Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: starting prices, send multiples and overage fees
Constant Contact starts at $12, $35 and $80 a month for Lite, Standard and Premium; Mailchimp starts at $13, $20 and $350 for Essentials, Standard and Premium. Mailchimp is the cheaper middle tier, Constant Contact the cheaper top tier, and Constant Contact allows up to 24 sends per contact on Premium against Mailchimp's 15. Constant Contact also puts live phone and chat support, event tools and social posting on every plan.
By Julian Pryor · Updated 7 Oct 2026
Short answer
Choose Constant Contact if the people running email are not marketers by trade and want a phone number on every plan, or if you host events and sell tickets or products from the same tool. Choose Mailchimp if you want a free plan to start on, a cheaper Standard plan, or an API-triggered flow for product events. At Premium level, Constant Contact's $80 starting price is a fraction of Mailchimp's $350, and it allows more sends per contact.
Starting prices side by side
Figures come from Constant Contact's pricing page and Mailchimp's pricing page, read on 7 October 2026. Constant Contact says the exact price depends on the plan and the number of contacts, and shows "starting at" amounts, so the table compares entry points.
| Tier | Constant Contact, monthly | Constant Contact, 12-month prepay | Mailchimp, 500 contacts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | Lite from $12 | $10.20 | Essentials $13 |
| Middle | Standard from $35 | $29.75 | Standard $20 |
| Top | Premium from $80 | $68 | Premium $350 |
| Free | None; free trial, no card | Free: 250 contacts, 500 sends a month |
Constant Contact's prepay saves up to 15%. Mailchimp's annual plans exist only for Standard and Premium accounts with 10,000 or more contacts, through sales, but it advertises first-year offers on monthly plans. Its captured page shows 50% off for 12 months (Standard at $10, Essentials at $6.50), while another readout of the same page showed $17 for Standard at 500 contacts. Plan on the list price.
Send allowances and what overage costs
Both vendors cap monthly sends as a multiple of your contacts. Constant Contact's multiples are 10 times on Lite, 12 on Standard and 24 on Premium. Mailchimp's are 10, 12 and 15. The middle tiers match; the top tier does not. At 5,000 contacts, Premium means 120,000 sends a month on Constant Contact and 75,000 on Mailchimp.
Going over is cheap and predictable on Constant Contact: emails still go out, and each extra send costs $0.002. A 5,000-contact list on Standard (allowance 60,000) that sends 75,000 emails pays for 15,000 extra, 15,000 × $0.002 = $30. Mailchimp says it bills overages automatically after the trial and keeps campaigns running as long as you pay on time, but its pricing page links an overages article instead of printing a rate.
What each plan contains
| Item | Constant Contact | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Users, lowest paid plan | Lite: 1 | Essentials: 3 seats |
| Users, middle plan | Standard: 3 | Standard: 5 seats |
| Users, top plan | Premium: unlimited | Premium: unlimited |
| Automation, lowest paid plan | 1 automation template | Up to 4 flow steps |
| Automation, middle plan | 3 templates, AI campaign builder | Up to 200 flows |
| Automation, top plan | Unlimited custom automations | Up to 200 flows |
| Subject-line A/B test, resend to non-openers | From Standard | Testing listed among its features |
| Support | Live phone and chat on every plan | Standard 24/7 email and chat; phone from Premium |
| SMS | 500 a month on Premium; add-on from $10 for 500 messages on Lite and Standard (US only) | Add-on in selected countries |
The automation rows measure different things, templates against flows, so count the journeys you actually need before reading too much into them. Constant Contact's segment limit is another hidden ceiling: Lite has 1 custom segment, Standard 10, Premium unlimited.
Events, social posting and phone support
Constant Contact's plan table lists hosting events, selling products and taking payments on all three plans, plus automatic social posts on Lite and scheduling on Standard. Mailchimp's plan table, as captured, shows no events-hosting line. For a local services business, a conference organiser or a SaaS that runs paid webinars, this matters more than any send multiple. A SaaS with a purely product-driven audience will use none of it.
Using either one for a SaaS
Mailchimp documents an Events endpoint: a flow can start when your server posts an event for a contact already in your audience, and the trigger is multi-step on Standard and single-step on Essentials. A trial-ended or payment-failed webhook would be translated by your own handler. Constant Contact's pricing page lists 300-plus integrations and names Zapier among them, but describes no event API. If you try it, send one test billing event through Zapier and look at what the automation can read.
Moving across
- Export contacts with consent status. Keep unsubscribed and bounced addresses suppressed on import.
- Rebuild the welcome automation first; Lite's single template may force you to Standard.
- Authenticate your sending domain in the new account and run both for a billing cycle.
Verdict by situation
- Mailchimp Standard for a modest list and a tight budget: $20 from the start, against Constant Contact Standard from $35.
- Constant Contact Premium for heavy sending, unlimited users and a phone number: from $80, 24 sends per contact.
- Constant Contact Lite or Standard for a team that wants hand-holding and event tools included.
Related reading: Mailchimp vs Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact vs Campaign Monitor, Brevo vs Constant Contact, MailerLite vs Constant Contact and the comparison index.
Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: common questions
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or Constant Contact?
It depends on the tier. Constant Contact's starting prices are $12 (Lite), $35 (Standard) and $80 (Premium); Mailchimp's are $13 (Essentials), $20 (Standard) and $350 (Premium) at 500 contacts. Mailchimp is cheaper at the middle tier, Constant Contact at the top. Both rise with contact count, and Constant Contact's page publishes starting prices only, so the figure for your list comes from its contact selector.
What happens if I go over my monthly send limit?
Constant Contact keeps sending and bills $0.002 for every send over the allowance, which is $2 per 1,000. Mailchimp says it bills overages automatically after the trial and does not stop campaigns while you pay on time, and links an overages article for the rate. On Mailchimp's free plan sending pauses when a limit is exceeded.
Is there a free plan?
Mailchimp has one: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Constant Contact has none; it offers a free trial with no credit card and a 30-day money-back guarantee on new plans.
Which fits a SaaS product better?
Neither is built around subscription events, but Mailchimp documents an Events endpoint whose API trigger starts a flow on paid plans, multi-step from Standard. Constant Contact's pricing page describes automation by templates and custom automations and names no event API. If the job is trial-end and failed-payment email, price a lifecycle tool first.