MailerLite vs Mailchimp: Which is Best in 2025?
Mailchimp is one of the best-known email marketing tools in the business. But best-known doesn’t always mean the best. There is plenty of rival email marketing software to choose from. Like MailerLite.
MailerLite an email marketing tool you may not know so well. So in this article, I am giving you the full MailerLite vs Mailchimp comparison. How MailerLite compares to its better-known rival on creating and sending emails. On automation. On finding and managing contacts. And, of course, how it compares on cost and value for money.
By the end you’ll have a very clear idea of which email marketing software is the best for you. MailerLite vs Mailchimp – let the battle commence!
Summary: MailerLite vs Mailchimp
Pressed for time and want the short version? No problem! Both Mailchimp and MailerLite are easy to use and it is easy to get started.
The main difference between MailerLite and Mailchimp is value for money. MailerLite wins hands down. On normal plans, Mailchimp and MailerLite features are very similar. But MailerLite gives you more contacts, unlimited emails and costs less. It’s one of the best value-for-money email marketing tools around.
| Mailchimp | MailerLite | |
| Ease of Use | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Sending Emails | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| Automation | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Lead Generation | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| Contact Management | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| Integrations | 4/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Support | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Pricing | 3/5 | 5/5 |
And the user interface is slick. But, as far as marketing tools go, Mailchimp is a big beast. It tries to offer a bit of everything, not just email marketing. That’s great if you want social posting and ads in your email marketing tool. But you are a bit spoiled for choice and certain things are hard to find.
MailerLite is simple, stripped back and laser-focused on email marketing. Perfect for beginners and anyone who values speed and simplicity.
Both MailerLite and Mailchimp have solid, user-friendly drag-and-drop email editors. Neither has the biggest selection of templates I’ve ever seen. I prefer MailerLite’s templates for quality, though. And it is easier to play around with layouts in its editor.
MailerLite’s simplicity means it wins out in other categories, too. Mailchimp has more automation options, but they are pretty complicated. If advanced automated marketing journeys really matter to you, then rather go for a tool like ActiveCampaign. If you want to send out emails, with a bit of relatively simple automations MailerLite is a lot more straightforward.
Same story with sign-up forms. Mailchimp usability suffers. I have an issue with needing three different form builders, none of which are that great. MailerLite does this simple job well. As it does with contact management. Easy grouping and segmenting options. And I prefer MailerLite’s master list model to Mailchimp’s separate ‘audiences’. That’s asking for unnecessary duplication.
Where Mailchimp does win out is the number of integrations on offer with other platforms. MailerLite can’t compete with the 300+ Mailchimp has. And Mailchimp’s customer support.. well it’s there, but don’t expect too much. They both only offer email support for a brief period on their Free plans, which is less than ideal.
Detailed MailerLite vs Mailchimp Comparison
So on to the details. Both Mailchimp and MailerLite offer free trials when you sign up. I used both to explore and compare all the main email marketing features. This is what I found out.
Sending emails
MailerLite has all the expected options for creating and sending emails. There’s a drag-and-drop editor for building no-code HTML emails. Or if you prefer, a basic text editor like you get in standard email platforms. If you know how to code, you can import HTML emails.
When you set up a campaign in MailerLite, you can choose from standard sending, or A/B split testing. You can also set up an RSS feed to automatically turn new content on your blog into an email. Or set up auto-resend emails resend if contacts don’t open an email the first time.
MailerLite has 90 pre-made email templates for its drag-and-drop editor. Sorted into 12 categories. You don’t get any templates on the Free plan. The choices in some categories are better than others. For example, I found 4 newsletter templates, and they were all pretty ordinary. For ecommerce, the 18 available templates were much brighter and more professional.
The best thing about MailerLite’s drag-and-drop editor is the pre-formatted blocks. You can drop straight into any template. They make customizing your own layouts very quick and simple. Another highlight of MailerLite’s email builder is the AI writing assistant. This helps you write headlines, product descriptions, and even full newsletters. What isn’t so great is the fact that you can’t change templates once you have started.
Mailchimp gives you two email creation options up front. A ‘Classic’ drag-and-drop editor, and a new AI-powered builder. This pulls in visuals from your own website to create custom graphics. Great for consistent branding.
You can send plain text emails in Mailchimp if you prefer. Or code your own designs. But these options are buried in the process and not obvious. For example, to use your own HTML, there’s a Code Your Own tab. To find this you have to start a campaign and then hunt through the Content options.
Mailchimp doesn’t have the greatest selection of templates in the world. I counted 84 pre-designed ‘themed’ templates in total. There are fewer on Mailchimp’s Free plan.
If you don’t like any of the pre-made designs, you can choose from 14 basic templates. Or check out the 99+ best free Mailchimp templates for professional designs.
Mailchimp’s email editor itself is basic but easy to use. What you can’t do easily is play with different layouts once you’ve chosen your template or outline. It’s all pretty fixed. I do like the fact you can change templates halfway through a design, though.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp for sending emails
There’s little to choose between MailerLite and Mailchimp on sending emails. But MailerLite edges it for me. MailerLite has better-quality templates. But the choice isn’t great on either platform. And I prefer MailerLite’s editor, especially for those handy layout blocks.
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Automating workflows
Every MailerLite user can build automated workflows. Even on the Free plan. The workflow editor is basic but easy to use. On the highest tier, you can set up to three triggers or starting points for each workflow. Otherwise, it’s one trigger per automation, which keeps things pretty basic. The triggers available are:
- Subscribers signing up via a form
- Subscribers clicking links
- Subscribers updating information
- Dates
There are no premade workflow templates on MailerLite’s Free tier. But you get 15 on the standard plan. These make life very easy. For things like sending a welcome email to new subscribers, all the work is done for you. You just add a trigger and create your email. Learn more about how automations work in our full MailerLite review.
Mailchimp’s automation options are a noticeable step up from MailerLite’s. Mailchimp gives you more pre-built workflow templates (or ‘journeys’) for a start. 77 altogether, and 39 different templates just for nurturing leads. A lot of Mailchimp’s templates are linked to third-party apps and integrations. So to give an example, you can set up automations to get alerts in Slack or Teams whenever someone new signs up.
If you can’t find a Mailchimp workflow template that works for you, you can still build your own. A word of warning, though. There are a dizzying number of choices for creating your own workflow. Dozens just for setting the trigger point for the automation to start. So you can build much more sophisticated automations than you can in MailerLite. But it’s easy to get tied up in knots. Especially if you’re not a pro marketer.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp automations
Mailchimp’s advanced automation features are more powerful than MailerLite’s. But MailerLite wins out for simplicity if your goal is basic automations. Although the lack of workflow templates on the Free plan is negative.
Try Automations in MailerLite for free
Generating leads with landing pages and forms
In MailerLite, you can create both pop-up and embedded forms. You can also use pop-ups to deliver promotional messages on your website.
MailerLite has 24 pop-up form templates to choose from. They are mostly sign-up forms with some countdown teasers to events. They come in full and half-page formats, sideboxes and modals. Modal windows make the content behind them inaccessible, so the visitor has to act. There’s only one embedded form template. A pretty basic newsletter signup.
MailerLite doesn’t let you build a form without choosing a subscriber group. This is where all the new signups will be added. I like this idea, as it means your news subscribers are sorted automatically. They don’t end up lost in a long list of contacts.
Mailchimp’s form-making options are bundled in with audiences/contact management. On one level this makes sense. Forms are all about growing your subscriber numbers. But it also buries it out of the way a little. You have to go looking where to build a form first.
Mailchimp has more form options than MailerLite. You can build forms for people to subscribe and unsubscribe. Or for extras like updating profile details, friend referrals or contact us forms. There are lots of choices within each category. And you can choose between embedded and pop-up forms.
What I do find confusing is the fact that Mailchimp has three different form builders. Different ones for Form Builder, Embedded Forms and Subscriber Pop-Up. None of them are great, either. Only the pop-up builder is drag and drop and is still limited in its options. The other two are plain clunky.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp on lead generation
There’s no doubt Mailchimp lets you do a lot more with forms than MailerLite. But I don’t think the usability is great. I struggle to see past those three form builders. Why? So for a simple option that does the basics right, MailerLite wins out here for me.
Managing contacts
MailerLite has two main ways of sorting contacts. With groups, you get a free hit to create whatever categories you like. And add whoever you like.
With segments, you create filters based on known contact data or user activity. So you could, for example, create a segment based on subscribers in a particular country who use the same email service. And who has opened your last five emails. The segment updates as contact data changes, especially around activity. Plus you can set up automations to create segments and groups and to add and remove contacts.
Mailchimp lets you tag subscribers as well as create groups and segments. I’m not convinced having both groups and tags is necessary. In practice the two work in pretty much the same way. As Mailchimp puts it, a tag is a way to “Easily organize your contacts using simple words or phrases that make the most sense to you.” Very like creating groups if you ask me.
Segments work in much the same way as MailerLite. There are more criteria available in Mailchimp. There are also some pre-made segments, although there are only three and they are very basic.
One different thing about Mailchimp is you can create separate lists or ‘audiences’. Instead of having separate lists, MailerLite works on the basis of a single master list. You use groups and segments to narrow it down as and when you want.
Mailchimp’s approach has strengths and weaknesses. It’s great if you want to keep different types of activity separate. So you might have different audiences for newsletters and promotional campaigns, for example. But the downside is they are totally separate. You couldn’t, for example, pick subscribers from two different lists to send the same email. Then, again, you don’t have to create lots of audiences. You can stick to one.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp list management
My favourite for managing contacts? Again, MailerLite for simplicity. Mailchimp feels like it’s trying too hard to offer too much.
Analytics
All MailerLite’s analytics are shown on the main dashboard. Visually it’s pretty basic. But you get stats for your contacts, email campaigns, forms and automations.
Subscriber stats simply show who has joined today or in the last month. Form stats show where your new subscribers are coming from, as well as conversion rates. So you can see easily which forms are performing best. Automation workflow stats tell you how many automatic emails are sent. And to how many subscribers, and how many unsubscribes come from it.
Email stats are a bit more detailed. You see the number of opens, clicks, and emails sent by campaign and by month. Along with unsubscribe figures and spam complaints. So you see which emails are converting well, as well as which are getting a negative response.
If you have a WooCommerce or Shopify account, MailerLite can also track conversions.
Mailchimp has data and stats available in lots of different sections. The Campaign Manager page, for example, shows reports for all types of campaigns. There’s also a Send Day optimization tool that tells you when to launch campaigns for the best results.
In the main Analytics section, there’s a dedicated page for email statistics. This covers the core metrics like opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes. Then there is a Reports page where you can access data for any kind of activity. You can run comparative reports for different campaigns.
Mailchimp has also recently introduced an option to build custom reports. This lets you cherry-pick the metrics and the activity that really matter to you. Another recent addition are customer journey reports. If you sell online, this will show you how much revenue your email campaigns are generating. Whatever ecommerce platform you use.
If this still isn’t enough, you can connect Google Analytics for more in-depth reporting.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp analytics
There’s no real contest in this category. For depth of insights and presentation of data, Mailchimp’s advanced reporting is a step above MailerLite.
Integrations
MailerLite displays a list of 9 ‘featured’ native integrations. Although if you hunt around the knowledgebase, it’s clear that it connects to more. I couldn’t find a figure for how many exactly.
Still, the featured list includes some major names. One of which is Zapier. Zapier is a third-party platform that will connect you to thousands of other apps. And MailerLite also makes its API available for custom integrations.
Mailchimp offers a lot more direct integrations. More than 300, in fact. There’s a long list of categories, including CRMs, ecommerce platforms, landing page builders, and SMS marketing tools. And if you can’t connect to another app you use directly, Mailchimp shares its API, too.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp integrations
More doesn’t always mean better. But in this case, Mailchimp is better if you want to connect a lot of other apps to your email marketing platform.
Customer Support
All MailerLite accounts get access to an online knowledge base and email ticket support. When you sign up for a free trial, you get live chat support, too. You can find the live chat icon at the bottom right corner.
There’s also a small ‘Need help?’ at the bottom of the main menu. That takes you to a knowledge base filled with articles and videos organized into categories.
Mailchimp support is fine if you pay for your subscription. All paid plans come with 24/7 email, live chat (with an agent) and Mailchimp Assistant (a bot) support. Although the assistant is really just a souped-up search tool for the knowledge base.
On the Free plan, you get email support for 30 days. After that, nothing. You have to fend for yourself in the knowledge base.
The verdict: MailerLite vs Mailchimp customer support
MailerLite wins on support with live chat support even in the free trial. And more responsive and quicker customer service on paid plans.
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MailerLite vs Mailchimp Price Comparison
MailerLite has 3 paid-for plans, Growing Business, Advanced and Enterprise. Plus a Free plan.
The Growing Business plan starts at €9 a month for up to 500 subscribers. You can send an unlimited number of emails and have up to three people registered to the account. You also get 24/7 email support. The price goes up as you get more subscribers. For example, it will cost you €36 a month for 5000 subscribers.
Upgrading to the advanced plan gives you unlimited users and 24/7 live chat and email support. The Advanced plan becomes better value the more subscribers you have. It costs €47 a month for 5000 contacts..
MailerLite’s Free plan lets you have up to 1000 subscribers and send a maximum of 12,000 emails a month. As already mentioned, the biggest miss is not getting any email templates. But you can build as many automations as you like, and also get A/B testing.
Mailchimp has 4 plans, three paid-for and one free.
Mailchimp’s paid-for plans start at €12.31 a month. Like Mailerlite, you also get three users and 24/7 email support. Plus live chat support. But you can only have 500 contacts to MailerLite’s starting point of 1000. And you can only send a maximum of 5000 emails. Increase to 5000 contacts and the Essentials plan costs €65.34 a month.
To get a lot of Mailchimp’s more advanced features, you have to be on the Standard plan. This includes things like Campaign Manager and Send Time Optimization. It’s unusual that Mailchimp caps email sends even on this and its Premium plan. Remember, MailerLite offers unlimited sends in all paid plans.
Compared to MailerLite, Mailchimp’s Free plan has a few plus points. You can use the email templates and get access to all 300+ integrations. And you can use the Creative Assistant. But you can only have 500 contacts and send up to 1000 emails.
Overall, MailerLite works out as a much better value. Yes, Mailchimp has a few bonuses on its Free and Essentials plan. But you get fewer contacts, and fewer emails and it costs more. If you are looking for a low-cost email marketing service that delivers on the basics, MailerLite is far more cost-effective.
See full MailerLite pricing hereor read the full pricing guide
Conclusion: MailerLite vs Mailchimp
So who wins out in the MailerLite vs Mailchimp contest?
Mailchimp is one of the most used email marketing tools. It’s a friendly digital marketing platform. But not all of them are the most user-friendly. And it is very pricey for what you get.
If email marketing is your main focus, MailerLite is a great Mailchimp alternative. It’s user-friendly, and it has better email templates. It makes it easy to do all the basics. And it’s much, much more cost-effective. Try MailerLite for free.
So over to you. MailerLite vs Mailchimp. Which do you choose as your next email marketing tool?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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