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ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp pricing
ActiveCampaign is known for automation depth and Mailchimp for ease of use and a free plan. This page lines up their published tiers using StackScope's email marketing report, last verified October 2026.
At 2,500 contacts, ActiveCampaign Starter is $39 per month on an annual-equivalent basis against $51 per month for Mailchimp Standard, so ActiveCampaign's entry tier is the cheaper of the two, though Starter caps automation actions at 5 per automation. Mailchimp has an ongoing free plan for 250 contacts and 500 sends per month, while ActiveCampaign has no free plan, only a 14-day trial capped at 100 contacts. The tiers don't line up above that: ActiveCampaign Pro is $375 per month at 10,000 contacts, while Mailchimp Standard at 10,000 contacts is $115 per month, which the vendor presents as a first-year promotional rate. ActiveCampaign's automation depth is its most praised feature.
| Tool | Free plan | Entry | Mid | Highest | Aggregated sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCampaign Best value (paid) | No free plan14-day trial only, capped at 100 contacts | $39/moStarter · 2,500 contacts · annual-equivalent rate from vendor's contact-based calculator — a consistent public month-to-month figure isn't posted at every contact level | $95/moPlus · 2,500 contacts · annual-equivalent rate, same caveat | $375/moPro · 10,000 contacts · annual-equivalent rate, same caveat | Catch: public pricing is now built around annual billing and a contact-count selector, not a flat monthly rate. Automation depth is consistently the most praised feature — branching, multi-step workflows most competitors reserve for pricier tiers. Starter's automation actions are capped at 5 per automation, pushing serious users to Plus quickly. Add-ons (CRM pipelines, SMS, custom reporting) sit outside the sticker price and can add 30%+ to the real bill. |
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo1 seat, 1 audience, 250 sends/day cap — sending pauses if you exceed it, doesn't trigger a charge | $17/moStandard · 500 contacts · $20/mo billed monthly | $51/moStandard · 2,500 contacts · $60/mo billed monthly | $115/moStandard · 10,000 contacts · $135/mo billed monthly — vendor currently presents this as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses, not a guaranteed renewal rate | Catch: the bill scales fast with contact count, and lower tiers cap automation. Praised for a drag-and-drop builder that makes professional campaigns easy even for non-technical users. G2 reviewers repeatedly flag "expensive" as a recurring theme. A real billing trap: Mailchimp bills for every contact in your audience — including unsubscribed ones — unless you manually archive them. Monthly send allowances are capped at a multiple of contact count (10× Essentials, 12× Standard, 15× Premium); exceeding them can trigger overage charges. |
Figures are aggregated from vendor pricing pages and independent third-party pricing research as of October 2026 and reflect published list prices. This page shows two of the four tools in the full Email Marketing Software report, which carries the complete footnotes and every source conflict we flagged. Confirm current pricing directly with each vendor before purchasing. This is not a recommendation to buy any specific product.
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FAQ
Common questions
Is ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp cheaper?
At 2,500 contacts, ActiveCampaign Starter is $39 per month (annual-equivalent) versus $51 per month for Mailchimp Standard. At 10,000 contacts the comparison isn't like-for-like: ActiveCampaign Pro is $375 per month, while Mailchimp Standard is $115 per month as a first-year promotional rate.
Do ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp have free plans?
Mailchimp does: 250 contacts and 500 sends per month. ActiveCampaign has no free plan, only a 14-day trial capped at 100 contacts.
Which has better automation?
ActiveCampaign's automation depth is consistently its most praised feature, but its Starter tier caps automation actions at 5 per automation. Mailchimp's lower tiers also cap automation.
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See all four tools in the full Email Marketing Software report →
Vendor pricing: ActiveCampaign pricing · Mailchimp pricing