No. Moosend has no free-forever plan, only a 30-day trial that needs no credit card. After the trial, Pro starts at $9/month billed monthly, or $7/month billed annually.

Yes, up to 250 contacts, permanently. Past that, Essentials starts at $27/month billed monthly.

Which is cheaper, Moosend or Mailchimp, for a small list?

Moosend, at 500 contacts. Its Pro plan is priced at exactly this size, $9/month billed monthly or $7/month billed annually, well under Mailchimp's $27/month billed monthly Essentials rate, which a 500-contact list already needs since it's past Mailchimp's free ceiling of 250 contacts.

Does either plan include real automation on its cheapest paid tier?

Moosend does: automation is included on Pro with no flow-step cap stated (Included). Mailchimp's Essentials caps automation at Up to 4 flow steps; full multi-step automation only opens up on Standard ($45/month billed monthly).

Which has more team seats on its cheapest paid plan?

Moosend. Pro includes 5 seats; Mailchimp's Essentials includes 3, exactly enough for a 3-person team with no room to grow without upgrading to Standard's 5 seats.

What will this cost a 3-person team on a 1,000-contact list?

Moosend's Pro plan resolves to $16/month billed monthly, or $13/month billed annually, on its verified contact-tiered ladder, cheaper than Mailchimp's Essentials at $27/month billed monthly for the same list size. Moosend also includes 5 seats against Essentials' exactly 3.

Does Mailchimp deserve the default pick just because it's the plan most people already know?

Not on price or automation depth at the list sizes checked here. Mailchimp's free plan and its 300+ integrations are real, but cheaper, more automation-focused alternatives to Mailchimp exist too, Moosend among them, along with MailerLite and Brevo, and they're worth checking before defaulting to the name you already recognize.

Moosend vs Mailchimp: cheaper contact-tiered pricing, or a free plan capped at 250?

Email marketing and CRM platforms · Verified 30 Sep 2026 · By Joonas Rotko

Moosend

Desk research

From Pro, billed annually

$7/mo

$9/mo billed monthly

Mailchimp

Hands-on

From Essentials, billed monthly

$27/mo

Quick answer

Moosend is the cheaper buy at every list size checked here: Pro is priced at $9/month billed monthly at exactly 500 contacts, well under Mailchimp's $27/month billed monthly Essentials rate, which a 500-contact list already needs since it's past Mailchimp's free ceiling of 250 contacts. The gap holds for a 3-person team at 1,000 contacts too, where Moosend's tiered rate undercuts Mailchimp's confirmed Essentials price even after counting Moosend's own higher seat allowance. Mailchimp is the name more people already know, not the cheapest option here: cheaper alternatives, Moosend among them, are worth checking first. Prices verified 2026-09-30.

Across the three setups below: Moosend in 3 of 3 scenarios.

Which one fits you?

Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier
Moosend
My pick
$7/mo billed annually
At 500 contacts, Moosend's Pro plan is priced exactly at this list size: $9/month billed monthly, or $7/month billed annually. Mailchimp's free plan stops at 250 contacts, so 500 contacts forces Essentials at $27/month billed monthly, well above Moosend's rate.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you want a plan you can stay on for free indefinitely, not just trial it. Mailchimp's free plan is real and has no time limit, even though it can't cover 500 contacts on its own; Moosend has no free plan at any size, only a 30-day trial that needs no card but ends in a paid Pro plan.
See Moosend plans
Growing list, sending regularly
Moosend
My pick
$38/mo billed annually
At 5,000 contacts, Moosend's Pro plan resolves cleanly on both billing bases: $48/month billed monthly, or $38/month billed annually. Mailchimp's Essentials plan only resolves on monthly billing at this size, $75/month billed monthly; Mailchimp doesn't publish a self-serve annual rate at this contact band.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you're billing annually and want a vendor-stated annual rate at this exact list size: Mailchimp doesn't publish one at 5,000 contacts, so its real annual cost here needs a direct check on Mailchimp's own calculator.
See Moosend plans
Small team managing one list together
Moosend
My pick
$13/mo billed annually
At 1,000 contacts and 3 seats, Moosend's Pro plan resolves to $16/month billed monthly, or $13/month billed annually, cheaper than Mailchimp's confirmed $27/month billed monthly Essentials rate at the same list size, and it includes 5 seats against Essentials' exactly-3-seat allowance, so there's room to add a fourth person without upgrading.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you want a vendor you already trust for deliverability at scale, or Mailchimp's 300+ integrations and generative AI writing tools matter more than the lower price; Moosend doesn't document an equivalent AI writing feature.
See Moosend plans

Neither fits? See the alternatives, or take the 2-minute recommendation.

How are Moosend and Mailchimp really different?

Free plan or trial only
Moosend
No free plan. A 30-day trial, no card required, then Pro starts at $9/month billed monthly.
Mailchimp
A real free plan, no time limit, up to 250 contacts.
A list under 250 contacts costs nothing on Mailchimp; on Moosend every list pays from day one once the trial ends.
Entry paid price at a small list
Moosend
Pro: $9/month billed monthly, or $7/month billed annually, at the 500-contact entry band.
Mailchimp
Essentials: $27/month billed monthly, confirmed for any list within Essentials' first pricing-ladder band.
Moosend's entry price undercuts Mailchimp's by a wide margin once both are on a paid plan, before either vendor's higher tiers or add-ons enter the picture.
Team seats on the entry paid tier
Moosend
5 seats included on Pro.
Mailchimp
3 seats on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium.
Moosend gives a 3-person team seats to spare on its cheapest paid plan; Mailchimp's Essentials seat count matches a 3-person team exactly, with no room to add a fourth without upgrading.
Automation depth on the entry paid tier
Moosend
Marketing automation included on Pro (Included), with no flow-step cap stated.
Mailchimp
Automation flows capped at Up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, rising to Up to 200 flows on Standard.
Mailchimp holds back real multi-step automation until Standard; Moosend includes it on its cheapest paid plan.
How far each price ladder is verified
Moosend
Pro's tiered ladder is verified across 21 contact-count rungs, from the 500-contact floor up to 1,000,000 contacts, both billing bases.
Mailchimp
Essentials, Standard and Premium are all confirmed on Mailchimp's own published ladder up to 25,000 contacts, monthly billing only past the entry band.
Moosend's ladder is verified further and covers both billing bases at every size checked here; Mailchimp's own ladder stops resolving an annual rate once you're past its entry band.

What will Moosend or Mailchimp cost for your setup?

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

Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier

500 subscribers · mailed 3 times a month (for tools priced by emails sent) · 1 user

MonthlyYearly, per month

Moosend

My pick

Pro

Above 1,000,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

Mailchimp

$27

$297.50

Essentials monthly, Premium annually

Above 25,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

See Moosend plans

Usage, limits and billing

Moosend

Uses 500 of 1,000,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $108 a year.
On annual billing: $84 a year.

Mailchimp

Uses 500 of 25,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $324 a year.
On annual billing: $3,570 a year.

Growing list, sending regularly

5,000 subscribers · mailed 3 times a month (for tools priced by emails sent) · 1 user

MonthlyYearly, per month

Moosend

My pick

$48

$38

Pro

Above 1,000,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

Mailchimp

$75

Monthly only

Essentials

Above 25,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

See Moosend plans

Usage, limits and billing

Moosend

Uses 5,000 of 1,000,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $576 a year.
On annual billing: $456 a year.

Mailchimp

Uses 5,000 of 25,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $900 a year.

Small team managing one list together

1,000 subscribers · mailed 3 times a month (for tools priced by emails sent) · 3 users

MonthlyYearly, per month

Moosend

My pick

$16

$13

Pro

Above 1,000,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

Mailchimp

$27

Monthly only

Essentials

Above 25,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

See Moosend plans

Usage, limits and billing

Moosend

Uses 1,000 of 1,000,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $192 a year.
On annual billing: $156 a year.

Mailchimp

Uses 1,000 of 25,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $324 a year.

How I calculated this

For each tool I price every current plan plus the add-ons a setup needs, from the vendor's published prices only, and take the cheapest. Monthly and annual billing are priced separately. When a limit or price isn't published, the tool shows as not fitting instead of a guess.

Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier: A list of about 500 contacts, just past the free tiers most vendors offer. One login. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.
Growing list, sending regularly: A list of 5,000 contacts, sending regularly. One login. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.Mailchimp, annual billing: Not sold on annual billing. Price limit isn't published.
Small team managing one list together: Three people logging in to the same 1,000-contact list. Seats, not list size, are the deciding limit. Tools priced by emails sent are costed at three mailings per subscriber a month.Mailchimp, annual billing: Not sold on annual billing. Price limit isn't published.

Moosend 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).

Moosend and Mailchimp compared on the main buying criteria
Criterion	Moosend	Mailchimp
Free plan or trial	None; 30-day trial, no card required.	Free, no time limit, up to 250 contacts.
Entry paid price, both billing bases	Pro: $9/month billed monthly, $7/month billed annually.	Essentials: $27/month billed monthly; no self-serve annual rate shown at this band.
Team seats included	5 on Pro.	1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium.
Automation depth by tier	Included on Pro (Included), no flow-step cap stated.	None on Free, Up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, Up to 200 flows from Standard up.
Sending limits	Not stated: Moosend's pricing page doesn't publish a monthly or daily send cap for Pro.	500 emails a month or 250 a day on Free, whichever hits first; 5,000 monthly sends on Essentials at its 0-500 contact band.

All details, including automation and AI workflows

All compared details for Moosend and Mailchimp
Criterion	Moosend	Mailchimp
API access and integrations	Included on paid plans; 82 integrations including Zapier and Make.	Available on every paid tier per Mailchimp's own developer docs; 300+ integrations bundled on Essentials, Standard and Premium, including WordPress and Zapier.
Trial terms	30 days, no credit card required.	14 days on Essentials/Standard, card required, auto-converts to paid.
Refund / money-back terms	Not stated: Moosend's pricing page doesn't publish a refund or money-back window.	No published guarantee window; refunds only for a system malfunction or a wrongful termination.
Full price ladder	Pro: $9/month billed monthly, or $7/month billed annually, at the 500-contact entry band (20% off with annual billing), rising on a 21-rung tiered ladder up to 1,000,000 contacts. Moosend+: Custom plan built by selecting Enterprise add-ons; pricing varies based on features chosen. Enterprise: Contact sales for custom quote.	Free (up to 250 contacts). Essentials: $27/month billed monthly. Standard: $45/month billed monthly. Premium: $350/month billed monthly month to month, or $297.50/month billed annually on a fixed-term plan. All three confirmed on Mailchimp's own published pricing ladder up to 25,000 contacts.
How pricing scales	Contact-count tiered, with a published table on Moosend's own pricing page verified across 21 rungs up to 1,000,000 contacts, both billing bases.	Contact-count tiered on Mailchimp's own published ladder, confirmed to 25,000 contacts, monthly billing resolves further up the ladder than the annual rate does.
Annual and multi-month discounts	20% off for annual billing, 15% off for 6-month billing.	Premium shows a 12-month price of $297.50/month billed annually; Essentials and Standard show no separate self-serve annual rate on the pricing page.
Generative AI features	Not broken out by tier for Moosend.	Not included on Free or Essentials (Not available); included at no extra cost from Standard up, marked beta and English-only.
Support channels	Not broken out by tier for Moosend.	Essentials and Standard: 24/7 Email & Chat Support. Premium: Phone & Priority Support.
Extra-seat pricing past what's included	Not stated; more seats past the 5 included on Pro require the Moosend+ add-on or a custom Enterprise quote.	No a la carte extra-seat price published; seat counts are fixed per tier (1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium).

Who should pick Moosend, and who should pick Mailchimp?

Moosend

Desk research

Best for solo marketers and small businesses
Best for growing lists sending regularly
Best for small teams sharing one account

Moosend starts at $9/month billed monthly at its entry contact tier with automation included, and the price scales through contact-count tiers, with a published ladder up to 1,000,000 contacts. Annual billing saves 20%, and there's a 30-day trial that requires no credit card. API access, Zapier and Make come standard, but there is no free plan, so you must commit to Pro after the trial ends.

Best for: Growing businesses with scaling email lists who want predictable contact-based pricing instead of flat-rate limits, with marketing automation, API access and 82 integrations on the Pro plan.

Strengths

Contact-count tiering is granular, with published prices up to 1,000,000 contacts: $9/month billed monthly at the entry tier, or $7/month billed annually for the same tier, so cost rises in small steps with list size rather than a few wide bands.
30-day trial with no credit card required, covering core features including automation.
API access, Zapier, Make and workflow automation are all standard, plus 82 integrations across the platform.

Limits

No free plan; only a 30-day trial. The entry tier at $9/month billed monthly is still modest, but you can't stay free after the trial window closes.
Pro includes only 5 team seats; more seats are an add-on on Moosend+, and Enterprise includes more.
Moosend+ is a custom plan built from Enterprise add-ons, and Enterprise is a contact-sales quote, so cost comparison with competitors is harder if your list is already large or you need specific add-ons.

Skip it if you need a free forever tier, or want more than 5 team seats without paying for the Moosend+ add-on.

Moosend review Moosend pricing Moosend alternatives

Mailchimp

Hands-on

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 $27/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 $27/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 $45/month billed monthly.

Mailchimp review Mailchimp pricing Mailchimp alternatives

My pick: Moosend in 3 of 3 scenarios.

See Moosend plans See Mailchimp plans

Neither Moosend nor Mailchimp? Try these

MailerLite
From $10.80/mo billed annually
Pick it if you want an even cheaper general email-marketing entry tier than Moosend or Mailchimp, with automation included on its own free plan.
MailerLite review MailerLite alternatives
Brevo
From $8.08/mo billed annually
Pick it if you want SMS and transactional email bundled with marketing email under one account, rather than as a bolt-on.
Brevo review Brevo alternatives
ActiveCampaign
From $15/mo billed annually
Pick it if you want deeper CRM and sales-pipeline automation than either Moosend or Mailchimp offers on their entry tiers.
ActiveCampaign review ActiveCampaign alternatives

Switching between Moosend and Mailchimp

Neither vendor documents a specific migration tool, import fee, or list-transfer guarantee, so this stays qualitative: expect to re-import your contact list and rebuild automations by hand in either direction, since no free concierge migration is documented for Moosend or Mailchimp. Moosend's 30-day trial needs no card, so you can test a rebuild there without a billing risk; Mailchimp's 14-day trial requires a card and auto-converts to paid if you forget to cancel.

What would change my pick?

Mailchimp publishing a self-serve annual rate for Essentials and Standard past the entry contact band would make it possible to compare both tools on annual billing at every list size checked, not just monthly.
Moosend publishing a monthly or daily sending limit for Pro would close the one side-by-side row that stays unfilled for Moosend today.
A price change on either side. The scenario picks recalculate on their own.

Moosend vs Mailchimp: questions people ask

Is Moosend free?: No. Moosend has no free-forever plan, only a 30-day trial that needs no credit card. After the trial, Pro starts at $9/month billed monthly, or $7/month billed annually.
Is Mailchimp free?: Yes, up to 250 contacts, permanently. Past that, Essentials starts at $27/month billed monthly.
Which is cheaper, Moosend or Mailchimp, for a small list?: Moosend, at 500 contacts. Its Pro plan is priced at exactly this size, $9/month billed monthly or $7/month billed annually, well under Mailchimp's $27/month billed monthly Essentials rate, which a 500-contact list already needs since it's past Mailchimp's free ceiling of 250 contacts.
Does either plan include real automation on its cheapest paid tier?: Moosend does: automation is included on Pro with no flow-step cap stated (Included). Mailchimp's Essentials caps automation at Up to 4 flow steps; full multi-step automation only opens up on Standard ($45/month billed monthly).
Which has more team seats on its cheapest paid plan?: Moosend. Pro includes 5 seats; Mailchimp's Essentials includes 3, exactly enough for a 3-person team with no room to grow without upgrading to Standard's 5 seats.
What will this cost a 3-person team on a 1,000-contact list?: Moosend's Pro plan resolves to $16/month billed monthly, or $13/month billed annually, on its verified contact-tiered ladder, cheaper than Mailchimp's Essentials at $27/month billed monthly for the same list size. Moosend also includes 5 seats against Essentials' exactly 3.
Does Mailchimp deserve the default pick just because it's the plan most people already know?: Not on price or automation depth at the list sizes checked here. Mailchimp's free plan and its 300+ integrations are real, but cheaper, more automation-focused alternatives to Mailchimp exist too, Moosend among them, along with MailerLite and Brevo, and they're worth checking before defaulting to the name you already recognize.

How I verified this

Every price and limit here comes from the vendors' own pages, last checked 30 Sep 2026. Moosend: desk research. Mailchimp: hands-on.

Sources and changelog

35 facts from 8 source pages, oldest checked 30 Sep 2026.

Moosend plans and pricing (checked 30 Sep 2026)
Moosend integrations (checked 30 Sep 2026)
Moosend features (checked 30 Sep 2026)
Mailchimp plans and pricing (checked 30 Sep 2026)
Mailchimp free plan details (checked 30 Sep 2026)
Mailchimp refund policy (checked 30 Sep 2026)

30 Sep 2026: New page, built for the crm-email-platforms category. All three scenarios now pick Moosend: it's cheaper than Mailchimp at 500 contacts, at 5,000 contacts (and the only one of the two with a resolved annual rate at that size), and at 1,000 contacts for a 3-person team, where it also includes more seats than Mailchimp's Essentials plan.

Spot something out of date?Vendors and readers, send me the correct fact.

Software sites change almost every week, and I want every claim on this page to be factually correct. If you are a vendor or a reader, send me the correct fact and a link to the official page. I will check it and update the page. The opinions and rankings stay mine.

Moosend vs Mailchimp: cheaper contact-tiered pricing, or a free plan capped at 250?

Quick answer

Which one fits you?

How are Moosend and Mailchimp really different?

Free plan or trial only

Entry paid price at a small list

Team seats on the entry paid tier

Automation depth on the entry paid tier

How far each price ladder is verified

What will Moosend or Mailchimp cost for your setup?

Solo marketer or small business, a list just past the free tier

Growing list, sending regularly

Small team managing one list together

Moosend vs Mailchimp side by side

Who should pick Moosend, and who should pick Mailchimp?

Moosend

Mailchimp

Neither Moosend nor Mailchimp? Try these

Switching between Moosend and Mailchimp

What would change my pick?

Moosend vs Mailchimp: questions people ask

Is Moosend free?

Is Mailchimp free?

Which is cheaper, Moosend or Mailchimp, for a small list?

Does either plan include real automation on its cheapest paid tier?

Which has more team seats on its cheapest paid plan?

What will this cost a 3-person team on a 1,000-contact list?

Does Mailchimp deserve the default pick just because it's the plan most people already know?

How I verified this

Compare Moosend or Mailchimp with another tool

Moosend vs …

Mailchimp vs …

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