MailerLite vs Mailchimp: Best Email for Small Business
Quick Comparison
| MailerLite | Mailchimp | ActiveCampaign | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best For | Small businesses, solopreneurs, and local services that need newsletters, basic automations, and landing pages without overpaying for a brand-name tool. | Small businesses that prioritize brand familiarity, need integrations with a specific tool that only connects to Mailchimp, or are just experimenting with email for the first time. | Small businesses with a complex sales process, high-ticket offers, or B2B clients that need automation logic beyond simple welcome sequences. |
| Pricing | Free tier available (500 subscribers, 12k emails/mo) / $10/mo Growing Business / $20/mo Advanced | Free tier available (500 contacts) / $13/mo Essentials / $20/mo Standard / $350/mo Premium | 14-day free trial / $15/mo Starter / $49/mo Plus / $79/mo Pro / $145/mo Enterprise |
| Winner | Our Pick |
Tool Breakdown
MailerLite
MailerLite gives small businesses the best balance of generous free plan, clean automation builder, digital product selling, and honest pricing that stays affordable as you grow — without Mailchimp's pricing traps or ActiveCampaign's complexity.
- Free plan includes 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails/mo — enough to run real campaigns
- Automation workflows are intuitive with time-delays, conditions, and action splits
- Digital product selling (ebooks, courses, paid newsletters) built into all paid plans with no transaction fees
- No built-in CRM — contact management is email-list-centric, not a full sales pipeline
- Template library is smaller than Mailchimp's, though the email editor is flexible
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the most recognizable email platform globally, with a drag-and-drop editor, audience tools, and a free tier — though its free plan's 500-contact and 1,000 email limits are restrictive for active senders.
- The most widely recognized email brand — easy to get buy-in from team members and clients
- Extensive integration library covering most CRMs, e-commerce platforms, and business tools
- Solid landing page builder on all plans including free
- Free tier limits are tight: 500 contacts and 1,000 emails/mo — too restrictive for active list-building
- Pricing on paid tiers is significantly higher than MailerLite for the same contact count
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a full marketing automation platform with a visual workflow builder, CRM pipeline, and lead scoring — more powerful than either alternative, but also more expensive and complex.
- The most powerful automation builder in email marketing — handles any multi-step conditional sequence
- Built-in CRM with deal stages so email engagement automatically updates your sales pipeline
- Predictive sending chooses the optimal time to deliver to each contact based on their history
- No free tier — 14-day trial only; starts at $15/mo for 1,000 contacts
- Overkill for businesses that just need newsletters and basic automations
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best free email marketing tool for small businesses? +
MailerLite — its free plan covers 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month, includes automations and landing pages, and doesn't require a credit card. Mailchimp's free tier only allows 1,000 emails per month total, which limits your sending frequency as soon as your list grows.
How many emails per month does a small business typically need to send? +
A list of 1,000 subscribers sending one email per week uses about 4,000–5,000 sends per month. MailerLite's free plan (12,000/mo) handles that comfortably. Mailchimp's free plan (1,000/mo) does not — you'd hit the limit with just one send to a 1,000-person list.
Do I need an automation platform or is a basic email tool enough? +
For most small businesses, a welcome sequence + occasional promotional email is all you need initially — MailerLite covers that on its free plan. Upgrade to ActiveCampaign when email is a primary revenue driver and you need conditional logic that responds to contact behavior across your full funnel.