Compare · Xem vs Mailchimp
Xem vs Mailchimp.
Pay for sends, not contacts.
Mailchimp bills by the size of your audience, so quiet and unsubscribed contacts still cost money. Xem bills by the emails you actually send, and every plan includes the whole product.
A weekly newsletter, priced.
Four sends a month to the whole list, on monthly billing in US dollars. Mailchimp on Standard; Xem on its cheapest plan for that volume. Mailchimp prices checked November 5, 2026.
| Subscribers | Emails a month | Mailchimp | Xem |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | 40,000 | $135 | $19 · Starter |
| 50,000 | 200,000 | Quote on Mailchimp’s site | $59 · Growth |
| 100,000 | 400,000 | Quote on Mailchimp’s site | $99 · Scale |
Mailchimp’s pricing page shows prices in local currency and loads US dollar figures with JavaScript, so we could not read them directly. The 10,000-contact figure is from third-party pricing summaries dated October 2026, as in our Mailchimp alternatives article. Send caps and contact limits are from Mailchimp’s own pages.
How they charge
- Mailchimp
- Per contact in your audience, including unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts, with a monthly send limit of 10× contacts on Essentials, 12× on Standard and 15× on Premium. Essentials stops at 50,000 contacts and Standard at 100,000.
- Xem
- Per email sent. Free for 3,000 a month, then from $9. Contacts are free to keep, every plan has every feature, and you can self-host the open-source version and pay only your email provider.
When Mailchimp fits better
- You rely on Mailchimp’s ecommerce integrations or its built-in ad and landing-page tools.
- Your team already knows Mailchimp well and the bill is not a concern.
- You need a very large template marketplace or an agency partner network.
Questions.
Is Xem cheaper than Mailchimp?
For a weekly newsletter to 10,000 contacts, Mailchimp Standard is about $135 a month against $19 on Xem. Mailchimp counts every contact, including unsubscribed ones; Xem counts only emails sent.
Can I move my Mailchimp list to Xem?
Yes. Export your audience as a CSV from Audience → Export audience. Xem recognises Mailchimp exports and keeps unsubscribed people unsubscribed.
When is Mailchimp the better choice?
You rely on Mailchimp’s ecommerce integrations or its built-in ad and landing-page tools. Your team already knows Mailchimp well and the bill is not a concern. You need a very large template marketplace or an agency partner network.
Sources
- https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/
- https://mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans/
- https://mailchimp.com/help/view-export-contacts/
- Xem pricing
Prices change. We check these pages by hand; tell us at team@xem.email if something is out of date.