## Mailchimp After All These Years Mailchimp is the old guard of email marketing. Founded in 2001, it has survived countless competitors. But in 2026, is it still the right choice? We used Mailchimp for 90 days across 3 different email lists (total: 18,000 subscribers) and sent 180,000 emails. Here is what we found. ## What Mailchimp Does Well ### The Free Plan is Genuinely Useful You can have up to 500 contacts and send 1,000 emails/month free. For small businesses starting with email marketing, this is an excellent deal. ### Email Builder is Excellent The drag-and-drop email builder is intuitive and produces good-looking emails. We built 40+ campaigns without ever needing HTML skills. ### Signup Forms that Convert Embedded forms, pop-ups, landing pages — Mailchimp's form builder is solid. We grew our lists by 30% in 90 days using their form tools. ### Reporting Open rates, click rates, revenue tracking — Mailchimp's analytics are clear and actionable. The compare emails feature shows what works vs what does not. ## What Mailchimp Does Not Do Well ### Advanced Automation Mailchimp's automation builder works for basic sequences, but if you need complex conditional logic, you will feel limited. Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign are better for serious automation. ### Ecommerce Integration The Shopify integration is functional but basic. For serious ecommerce email marketing, Klaviyo wins decisively. ### Segmentation Contact segmentation exists but is clunky. Creating a segment of "bought product X, did not open last 3 emails" requires too many steps. ## Pricing (What They Do Not Tell You) The advertised prices are for monthly billing. Annual billing saves 20%. But the real cost comes from list size: | Contacts | Monthly | Annual | |----------|---------|--------| | 500 | $13 | $11 | | 2,500 | $59 | $49 | | 5,000 | $119 | $99 | | 10,000 | $259 | $219 | List size growth is inevitable. Budget for it. ## Deliverability We tracked deliverability carefully: - Average open rate: 34% (above industry average of 21%) - Average click rate: 2.8% (industry average is 2.6%) - Spam score: Clean across all major email clients Deliverability is solid for most industries. ## Who Should Use Mailchimp - Small businesses starting with email marketing - Service-based businesses (consultants, coaches, agencies) - Non-ecommerce businesses sending newsletters - Anyone who wants a clean, easy email tool ## Who Should Not - Ecommerce businesses (use Klaviyo) - Businesses needing advanced automation (use ActiveCampaign) - Teams with large lists and tight budgets ## Final Verdict **3.5/5** — Mailchimp is a solid email marketing platform for small businesses. The free plan is generous, the builder is good, and deliverability is reliable. But serious marketers will eventually outgrow it. *Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links to Mailchimp. We earn a commission on sales made through our links.*