly. That’s over half the world’s population. This is why email marketing cannot be ignored and has to be done right with the best available tool that matches your needs. Let’s take a look at some possibilities for that tool for you.
First up, we have Mailerlite, the best email marketing service for most users based on our research. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder, easy-to-use automation features, a robust website builder, easy signup forms, features for paid newsletter subscriptions, and more. It also provides 24/7 customer service with an average response time of five minutes via chat. If this sounds like what you’re looking for, start your 30-day free trial here.
The second service on our list is Omnisend, which we found to be the best for boosting ecommerce performance through shoppable emails. If you’re looking for an email marketing solution for your ecommerce store, Omnisend may well be your best with its combination of email and SMS automation features.
Furthermore, the service has over 4000 five-star reviews on Shopify for exceptional 24/7 customer service. If you like the sound of this, you can start here for free and upgrade as necessary.
The next tool on our list is AWeber, the best one for agencies running advanced marketing campaigns. The service offers a full range of digital marketing solutions including email marketing and automation, landing page creation, ecommerce pages, web push notifications, and more, all under the same hood.
AWeber is the only email marketing platform integrated with Canva, so you can quickly design and export high-quality design elements into your emails. The software also offers pre-built automated campaigns that you can simply customize for your needs and launch with a few short clicks. If these features sound appealing to you, start here for free.
In our analysis, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) came across as the best service for getting unlimited contacts and emails without upgrading. The platform was recognized as one of the top 100 software companies in 2021 by The Software Report and has near-perfect ratings on G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot.
The company has clients such as Louis Vuitton, Tissot, Amnesty International, and others on board due to its robust features. If you’re interested in trying out Brevo, sign up for free here.
Next, we have HubSpot, the best software for merging your CRM with email marketing. With HubSpot, you get a powerful email builder and a variety of useful templates in combination with a world-class CRM solution.
The result is professionally designed emails that are tailored to each recipient on your list, thanks to HubSpot’s CRM capabilities baked right into your campaigns. Sounds like the kind of tool you’ve been looking for? Sign up for an annual plan and save 10%.
Last but not least, we found Constant Contact to be the service for small businesses with simple marketing needs. The software has an easy-to-use interface and offers a robust set of email marketing features including branded templates and solid campaign analytics.
In addition, the platform also allows you to build landing pages and online stores. In short, it’s a one-stop shop for those who are looking to build a small online business. Does that sound like you? Take the 30-day trial to see if Constant Contact is a good match for your needs.
More Top Email Marketing Services
We understand how important email marketing is for your business. This is a high-involvement decision with a potentially massive impact on your bottom line. That’s why we have analyzed each of these tools and many more in much more detail. Specifically, we looked at:
- Pricing
- Ease of use
- Deliverability safeguards
- Templates
- Marketing automation
- Tracking and analytics
To make our findings easy to summarize and understand, we have ranked each of these factors on a scale of one to five, with five being the best. Interested in learning more? See all of our top picks.
Our Take on Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing tools in the world. Over the years, the brand name has almost become synonymous with email marketing, partly thanks to its high-budget ad campaigns. Since Mailchimp is the best email marketing tool for beginners, it is often the first service new email marketers try their hand on.
Launched in 2001, Mailchimp is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. According to its 2020 annual report, the company has over 14 million customers today who send more than 27 billion emails every month to drive traffic, engagement, and sales. Moreover, the service commands over 70% of the market share in the email marketing space.
Beyond its strong brand, the secret to Mailchimp’s enduring popularity lies in its ease of use. First-time users can set up a new campaign within minutes using Mailchimp’s pre-designed templates that are eye-catching and yet professional. Whether it’s a classic newsletter, a transactional email, or an auto-responder, all you have to do is to add your text and images, and you’re good to go.
The drag-and-drop email builder makes it easy to create and edit emails without using any code. However, for advanced users who would like to use their own code, this option is available as well.
Mailchimp’s pre-built email automation features for ecommerce stores can send abandoned cart reminders, re-engage customers that slip through your sales funnel, or cross-sell your products. The software can also create predictive segments of customers who are most likely to buy from you, boosting your chances of delivering your offers to the customers who already trust you.
If copywriting isn’t your forte, Mailchimp’s Content Optimizer can help you choose the best subject lines and copy based on what the software already recognizes as effective content. The software also offers assistance with optimizing the look and feel of your emails in terms of layout and imagery.
Once your email is on its way, Mailchimp provides detailed insights into campaign performance. Not only can you check open rates and clickthrough rates, but can also analyze where users clicked with the help of Click Maps. This would help you understand what’s working with your audience and optimize your content accordingly.
Despite its popularity and powerful features, Mailchimp is far from perfect. Compared to the best email marketing software, the service has some major drawbacks for users who want to go beyond the basics.
For example, the automation features offered by the service are rudimentary at best and do not include advanced options such as automated audience segmentation or deleting people from a sequence.
The way lists operate independently in Mailchimp also poses a problem for users who would like to manage contacts across multiple lists. A way to counter this is to operate using a single list. However, this presents targeting challenges for email marketers who don’t get the best segmentation tools with Mailchimp.
Finally, if you’re looking at affiliate marketing as a viable income stream for yourself, Mailchimp is not the way to go for you. The service does not seem to be the best for affiliate marketers. In fact, Mailchimp’s Terms of Use explicitly disallow affiliate marketing. However, the service does allow the inclusion of affiliate links. The subtle difference is explained here.
Mailchimp vs. MailerLite
Mailchimp prioritizes ease of use more than anything, a fact that is evident right from the initial setup. You can easily import your contact list of up to 2000 people in Mailchimp and start sending emails. On the other hand, MailerLite has more stringent anti-spam standards in place. Accordingly, it requires evidence of obtaining subscribers legitimately.
On the other hand, MailerLite shines when it comes to:
- List management
- Automation with a free plan
- Ability to deliver emails to the inbox instead of the Promotions or Updates tab
- Customer support
We recommend using Mailchimp if you’re just starting out as a new email marketer. However, for a more advanced and well-rounded set of features, opt for MailerLite.
Mailchimp vs. Omnisend
Omnisend specializes in ecommerce compared to Mailchimp’s somewhat generic approach to email marketing. In addition to basic email features, Omnisend stands out for its audience-building and engagement tools such as shoppable emails, product picker, native discount codes, and real-time reporting to analyze campaign performance.
The bottom line is that Mailchimp is a good match for you if you’re a small business looking for basic email marketing features. However, if you’re looking for an email marketing solution for your ecommerce store, look no further than Omnisend.
Mailchimp vs. AWeber
There is a stark difference in the use cases for Mailchimp and AWeber. While Mailchimp is good for relatively new marketers and small businesses looking to set up basic campaigns, AWeber is more suitable for agencies that run advanced campaigns.
Mailchimp works best with a single list for a single business, while AWeber is designed to handle multiple lists, brands, products, and “sent from” email addresses, making it an ideal service for agencies. On top of that, AWeber offers one of the best free plans on the market with unlimited landing pages, forms, automation, templates, segmentation, and more.
This is an easy choice. If you’re looking to set up email marketing for multiple lists, brands, or products, get AWeber.
Mailchimp vs. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Among all the email marketing software we have reviewed, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) stands out for being the only one with no limits on the number of contacts you can have. For comparison, Mailchimp limits your number of contacts to 2000 on its free plan.
However, having unlimited contacts does not mean you can always send unlimited emails. On its free plan, Brevo limits your daily emails to 300, or 9000 per month.
When it comes to paid plans, Brevo is exponentially cheaper than Mailchimp, with the cost of sending one email per month to 100,000 contacts going up to $605 on Mailchimp against $65 on Brevo. Mailchimp does offer more templates, but in a head-to-head comparison, that seems to be its only edge over Brevo.
Therefore, if you have lots of contacts to manage and are looking for a free or low-cost solution, Brevo is the way to go.
Mailchimp vs. HubSpot
HubSpot is a CRM solution with an email marketing component. So it’s quite obvious that email isn’t HubSpot’s forte. However, the way they use their CRM capabilities to personalize emails and engage customers at a higher level gives them an edge over the others. Therefore, if you have a solid customer database, HubSpot may well give you the best value for your money.
Furthermore, HubSpot is ranked number one in marketing automation by G2. Combined with the power of CRM, HubSpot can show you how your marketing efforts are shaping how your customer behaves across the buyer’s journey.
Moreover, HubSpot offers nearly all the features Mailchimp does. The only drawback is HubSpot’s pricing. This is the most expensive service on our list. For 1000 contacts, you’re going to end up paying $540 per year.
Our recommendation is that if you’re a large organization, have a robust customer database, and are looking for sharp, personalized, and contextualized email marketing, HubSpot is worth a shot. However, for smaller businesses, Mailchimp is a no-brainer.
Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is designed to meet the simple needs of small businesses. If email marketing basics is all you’re looking for, this is where you start. Constant Contact and Mailchimp target a similar set of users, however, they both outshine each other in different departments.
Mailchimp is the more affordable option of the two, offers better reporting features, and provides a more extensive A/B testing environment. On the other hand, Constant Contact beats Mailchimp in terms of deliverability rates, customer service, and ease of use.
Summary
Email marketing generates the highest ROI of all the digital marketing tools we have available today. While Mailchimp is a great exponent of this art, it remains most suitable for fresh marketers and small businesses.
A number of high-quality alternatives to Mailchimp are available today, each with its own set of pros and cons.
To select the best email marketing service for your organization, you need to be clear on your budget flexibility, the present and future nature of your business, and the state of your existing customer database.
Furthermore, your design and coding capability, as well as your desired level of scalability are among the important factors to consider.
