Email marketing is the backbone of communication for businesses today, especially in B2B, SaaS, fintech, and e-commerce. From onboarding sequences to nurturing leads and driving conversions, it’s the channel that keeps customer relationships alive and measurable. But to make email marketing truly work, you need the right platform, one that fits your goals, scale, and workflow.
That’s where the comparison between MailerLite and Mailchimp becomes critical. Both tools are popular choices for growing businesses, but they serve slightly different needs.
Decision-makers often find themselves asking: which one delivers better value, flexibility, and results for my type of business?
In this blog, I’ll unpack a feature-by-feature comparison of MailerLite and Mailchimp, covering ease of use, automation, design, analytics, integrations, pricing, and more.
Read on!
Platform overviews
Both Mailchimp and MailerLite have carved out strong positions in the email marketing space, but they cater to slightly different audiences.
Let’s dive deeper to learn more about both tools in detail.
Feature comparison: Core capabilities
When it comes to email campaign creation and design, both Mailchimp and MailerLite offer intuitive drag-and-drop editors, but they take slightly different approaches.
Mailchimp gives you a highly customizable design experience. Its editor comes packed with content blocks, advanced formatting options, and a large library of pre-built templates optimized for various industries and campaign types. You can also add dynamic content, product recommendations, and personalized sections if you’re using its higher-tier plans.
This makes Mailchimp ideal for marketers who need design flexibility and want brand consistency across complex campaigns.
MailerLite, meanwhile, keeps things simpler without compromising quality. Its drag-and-drop editor is clean, fast, and beginner-friendly, offering modern templates that are easy to customize. While it doesn’t have the same depth of design controls as Mailchimp, it covers all essential elements, text, images, buttons, and embedded videos, making it perfect for quick, professional-looking emails.
Automation & workflows
When it comes to automation and workflows, the difference between MailerLite and Mailchimp is clear. MailerLite offers a clean automation builder where you can use straightforward triggers, such as “joins a group”, “clicks a link”, or “buys a specific product”, and apply basic branching logic and segmentation actions with relative ease.
In contrast, Mailchimp provides more advanced “Marketing Automation Flows” that support complex triggers, multiple branches, integrations with e-commerce platforms (abandoned cart, product-based behaviours) and deeper segmentation, but these capabilities come with higher cost and steeper learning curve—and many of its automation features are now reserved for paid plans.
Audience management & segmentation
When it comes to audience management and segmentation, MailerLite and Mailchimp adopt different approaches that reflect their target users. With MailerLite, you work with a unified subscriber list and then sort contacts into groups or tags, and build dynamic segments based on filters (e.g., signup date, location, behavior), meaning fewer duplicate lists and simpler subscriber counts.
In contrast, Mailchimp uses a model of audiences with tags, groups and saved segments, but duplicates can occur if the same email address appears in multiple audiences, which can drive up costs and complicate metrics.
Integrations & API access
Both MailerLite and Mailchimp integrate well with popular business tools, but their depth and flexibility differ. Mailchimp leads with over 330 native integrations, covering major e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, as well as CRMs, analytics tools, and social media apps.
Its open API supports complex custom workflows, making it a strong choice for teams managing multiple systems or large-scale automation. MailerLite, while more limited with around 140 integrations, connects smoothly with essential tools, including Shopify, Stripe, WordPress, and Zapier, and offers a clean, developer-friendly API for custom setups. Integration is generally easier and faster to configure on MailerLite due to its simplified structure, whereas Mailchimp offers greater versatility but often requires more setup and higher-tier plans to unlock full functionality.
In short, Mailchimp wins on integration breadth and enterprise connectivity, while MailerLite keeps things lean and accessible for smaller teams looking for simplicity.
Analytics & reporting
Mailchimp provides a robust analytics suite, including real-time dashboards tracking opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes and purchase behaviour, as well as revenue attribution, detailed channel cross-reporting and benchmarking against industry standards.
MailerLite offers core campaign reports showing opens, clicks, device/client breakdown, location data, link maps/heat maps and supports UTM tagging for further conversion tracking via Google Analytics.
Deliverability & sending limits
MailerLite allows up to 12,000 emails/month on its free plan (with up to 500 subscribers) and offers unlimited monthly sends on many paid tiers. Users also report that once you exceed ~50,000 active subscribers, additional sending limits kick in (e.g., 60K subs → 720,000 emails/month).
Deliverability tools are included, and the platform counts only unique active subscribers toward your list limit (meaning unsubscribed or bounced contacts don’t count).
Mailchimp, by contrast, links both contacts and sending volume tightly. On free tiers you’re limited to ~500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends.
On paid plans, the send limit is often expressed as a multiple of your contact count (e.g., Standard = 12× contacts) and if you exceed your plan you incur overage fees or blocks. Because of the structuring and extra costs, scaling can become expensive or complex.
Forms, landing pages & website features
MailerLite offers a clean, modular solution for sign-up forms, pop-ups, landing pages and even a simple website builder. Users benefit from a drag-and-drop landing-page editor with 70+ templates, pop-up and embedded forms, A/B split testing, and basic website-hosting capabilities.
On the flip side, Mailchimp provides a broader suite: built-in sign-up forms, pop-ups, landing pages and a full website builder designed for marketers who want to launch quickly and integrate with broader campaigns.
While Mailchimp is more feature-rich and supports publishing unlimited landing pages and websites (depending on plan), MailerLite’s offering is simpler, easier to use and more cost-efficient for basic use cases.
Support & onboarding
With MailerLite, support is tier-based: users on paid plans gain access to email and live-chat help (24/7 support is available at higher tiers), while free users rely primarily on a self-service help centre with tutorials and a community forum. Onboarding is minimal for the free tier, whereas higher-level plans may include onboarding consultations or dedicated success managers.
In contrast, Mailchimp offers more structured onboarding for paid users: for example, new customers on Standard or Premium plans get scheduled 1:1 consultations with an onboarding specialist (up to four for Premium) within their first 90 days.
Support channels for Mailchimp also vary by plan, with higher tiers offering phone support in addition to chat and email.
Pricing
MailerLite
The MailerLite pricing plans are as follows:
- Free: $0
- Growing business: $7.50/month
- Advanced: $15/month
Know more about MailerLite pricing here.
MailChimp
The MailChimp pricing plans are as follows:
- Free: Rs. 0
- Essentials: Rs. 385 (Monthly)
- Standard: Rs. 575 (Monthly)
- Premium: Rs. 11,500 (Monthly)
Learn more about the MailChimp pricing here.
MailerLite vs. MailChimp: Pros & cons
Mailchimp
Strengths: Broad feature set, advanced automation, deep analytics, large integrations ecosystem.
Weaknesses: Cost escalates with list size, learning curve due to feature richness, free plan limitations.
MailerLite
Strengths: Ease of use, lower cost, generous free tier, suitable for straightforward campaigns.
Weaknesses: Less advanced analytics, fewer integrations compared to top tier, simpler automation may be limiting for complex needs.
MailerLite vs. Mailchimp: Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Mailchimp | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan size & sends | Smaller free tier; more restrictions | More generous free plan (1,000 contacts/12,000 sends) in some markets |
| Templates & design | ~120+ templates, AI design tools | ~90+ templates, simpler design scope |
| Automation depth | Highly advanced workflows, branching logic | Easy-to-use automation, fewer advanced options |
| Integrations | 300+ native integrations | 100+ integrations |
| Analytics & reporting | Detailed analytics, including funnel views, benchmarking | Basic analytics dashboard suited for simpler insights |
| Pricing & value | Higher cost as lists grow, send limits apply | Lower cost, unlimited sends in many paid plans, better value for smaller lists |
Conclusion
In the end, the MailerLite vs. Mailchimp debate isn’t about which tool is better. It’s about which tool aligns with your goals, team size, and marketing maturity. Mailchimp offers the depth and power suited for enterprises with layered automation and analytics needs, while MailerLite delivers the simplicity and affordability that smaller teams crave.
But here’s the catch: both platforms are still SaaS email marketing tools that run on someone else’s system, bound by subscriber limits, monthly fees, and pricing tiers that grow faster than your list.
If you’re looking for a smarter, more flexible alternative that gives you full control of your audience, data, and costs, it might be time to explore Icegram Express.
Built for WordPress users, Icegram lets you send unlimited emails, automate campaigns, and own your marketing, without worrying about overages or vendor lock-ins. Because sometimes, the best marketing tool isn’t the biggest or the flashiest.
It’s the one that gives you complete freedom to grow on your terms!
Check out Icegram Express now!
FAQ
Is Icegram a suitable alternative for WordPress-based businesses?
Absolutely. Icegram is a WordPress-native solution that helps you send unlimited emails directly from your site, without external sending limits or per-subscriber pricing. It’s a cost-efficient option for site owners who want autonomy, full data control, and deeper integration with existing WordPress plugins.
How is Icegram Express different from Mailchimp and MailerLite?
While Mailchimp and MailerLite operate as hosted SaaS platforms, Icegram Express is a WordPress-native plugin, meaning your emails, data, and automations stay entirely within your website. This gives you more control, better privacy, and no dependency on third-party servers or subscriber-based billing.
What if I’m already using Mailchimp or MailerLite, can I migrate to Icegram Express easily?
Absolutely. You can export your subscribers as CSV files from Mailchimp or MailerLite and import them directly into Icegram Express in a few clicks. The plugin also auto-detects key subscriber fields, so your data stays clean and organized post-migration.
How does Icegram Express handle deliverability compared to cloud tools like Mailchimp?
Icegram Express connects to trusted SMTP services (like SendGrid, Amazon SES, or Brevo) for high email deliverability. This setup ensures your emails reach inboxes reliably, and gives you the flexibility to switch or optimize your delivery provider anytime. Mailchimp and MailerLite handle sending in-house but often come with list or domain restrictions.
Does Icegram Express integrate with WooCommerce and other WordPress tools?
Yes, it integrates natively with WooCommerce, Icegram Engage (for popups and CTAs), and other popular WordPress plugins. You can automatically send post-purchase follow-ups, abandoned cart reminders, or product recommendations without needing complex third-party connections.