Comparison

Mailchimp vs MailerLite pricing

Both bill on contacts stored, so they line up cleanly at fixed list sizes. MailerLite is cheaper at every breakpoint where both publish a price, and the gap widens as the list grows.

Snapshot 5, 19 October 2026. Monthly billing, tax excluded.

Entry plans

Mailchimp Essentials against MailerLite Comfort, the cheapest paid plan each vendor sells.

Contacts	Mailchimp Essentials	MailerLite Comfort	Cheaper
500	$13Ver	$12Ver	MailerLite by $1
1,000	$26.50Der	$19Ver	MailerLite by $7.50
2,500	$45Ver	$33Ver	MailerLite by $12
5,000	$75Ver	$49Ver	MailerLite by $26
10,000	$110Ver	$89Ver	MailerLite by $21
25,000	$270Ver	$179Ver	MailerLite by $91
50,000	$385Ver	$319Ver	MailerLite by $66
100,000	n/aNot	$439Ver	not comparable

Mailchimp Essentials against MailerLite Comfort, month to month billing. The Cheaper column compares the monthly prices. Plans are not feature matched.

Step up plans

Mailchimp Standard against MailerLite Power. Neither pair is feature matched, but both are the plan a growing sender tends to land on.

Contacts	Mailchimp Standard	MailerLite Power	Cheaper
500	$20Ver	$25Ver	Mailchimp by $5
1,000	$45Der	$39Ver	MailerLite by $6
2,500	$60Ver	$49Ver	MailerLite by $11
5,000	$100Ver	$69Ver	MailerLite by $31
10,000	$135Ver	$129Ver	MailerLite by $6
25,000	$310Ver	$239Ver	MailerLite by $71
50,000	$450Ver	$389Ver	MailerLite by $61
100,000	$800Ver	$489Ver	MailerLite by $311

Mailchimp Standard against MailerLite Power, month to month billing. The Cheaper column compares the monthly prices. Plans are not feature matched.

What the gap actually is

At 25,000 contacts the entry plans sit $91 a month apart, with Mailchimp at $270 and MailerLite at $179. That is the widest spread in the table.

The mechanics look almost identical and diverge on one point. Both count stored contacts and both attach a send allowance to the contact tier: Mailchimp allows 10 times the contact count on Essentials, MailerLite allows 10 times the ceiling of the subscriber tier on Comfort and removes the cap entirely on Power. The difference is who pays for dead weight. Mailchimp keeps billing unsubscribed contacts until they are archived. MailerLite counts active subscribers only, and catches people with a cumulative count that runs to the billing anniversary instead.

The difference is the shape of the ladder. Mailchimp steps hard early and lands at 800 dollars a month for 100,000 contacts on Standard. MailerLite runs a slider with roughly 29 stops and reaches 819 dollars at 200,000 subscribers, which is double the list for the same money.