ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp
ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp are both email marketing tools. ActiveCampaign is aimed at small businesses and E-commerce, while Mailchimp is aimed at small businesses and creators. Mailchimp costs less, from $13/mo versus $19/mo for ActiveCampaign. Only Mailchimp has a free plan.
Email marketing and automation platform for SMBs and ecommerce
The best-known email marketing platform
| Pricing | Paid · $19 | Freemium · $13 |
| Starting price | $19/mo | $13/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days |
| Built for | Small businesses, E-commerce, Agencies | Small businesses, Creators |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2003 | US · 2001 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose ActiveCampaign if
Small and mid-sized businesses and ecommerce brands that want sophisticated, behaviour-based email and SMS automation at a mid-range price.
- One of the most powerful automation builders in its price range
- Strong ecommerce triggers and deep integrations
- AI agents included on every plan
Look elsewhere if: Teams sending simple newsletters to large lists on a tight budget, or wanting a full CRM suite (MailerLite, Brevo, HubSpot).
Choose Mailchimp if
Small businesses and e-commerce stores that want an easy, well-integrated email tool and send a few campaigns a month.
- Familiar, polished editor and huge template library
- Deep e-commerce integrations and revenue reporting
- Mature deliverability infrastructure
Look elsewhere if: Newsletter creators (Kit, beehiiv), high-volume senders on a budget (Brevo), or SaaS lifecycle messaging (Customer.io, Loops).
ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp pricing
ActiveCampaign
- Starter$19/mo$15/mo billed annually; 1,000 contacts, 1 seat
- Plus$59/mo$49/mo annually; landing pages, SMS add-on, 1 seat
- Pro$99/mo$79/mo annually; predictive sending, attribution, 3 seats
- Enterprise$179/mo$145/mo annually; SSO, HIPAA support, 5 seats
Mailchimp
- Free$0Up to 250 contacts, 1 audience
- Essentials$13/moStarting price; 14-day free trial, 3 audiences
- Standard$20/mo6,000 emails/mo; 14-day free trial, 5 audiences
- Premium$350/mo150,000 emails/mo, advanced tools, priority support
ActiveCampaign · Key features
- Visual automation builder with branching, goals and split tests
- Triggers from site visits, purchases, forms, tags and CRM events
- Email, SMS and WhatsApp messaging from one platform
- Active Intelligence AI agents for segments, automations and brand kits
- Predictive sending and conditional content on Pro
- Landing pages and site messages from the Plus plan
Cons
- Costs climb quickly as contact lists grow
- CRM pipelines and transactional email are extra
- Starter and Plus include only one seat
Mailchimp · Key features
- Drag-and-drop email builder with templates and brand kit
- Customer journeys (automation) with branching and triggers
- Audience segmentation, tags and predictive demographics
- Landing pages, signup forms, pop-ups and SMS marketing (US)
- Reporting with revenue attribution for connected stores
- Creative Assistant and generative AI for copy and images
Cons
- Contact-based pricing gets expensive fast; unsubscribed contacts can still count
- Free plan is now very limited
- Automation builder lags Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp: FAQ
Which is cheaper, ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp?
Mailchimp starts at $13/mo and ActiveCampaign at $19/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp have a free plan?
ActiveCampaign has no free plan, a 14-day free trial. Mailchimp has a free plan.