SideBySend
Snapshot 5, recorded 19 October 2026. All prices in USD.

Change record

When Mailchimp got expensive

Mailchimp did not raise its published tier prices in 2026. It cut the free plan by December 2025 and raised legacy account prices in April 2026, and only one of those is visible on the pricing page.

Snapshot 5, 19 October 2026. Two recorded events.

The sequence

  1. Verified

    Mailchimp cut the free plan to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends

    The free plan went from 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends, with a 250 a day cap, by December 2025. Historical, read off Mailchimp's pricing page as archived by the Wayback Machine: the 8 December 2025 capture shows the old limits and the 22 December 2025 capture the new ones. Trackers reported the change in January 2026.

    Effect on a bill. A free list between 250 and 500 contacts now has to pay. The cheapest paid step is Essentials at 13 dollars a month.

    source checked 25 September 2026

  2. Estimate

    Mailchimp raised legacy account prices by roughly 11 to 13 percent

    Accounts still sitting on older plan pricing were moved up by about 11 to 13 percent. The public tier table did not change, so the increase only shows on invoices rather than on the pricing page.

    Effect on a bill. An older Mailchimp account can now pay more than the published number for the same tier. Compare an invoice against the table rather than assuming the table applies.

    source checked 8 September 2026

  3. Verified

    Mailchimp SMS add-on model recorded without a pack ladder

    Mailchimp SMS Marketing is recorded as a credit add-on on Essentials and higher, starting at 20 dollars a month, with unused credits expiring each billing cycle and credits per SMS or MMS published by sending country. The public Mailchimp pages this dataset reads do not print a verified credit-pack dollar ladder, so pack prices are left out rather than copied from third parties.

    Effect on a bill. No email contact cell moved. SMS sits beside the email bill as a separate meter, and the calculator and cross vendor tables stay email-only.

    source checked 13 September 2026

  4. Verified

    Constant Contact vs Mailchimp pricing page recorded

    /constant-contact-vs-mailchimp-pricing compares LIVE Constant Contact Lite/Standard/Premium fee-schedule cells with Mailchimp Essentials/Standard/Premium at the eight SideBySend breakpoints. Contact Sales empties stay empty. No invented mid-ladder Constant Contact band.

    Effect on a bill. No Constant Contact or Mailchimp cell moved. Constant Contact stays on the watchlist outside the six tables. Both parent pricing pages link in.

    source checked 14 September 2026

  5. Derived

    Flodesk vs Mailchimp pricing page recorded

    /flodesk-vs-mailchimp-pricing compares LIVE Flodesk Lite/Pro/Everything and Mailchimp Essentials/Standard/Premium dated ladders at the eight SideBySend breakpoints. Mailchimp send allowances and empty annual column are called out. Flodesk 100,000 stays empty rather than invented. Flodesk stays outside the six tables and the watchlist.

    Effect on a bill. No Flodesk or Mailchimp cell moved. Both parent pricing pages and the cost-at-N children link in. Completes the Flodesk vs triangle with MailerLite and Kit.

    source checked 18 September 2026

  6. Derived

    ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp pricing page recorded

    /activecampaign-vs-mailchimp-pricing compares LIVE ActiveCampaign Starter/Plus and Mailchimp Essentials/Standard dated ladders at the eight SideBySend breakpoints. Monthly and annual stay apart. No invented mid-tier dollars and no retired sticker prices.

    Effect on a bill. No ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp cell moved. Both parent pricing pages and the cost-at-N children link in. Mid-tail vs sibling of /activecampaign-vs-kit-pricing and /activecampaign-vs-brevo-pricing.

    source checked 18 September 2026

  7. Derived

    Omnisend vs Mailchimp pricing page recorded

    /omnisend-vs-mailchimp-pricing compares LIVE Omnisend Standard/Pro and Mailchimp Essentials/Standard dated ladders at the eight SideBySend breakpoints. Omnisend stays on the watchlist. No invented mid-tier dollars and no standing annual rates invented for either side.

    Effect on a bill. No Omnisend or Mailchimp cell moved. Both parent pricing pages and the cost-at-N children link in. Mid-tail commerce vs sibling of /omnisend-vs-klaviyo-pricing.

    source checked 18 September 2026

  8. Derived

    Mailchimp vs Brevo pricing page recorded

    /mailchimp-vs-brevo-pricing compares LIVE Mailchimp Essentials/Standard and Brevo Starter/Standard dated ladders at the eight SideBySend breakpoints under the weekly send assumption on Brevo. Mailchimp annual stays empty. Reverse lead of /brevo-vs-mailchimp-pricing. No invented mid-tier dollars.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp or Brevo cell moved. Both parent pricing pages and the cost-at-N children link in. Mid-tail vs sibling of /mailchimp-vs-mailerlite-pricing and /mailchimp-vs-kit-pricing.

    source checked 18 September 2026

  9. Verified

    HubSpot vs Mailchimp pricing page recorded

    /hubspot-vs-mailchimp-pricing compares HubSpot Marketing Hub catalog USD (edition bases, seats, marketing-contact packs) against Mailchimp Essentials and Standard LIVE ladders. Worked examples at 1k/5k/10k/25k use derived pack math from verified catalog bands. Catalog vs UI packaging labeled. No invented HubSpot eight-breakpoint matrix.

    Effect on a bill. No HubSpot or Mailchimp cell moved. Both parent pricing pages and the HubSpot contacts child link in. Mid-tail vs sibling of /mailchimp-vs-brevo-pricing and /activecampaign-vs-mailchimp-pricing.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  10. Verified

    Mailchimp cost at 2,500 contacts page recorded

    /mailchimp-cost-2500-contacts deep-dives Essentials, Standard and Premium at the published 2,500 contact slider stop using the same Mailchimp cells already on the parent ladder. Verified Essentials 45 and Standard 60. Premium stays derived flat at 350 through the 10,000 floor. Swap from /flodesk-cost-500 because Flodesk 500 reuses the same FAQ dollars as LIVE /flodesk-cost-1000 (no distinct ceiling).

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The cost-at-N child, the 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 contact siblings and /mailchimp-pricing link to each other.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  11. Estimate

    Mailchimp cost at 1,000 contacts page recorded

    /mailchimp-cost-1000-contacts deep-dives Essentials, Standard and Premium at the 1,000 contact breakpoint using the same Mailchimp cells already on the parent ladder. Essentials 26.50 and Standard 45 are estimate upper bounds of the 1,500 tier (the public table steps from 500 to 1,500). Premium stays derived flat at 350 through the 10,000 floor. Extends the LIVE 2.5k/5k/10k/25k cost ladder.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The cost-at-N child, the 2,500, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 contact siblings and /mailchimp-pricing link to each other.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  12. Verified

    Mailchimp cost at 500 contacts page recorded

    /mailchimp-cost-500-contacts deep-dives Essentials, Standard and Premium at the verified 500 contact entry stop using the same Mailchimp cells already on the parent ladder. Verified monthly 13 / 20 / 350. Extends the LIVE 1k/2.5k/5k/10k/25k cost ladder.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The cost-at-N child, the 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000 and 25,000 contact siblings and /mailchimp-pricing link to each other.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  13. Verified

    Mailchimp pricing changes page recorded

    /mailchimp-pricing-changes records the 15 May 2019 Free/Essentials/Standard/Premium model, current contact caps and send multiples from official Mailchimp help only. It is a short dated changelog: no restated price tables or entry stickers, which stay on /mailchimp-pricing and the cost-at-N pages. Free-plan cut narrative stays on /when-mailchimp-got-expensive. No invented Premium before sticker.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The change record links to /mailchimp-pricing, the cost-at-N children and /when-mailchimp-got-expensive.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  14. Verified

    Mailchimp cost at 50,000 contacts page recorded

    /mailchimp-cost-50000-contacts deep-dives Essentials, Standard and Premium at the published 50,000 contact slider stop, which is also the Essentials plan cap. Verified monthly 385 / 450 / 815. No standing annual rate invented.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The cost-at-N child, the 25,000 contact sibling and /mailchimp-pricing link to each other.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  15. Verified

    Mailchimp cost at 100,000 contacts page recorded

    /mailchimp-cost-100000-contacts deep-dives Standard and Premium at the published 100,000 contact slider stop, the Standard plan cap. Verified monthly 800 / 1,025. Essentials is not sold above 50,000 contacts, so its cell stays empty. No standing annual rate invented. Dropped /omnisend-cost-2500 from this pack because its only published figure, Pro at 59 dollars, matches LIVE /omnisend-cost-1000; Standard at 2,500 is a tracker estimate.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp cell moved. The cost-at-N child, the 50,000 contact sibling and /mailchimp-pricing link to each other. /omnisend-cost-1000 now notes that the same Pro price covers 2,500 contacts.

    source checked 19 September 2026

  16. Verified

    Mailchimp at 1,000 contacts relabeled derived from the 1,500 tier

    Mailchimp's table steps from 500 to 1,500 contacts, so a 1,000 contact list pays the 1,500 tier price. A 25 September read of the Mailchimp pricing page printed 26.50 dollars a month on Essentials and 45 on Standard for the 501 to 1,500 contact band, the same figures already recorded at 1,000. Both cells move from estimate to derived, and the pages that called them upper bounds now say they are derived from the 1,500 tier.

    Effect on a bill. No Mailchimp price moved. A 1,000 contact list pays 26.50 dollars a month on Essentials and 45 on Standard. No price cell on this site is an estimate now.

    source checked 25 September 2026

  17. Verified

    Every Mailchimp contact band, and the Mailchimp page gains plan limits

    /mailchimp-pricing now lists every contact band the Mailchimp pricing page prints up to 200,000 contacts, with the monthly price and send limit on Essentials, Standard and Premium. Bands already read off the rendered page stay verified; the bands between them, such as 15,001-20,000 and 50,001-75,000, are derived from the pricing data the page loads, read on 26 September 2026. The page also adds short sections on which contacts count, going over the contact or send limit, annual plans, what the free plan allows, and seats, audiences, automation, testing and landing pages by plan, each reread on Mailchimp's pricing, compare plans and help pages on 26 September 2026.

    Effect on a bill. No price cell moved and no confidence label changed. Annual plans exist for Standard and Premium at 10,000 contacts or more through sales, with no printed price, so the annual column stays empty.

    source checked 26 September 2026

  18. Verified

    Weekly pricing refresh: Snapshot 4

    Week of 12 October 2026. Official pricing pages were reread for Kit, MailerLite, Moosend, Klaviyo, Omnisend, beehiiv (October 2026 Free, Lite and Pro ladder), HubSpot Marketing Hub edition bases, Brevo entry prices, and Mailchimp entry prices at the 0 to 500 contact band. Every rechecked figure matched the figure already on this site. No price, plan name, or billing rule in the inventory moved. ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, Flodesk and SendGrid Marketing Campaigns were not rechecked this week.

    Effect on a bill. No bill moved. Snapshot 4 bumps verifiedAt dates on the vendors that were rechecked and records that the October 2026 beehiiv Free, Lite and Pro prices still match the ladder already held in the beehiiv 2026 reprice file.

    source checked 12 October 2026

  19. Verified

    Weekly pricing refresh: Snapshot 5

    Week of 19 October 2026. Official pricing pages were reread for Kit, MailerLite, Moosend, Klaviyo, Omnisend, beehiiv Free/Lite/Pro, ActiveCampaign (monthly catalog and annual page starts-at), Brevo entry bands, Mailchimp, HubSpot Marketing Hub edition bases, Constant Contact fee-schedule modal, Flodesk, and SendGrid Marketing Campaigns floors and capacity cards. Aside from the Constant Contact 50,000 contact fill recorded in the entry above, every rechecked figure matched the figure already on this site. ActiveCampaign still leads with annual starts-at 15/49/79 while month to month stays 19/59/99 at the 1,000 contact entry. beehiiv plan names and October 2026 prices still match Free, Lite and Pro.

    Effect on a bill. No other bill moved. Snapshot 5 bumps verifiedAt dates on all thirteen vendors that were rechecked. See the Constant Contact 50,000 band entry for the one inventory fill.

    source checked 19 October 2026

What the free tier cut costs in practice

The free plan used to hold 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends. It now holds 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends, with a 250 a day cap. A list that sat comfortably inside the old limits at 400 contacts has no free option left.

The cheapest paid step is Essentials at $13 a month, which covers up to 500 contacts and 5,000 sends. So the real cost of the cut, for a small list, is $156 a year to keep doing what was free the month before.

VendorPlanMonthlyConfidenceNote
MailchimpEssentials$13VerifiedCheapest paid step once the free plan runs out.
MailerLiteComfort$12VerifiedFree plan also stops at 250 subscribers after the June 2026 cut.
KitCreator$39DerivedFree Newsletter plan covers this size, so the paid price rarely applies.
Cheapest paid plan at 500 contacts across the three vendors small senders usually shortlist. Free plan ceilings are in the note column, because at this list size they decide the answer.

The April increase is the harder one to see

In April 2026 Mailchimp moved legacy account pricing up by roughly 11 to 13 percent. The published tier table did not change, so the increase only appears on invoices.

That is the failure mode a dated dataset is built for. A pricing page read once, at any point in 2026, would show the same Essentials and Standard ladder before and after. Nothing on the page reveals that a subset of accounts is now paying more for the same tier.

This entry is marked estimate rather than verified, because the increase was reported through account holders rather than published by Mailchimp. If a firmer figure surfaces, the entry gets corrected in a later snapshot and the correction gets its own changelog line.

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