Mailchimp vs Constant Contact Pricing Compared

Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: The Classic SMB Showdown

Mailchimp and Constant Contact are the two names most small businesses hear first when shopping for email marketing. Mailchimp is the bigger, flashier platform with a free plan and an expanding marketing suite. Constant Contact is the steady veteran focused on doing email, events, and simple automation well for local businesses and nonprofits.

Both price on contact count, so your bill rises as your list grows. But their tier structures work differently, and the cheaper option flips depending on your list size and which features you need. Here is the full 2026 breakdown.

Plan Structures Side by Side

Pricing Factor	Mailchimp	Constant Contact
Free plan	Yes, with monthly send limits and branding	No free plan; trial period instead
Entry paid tier	Essentials, priced by contact count	Lite, priced by contact count
Mid paid tier	Standard, adds automation and segmentation	Standard, adds automation and deeper insights
Top paid tier	Premium, for large senders and advanced testing	Premium, adds advanced reporting and ads tools
Billing basis	Contacts and feature tier combined	Contacts and feature tier combined

Both vendors adjust pricing regularly, so confirm current rates. The key structural difference: Mailchimp lets you start free, while Constant Contact asks you to start paying after a trial. That makes Mailchimp the lower-risk way to begin.

Cost at Common List Sizes

At very small list sizes under 500 contacts, Mailchimp's free plan wins outright at $0 versus Constant Contact's paid entry tier. This is Mailchimp's biggest pricing advantage and why it dominates among brand-new businesses.

In the low thousands of contacts, the two are often priced similarly on their entry paid tiers, typically in the tens of dollars per month. The difference comes from feature gates: Mailchimp's best automation and segmentation sit behind its Standard tier, while Constant Contact includes solid automation in its mid tier. A business that needs automated welcome series and basic segmentation may find Constant Contact's mid tier cheaper than Mailchimp's equivalent.

At larger list sizes, both scale into the hundreds per month, and the comparison becomes about which feature tier you need rather than the contact count alone. Businesses that only need reliable newsletters often find Constant Contact's pricing more predictable, while those using Mailchimp's broader marketing suite get more bundled value.

Beyond Price: What Each Does Best

• Ease of use: Constant Contact is famously simple, with a gentler learning curve that non-technical owners appreciate. Mailchimp is more powerful but busier.
• Templates: Both offer large template libraries. Constant Contact's are often praised for looking good with minimal tweaking.
• Automation: Mailchimp's automation is deeper on its higher tiers. Constant Contact covers the essentials, welcome series, abandoned cart, birthday emails, without fuss.
• Events: Constant Contact's event management tools are a genuine differentiator for businesses that run workshops, classes, or fundraisers.
• Support: Constant Contact is known for strong phone and chat support, which matters to owners who want a human to call. Mailchimp's support quality

  List Hygiene: The Bill You Control

  Here is a pricing lever entirely in your hands: both Mailchimp and Constant Contact charge by contact count, which means every inactive subscriber raises your bill while contributing nothing. Most small business lists accumulate 20 to 30 percent dead weight over a couple of years: old customers who moved on, mistyped addresses, and people who simply stopped opening.

  A twice-yearly cleaning routine pays for itself. Segment contacts who have not opened in six months, send a short win-back sequence, and archive or remove the non-responders. Businesses routinely drop an entire pricing tier this way, and the remaining list performs better because engagement rates are calculated against people who actually open.

  Think of it as the email equivalent of canceling subscriptions you do not use. And to understand why both vendors price this way, our guide to SaaS pricing models breaks down the tiered contact-based pricing both platforms rely on.

  varies by plan tier.

Which Is Cheaper for You?

Starting from zero, Mailchimp is cheaper because free beats any paid plan. For established small businesses in the low thousands of contacts that want simplicity and human support, Constant Contact is often the better value. For businesses that will use landing pages, social tools, and advanced segmentation, Mailchimp's bundle justifies its price.

Whichever you choose, price it at your twelve-month projected list size. Email tools get more expensive exactly when they are working, because growth drives the bill up. Model the cost against your revenue with our SaaS pricing calculator so the tool stays a profit driver, not a surprise expense.

A final word on timing: evaluate email platforms before your busy season, not during it. Migrating lists, rebuilding templates, and warming up a new sending domain all take weeks, and doing it under pressure is how businesses end up overpaying for the wrong tier. A calm, well-timed migration also gives you leverage to negotiate annual billing discounts instead of accepting whatever the checkout page shows.