SendPulse vs Mailchimp: the short verdict
SendPulse is the lower-cost choice at every list size in our data and has no send cap on its paid plan, so it suits senders who mail often or who want SMS and chatbots in the same account. Mailchimp costs more and caps sends on every plan (sends over the cap are billed, not blocked), but it lists a large integration directory, and its Standard plan adds AI, advanced segmentation and longer automations.
| SendPulse | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Standard | Essentials |
| Price at 10,000 contacts | $78 | $110 |
| Emails on that plan | unlimited emails | 10× contacts per month |
| Free plan | 500 contacts and 15,000 emails a month | 250 contacts and 500 emails a month |
SendPulse vs Mailchimp pricing in 2026
Both tools price their cheapest paid plan by list size. SendPulse Standard costs less than Mailchimp Essentials at every size from 500 to 50,000 contacts; the gap is about a dollar at 500 and much wider on large lists. Mailchimp’s Standard plan, the one with its AI and advanced features, costs more again.
| List size | SendPulseStandard | MailchimpEssentials |
|---|---|---|
| 500 subscribers | $12 | $13 |
| 1,000 subscribers | $18 | $26.50 |
| 2,500 subscribers | $38 | $45 |
| 5,000 subscribers | $52 | $75 |
| 10,000 subscribers | $78 | $110 |
| 25,000 subscribers | $159 | $270 |
| 50,000 subscribers | $281 | $385 |
| Emails included | unlimited emails | 10× contacts per month |
These are regular prices. The 1,000 row uses the 501–1,500 tier, so a list of up to 1,500 pays that price. Listed prices do not include sales tax or other transaction taxes. Both vendors discount annual billing; the prices here are month-to-month.
At 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Standard is $100 a month and at 10,000 it is $135. SendPulse sells higher plans too (Pro and Enterprise); the prices on this page are for Standard.
SendPulse is not the lowest price outside this pair. Add Moosend, MailerLite and GetResponse to the comparison and SendPulse ranks fourth of five at 2,500 contacts and third at 5,000; it is the lowest of the five at 10,000.
Send limits and how each tool bills
SendPulse Standard includes unlimited emails, so the bill depends only on list size. Mailchimp caps monthly sends at a multiple of the contact limit on every plan, counts unsubscribed contacts until you archive them, and bills the highest contact count reached in the cycle.
The monthly send limit is 10 times the contact limit on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium.Each email to one contact is one send, and test and transactional emails count toward the monthly limit.On paid plans, going over the contact limit or the send limit does not interrupt sending; an additional charge appears on the monthly bill.
Subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count toward the contact limit; archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not.The limit is measured at the highest number of contacts stored at any point in the billing cycle, and the bill reflects that peak.
On Essentials the allowance works out to about two emails a week to every contact. A weekly newsletter plus a welcome series fits; a daily send to the full list does not.
Free plans compared
SendPulse’s free plan is larger on both axes: more subscribers and many more emails a month. Mailchimp’s free plan suits a trial more than a running newsletter; it has a daily send cap, no scheduling and no automation.
| Tool | Subscriber limit | Emails | Vendor branding in emails | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SendPulse | 500 | 15,000 / month | Yes | 5 automation flows, 3 sender addresses |
| Mailchimp | 250 | 500 / month | Yes | also capped at 250 sends a day |
| Tool | Automation | Forms and landing pages | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| SendPulse | 5 flows | Subscription forms; landing pages are a separate product | 24/7 chat and email |
| Mailchimp | Not included | Forms and landing pages | Email for the first 30 days |
The Free plan has a daily cap of 250 sends, no email scheduling, a limited template selection, one seat and one audience, email support for the first 30 days, and the Mailchimp badge stays on emails.On the Free plan, going over the contact or send limit pauses sending until you upgrade or reduce the contact total.
Automation and segmentation
SendPulse includes automation flows on every plan, free included, and the number grows with the plan. Mailchimp Essentials limits flows to a few steps; full automation, advanced and predictive segmentation start on Mailchimp Standard. On SendPulse, dynamic segmentation starts on Pro.
Automation 360 flows by email plan: 5 on Free, 10 on Standard, 50 on Pro and unlimited on Enterprise, with 50, 70, 150 and unlimited elements per flow.Standard includes static segmentation; dynamic segmentation with saved segments starts on Pro.
Automation is the main difference between the plans besides price: flows of up to 4 steps on Essentials, up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium, none on Free.Essentials has basic segmentation; predictive and advanced segmentation, behavioral targeting, dynamic content and send time optimization start on Standard.
AI features
Both tools have an AI assistant for writing email copy, under different terms. SendPulse’s comes with a free allowance of requests, after which you connect your own API key. Mailchimp’s Intuit Assist is included on Standard and Premium at no extra cost and is not on Essentials.
A built-in AI assistant writes, translates and edits email copy and builds automations; the first 200 AI requests are free, after which AI needs a paid plan or the free trial plus your own API key for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek, with token usage billed separately.
Intuit Assist, Mailchimp’s AI feature, is included at no extra cost on Standard and Premium and not on Essentials or Free; Mailchimp labels it beta, available to some users in select countries and in English only.
CRM, team seats and support
SendPulse’s CRM is a separate product with its own free plan; Mailchimp has no separate CRM plan on its pricing page. On the cheapest paid plans both allow a few users. Both list round-the-clock chat and email support on paid plans; Mailchimp adds phone support on Premium.
CRM is a separate product with a free plan: the account owner plus up to 4 invited users, up to 2 sales pipelines and 5 Automation 360 flows.Standard allows 3 users per account, Pro 10 and Enterprise an unlimited number.Seats per plan: 1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard and unlimited on Premium.
The email pricing page lists 24/7 live chat and email support; Enterprise adds dedicated support.Support per plan: email for the first 30 days on Free, 24/7 email and chat on Essentials and Standard, phone and priority support on Premium.
Channels beyond email
SendPulse runs SMS and chatbots for WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Messenger from the same account. Mailchimp sells SMS as an add-on to paid plans in select countries and lists no WhatsApp or Telegram on its pricing page.
| Tool | SMS | Telegram | Pay-as-you-go email | Course builder | Free SMTP tier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SendPulse | Yespay per message, no plan; 10 free test SMS | Yeschatbots; official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider | Yeschatbots | Yes$48 per 10,000 emails at Standard features; credits valid 12 months | Yescourse builder; free tier: 1 course, up to 200 students | 12,000 emails/month50 messages/hour, 2 sending domains |
| Mailchimp | Yespaid plans, select markets | Not listed | Not listed | Yesemail credits instead of a plan; credit prices are not on the pricing page | Not listed | —transactional email is a paid add-on to Standard and Premium; up to 500 free sends for new users |
Beyond the free allowance, chatbots are a separate Pro plan priced by chatbot subscribers.SMS is an add-on to paid plans in select countries: credits are bought in blocks, renew monthly and expire if unused.
Deliverability
This page does not rank the two on deliverability. We have not measured inbox placement, and neither pricing page gives a figure that could be compared. What decides placement is mostly on your side: an authenticated sending domain, a list that opted in, and steady sending volume.
Integrations
Mailchimp’s integration directory is its strongest argument. Mailchimp’s pricing table lists 300+ integrations on every plan. The email pricing page lists integrations with Make, Zapier, WordPress, Shopify and Creatio, plus an API and webhooks. Before switching, check that your store, CRM or booking tool connects to SendPulse directly or through Zapier.
SendPulse
Lower price at every list size, no send cap- At 1,000 subscribers
- $18/moStandard
- At 5,000 subscribers
- $52/moStandard
- At 10,000 subscribers
- $78/moStandard
- Emails on Standard
- unlimited emails
- Free plan
- 500 contacts, 15,000 emails/month
SendPulse is the better fit when price and send volume matter: Standard costs less than Mailchimp Essentials at every size and does not count sends. SMS and chatbots sit in the same account. Its AI needs your own API key after the free allowance, and dynamic segmentation starts on a higher plan.
Strong points
- Email, SMS and chatbots for WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Messenger run from one account
- Standard plan includes unlimited emails at every list size
- Separate free tiers for SMTP, chatbots and the course builder
Limits
- Free plan stops at 500 subscribers and keeps SendPulse branding in emails
- Pay-as-you-go email credits expire after 12 months
- SMS is billed per message on top of the plan; none is bundled
- Chatbots beyond the free allowance are a separate paid plan
- A dedicated IP is listed only for the SMTP Pro and Enterprise plans
Mailchimp
Large integration directory, AI on Standard- At 1,000 subscribers
- $26.50/moEssentials
- At 5,000 subscribers
- $75/moEssentials
- At 10,000 subscribers
- $110/moEssentials
- Emails on Essentials
- 10× contacts per month
- Free plan
- 250 contacts, 500 emails/month
Mailchimp is the better fit when an integration you rely on exists only for Mailchimp, or when you want AI, predictive segmentation and send time optimization in one plan and the Standard price is acceptable.
Strong points
- Large directory of third-party integrations
- Pay-as-you-go email credits are available
Limits
- Free plan is capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month
- Essentials limits sends to 10× your contact count
Which one to choose
- SendPulseYou mail your list more than about twice a week, your list is growing past a few thousand contacts, or you want SMS and messenger chatbots in the same account.
- MailchimpA tool you depend on connects only to Mailchimp, or you want AI and predictive segmentation in one plan and the higher price is acceptable.
- MoosendYou need email only and your list is between 500 and 5,000 contacts, where it costs less than both.
- GetResponseYour list is around 2,500 contacts, where it is the lowest price of the five tools above, and you want no send cap.
- MailerLiteYou want email only for less than both at 2,500 to 5,000 subscribers and can live with a send cap like Mailchimp Essentials.
Frequently asked questions
Is SendPulse cheaper than Mailchimp?
Yes, at every list size in our data, comparing each tool’s cheapest paid plan billed monthly. At 1,000 contacts SendPulse Standard is $18 and Mailchimp Essentials $26.50; at 10,000 they are $78 and $110; at 50,000, $281 and $385. At 500 contacts the difference is about a dollar.
Does SendPulse limit how many emails I can send?
Not on the paid Standard plan: it includes unlimited emails. The free plan is capped at 500 contacts and 15,000 emails a month. Mailchimp Essentials allows 10× contacts per month, and sends over the allowance are added to the bill.
Which free plan is bigger, SendPulse or Mailchimp?
SendPulse’s: 500 contacts and 15,000 emails a month, against 250 contacts and 500 emails a month on Mailchimp. Both keep the vendor’s branding in emails. Mailchimp’s free plan also has no automation and no scheduling.
Does SendPulse have AI features?
Yes. Its AI assistant drafts, translates and edits email copy and builds automations. A limited number of requests is free; after that AI needs a paid plan or the trial and your own API key for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek, and the tokens are billed by that provider. Mailchimp’s Intuit Assist comes at no extra cost on Standard and Premium, not on Essentials.
Which has better automation, SendPulse or Mailchimp?
It depends on the plan you compare. SendPulse’s free plan already includes automation flows, and Standard raises the number of flows. Mailchimp Free has none and Essentials limits the length of each flow; full automation starts on Mailchimp Standard, which costs more than SendPulse Standard at every list size.
Is SendPulse good for a small business?
For a small business that sends often or wants SMS and messenger chatbots in the same account, yes: there is no send cap on Standard and the price is lower than Mailchimp Essentials at every size. Pick Mailchimp if a tool you depend on connects only to Mailchimp.
Sources
Every price and limit on this page comes from the vendor’s own public pages. How we choose and check.
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing?country=us — checked September 29, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing/sms?country=us — checked September 29, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing/messengers?country=us — checked September 29, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing/edu?country=us — checked September 29, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing/smtp?country=us — checked September 29, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/features/ai — checked October 2, 2026
- SendPulse: sendpulse.com/pricing/crm?country=us — checked October 2, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/?currency=USD — checked September 29, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/compare-plans/?currency=USD — checked September 30, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/pricing/transactional-email/ — checked September 29, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans/ — checked September 30, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/help/about-additional-charges/ — checked September 30, 2026
- Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/help/about-the-pay-as-you-go-plan/ — checked September 30, 2026