Updated March 2026

Mailchimp vs beehiiv

Mailchimp and beehiiv serve fundamentally different use cases. Mailchimp is an email marketing platform for businesses that want to sell things via email — products, services, courses. beehiiv is a newsletter platform for writers and publishers who want to grow an audience and monetize through subscriptions and advertising. beehiiv's free plan covers 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends; Mailchimp's free plan caps at 250 contacts and 500 emails/month. beehiiv offers a built-in ad network, paid subscriber tiers, and a Boost network for cross-promotion — none of which Mailchimp has. But Mailchimp has automation workflows, audience segmentation, and 300+ integrations that beehiiv lacks. Choose based on whether email is your channel or your product.

Our pick: beehiiv (7/10 vs 6.5/10)

beehiiv wins 1 out of 6 categories. Mailchimp is better for: complete beginners who want the easiest interface and maximum third-party integrations.

Try beehiiv

Mailchimp

6.5/10

beehiiv

7/10

2/5

Automation

2/5

3/5

Deliverability

3/5

5/5

Ease of Use

4/5

5/5

Templates & Design

3/5

Analytics

3/5

2/5

Customer Support

3/5

At a Glance

Feature	Mailchimp	beehiiv
Free Plan	Yes	Yes
Starting Price	$13/mo	$43/mo
Automation	2/5	2/5
Deliverability	3/5	3/5
Ease of Use	5/5	4/5
Templates & Design	5/5	3/5
Analytics	3/5	3/5
Customer Support	2/5	3/5
Overall	6.5/10	7/10

Pricing Comparison

Mailchimp

Free Plan

Paid plans from $13/mo

View Pricing

beehiiv

Free Plan

Paid plans from $43/mo

View Pricing

Pros & Cons

Mailchimp

Genuinely intuitive interface — G2 rates ease of use 4.3/5, Capterra 4.4/5. The drag-and-drop builder has a shallow learning curve for basic campaigns

300+ third-party integrations — the largest ecosystem of any email tool. Nearly every SaaS product connects to Mailchimp natively

260+ professional templates on paid plans. The email builder produces clean, responsive emails that look good on mobile

Free plan has been systematically gutted: 2,000 contacts (pre-2021) → 500 (2023) → 250 (Jan 2026). Automations removed June 2025. A/B testing removed. Email scheduling removed. It is now effectively a demo, not a free plan

Charges for ALL contacts including unsubscribed and bounced — you pay for contacts who will never receive an email unless you manually archive each one. Most competitors only bill for active subscribers

Trustpilot: 2.8/5 with 67% one-star reviews. Support is widely despised — phone support only available on the $350+/month Premium plan. Below that, users report chatbots and generic responses

Full Mailchimp review →

beehiiv

Outstanding monetisation tools: built-in ad network, Boosts (paid cross-promotions), paid subscriptions with 0% take rate, and referral program. No other newsletter platform offers this full combination

Free plan includes up to 2,500 subscribers — generous for newsletter creators just starting out

November 2025 Winter Release was massive: AI website builder, digital products, podcast hosting, website analytics. Covered by TechCrunch as a significant platform evolution

Automation is the #1 weakness — basic compared to Kit, ActiveCampaign, or even MailerLite. No tags or lists system. This is the biggest reason creators leave beehiiv

No independent deliverability data exists — beehiiv is excluded from EmailToolTester benchmarks. Their self-reported 98.9% delivery rate cannot be externally verified, which is a red flag for a review site

Trustpilot rating of 4.2/5 but 23% of reviews are one-star — a bimodal love-it-or-hate-it distribution. Billing complaints include being charged after deactivation and difficulty finding the cancellation button

Full beehiiv review →

The Bottom Line

Choose Mailchimp if: Complete beginners who want the easiest interface and maximum third-party integrations. Despite the lower overall score, it excels where it matters for its target audience.

Choose beehiiv if: Newsletter creators and media companies who want to monetise their audience through ads, paid subscriptions, and cross-promotion. It wins 1 of 6 categories.

Price comparison: Mailchimp starts at $13/mo (free plan available) vs beehiiv at $43/mo (free plan available).

Who Should Pick Which?

Pick Mailchimp if…

You need a tool best for complete beginners who want the easiest interface and maximum third-party integrations
Genuinely intuitive interface — G2 rates ease of use 4.3/5, Capterra 4.4/5. The drag-and-drop builder has a shallow learning curve for basic campaigns
300+ third-party integrations — the largest ecosystem of any email tool. Nearly every SaaS product connects to Mailchimp natively

Try Mailchimp

Pick beehiiv if…

You need a tool best for newsletter creators and media companies who want to monetise their audience through ads, paid subscriptions, and cross-promotion
Outstanding monetisation tools: built-in ad network, Boosts (paid cross-promotions), paid subscriptions with 0% take rate, and referral program. No other newsletter platform offers this full combination
Free plan includes up to 2,500 subscribers — generous for newsletter creators just starting out

Try beehiiv

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ActiveCampaign vs beehiiv

Mailchimp vs Klaviyo

Klaviyo vs beehiiv

Looking for more options?

See our full ranking: Best Email Marketing Tools for Bloggers & Creators

Read Full Reviews

Mailchimp

beehiiv

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mailchimp or beehiiv better?

beehiiv scores higher overall (7/10 vs 6.5/10). beehiiv is best for newsletter creators and media companies who want to monetise their audience through ads, paid subscriptions, and cross-promotion. Mailchimp is better if you need complete beginners who want the easiest interface and maximum third-party integrations.

Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or beehiiv?

Mailchimp is cheaper, starting at $13/mo with a free plan. beehiiv starts at $43/mo (also has a free plan).

What is Mailchimp best for?

Mailchimp is best for complete beginners who want the easiest interface and maximum third-party integrations. It scores highest in ease of use, templates & design.

How we compared these tools

We research every tool using real user reviews from Reddit, G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot — then verify current pricing and cross-reference independent deliverability data. No paid placements, no sponsored rankings.

Read our full methodologyLast updated: March 2026

Transparency note: We earn affiliate commissions from some tools on this page. This never influences our scores. Our methodology