Mailchimp vs GetResponse: unlimited sends and webinars against contact bands
GetResponse Starter costs $19 a month for a 1,000-contact list with unlimited monthly sends, and its Creator plan at $69 adds webinars, a course builder and a website builder. Mailchimp Standard starts at $20 for 500 contacts, caps sends at 12 times your contacts and prices higher lists in bands: $100 for 2,501 to 5,000 and $135 for 5,001 to 10,000. GetResponse is the one to price when funnels, webinars or heavy sending matter; Mailchimp is simpler to start with and cheaper in its first year.
By Julian Pryor · Updated 7 Oct 2026
Short answer
Pick GetResponse if you want several automations, funnels or webinars in one subscription and you send often to a small list. Pick Mailchimp if you want a free plan, the lowest first-year price, or its API-triggered flows. For a SaaS the missing piece on both is subscription events: GetResponse keeps transactional email on Enterprise, and Mailchimp sells it as a separate product.
The prices each page prints
GetResponse's dollar figures were read on 7 October 2026 at its default list size of 1,000, on monthly billing and on its yearly option (the page says the yearly option takes 18% off). Mailchimp's come from its Standard-plan band quotes and plan starting prices on the same date. Links: getresponse.com/pricing and mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing.
| Plan and list size | Monthly billing | Yearly option | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GetResponse Starter, 1,000 contacts | $19 | $15.58 | Unlimited sends, welcome series, 1 custom automation workflow, landing pages, forms |
| GetResponse Marketer, 1,000 contacts | $59 | $48.38 | Unlimited workflows, advanced segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery, sales funnels |
| GetResponse Creator, 1,000 contacts | $69 | $56.58 | Webinars, website builder, course creator, up to 500 students |
| Mailchimp Essentials, 500 contacts | $13 | No annual plan listed | Sends up to 10 times contacts, 3 seats, up to 4 flow steps |
| Mailchimp Standard, 500 contacts | $20 | Annual via sales at 10,000+ contacts | Sends up to 12 times contacts, 5 seats, up to 200 flows |
| Mailchimp Standard, 2,501 to 5,000 and 5,001 to 10,000 | $100 and $135 | Up to 60,000 and 120,000 emails a month |
Sends: capped by list size, or not
GetResponse's FAQ puts it plainly: monthly plans are bracketed by list size, "starting at $19 per month for unlimited messages to 1,000 subscribers". Mailchimp's cap is a multiple of contacts. A 500-contact list on Mailchimp can send 5,000 emails on Essentials or 6,000 on Standard. A product mailing those 500 people 20 times a month sends 10,000 and passes both ceilings, so Mailchimp bills the overage, whereas the GetResponse plan has no listed ceiling. The situation reverses for a large list mailed rarely, where Mailchimp's allowance (120,000 sends in the 5,001 to 10,000 band) is more than anyone uses and the band price is what you pay.
Automation limits decide the plan
GetResponse's cheapest plan is limited to one custom automation workflow, so most teams need Marketer. That is $40 more a month at the 1,000-contact size ($59 against $19). Mailchimp's Essentials allows up to four flow steps, and Standard and Premium up to 200 flows. Counted in journeys, a SaaS with welcome, activation and win-back sequences needs Marketer on GetResponse and Standard on Mailchimp. The contact counts differ (1,000 and 500), so the $39 difference between $59 and $20 is not strictly like for like.
What GetResponse bundles
- Webinars and courses. Creator lists webinars, a website builder, a course creator (up to 500 students) and premium newsletter subscriptions. For a SaaS that runs onboarding webinars, one subscription replaces a separate webinar tool.
- Store tools. Marketer lists abandoned-cart recovery, sales funnels, promo codes and revenue reports. None of these is a subscription event such as a failed card or an ended trial.
- Enterprise-only items. Transactional emails, SMS, mobile push, a dedicated IP and single sign-on appear only on the custom plan.
Where Mailchimp is the better buy
Mailchimp has a permanent free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends a month) while GetResponse offers a 14-day trial without a card. Its Standard plan's first-year offers read $50 for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts and $67.50 for 5,001 to 10,000, the lowest Mailchimp prices on this page for months 1 to 12, though the offers differ between page versions and the list price follows. It also documents an Events endpoint whose API trigger can start a flow, multi-step on Standard, for contacts already in your audience.
Billing events for a SaaS
If your trial, upgrade and failed-payment emails need to come from this tool, both vendors expect your own server to translate billing webhooks. With Mailchimp that is an API call to its Events endpoint. With GetResponse, its pricing page lists no event API. Retries of the failed card stay in Stripe or Paddle in all cases; the email tool only carries the message that gets the card updated.
Moving over
- Export the list with status, and import unsubscribed addresses as suppressed.
- Count your automations before choosing a GetResponse plan, since Starter allows one.
- Authenticate the sending domain in the new account and send from both for a billing cycle.
- Recreate forms and landing pages last, so signup traffic never points at a half-built page.
Which to choose
- GetResponse Marketer or Creator for funnels, webinars and frequent sends, from $59 or $69 at 1,000 contacts.
- Mailchimp Standard for the lowest entry price, 5 seats and an API-triggered flow, accepting a cap of 12 sends per contact.
- Neither as the sole home for trial and dunning email on a SaaS without an events integration you have confirmed with the vendor.
Related reading: ConvertKit vs GetResponse, Brevo vs GetResponse, MailerLite vs GetResponse, Moosend vs GetResponse, ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse and the comparison index.
Mailchimp vs GetResponse: common questions
Is GetResponse cheaper than Mailchimp?
At the entry point they are close and GetResponse covers more: Starter is $19 a month for a 1,000-contact list, while Mailchimp Standard is $20 at 500 contacts and Essentials $13. GetResponse's dollar readout covers only its 1,000-contact default, so for 5,000 or 10,000 contacts use its list-size slider and set it against Mailchimp's $100 and $135 bands.
Does GetResponse limit how many emails I can send?
Its pricing page says unlimited monthly email sends on Starter, Marketer and Creator, with prices bracketed by list size. Mailchimp caps sends at 10 times contacts on Essentials, 12 on Standard and 15 on Premium, and bills overages after the trial.
Do I need Marketer to run more than one automation?
Yes. Starter lists one custom automation workflow; Marketer ($59 a month at 1,000 contacts on monthly billing) lists unlimited workflows along with advanced segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery and sales funnels. On Mailchimp, Standard and Premium allow up to 200 flows, while Essentials is limited to 4 flow steps.
Can GetResponse send transactional email such as receipts?
Its plan list shows transactional emails only on Enterprise, along with SMS, mobile push and a dedicated IP. On the lower plans, receipts and password resets would have to come from your app or another sender. Mailchimp also sells transactional email as a separate product, shown on its own tab of the pricing page.