Email Marketing Radar

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp: which one is cheaper for your list size?

Published 2026-09-23 · Researched and price-checked on official sources

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp pricing flips as your list grows: ActiveCampaign lists $15/mo for 1,000 contacts billed annually, while Mailchimp Essentials starts at $26.50/mo for 501-1,500 contacts. By 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials is $75/mo against $79/mo, per both vendors' pricing pages checked September 23, 2026.

Key facts

What matters

ActiveCampaign Starter is $15/mo at 1,000 contacts on annual billing; Mailchimp's nearest band, Essentials at 501-1,500 contacts, starts at $26.50/mo.
The curves cross between 2,500 and 5,000 contacts: at 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials is $75/mo and ActiveCampaign Starter is $79/mo.
Seats are the real tiebreaker for teams. ActiveCampaign Starter and Plus include one user; Mailchimp Essentials includes three seats and Standard five.
Mailchimp still runs a free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends/mo). ActiveCampaign has no free tier, only a trial plus a 30-day money-back guarantee.
ActiveCampaign Starter is capped at lists of 25,000 contacts or fewer, and Mailchimp Essentials tops out at 50,000 contacts.

What each platform actually sells

Mailchimp is an email-first platform: Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium are sold by contact count and monthly email sends, with CRM features attached. ActiveCampaign sells the same job in the opposite order. Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise are automation and CRM products where email is one channel, and they are priced by contacts too.

One reading trap matters before any number here: ActiveCampaign's pricing page quotes annual-billing rates ("Billed annually" sits under every plan on activecampaign.com/pricing as of September 23, 2026). Mailchimp's compare-plans page quotes month-to-month "starts at" rates and adds a 15% discount for a 12-month prepay at 10,000+ contacts. Treating one vendor's figure as the other's monthly price is the fastest way to mis-budget this decision.

Both platforms charge on a curve rather than a flat fee, so the honest comparison is a matrix, not a headline. The numbers below come from both live pricing pages on September 23, 2026, with the contact band attached to each price.

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp at 1,000 contacts

At 1,000 contacts, ActiveCampaign's published rates are $15/mo (Starter), $49/mo (Plus), $79/mo (Pro) and $145/mo (Enterprise), all billed annually. Mailchimp's closest band is 501-1,500 contacts, where Essentials starts at $26.50/mo and Standard at $45/mo. Premium carries unlimited contacts and starts at $350/mo at any list size.

So the entry comparison is $15 against $26.50, and ActiveCampaign Starter is roughly 43% cheaper at the same list size. The catch is what you give up for it: Starter includes a single user seat and caps automations at 5 actions per automation, while Mailchimp Essentials includes three seats and up to 4 automation flow steps. A solo operator sending campaigns and simple sequences fits Starter. A three-person marketing team does not, because adding seats on ActiveCampaign means jumping to Pro at $79/mo.

Where the pricing curves cross

Push the list size up and the ranking changes. At 2,500 contacts ActiveCampaign Starter is $39/mo against $45/mo for Mailchimp Essentials at 1,501-2,500 contacts, still a win for ActiveCampaign. At 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials is $75/mo and ActiveCampaign Starter is $79/mo, so Mailchimp is ahead on price from that point on. The published bands put the crossover somewhere between 2,500 and 5,000 contacts.

The mid tiers diverge faster. At 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Standard is $100/mo against $145/mo for ActiveCampaign Plus, a $45/mo gap. At 10,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials quotes $93.50/mo for a 12-month prepay (the page states it then starts at $110/mo) and Standard $114.75/mo (then $135/mo), against $149/mo for ActiveCampaign Starter and $189/mo for Plus.

Neither vendor is being tricky here; they simply price different contact curves. What it means for a buyer: if your list is heading past roughly 3,000 subscribers in the next year, the price you see at signup is not the price you will pay in month twelve.

Free plan versus free trial

Mailchimp Free is alive in 2026: 250 contacts, a maximum of 500 sends per month or 250 per day, one seat, one audience, no marketing automation, and email support for the first 30 days. Sending pauses if you go over the contact or send limit.

ActiveCampaign has no free tier at all. Its pricing page offers a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee ("See results in 30 days or get your money back"), and lists contact migration, chat and ticket support, video training and customer workshops among the free services attached to its plans.

Under 250 contacts this stops being a comparison. Mailchimp Free costs nothing and ActiveCampaign's cheapest plan is $15/mo, so staying put is the correct answer until you actually need automation, in which case Mailchimp's Essentials tier is the first paid step on that side.

Seats, automation and AI features

ActiveCampaign users: 1 user on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro, 5 on Enterprise, per the plan cards.
Mailchimp seats: 3 seats on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium, and 1 audience, 3 audiences, 5 audiences and unlimited in the same order.
Automation ceilings: ActiveCampaign Starter allows 5 actions per automation, while Plus and above advertise unlimited automation actions. Mailchimp Essentials is limited to 4 flow steps; Standard and Premium advertise up to 200 flows.
Generative AI: Mailchimp lists its AI features as a no-additional-cost add-on on Standard and Premium and not included on Essentials and Free. ActiveCampaign's Active Intelligence is included with limits on Starter and Plus and carries no such note on Pro and Enterprise.
Send allowance: both vendors cap monthly sends by contact count at 10x contacts on entry tiers (ActiveCampaign Starter and Plus, Mailchimp Essentials), 12x on the mid tier (ActiveCampaign Pro, Mailchimp Standard) and 15x on the top tier.

Which one to buy at your list size

Under 250 contacts: Mailchimp Free. There is no paid plan to justify.
500 to 2,500 contacts, one person running marketing: ActiveCampaign Starter, the cheapest published rate in that band.
1,000 to 5,000 contacts with a small team: Mailchimp Essentials, because three seats at $26.50 to $75/mo beat a single-seat plan you cannot share.
Automation-heavy workflows: ActiveCampaign Plus or Pro. Unlimited automation actions start at Plus, and Mailchimp's Essentials tier stops at 4 flow steps.
Multiple brands or audiences: Mailchimp Premium, which drops seat and audience limits at $350/mo, or ActiveCampaign Enterprise with 5 users.

Caveats the headline prices hide

Three things are not in either headline number. ActiveCampaign's quotes assume annual prepay, so if you want to pay monthly you need a fresh quote from sales. Mailchimp's $93.50 and $114.75 rates only exist as a 12-month prepay at 10,000+ contacts, with higher rates stated for month-to-month. And both vendors stop selling you the cheap tier at scale: Mailchimp Essentials tops out at 50,000 contacts and Standard at 100,000 contacts (the compare page lists the $385/mo and $800/mo tiers for those ceilings), while ActiveCampaign's Starter card states it is only available on plans with 25,000 contacts or less.

Overages apply on both sides when you exceed contacts or monthly sends, and Mailchimp prints that warning on every plan card. On migration, ActiveCampaign lists contact migration as a free service on all plans, while Mailchimp's premium migration service is Premium-only and sold through its sales team.

At a glance

Contacts	ActiveCampaign Starter	ActiveCampaign Plus	Mailchimp Essentials	Mailchimp Standard
1,000	$15/mo (annual)	$49/mo (annual)	$26.50/mo (501-1,500 band)	$45/mo (501-1,500 band)
2,500	$39/mo (annual)	$95/mo (annual)	$45/mo (1,501-2,500 band)	$60/mo (1,501-2,500 band)
5,000	$79/mo (annual)	$145/mo (annual)	$75/mo (2,501-5,000 band)	$100/mo (2,501-5,000 band)
10,000	$149/mo (annual)	$189/mo (annual)	$93.50/mo for 12 months, then $110	$114.75/mo for 12 months, then $135

Verified on both vendors' pricing pages on 2026-09-23. ActiveCampaign prices are annual-billing rates; Mailchimp prices are the "starts at" rates shown for each contact band.

FAQ

Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Mailchimp?

Only on smaller lists. At 1,000 contacts ActiveCampaign Starter is $15/mo against $26.50/mo for Mailchimp Essentials, but by 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Essentials is $75/mo against $79/mo, and Mailchimp Standard ($100/mo) undercuts ActiveCampaign Plus ($145/mo) at the same size.

Does Mailchimp still have a free plan in 2026?

Yes. Mailchimp Free covers up to 250 contacts with a maximum of 500 sends per month (250 per day), one seat, one audience and no marketing automation. ActiveCampaign has no free tier, offering a trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.

Can I move a Mailchimp list to ActiveCampaign?

ActiveCampaign lists contact migration as a free service on every plan, while Mailchimp offers premium migration only on its Premium plan through sales. Both vendors bill by contact count, so check which price band your imported list lands in before you switch.