Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: pricing, features and which to choose in 2026

Mailchimp and Constant Contact are the two email tools small businesses and nonprofits hear about most. Both are long-established, both have a drag-and-drop editor and a template library, and both charge more as your list grows. Where they differ is in the details that decide your monthly bill and your daily workload: a free plan versus a free trial, how automations are split across plans, whether event registration is built in, and how you get help when something breaks.

Every fact below comes from the two companies' own pricing pages and help centers, read in October 2026. Plans and offers change often, so check the numbers with your own contact count before you buy.

Mailchimp vs Constant Contact at a glance

The short version: Mailchimp has a real free plan and more automation room on its middle tier. Constant Contact costs money from day one but bundles phone support, event registration and social posting into every plan. Small businesses that run events, and teams that want a person on the phone, often lean toward Constant Contact. Teams that want to start free and grow into automation usually lean toward Mailchimp.

Pricing: how each one bills

Both tools price by contacts and plan tier, with a monthly send limit tied to your contact count. The details are different enough to matter.

Constant Contact pricing

As of October 2026, Constant Contact's pricing page lists three plans, each "starting at" a price for the smallest contact tier:

• Lite: from $12/month. Sends up to 10x your contacts each month. 1 user.
• Standard: from $35/month. Sends up to 12x your contacts. 3 users.
• Premium: from $80/month. Sends up to 24x your contacts. Unlimited users.

Prepaying for 12 months saves up to 15%, which brings the starting prices to $10.20, $29.75 and $68 a month. Your actual price rises with your contact count.

If you go over your send allowance, nothing stops. Constant Contact bills $0.002 per extra send, which is $2 for every 1,000 sends over the limit. Add-ons such as SMS and Inbox Preview ($10/month) change the total.

Constant Contact also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee: cancel within 30 days of signing up for a full refund.

Mailchimp pricing

Mailchimp has four plans: Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium. As of October 2026:

• Free: up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily cap of 250.
• Essentials: send limit of 10x your contact limit. 3 seats.
• Standard: send limit of 12x your contact limit. 5 seats.
• Premium: send limit of 15x your contact limit. Unlimited seats.

Mailchimp's pricing page currently shows introductory prices for the first 12 months, and the price after that depends on your contact tier. Because those offers change, we won't quote a paid price here. Enter your contact count on the pricing page to see your real number for year one and after.

Two Mailchimp billing rules catch people out:

1. Unsubscribed contacts count. Mailchimp's help center says subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts are included in your contact count. Only archived, cleaned and deleted contacts are excluded.
2. You pay for your peak. Your bill reflects the highest number of contacts stored during the billing period, even if you deleted some later.

On a paid plan, going over your contact or send limit doesn't pause sending; you see an additional charge on your bill. On the Free plan, sending is paused instead. Mailchimp also has a Pay As You Go option where you buy email credits instead of paying monthly, which suits very infrequent senders.

Nonprofit discounts

This matters if you run a charity, school or association:

• Mailchimp: 15% off for nonprofits and charities. You sign up, then contact Mailchimp's billing team with your username and website.
• Constant Contact: 20% off when you prepay for six months, or 30% off when you prepay for 12 months. There is no nonprofit discount on monthly billing, and US organizations need to send their 501(c)(3) or (c)(6) determination letter.

What this means for your bill

A few habits keep either bill down:

• On Mailchimp, archive people you no longer email. Unsubscribed contacts still count until you do.
• On Constant Contact, watch the send allowance. Lite allows 10x your contacts, so a weekly newsletter plus a couple of extra sends can push you into overage fees.
• On both, remove hard bounces and long-inactive contacts regularly. It helps deliverability as well as cost; our email deliverability guide explains why.

Free plan vs free trial

This is the clearest difference between the two.

Mailchimp has a permanent Free plan for up to 250 contacts. It is limited: one seat, one audience, limited pre-built templates, no email scheduling, Mailchimp branding in your emails, no automation flows, and email support only for the first 30 days. It is enough to send a simple monthly newsletter to a small list. Mailchimp also offers a 14-day free trial of Essentials or Standard; a card is required at sign-up, and you aren't charged if you cancel during the trial.

Constant Contact has no free plan. It offers a free trial without a credit card, so you can build emails and send real campaigns before you commit, and then the 30-day money-back guarantee once you buy.

Under 250 contacts and no budget? Start with Mailchimp Free. Want to try a full tool before paying? Both trials work; Constant Contact's doesn't ask for a card.

Editor and templates

Both tools give you a drag-and-drop editor, a template library and ways to save your brand colors and logo.

• Constant Contact includes its drag-and-drop editor, email templates, an AI copy generator and BrandKit on every plan, including Lite. Standard adds email scheduling and subject line A/B testing; Premium adds dynamic content.
• Mailchimp limits pre-built templates on Free and includes them on paid plans. Email scheduling starts on Essentials. Custom reports and dynamic content start on Standard. Custom-coded templates can be created on any plan, but you need Standard or Premium to send them.

On AI writing, Mailchimp lists its generative AI features as included at no extra cost on Standard and Premium, and not included on Free or Essentials. Constant Contact puts its AI copy generator on every plan and adds an AI campaign builder on Standard.

Whichever editor you pick, the copy matters more than the template. Keep one clear message per email, for example:

Automations

Automation is where the plan you pick changes what you can do.

Mailchimp automations

Mailchimp calls them Marketing Automation Flows. As of October 2026:

• Free: no automation flows.
• Essentials: flows of up to 4 steps.
• Standard and Premium: up to 200 flows, with enhanced automations.

A 4-step flow on Essentials fits a simple welcome series. Branching journeys and ecommerce flows need Standard.

Constant Contact automations

Constant Contact uses automation templates, split by plan:

• Lite: 1 automation template.
• Standard: 3 automation templates, the AI campaign builder, and automatic resend to non-openers.
• Premium: unlimited templates, custom automations, ecommerce automation templates and auto-send welcome emails.

Which goes further on automation?

At the middle tier, Mailchimp Standard gives you more room to build than Constant Contact Standard. At the top tier, both offer custom automations. If automation is central to your plans, price Mailchimp Standard against Constant Contact Premium, since those are roughly where each tool's full automation starts.

Events: Constant Contact's built-in advantage

Constant Contact includes event tools on every plan: a registration form, payments, and the option to sell products and services. Its pricing page describes this as "host events, sell products, and take payments," on Lite, Standard and Premium alike.

That is a real advantage for nonprofits, studios and local businesses that run classes, fundraisers or workshops: invitation, registration and reminders live in one tool and one list.

Mailchimp's plan comparison doesn't list event registration. With Mailchimp you would use a separate events tool and connect it, or link to a registration page.

An example reminder sequence for an event, using either tool:

1. Invitation, three weeks out: "You're invited: Spring Fundraiser Dinner, May 16"
2. Reminder to non-registrants, one week out
3. Confirmation and logistics, the day before: parking, timing, what to bring
4. Thank-you and photo recap, two days after

Ecommerce and Shopify

Both tools connect to Shopify, but neither is primarily an ecommerce platform in the way Klaviyo is.

• Mailchimp lists Shopify among its most popular integrations. Its automation flows can run from a connected store, and predictive segments for connected stores are on Standard and Premium.
• Constant Contact lists Shopify among its 300+ integrations on all plans. Ecommerce automation templates, ecommerce segmentation and revenue reporting are Premium features.

For a Shopify store, the ecommerce flows (abandoned checkout, post-purchase, win-back) matter most: that points to Mailchimp Standard or Constant Contact Premium. Also look at ecommerce-first tools; our Mailchimp alternative guide and Constant Contact alternatives cover them.

SMS and social media

• SMS: Mailchimp offers SMS as an add-on to paid plans in select markets; Free doesn't include it. Constant Contact's SMS is for US paid-plan customers only; Premium includes 500 messages a month, and Lite and Standard can add SMS starting at $10/month for up to 500 messages.
• Social: Constant Contact includes social posting to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn on every plan, with scheduling from Standard and a social ads manager.

Support

Support is one of Constant Contact's main selling points, and its plans reflect that.

• Constant Contact: live phone and chat support with marketing experts on every plan, plus live 1:1 onboarding. Premium adds a dedicated priority support team.
• Mailchimp: Free gets email support for the first 30 days only. Essentials and Standard get 24/7 email and chat support. Premium adds phone and priority support. Standard and Premium also include personalized onboarding sessions (one on Standard, four on Premium).

If you want to call someone on an entry-level budget, Constant Contact is the choice.

Which should you choose?

Choose Mailchimp if

• You have fewer than 250 contacts and want to start for free.
• You want multi-step automations without paying for a top tier (Standard).
• You want AI writing tools and are on Standard or higher.
• You're comfortable with chat and email support.
• You'll keep your list clean, since unsubscribed contacts count toward your bill.

Choose Constant Contact if

• You run events, classes or fundraisers and want registration and payments built in.
• You want live phone support on the entry plan.
• You post to social media and want it in the same tool.
• You're a nonprofit that can prepay for 6 or 12 months to unlock the discount.
• Your automations are simple: a welcome email and a resend to non-openers.

By type of organization

• Nonprofit with events: Constant Contact's event tools and prepaid nonprofit discount fit well.
• Local service business with a small list: Mailchimp Free or Constant Contact Lite, depending on whether you want free or want phone support.
• Online store: compare Mailchimp Standard with ecommerce-first tools; see our guide to email marketing for small businesses for the basics.

A third option: EterMail

EterMail is our product, so read this section with that in mind. It is built for a different case than either tool: online stores, SaaS products and apps that want AI to draft their email.

• AI drafts, a person approves. EterMail learns your brand from your website and store, then drafts campaigns and flows such as welcome, abandoned checkout, post-purchase and win-back. By default, every send waits for a person to approve it. AI can also make the pictures: on-brand banners, or scenes built from your real product photo, with an optional short greeting.
• You pay per email, not per contact. 1,000 credits cost $1, and a marketing email costs 2 credits, so about $2 per 1,000 emails. The Free plan is $0 with 1,000 credits a month and up to 1,000 contacts, no card needed. Paid plans are Starter $19, Growth $49, Pro $149 and Ultra $299. See pricing.
• Cold outreach and a shared inbox are included, sending from your own Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or SMTP mailboxes.

Where it falls short for this audience: EterMail has no event registration, no SMS and no social posting, and it isn't in the Shopify App Store (stores connect through a read-only custom app). If events or phone support are what you need, Constant Contact fits better.

FAQ

Is Constant Contact better than Mailchimp?

Neither is better for everyone. Constant Contact is stronger if you want live phone support on every plan and built-in event registration. Mailchimp is stronger if you want a free plan or more automation on a mid-tier plan. Compare both with your own contact count and the features you'll actually use.

Is Constant Contact cheaper than Mailchimp?

It depends on your list size and Mailchimp's current introductory offer. As of October 2026, Constant Contact starts at $12/month for Lite, while Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 250 contacts and paid prices that vary by contact tier. Put your own contact count into both pricing pages, and remember that Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts until you archive them.

Does Constant Contact have a free plan?

No. Constant Contact has a free trial that doesn't require a credit card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. Mailchimp is the one with a permanent free plan, for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.

Which is better for nonprofits, Mailchimp or Constant Contact?

Many nonprofits choose Constant Contact for its event registration, phone support and prepaid discount of up to 30%. Mailchimp offers nonprofits 15% off and has a free plan for very small lists. If you run events, Constant Contact usually saves you a separate tool.

Can I switch from Mailchimp to Constant Contact?

Yes. Export your contacts from Mailchimp as a CSV, including their subscription status, and import them into the new tool. Bring over only people who are subscribed, rebuild your templates and automations, and authenticate your sending domain in the new account before your first send.