Mailchimp (mailchimp.com) is one of the world's most widely recognised email marketing and automation platforms, used by millions of businesses across every industry and size category. Originally launched in 2001 as a simple email newsletter tool, Mailchimp has evolved into a comprehensive marketing platform that now integrates generative AI features across its Standard plan — including AI-generated email content, subject lines, and audience insights — alongside enhanced automations, customisable popup forms, custom-coded email templates, and personalised onboarding. The platform offers a permanently free plan for up to 500 contacts that allows users to explore core email marketing features before committing to a paid subscription. The Standard paid plan builds on this with a 14-day risk-free trial — including up to 100 free emails with no credit card required — providing a meaningful evaluation window before any payment is needed.
Mailchimp's 2026 Standard plan is built around helping businesses understand and grow their audience with actionable intelligence. The platform provides actionable insights into audience growth and conversion funnels, allowing marketers to see where subscribers come from and where they drop off in conversion journeys. Enhanced automations go beyond simple welcome sequences to trigger personalised messaging based on a wider range of customer behaviours and lifecycle events. Custom-coded email templates allow design teams to implement pixel-perfect brand experiences that the standard drag-and-drop editor cannot achieve. A 15% discount is applied for lists of 10,000 contacts or more, rewarding users who consolidate larger audiences on the platform.
How Mailchimp Works
Users import existing contacts or grow their list through Mailchimp's customisable popup forms, landing pages, or integrations with hundreds of third-party platforms. Campaigns are built in the email editor using drag-and-drop blocks or custom-coded templates, with generative AI available to assist with copy creation at the content stage. Audience segmentation targets campaigns to defined subscriber groups based on behaviour, demographics, or engagement history. Enhanced automations send personalised email sequences triggered by subscriber actions — sign-ups, purchases, link clicks, or date-based events. The audience growth and conversion funnel insights surface where subscribers enter and progress through the marketing journey, helping teams identify and address drop-off points. Personalised onboarding on the Standard plan guides new users through initial setup with tailored guidance rather than generic documentation.
Key Features
- Free plan — permanently free for up to 500 contacts with core email marketing features; send up to 100 emails risk-free on the Standard plan trial with no credit card required
- Generative AI features — AI-generated email copy, subject lines, and content suggestions integrated into the Standard plan email editor
- Enhanced automations — trigger-based email sequences responding to a wide range of customer behaviours and lifecycle events beyond basic welcome series
- Audience growth and conversion funnel insights — analytics showing where subscribers enter, progress, and drop off in the conversion journey
- Custom-coded email templates — HTML template support for precise brand implementation beyond drag-and-drop design constraints
- Customisable popup forms — flexible signup form design for lead capture across websites and landing pages
- Personalised onboarding — tailored setup guidance for new Standard plan users to accelerate time-to-first-campaign
- 15% discount for 10,000+ contacts — volume saving applied automatically for larger audience sizes on the Standard plan
- 14-day risk-free trial — full Standard plan access including up to 5,900 sends after saving a payment method, with 100 free emails before any card is required
- Hundreds of integrations — connects with ecommerce platforms, CRMs, social media, and third-party tools via Mailchimp's integration ecosystem
Mailchimp Pricing
- Free — $0/month — Core email marketing features for up to 500 contacts. Send up to 100 emails on the Standard plan trial with no credit card required before deciding to upgrade.
- Standard — from $20/month — Generative AI features, actionable insights into audience growth and conversion funnels, enhanced automations, custom-coded email templates, customisable popup forms, and personalised onboarding. 14-day free trial includes up to 100 emails (no credit card) or up to 5,900 sends after saving a payment method. 15% discount applied automatically for lists of 10,000 or more contacts.
Free plan available for up to 500 contacts. Standard plan pricing scales with contact count. Always verify current rates at mailchimp.com/pricing.
Who Should Use Mailchimp?
Mailchimp's broad name recognition, extensive integration ecosystem, and permanently free plan make it one of the most accessible starting points for businesses of any size beginning their email marketing journey. The free plan is suitable for very small lists and new businesses exploring email marketing without budget commitment. The Standard plan serves growing businesses that need generative AI assistance, enhanced automations, funnel analytics, and custom template capability in a well-supported platform. Mailchimp's hundreds of third-party integrations make it a practical choice for businesses already using a diverse software stack. Teams that need built-in SMS marketing, advanced CRM features, or ecommerce-specific automation depth may find that Mailchimp's Standard plan requires supplementing with additional tools, and should compare the full platform against more vertically-focused alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is a widely used email marketing and automation platform that integrates generative AI features, enhanced automations, audience growth analytics, and custom email templates into its Standard plan. It offers a permanently free plan for up to 500 contacts and a 14-day risk-free trial of the Standard plan with no credit card required for the first 100 emails, making it accessible for businesses at any stage.
Is Mailchimp free?
Yes. Mailchimp offers a permanently free plan for lists of up to 500 contacts with core email marketing features. Additionally, the Standard paid plan can be tried risk-free for 14 days, with up to 100 emails sendable before any credit card is required. After saving a payment method, the trial extends to up to 5,900 sends before the subscription starts at $20/month.
What generative AI features does Mailchimp include?
Mailchimp's Standard plan includes generative AI features that assist with writing email copy, subject lines, and content suggestions directly within the email editor. These AI tools reduce the time needed to draft campaign-ready content and can be used to generate or refine messaging based on the campaign's audience and objective.
What are Mailchimp's enhanced automations?
Enhanced automations on the Standard plan extend beyond basic welcome email sequences to trigger personalised messages based on a broader range of subscriber behaviours and lifecycle events — such as purchase activity, link clicks, engagement patterns, and date-based triggers. They allow businesses to build multi-step nurture sequences that respond to individual subscriber actions rather than sending the same sequence to all contacts.
Does Mailchimp offer a discount for large contact lists?
Yes. Mailchimp applies a 15% discount automatically for Standard plan subscribers with 10,000 or more contacts. This volume saving is applied to the monthly pricing and helps offset the cost increase as contact lists grow beyond standard thresholds.
