Mailchimp Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Mailchimp alternatives: Brevo, MailerLite, listmonk, Mautic and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•3 min read•Email Marketing & Newsletters
Verdict:Mailchimp's free plan caps you at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250-a-day limit, and sending pauses when you hit it. The paid Essentials plan was listed from $13 a month at the smallest contact tier, rising with list size. If you want out without paying, the realistic free options split by how you work. Brevo is the best hosted default: 300 emails a day with no time limit covers a few thousand subscribers if you send weekly. MailerLite offers 2,500 emails a month to 250 subscribers and a friendlier editor, but the subscriber cap is the same as Mailchimp's. Buttondown is the minimalist pick for writers, free to 100 subscribers. If you would rather own it, listmonk (AGPL-3.0) is lean and quick, while Mautic (GPL-3.0) is heavier and adds proper marketing automation. The cost of self-hosting is real: you need a server, an SMTP provider and attention to deliverability, which Mailchimp quietly handles. Mailchimp's wider integration catalogue and template range are also hard to match, and we did not test importing a list or audience into any of these tools. Move if the contact cap or the price jumps are what hurt; stay if integrations are doing the work.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) | Web API | Growing lists on a free plan | Docs only |
| MailerLite | Free (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month); paid from $12 per month, billed monthly (stated as starting price in the pricing FAQ) | Web browser | Newsletter creators | Docs only |
| listmonk | Free (Self-hosted and free; needs Postgres and your own SMTP or sending service) | Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, Docker | Developers with a large list | Docs only |
| Mautic | Free (free open-source software; hosted version has a 14-day trial) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Teams that want automation they own | Docs only |
| Buttondown | Free (Free for your first 100 subscribers) | Web | Writers sending a newsletter | Docs only |
| Constant Contact | Paid from $12 per month (Lite, from; price rises with contact count) | Web browser | Email Marketing | Docs only |
| Klaviyo | Free (250 active profiles and 500 email sends per month) | Web | Email marketing | Docs only |
| ActiveCampaign | See pricing page | Web browser | Email Marketing & Automation | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want more free sending volume than Mailchimp allows (Brevo is the pick)
- You write a newsletter and want it simple (Buttondown is the pick)
- You want a fresh editor and a modest free plan (MailerLite is the pick)
- You can run a server and want no contact fees (listmonk is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Mailchimp features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Mailchimp today: Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) (Mailchimp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Mailchimp alternatives
Mailchimp's Free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day), and sending pauses when either limit is hit. It lacks automation flows, scheduling, branding removal and phone support. Paid plans start at $13 a month for Essentials, $20 for Standard and $350 for Premium, and price steps up by contact tier from 500 to over 1,000,000. Send volume is also tied to list size at 10x, 12x or 15x contacts depending on plan.
Brevo
Compared with Mailchimp: Free plan sends 300 emails a day with no time limit, compared with Mailchimp's 500 a month or 250 a day cap. Mailchimp's template and integration range is wider; Brevo's free tier is more generous on volume.
Price: Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) (Brevo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web API. Proprietary.
Best for: Growing lists on a free plan.
MailerLite
Compared with Mailchimp: Free for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, five times Mailchimp's 500 monthly sends at the same contact count. Fewer integrations than Mailchimp, but a cleaner editor.
Price: Free (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month); paid from $12 per month, billed monthly (stated as starting price in the pricing FAQ) (MailerLite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Newsletter creators.
Worth knowing: Yearly billing saves 10%.
listmonk
Compared with Mailchimp: Open-source (AGPL-3.0) and self-hosted, so no contact tiers at all, unlike Mailchimp. You provide Postgres and an SMTP service, and give up its templates and hosted deliverability.
Price: Free (Self-hosted and free; needs Postgres and your own SMTP or sending service) (listmonk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, Docker. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 24k GitHub stars · latest release v7.0.0-beta.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers with a large list.
Worth knowing: Sending costs depend on the SMTP provider you connect.
Mautic
Compared with Mailchimp: GPL-3.0 and self-hostable, so you avoid Mailchimp's contact-based pricing and gain full automation control. Setup and maintenance are on you, and the editor is less polished.
Price: Free (free open-source software; hosted version has a 14-day trial) (Mautic pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 10.9k GitHub stars · latest release 7.2.2 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that want automation they own.
Worth knowing: No hosted prices shown on the site.
Buttondown
Compared with Mailchimp: Free for the first 100 subscribers, then paid. Narrower than Mailchimp: built for newsletters rather than campaigns, landing pages or ads, but plain and fast for writers.
Price: Free (Free for your first 100 subscribers) (Buttondown pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Writers sending a newsletter.
Other popular options (paid)
Constant Contact
Compared with Mailchimp: Lite is listed from $12 a month and the price rises with contact count. There is no free plan, so you give up Mailchimp's 250-contact tier.
Price: Paid from $12 per month (Lite, from; price rises with contact count) (Constant Contact pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Klaviyo
Compared with Mailchimp: Ecommerce-focused email and SMS. The free plan covers 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, matching Mailchimp Free's caps; paid pricing is not listed as a number on its pricing page.
Price: Free (250 active profiles and 500 email sends per month) (Klaviyo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
ActiveCampaign
Compared with Mailchimp: Automation-first, with Starter, Plus, Pro and Enterprise tiers priced by contact count. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the pricing page lists no plan prices as numbers.
Price: See pricing page (ActiveCampaign pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want more free sending volume than Mailchimp allows: Brevo
- You write a newsletter and want it simple: Buttondown
- You want a fresh editor and a modest free plan: MailerLite
- You can run a server and want no contact fees: listmonk
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Brevo, MailerLite, listmonk, Mautic, Buttondown: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Mailchimp. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
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All Email Marketing & Newsletters alternatives →Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, listmonk, Mautic, Buttondown, Constant Contact, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.