Pricing Comparison · Reviewed 2026

Mailchimp Just Raised Prices Again. Here's What The Numbers Actually Show.

A straight comparison of what you're paying now versus what the same contact list costs on Constant Contact — no spin, just the math.

Last updated: July 8, 2026 · SEE METHODOLOGY

Reviewed by The Send Report's Research Desk. This article was written and researched by our editorial team using a documented methodology — learn more about our methodology. We do not use named staff photos or invented reviewer identities; our by-line is the team, not a fabricated individual.

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you sign up for Constant Contact through a link below, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing and rating figures cited on this page are sourced from Mailchimp, Constant Contact, G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot and were current at time of publication — always confirm current pricing on the provider's site before buying.

Overview

Mailchimp raised prices again effective April 13, 2026 — an average increase of 11-13% for legacy accounts still on plans from before May 2019. That follows a January 2026 cut to the free plan, which dropped from 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month down to just 250 contacts and 500 sends. Since Intuit acquired Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion, price increases or free-tier reductions have landed almost every year.

The pattern shows up in independent reviews too. On G2, "Expensive" is a flagged complaint in 81 separate reviews, "Limited Features" in 58, and "Missing Features" in 55. On Trustpilot, Mailchimp holds a 2.7 out of 5 rating across 1,368 reviews, with recurring complaints about escalating cost and thin support on lower tiers.

None of this means Mailchimp stopped working. It means the bill for the same list, doing the same job, keeps climbing — and at some point the question stops being "is this a good tool" and starts being "is this still the right price for what I'm getting."

The Comparison

Reports from users in the 1,000-5,000 contact range describe subscription cost increases of 35-45% while their actual sending volume and feature use stayed flat. That's the range most small businesses live in — not the free tier, not enterprise, just a working list that grows a little every year.

Constant Contact's current published tiers: Lite at $12/month, Standard at $35-39/month, and Premium at $80/month, scaling from there with contact count. It's not free. But it's a flat, published structure you can check against your own list size before you commit — not a number that moves on you after the fact.

One comparison worth running yourself: a business with roughly 2,500 contacts paying in the mid-$60s/month on a Mailchimp legacy or mid-tier plan will typically land in Constant Contact's Standard tier, published at $35-39/month for a comparable list size. Run your own numbers against your current invoice — list size and add-ons change the math either direction, so don't take our word for it, check your own bill.

Mailchimp isn't the only name that comes up when people go looking for an alternative. Here's where the two most common alternatives run into trouble:

Brevo — cheaper on paper, but the pattern in reviews is poor deliverability (emails landing in spam more often) and slow support, with tickets going unanswered for days at a time.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) — built for solo creators and newsletters, not general small business use; reviews consistently flag weak reporting depth and the same deliverability complaints as Brevo.

Neither solves the actual problem: a platform priced and supported for a small business that needs to talk to a live human when something breaks.

Before moving a list, run it against five criteria — this is the checklist, not a sales pitch: pricing tied to your real list size (not a legacy tier that quietly inflates every renewal), live phone support (not a ticket queue), core automation included (not gated behind a premium tier), a published, checkable price, and a support response time you can rely on.

Pricing Comparison Review Summary

On support-response time specifically, independent data shows Constant Contact averaging a 4.2-minute phone response versus Mailchimp's 22.7 minutes — and on the ratings aggregators, Constant Contact clusters at 4.1-4.3 while Mailchimp sits at 2.7/5 on Trustpilot across 1,368 reviews.

Pros & Cons

The Best

Published, checkable pricing tied to list size — $12/mo (Lite) up to $80/mo (Premium)
8.7/10 support score vs. Mailchimp's 7.2/10 (industry average 8.0)
4.2-minute average phone response vs. Mailchimp's 22.7 minutes

The Worst

Trustpilot rating (3.9/5) is its weakest score, trailing Capterra and G2
Recurring complaint theme: phone-only cancellation, no self-service cancel button
Not the cheapest sticker price in the category

Rating Details

Source	Score	Note
Capterra	4.3 / 5	~2,890 reviews
G2	4.1–4.3 / 5	aggregate cluster
Trustpilot	3.9 / 5	weakest of the three
Support score	8.7 / 10	vs. Mailchimp 7.2 / 10

Composite editorial score (4.2/5) blends these aggregator ratings — see Methodology.

Recommendation

Here's the actual decision: you're already paying for email marketing. The question a straight comparison answers is whether you're paying an amount tied to your real list size and getting a support response time you can rely on — or paying whatever the platform decides to charge on your next renewal.

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Conclusion

The bill you're already paying doesn't have to be a moving target. Run your own list size against Constant Contact's published tiers before your next Mailchimp renewal lands.

FAQ

Why did Mailchimp raise its prices again in 2026?

Mailchimp increased prices by 11-13% for legacy accounts effective April 13, 2026, following a January 2026 cut to the free plan (down to 250 contacts and 500 sends). Price increases or free-tier reductions have landed almost every year since Intuit's 2021 acquisition.

How much does Constant Contact cost?

Published tiers run Lite at $12/month, Standard at $35-39/month, and Premium at $80/month, scaling with contact count — flat and checkable against your own list size before you commit.

Is Constant Contact actually cheaper than Mailchimp?

It depends on your list size and current plan. Users in the 1,000-5,000 contact range have reported 35-45% cost increases on Mailchimp legacy plans; run your own invoice against Constant Contact's published tiers rather than assuming.

Sources

Mailchimp April 2026 pricing change and legacy-plan increase figures, Mailchimp January 2026 free-plan reduction, and G2/Trustpilot review-complaint figures per aggregated 2026 pricing and review analyses (Benchmark Email, Retainful, GroupMail, MailBluster, EmailOctopus pricing-history coverage). Support response-time and support-score comparison per 2026 Constant Contact vs. Mailchimp support comparisons (EarnifyHub, Sender.net). Constant Contact Capterra rating (4.3/5, ~2,890 reviews) and G2 rating cluster (4.1-4.3) per Capterra and G2 2026 listings. Constant Contact Trustpilot rating (3.9/5) and complaint themes per Trustpilot 2026 listing.