beehiiv vs Mailchimp: free to 2,500 subscribers, or a CRM built for campaigns?

How are beehiiv and Mailchimp really different?

What will beehiiv or Mailchimp cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

beehiiv vs Mailchimp side by side

I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).

Who should pick beehiiv, and who should pick Mailchimp?

beehiiv

Desk research

• Best for solo marketers and small businesses

beehiiv is a newsletter platform with a free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, but that plan is a starter kit: no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations. Lite, from $59/month billed monthly, adds all three, and beehiiv takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue on top of Stripe's fees. It suits a creator who wants to grow and charge readers without running their own site.

Best for: Creators who want growth and monetization tools beyond a plain newsletter, and expect to pay for Lite once they charge readers or want their own domain.

Strengths

• A permanent free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, enough to test the editor and grow a first list.
• 0% take rate on paid subscriptions on every paid plan; only Stripe's processing fee applies.
• Lite ($59/month billed monthly, or $49/month billed annually) already includes paid subscriptions, a custom domain, automations and 3 publications.

Limits

• Free stops at 2,500 subscribers, 1 seat and 1 publication, with no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations.
• Lite includes 2 seats and caps live automations; a team of three or unlimited automations means Pro, from $109/month billed monthly.
• Lite and Pro are priced by subscriber count, so the entry price only covers the smallest list band and the bill rises in steps as the list grows.

Skip it if you want to charge readers or use your own domain without paying anything; beehiiv's Free plan allows neither, so Substack's free model fits better.

beehiiv reviewbeehiiv pricingbeehiiv alternatives

Mailchimp

Hands-on

• Best for growing lists sending regularly
• Best for small teams sharing one account

I used Mailchimp heavily during my agency years, across client accounts of very different sizes, and what wore me down was the pricing: you end up paying a premium for every part of it, including the simplest tasks. The free plan caps out fast at 250 contacts, and the paid tiers scale by contact count on top of the $13/month billed monthly entry rate. Generative AI features and full automation flows sit behind Standard, not Essentials. It is the category default people already know, not the best value in it: there are cheaper, more current alternatives worth checking first.

Best for: Someone who already knows Mailchimp from a past job and wants the familiar interface, or a small list under 250 contacts that fits the free plan.

Strengths

• A genuine free plan with no time limit, not just a trial, for lists under 250 contacts.
• 300+ integrations including WordPress and Zapier bundled into every paid tier.
• Generative AI features included at no extra cost once you reach Standard.

Limits

• Essentials includes no generative AI features and automation flows capped at 4 steps.
• Pricing scales with contact count on a 20-step slider, so the $13/month billed monthly entry rate only holds under 500 contacts.
• No published extra-seat price and no standard money-back guarantee window, refunds are discretionary.

Skip it if you want AI features or real automation on an entry-level paid plan, since Essentials locks both out and Standard starts at $20/month billed monthly.

Mailchimp reviewMailchimp pricingMailchimp alternatives

Neither beehiiv nor Mailchimp? Try these

• 

  MailerLite

  From $10.80/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want general marketing-automation pricing closer to beehiiv's than Mailchimp's, without needing beehiiv's publishing-specific tools (paid subscriptions, multiple publications).

  MailerLite reviewMailerLite alternatives

• 

  Brevo

  From $8.08/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want SMS and transactional email bundled with marketing email under one account, a use case neither beehiiv nor Mailchimp covers directly.

  Brevo reviewBrevo alternatives

• 

  Kit

  From $33/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you're a creator or solo publisher first, with a subscriber-focused workflow built around newsletters and paid subscriptions, closer to beehiiv's model than Mailchimp's.

  Kit reviewKit alternatives

• 

  Moosend

  From $7/mo billed annually

  Pick it if general email marketing and automation is the job and you want a cheaper tool than Mailchimp, without beehiiv's publishing-specific tools.

  Moosend reviewMoosend alternatives

Buying guides that rank beehiiv or Mailchimp

• Best Free Email Marketing Software

  beehiiv is #8 of 8, Mailchimp is #6 of 8

• 11 Best Newsletter Platforms for Creators and Writers

  beehiiv is #2 of 11

• Best Shopify Email Marketing Tools for Ecommerce

  Mailchimp is #4 of 7

beehiiv vs Mailchimp: questions people ask

Is beehiiv cheaper than Mailchimp?

At a small list size, yes. beehiiv's Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers, and Mailchimp's free plan caps at 250 contacts, so a list past that needs Essentials. Once you need a paid beehiiv plan, Mailchimp is cheaper on monthly billing, so for a general marketing list cost favors Mailchimp. At 5,000 subscribers Essentials costs $75/month billed monthly. beehiiv Lite costs $109/month billed monthly.

Does beehiiv's free plan include automation?

No. beehiiv's Free plan has no automations; they start on Lite, with a cap on live automations, and Pro removes the cap. Mailchimp's free plan doesn't have automation either; it only starts on its paid Essentials tier.

Should I use beehiiv or Mailchimp?

It depends on the job. beehiiv is the better choice for newsletters: publishing, audience growth, paid subscriptions and a newsletter-first business. Mailchimp is the better fit for general email marketing: broader marketing-email tooling, ecommerce and CRM-style use, and it is the category default. Mailchimp is not the cheapest route to email marketing, though. MailerLite, Brevo and Moosend are cheaper alternatives worth pricing before you default to it.

Does either tool take a cut of my revenue?

beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions, on every plan that includes them (Lite and up); Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction applies; beehiiv takes 0%. Mailchimp doesn't run a paid-subscription model at all, so there's no comparable revenue share to state.

Which plan do I need for generative AI features?

On Mailchimp, Standard ($20/month billed monthly) or above; Essentials doesn't include it, and even Standard's rollout is marked beta and English-only. beehiiv offers AI-assisted content tools, but its pricing page doesn't state exact tier gating for them.

Does either tool have a real money-back guarantee?

Mailchimp's own refund policy names no guarantee window at all; refunds are only granted for a system malfunction or a wrongful termination on its side. beehiiv's pricing page doesn't publish a refund policy.

What will this cost me at 5,000 contacts?

On Mailchimp, Essentials costs $75/month billed monthly. On beehiiv, the Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers, so you need Lite: $109/month billed monthly, or $95/month billed annually. Mailchimp shows no annual rate for Essentials.