Mailchimp alternatives in 2026: compare the bill, not just the features

The best Mailchimp alternative depends on why you are leaving. Most people start looking when the bill grows with the list, so the useful question is how each tool charges. Hosted tools such as MailerLite, Kit and beehiiv charge by subscriber, like Mailchimp. Tools that send through your own provider, such as Xem, Sendy, Listmonk and Mautic, charge little or nothing for the software and leave you paying your email provider per message.

This comparison uses prices published on October 30, 2026. It covers what Mailchimp actually counts, what the alternatives cost at 10,000 subscribers, and when Mailchimp is still the sensible choice.

How does Mailchimp charge?

Mailchimp charges by contacts in your audience and caps how many emails you can send each month. Its help pages say subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count toward your contact total. Archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not.

At the 5,001 to 10,000 contact tier, third-party pricing summaries dated October 2026 list:

We used third-party sources for the US figures because Mailchimp's own pricing page showed us local currency. Mailchimp also advertised 15% off the first 12 months for lists of 10,000 contacts or more. Its free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.

The practical consequence: unsubscribed contacts you keep in the audience still raise the bill. Archiving them stops that.

What do the alternatives cost at 10,000 subscribers?

These are monthly prices on monthly billing, from each vendor's pricing page on October 30, 2026, except where noted.

"Plus sending" means your email provider's charge. On Amazon SES that is $0.10 or $0.16 per 1,000 emails, so a weekly send to 10,000 people costs $4.00 to $6.40 a month. The full arithmetic is in what it costs to send a newsletter through Amazon SES.

Which kind of alternative fits you?

There are two broad groups, and the choice between them matters more than the choice within them.

Hosted, priced by subscriber. MailerLite, Kit and beehiiv run everything for you, including delivery. You trade a higher monthly fee for no infrastructure work. Pick one of these if your list is small or you want support on call. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers without visual automations. beehiiv's free plan covers up to 2,500. MailerLite's covers 250.

Software plus your own sending, priced by email. Xem, Sendy, Listmonk and Mautic send through Amazon SES or another SMTP provider. The software is free or a one-time licence. You take on domain setup, the SES production-access request and watching bounces. Pick one of these if your list is large, your margins are thin, or you want your sending reputation in your own account.

What does Xem include?

Xem is an open-source email marketing suite. In one app it covers:

• campaigns and recurring newsletters, with a public web archive of sent editions;
• visual automations;
• signup forms, contact lists, tags and a contact CRM;
• a shared inbox connected over IMAP;
• analytics that separate delivery from engagement;
• 200+ editable templates and AI help for drafting;
• an API, webhooks and an MCP server so AI assistants can operate it.

It sends through Xem's managed Amazon SES delivery or your own SMTP provider. You can run it on your own server or use the hosted app.

What Xem does not do today: it has no paid-subscription billing, and imports do not carry tags across. If you sell subscriptions through your newsletter platform, plan that separately.

When should you stay on Mailchimp?

Stay if Mailchimp's integrations hold your business together. Its ecosystem of connected shops, CRMs and ad tools is wide, and replacing those connections can cost more than the subscription.

Stay, too, if nobody on your team wants to touch DNS records or monitor sending. A higher bill can be a fair price for not doing that work.

If you do stay, archive unsubscribed and long-inactive contacts. It lowers the contact count you pay for.

How do you switch without losing readers?

Export your audience, import only subscribed contacts, authenticate your sending domain, and tell readers about the move in your first email. Mailchimp's export can arrive as separate files for subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed and cleaned contacts. Only the subscribed file belongs in your new list. The full walkthrough is in how to move your newsletter list.

Common questions

What is the cheapest Mailchimp alternative?

For large lists, tools that send through Amazon SES cost the least to run, because you pay per email rather than per subscriber. For small lists, a hosted free plan such as Kit's (up to 10,000 subscribers) can cost nothing.

Is there an open-source Mailchimp alternative?

Yes. Listmonk (AGPL-3.0) focuses on newsletters and campaigns. Mautic (GPL-3.0) focuses on marketing automation. Xem (GPL-3.0) combines campaigns, newsletters, automations, a CRM and a shared inbox. See open-source email marketing software in 2026.

Do unsubscribed contacts count on Mailchimp?

Yes. Mailchimp says unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward your contact total. Archived and cleaned contacts do not.

Sources and further reading

• Mailchimp: About pricing plans: how contacts are counted, checked October 30, 2026.
• Mailchimp pricing; US prices cross-checked with Email Vendor Selection, October 2026.
• MailerLite pricing, Kit pricing, beehiiv pricing and Sendy, checked October 30, 2026.
• Listmonk and Mautic on GitHub.
• Amazon SES pricing.