Mailchimp vs ConvertKit 2025: Which Email Platform Wins?

The Short Answer

ConvertKit wins for creators, bloggers, and newsletter operators — it’s simpler, cheaper at scale, and purpose-built for audience building. Mailchimp wins for small businesses wanting an all-in-one marketing hub with pretty email designs.

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Quick Comparison

Feature	Mailchimp	ConvertKit
Best for	Small businesses, e-commerce	Creators, bloggers, newsletters
Free plan	500 contacts	10,000 subscribers
Starting price	$13/mo (500 contacts)	$29/mo (up to 1,000 subs)
Email templates	100+ designed templates	Minimal (text-focused by design)
Automation	Good (Customer Journeys)	Excellent (visual automations)
Landing pages	✅ Included	✅ Included
A/B testing	✅ All plans	✅ Creator plan+
E-commerce	Strong integrations	Basic (digital products)
Deliverability	Good	Excellent
Affiliate commission	Via Impact (varies)	30% recurring

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Pricing: Where It Gets Interesting

Mailchimp Pricing

Contacts	Free	Essentials	Standard	Premium
500	$0	$13/mo	$20/mo	$350/mo
2,500	—	$45/mo	$60/mo	$350/mo
10,000	—	$100/mo	$135/mo	$350/mo
50,000	—	$299/mo	$410/mo	$815/mo

ConvertKit Pricing

Subscribers	Free	Creator	Creator Pro
Up to 1,000	$0	$29/mo	$59/mo
Up to 10,000	$0	$119/mo	$167/mo
Up to 55,000	—	$379/mo	$519/mo

Key insight: ConvertKit’s free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers — that would cost you $100+/mo on Mailchimp. This is a massive difference for growing creators.

However, once you start paying, Mailchimp can be cheaper at smaller list sizes. At 500 contacts, Mailchimp Essentials ($13/mo) beats ConvertKit Creator ($29/mo).

Winner: Depends on your list size. Under 1,000 contacts and want paid features? Mailchimp is cheaper. Growing toward 10K? ConvertKit’s free plan is unbeatable.

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Features Face-Off

Email Design

Mailchimp wins. 100+ beautiful templates, a polished drag-and-drop editor, and Creative Assistant that generates on-brand designs. Mailchimp emails look magazine-quality.

ConvertKit is intentionally minimal. Their philosophy: plain-text-style emails get better deliverability and engagement. They offer some templates, but design isn’t the focus.

Our take: Mailchimp if your brand needs visual emails (e-commerce, retail). ConvertKit if you’re sending content-driven emails (newsletters, updates, courses).

Automation

ConvertKit wins. The visual automation builder is intuitive and powerful. Create complex sequences based on tags, purchases, link clicks, and custom events. It feels like it was designed for exactly what creators need.

Mailchimp’s Customer Journeys are capable but feel more complex to set up. The visual builder works but isn’t as clean as ConvertKit’s.

Deliverability

ConvertKit wins. They consistently rank among the highest for inbox placement. Their focus on text-based emails, strict anti-spam policies, and clean sending infrastructure helps.

Mailchimp has good deliverability but it can be diluted by the sheer number of users on shared sending IPs, including spammers who slip through.

Landing Pages & Forms

Tie. Both offer landing page builders and customizable signup forms included in all plans (even free). Mailchimp’s templates are prettier; ConvertKit’s are more conversion-focused.

E-Commerce

Mailchimp wins for physical products. Deep integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. Product recommendations, abandoned cart emails, and purchase-based segmentation.

ConvertKit supports digital product sales (courses, ebooks, subscriptions) natively through Commerce. But it’s not built for physical product stores.

Reporting & Analytics

Mailchimp wins. More detailed analytics including revenue attribution, audience insights, campaign comparisons, and social media performance. Mailchimp treats data seriously.

ConvertKit covers the basics well (open rates, click rates, subscriber growth) but lacks the depth of Mailchimp’s analytics.

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Who Should Pick What

Choose Mailchimp If:

• You’re a small business with an online store (Shopify, WooCommerce)
• You want beautiful email designs with templates
• You need all-in-one marketing (email + social + ads + CRM)
• Your list is under 1,000 and you want paid features cheaply
• You value detailed analytics and reporting
• Your team needs a familiar, well-known platform

Choose ConvertKit If:

• You’re a creator, blogger, or newsletter writer
• You want the most generous free plan (10K subscribers!)
• You prefer simple, clean interfaces over feature overload
• You sell digital products (courses, ebooks, memberships)
• Email deliverability is a top priority
• You want powerful automations without complexity

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The Verdict

For most creators and content-driven businesses, ConvertKit is the better choice. The free plan alone saves you hundreds of dollars per year, and the focus on deliverability and automation makes it excellent for growing an audience.

For small businesses with physical products or those needing an all-in-one marketing platform, Mailchimp’s broader feature set and design tools make more sense.

Our recommendation: If you’re not sure, start with ConvertKit’s free plan. You can always switch later, and the free tier gives you room to grow to 10,000 subscribers before spending a dime.

Building a newsletter business focused on monetization? Consider Beehiiv — it’s purpose-built for creators who want to earn from their audience, with built-in ad network, paid subscriptions, and referral growth tools that neither Mailchimp nor ConvertKit offer.

👉 Try Beehiiv Free → — Free up to 2,500 subscribers.