Mailchimp vs MailerLite: cheaper at every size, until Mailchimp's first-year offer
MailerLite's Comfort plan costs $49 a month at 5,000 subscribers, $89 at 10,000 and $179 at 25,000; Power, which lifts the send cap, is $69, $129 and $239. Mailchimp Standard is $100, $135 and $310 in the matching bands. That is $46 to $131 a month in MailerLite's favour against Comfort. Mailchimp's 50% first-year offers narrow it to nothing, or reverse it, for twelve months only. MailerLite also stores data in the EU and gives free-plan users 2,500 emails a month against Mailchimp's 500.
By Julian Pryor · Updated 7 Oct 2026
Short answer
Choose MailerLite if you want the lower long-run bill, a bigger free plan and an EU-hosted account, and your needs are newsletters, forms, landing pages and automations rather than store or CRM integrations. Choose Mailchimp if you want audiences, 300-plus integrations, an events-triggered flow and a first-year discount, and you will re-price at month 13. Neither connects to your Stripe subscription events without a handler of your own.
Price at five audience sizes
MailerLite's figures are monthly-billing readouts from the subscriber selector on mailerlite.com/pricing; the 500-subscriber row also shows the annual-billing rate the page displays. Mailchimp's come from the Standard bands on mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing. Both were read on 7 October 2026.
| Subscribers | MailerLite Comfort | MailerLite Power | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $12 ($10.80 yearly) | $25 ($22.50 yearly) | Essentials $13, Standard $20 |
| 1,000 | $19 | $39 | No readout |
| 5,000 | $49 | $69 | Standard $100 |
| 10,000 | $89 | $129 | Standard $135 |
| 25,000 | $179 | $239 | Standard $310 |
Against Comfort, Mailchimp costs $51 more at 5,000, $46 more at 10,000 and $131 more at 25,000 ($1,572 a year). Against Power, the unlimited-sending plan, the gaps are $31, $6 and $71. At 10,000 subscribers Power at $129 is within $6 of Mailchimp's $135 for 120,000 sends, so the choice there is about features and hosting, not price.
Mailchimp's first year against MailerLite's flat tiers
Mailchimp's pricing page shows 50% off for 12 months on its Standard bands: $50 for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts, $67.50 for 5,001 to 10,000 and $155 for 20,001 to 25,000. Set against MailerLite Comfort that is $1 above at 5,000, $21.50 below at 10,000 and $24 below at 25,000. Against Power it is $19, $61.50 and $84 below. From month 13 the list prices return, and the offers shown vary between versions of the page, so a plan built on them needs a re-pricing date in the calendar.
Free plans in detail
- MailerLite Free: up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, 3 automations, 1 website and landing page, 3 signup forms. It has community support and limited templates.
- Mailchimp Free: 1 audience, up to 250 contacts, 500 sends a month (250 a day), 1 seat.
MailerLite locks sending, campaigns and automation alike when active subscribers pass 250 on the free plan. Mailchimp pauses sending when either limit is exceeded.
How MailerLite counts, and what its tiers cap
MailerLite bills on active subscribers; people who unsubscribed or bounced do not count. The count is cumulative within a billing cycle, so an address that was active at any point counts even if you delete it before the month ends. Comfort allows 10 times the ceiling of your subscriber tier in monthly emails (5,000 at the 500 tier), with 50 active automations; Power has unlimited emails and automations. Mailchimp Standard allows 12 times contacts, up to 200 flows and 5 audiences. Mailchimp's Essentials plan is more constrained, with 3 seats and up to 4 flow steps.
Stripe, webhooks and what MailerLite's checkout is
MailerLite's plan table lists an API, webhooks and a Stripe integration. The integration page describes selling one-time and recurring purchases through MailerLite landing pages and websites, accepting card payments only for recurring ones. It lists no Stripe events, subscriber rules or automation triggers, and points to Zapier, Make and similar tools for syncing data. That makes it a checkout for digital products, not a feed of your product's existing Stripe subscription events. Mailchimp's route for those events is its Events endpoint, with the trigger on paid plans and multi-step flows from Standard. Transactional email is separate in both: MailerLite's page points to MailerSend, and Mailchimp's pricing page has its own Transactional tab. For a SaaS, plan a webhook handler that posts trial-ending and failed-payment events to whichever API you pick.
EU storage and data processing
MailerLite's pricing page says its data storage center is in the European Union, carries an ISO 27001 certificate and that it has the controls needed for GDPR personal-data processing. Mailchimp publishes a data processing addendum and its captured pages do not state a hosting region. If your contracts require EU storage, that single line may decide the comparison.
Moving
- Export subscribers with status. Import unsubscribed and bounced addresses as such.
- Count active automations first: Free allows 3, Comfort 50.
- Authenticate your sending domain in the new account and keep the old records during the overlap.
- Run both for a cycle, comparing delivered and unsubscribed counts before closing the old account.
Which to choose
- MailerLite Comfort or Power for the lowest long-run price at 5,000 to 25,000 subscribers, EU storage and a more generous free plan.
- Mailchimp Standard for audiences, a large integration catalogue and first-year pricing that undercuts MailerLite from 10,000 contacts up.
- Mailchimp Essentials only for 500-contact lists at $13, where MailerLite Comfort's $12 is within a dollar.
Related reading: MailerLite vs Brevo, MailerLite vs ConvertKit, MailerLite vs GetResponse, MailerLite vs Moosend, Loops vs MailerLite and the comparison index.
Mailchimp vs MailerLite: common questions
Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailchimp?
At list prices, always at the sizes read. At 5,000 subscribers MailerLite Comfort is $49 and Power $69, against $100 for Mailchimp Standard; at 10,000 it is $89 and $129 against $135; at 25,000 it is $179 and $239 against $310. Mailchimp's 50% first-year offers ($50, $67.50, $155) bring it level with or below Comfort for a year, but not after.
Which free plan is better?
MailerLite's: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, 2 seats, 3 automations. Mailchimp allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month with 250 a day at most, and 1 seat. The subscriber cap is the same, but MailerLite gives five times the sends and real automations.
Can MailerLite react to my Stripe subscription events?
Its Stripe integration page describes selling one-time and recurring purchases through MailerLite landing pages and websites. It lists no Stripe events, no automation triggers and no failed-payment handling, and points to Zapier, Make and similar tools for data sync. For billing events, plan on your own webhook handler calling the MailerLite API.
Does MailerLite store data in the EU?
Its pricing page says the data storage center is in the European Union with an ISO 27001 certificate, and that it has the controls needed for GDPR processing. Mailchimp publishes a data processing addendum; its captured pages do not state a hosting region.