Campaign Monitor vs Mailchimp: Pricing, Design and Which to Choose
Campaign Monitor or Mailchimp? Compare plan prices at 500 to 15,000 contacts, send limits, template and agency fit, integrations and migration steps.
For most small businesses with a few hundred to a few thousand contacts, Mailchimp is the easier starting point. Its free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and its Essentials plan is listed at $13 a month for 500 contacts on monthly billing. Campaign Monitor is the stronger pick when design quality and sending volume matter more than the entry price: its Essentials plan is listed at $31 a month for 500 contacts with unlimited email sends, and its Lite plan is the same $13 a month as Mailchimp's Essentials at that size but caps sends at five emails per subscriber per month.
The short version: Mailchimp wins on a free start, breadth of integrations and a wide set of marketing tools. Campaign Monitor wins when your team cares about the look of each email, when you send often to the same list, or when you manage email for several clients. The rest of this page explains the numbers behind that call, shows what each plan costs at realistic list sizes and gives a checklist for moving between the two.
We read each vendor's pricing page on 7 October 2026 and used the prices, contact bands and send limits shown there. Where a vendor does not publish a price for a given list size, the table says so rather than estimating one. Check the pricing page before you buy, because vendors change bands and promotions without much notice.
Campaign Monitor and Mailchimp at a glance
Both products send the same basic thing: a campaign to a list of subscribers, with reporting on opens, clicks and unsubscribes, plus automated sequences such as welcome emails. The differences are in how each one charges, what limits it places on sending and what it is built around.
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (plan and billing) | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign Monitor | Design-led teams, agencies and anyone who wants unlimited sends on one plan | Lite at $13 a month, or $11.70 a month billed annually, for the 500-contact band | Lite caps sends at five emails per subscriber per month; no free plan, only a 30-day trial with 500 contacts and a 500-email limit |
| Mailchimp | Small businesses that want a free start, a wide integration list and landing pages alongside email | Free for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month; Essentials at $13 a month for 500 contacts on monthly billing | The free plan caps daily sends at 250, and the price climbs quickly once the contact count passes the lower bands |
The contact count drives the price on both platforms, so the first question is not which tool has the nicer editor but how many people will be on your list in twelve months. Campaign Monitor prices by a contact band selector with monthly or annual billing. Mailchimp prices by contact band as well, and its monthly send allowance also grows with each band. That means a list that doubles can raise the bill by more than double on either platform, and the jump is not the same from one band to the next.
Campaign Monitor: what it does well and where it falls short
Campaign Monitor has positioned its product around email design and client-facing work. Its editor and templates are the main reason design-focused teams choose it. If your brand depends on how an email looks across devices, and you want to start from a polished layout rather than build one from scratch, the product is built around that work. Teams that produce a lot of campaigns for one brand can keep the same template system and reuse blocks, which saves time that would otherwise go into rebuilding a newsletter every week.
The agency side is the second reason. If you manage email programmes for several clients, the product's client-oriented features are the part to evaluate closely. Check that the account structure, sharing and reporting work the way your agency bills. Campaign Monitor's own material frames the product around this kind of work, but you should confirm each feature you depend on in a trial before you sign a contract.
The pricing structure is simple to read. Lite is the entry plan at $13 a month for the 500-contact band on monthly billing, or $11.70 a month billed annually. That works out to $140.40 a year on annual billing (12 × $11.70). Lite is capped at five emails per subscriber per month, so a 500-contact list can receive up to 2,500 sends a month on that plan. If you send more often than that, step up to Essentials, which is $31 a month for the same 500-contact band on monthly billing, or $27.90 a month billed annually (12 × $27.90 = $334.80 a year). Essentials includes unlimited email sends. Premier, at $171 a month or $153.90 a month billed annually for the 500-contact band, adds premier support, including phone support.
Where Campaign Monitor falls short is breadth. It is built to do email well, and it does not try to be a full marketing suite. If you want landing pages, forms, a large set of ready-made connectors to other marketing tools or social posting in one place, you will be stitching those together with other products. Its integration list is narrower than Mailchimp's, so check that the tools you already use connect before you commit. There is also no free plan. The only way to try it without paying is the 30-day trial, which covers 500 contacts and a 500-email limit, so plan your evaluation around those limits.
Mailchimp: what it does well and where it falls short
Mailchimp's strongest argument for small businesses is that it covers more ground in one account. Its free plan lets a business with up to 250 contacts start sending without a card, and the product includes landing pages, signup forms and a long list of integrations with e-commerce platforms, websites and other business tools. For a shop owner or a local service business that wants email, a sign-up form and a simple store connection in one place, that breadth can remove a lot of setup work.
Mailchimp's free plan has firm limits that matter for planning. It allows up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with no more than 250 sends in a single day. A list of 250 subscribers that receives a weekly newsletter fits inside the monthly cap, but a list that gets two campaigns a week plus automated welcome emails can run into the limit faster than expected. The day cap also means a large one-off send cannot go out on the free plan all at once.
On paid plans, the entry price is $13 a month for Essentials at 500 contacts on monthly billing, and $20 a month for the Standard band at the same 500 contacts. Mailchimp's pricing page also lists $100 a month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts with up to 60,000 emails a month, $135 a month for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts with up to 120,000 emails, and $230 a month for 10,001 to 15,000 contacts with up to 180,000 emails. Some of the other bands on the page do not show a price in the source we read, and those are marked as pricing on request in the cost table below. The page's own price is the figure to rely on, so check it before you budget.
Mailchimp's weaker points are the ones agencies and design-led teams usually raise. Its templates are broader in range and less distinctive in look, and its client-management features are less developed than Campaign Monitor's. Mailchimp is also a larger product, so the editor and navigation can feel busy to someone who only wants to send newsletters. Pricing rises steeply as the list grows, so a business that expects to pass 10,000 contacts should compare the total cost at that size, not just the entry price.
Cost at realistic list sizes
The table below uses only the prices and bands listed on each vendor's pricing page when we read it on 7 October 2026. Where a cell says pricing on request, the vendor's pricing page did not show a price for that list size in the source we read, so we have not estimated one. Ask the vendor or use the pricing calculator on its site to get an exact figure.
| Contacts | Campaign Monitor (monthly billing) | Mailchimp (monthly billing) |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | Lite $13 a month (5 emails per subscriber); Essentials $31 a month (unlimited sends); Premier $171 a month | Essentials $13 a month; Standard $20 a month |
| 1,500 | Pricing on request | Pricing on request |
| 2,501 to 5,000 | Pricing on request | $100 a month, up to 60,000 emails a month |
| 5,001 to 10,000 | Pricing on request | $135 a month, up to 120,000 emails a month |
| 10,001 to 15,000 | Pricing on request | $230 a month, up to 180,000 emails a month |
Annual billing changes the numbers on Campaign Monitor. At the 500-contact band, Lite is $11.70 a month billed annually, Essentials is $27.90 a month and Premier is $153.90 a month. Mailchimp's pricing page shows a $0 annual figure for its free plan, and the Essentials 500-contact price is listed for monthly billing only, so compare like with like when you read the two pricing pages side by side.
The send allowance matters as much as the price. A 500-contact list on Campaign Monitor's Lite plan can receive up to five emails per subscriber per month, which is 2,500 sends in total. On Essentials, sends are unlimited, so the cost does not change with how often you mail. On Mailchimp's free plan, the same list is capped at 500 sends a month. Once you move to a paid band, Mailchimp's monthly email allowance grows with the contact count, for example to 60,000 emails a month in the 2,501 to 5,000 band.
Which tool fits which situation
The decision usually turns on three things: how many people are on the list, how often you send and whether design or breadth matters more. The table below turns those questions into a recommendation with the reason attached, so you can check whether the reason applies to your business.
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|---|---|
| A free plan to start with up to 250 contacts | Mailchimp | Its free plan is ongoing, not a trial, but it caps sends at 500 a month and 250 a day |
| Unlimited sends at 500 contacts | Campaign Monitor Essentials | Essentials is $31 a month on monthly billing with unlimited email sends, so frequent campaigns do not raise the bill |
| The lowest monthly price at 500 contacts | Mailchimp Essentials, or Campaign Monitor Lite | Both are $13 a month on monthly billing; Lite caps sends at five per subscriber per month, so the price is only equal if that cap fits your plan |
| Email designs that stand out and reusable brand layouts | Campaign Monitor | The product is built around the design workflow, so it suits brands where each send needs a polished look |
| Client accounts for an agency | Campaign Monitor | Its client-oriented features are the more developed of the two, and its product focus is on this kind of work |
| Landing pages, forms and many integrations in one account | Mailchimp | It bundles more marketing tools and a larger integration list, which reduces the number of products you need to run |
| Phone support on a paid plan | Campaign Monitor Premier | Premier includes phone support and is listed at $171 a month for the 500-contact band on monthly billing |
How to choose
Start with the contact count you expect in twelve months, not today. A list that will reach 10,000 contacts changes the answer, because Mailchimp's listed price at that band is $135 a month for up to 120,000 emails, while Campaign Monitor's pricing for that band is not shown in the source we read. Get a quote for that band from Campaign Monitor before you rule it out or in.
Then work out your sending pattern. Count the campaigns you plan to send each month and the automated emails that run per subscriber. Multiply the list size by the number of sends per subscriber and compare the total with Campaign Monitor's five-per-subscriber cap on Lite and with Mailchimp's monthly send allowance on its paid bands. If the total is comfortably under the cap, the cheaper plan may be enough. If you are close to it, the unlimited-send Essentials plan can be the better value even at a higher entry price.
Finally, decide what you will use beyond email. If you need landing pages, forms and a wide choice of connectors to other tools, Mailchimp is the better fit. If the work is mostly designing and sending well-made campaigns, or running them for several clients, Campaign Monitor is the better fit. Neither answer is wrong for every business. The right choice is the one whose limits you can live with for the next year.
Migration checklist
Switching between the two is a manageable project if you plan it. Most of the work is in the contact list, the sending domain and the automations, not the campaigns themselves. The checklist below lists the steps in the order that avoids the usual problems: lost unsubscribes, broken sender authentication and sequences that restart for people who already completed them.
| Step | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Export everything | Export your full contact list, including subscription status, tags and the date each contact joined, from the current tool | Contacts who unsubscribed must stay unsubscribed in the new tool, or you risk sending to people who opted out |
| 2. Export suppression lists | Export unsubscribes, bounces and spam complaints as separate files | These records protect your sender reputation and should be imported before any campaign is sent |
| 3. Check the contact band | Confirm which band your list falls into on the new vendor's pricing page and check the send allowance for that band | The band sets your monthly cost and how many emails you can send |
| 4. Set up sender authentication | Add the new tool's sending records to your domain's DNS, and confirm the domain is verified before importing | Mail from an unauthenticated domain is more likely to land in spam |
| 5. Import in a test batch | Import a small set of contacts first and send a test campaign to your own addresses | This shows whether fields, tags and unsubscribe links carried over correctly |
| 6. Rebuild automations | Recreate welcome emails and other sequences in the new tool, and do not re-trigger them for contacts who already finished them | Restarted sequences are the most common cause of duplicate emails after a move |
| 7. Run both for a short period | Keep the old account active for a short overlap, pausing sends in the old tool | This gives you a fallback if an import problem appears after the switch |
| 8. Cancel the old plan | Cancel only after the new account has sent a full campaign and the automations have run once | Cancelling early can remove the reporting and history you need to compare results |
Keep the exported files and the reports from the old account. Campaign history, open and click data, and suppression records are the parts that are hard to recover once an account is closed. If you move from Mailchimp to Campaign Monitor, check whether your old templates need to be rebuilt, since layouts do not carry over between tools. The same applies in the other direction.
The bottom line
Choose Mailchimp if you are starting out, want a free plan for your first 250 contacts and need landing pages, forms and integrations in one place. Choose Campaign Monitor if email design is central to your brand, if you send often enough that unlimited sends matter, or if you manage email for several clients. At 500 contacts the two are priced the same on Lite and Mailchimp Essentials, so the decision should rest on sending pattern and feature needs rather than the entry price. Before you commit, compare the bands you will reach in a year, and confirm the features you depend on in a trial.
You can compare other marketing email tools on the main site.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mailchimp free?
Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a limit of 250 sends in a single day. It is a permanent free tier rather than a trial, but the limits make it best suited to small lists with regular, modest sending.
Does Campaign Monitor have a free plan?
No. Campaign Monitor lists a 30-day free trial that covers 500 contacts and a 500-email limit. After the trial you need a paid plan, and the cheapest listed option is Lite at $13 a month for the 500-contact band on monthly billing.
Which is cheaper at 500 contacts?
On monthly billing, Mailchimp Essentials and Campaign Monitor Lite are both listed at $13 a month for 500 contacts. The difference is the send limit: Lite caps sends at five emails per subscriber per month, while Campaign Monitor's Essentials plan at $31 a month includes unlimited sends. Mailchimp's Essentials send allowance at that size is not stated in the source we read, so check it on the pricing page.
Which tool is better for agencies?
Campaign Monitor is the better fit for agencies, because its product is built around design work and client-facing use. Confirm the client account, sharing and reporting features in a trial, since your billing model may need specific features.
Does Mailchimp have more integrations?
Mailchimp offers a larger integration list and more built-in marketing tools, including landing pages and forms. If you rely on many connectors to other business software, check that your specific tools are supported on the plan you plan to buy.
Can I move my contacts from one to the other?
Yes. Export your contact list with subscription status and suppression records, verify your sending domain in the new tool and import a small test batch before moving everything. Rebuild automations carefully so contacts who already completed a sequence do not receive it again.
What does Campaign Monitor Premier cost?
Premier is listed at $171 a month for the 500-contact band on monthly billing, or $153.90 a month billed annually. It adds premier support, including phone support. Prices for larger contact bands were not shown in the source we read, so request a quote for those.
Which tool should I pick if I send several campaigns a week?
Frequent sending favours Campaign Monitor Essentials, which includes unlimited sends at $31 a month for the 500-contact band on monthly billing. On Mailchimp, the monthly send allowance grows with each contact band, so calculate your monthly total against the limit for your band before deciding.