Comparison
Mailchimpvsbeehiiv
Mailchimp and beehiiv are both popular email marketing tools, but they take different approaches. Mailchimp offers a free plan and positions itself as "turn emails into revenue". beehiiv offers a free plan and bills itself as "the newsletter platform built for growth". Here's how they compare across features, pricing, and real-world strengths.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Mailchimp | beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| A/B testing | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI content tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| Analytics & reporting | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Drag-and-drop editor | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-commerce integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email automation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free plan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Landing pages | ✓ | ✗ |
| SMS marketing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Segmentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Signup forms | ✓ | ✓ |
Mailchimp Pricing
Free
250 contacts, 500 monthly sends (250/day), 1 seat, 1 audience, basic templates, no automation/scheduling/A/B, 30-day email support
Free
Essentials
Starts at ~500 contacts, scales with contacts up to 50k, 10x sends, 3 seats/audiences, basic automation, A/B testing, 24/7 support
$11.00/mo
Standard
Starts at ~500 contacts, scales to 100k, 12x sends, 5 seats/audiences, advanced automation, dynamic content, send time optimization, 1 onboarding session
$20.00/mo
Premium
Starts at 10k contacts, scales to 200k+, 15x sends, unlimited seats/audiences, priority phone support, multivariate testing, 4 onboarding sessions
$298.00/mo
beehiiv Pricing
Launch
Up to 2,500 subscribers, 3 publications, 1 team member
Free
Scale
Up to 100,000 subscribers (tiered pricing), 3 publications, up to 3 team seats
$49.00/mo
Max
Up to 100,000 subscribers (tiered pricing), 10 publications, unlimited team seats
$109.00/mo
Enterprise
100K+ subscribers, custom limits
Custom
Mailchimp
Pros
- Reliable email deliverability with 99% rate
- Intuitive drag-and-drop builder for quick campaigns
- Generous free tier for beginners with basic features
- Over 300 integrations for seamless workflows
- Strong audience segmentation for targeted messaging
- Comprehensive reporting on opens clicks and revenue
Cons
- Pricing scales steeply with contact list growth
- Limited automation on lower tiers (e.g. 4 steps max on Essentials)
- Poor customer support without phone access below Premium
- Includes inactive/cleaned contacts in billing limits
- Steep learning curve for advanced features
- Cluttered interface for complex workflows
beehiiv
Pros
- User-friendly interface makes newsletter creation straightforward (G2 reviews)
- Robust built-in monetization including ads and 0% rev share (Capterra reviews)
- Powerful growth tools like referrals grow audience 2.75x faster (beehiiv.com)
- Generous free plan up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends (beehiiv pricing)
- Excellent analytics for subscriber insights and revenue tracking (G2)
Cons
- Pricing jumps steeply from free to paid plans, expensive for small lists (Capterra)
- Limited design customization and preview options in editor (G2)
- Deliverability issues reported by some users (Capterra reviews)
- Basic analytics lacking deeper insights (G2)
The Verdict
Mailchimp takes this one with a DuelStack Score of 7.3/10 vs 6/10. It particularly excels at reliable email deliverability with 99% rate. That said, beehiiv is the better pick if you need user-friendly interface makes newsletter creation straightforward.