Mailchimp: what it costs at your list size, its AI and its terms
Verdict on Mailchimp
Mailchimp suits a small list on a budget only if you can do without its AI. Essentials costs $13 a month at 500 contacts with no generative AI, and Standard adds it at $20 a month, prices checked . Unsubscribed contacts count towards the bill, and terms section 30 lets Mailchimp use your AI inputs, Customer Data included, for machine learning.
Mailchimp
- Best for
- Small lists that want a large integrations catalogue and templates: Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts.
- Not for
- Buyers needing AI on a cheap plan (none on Essentials) or holding many unsubscribed contacts, which are billed. Terms let Mailchimp use AI inputs and outputs, Customer Data included, for machine learning (terms 30).
| Made by | Mailchimp (The Rocket Science Group, an Intuit company) |
|---|---|
| Category | Email marketing |
| Makes | Email campaigns; email automations; landing pages and forms; SMS marketing (add-on); AI-generated email content on Standard and Premium |
| Entry price | From $13 a month |
| Cost per output | Not computed: no plan states a quantity |
| Use in ads | Standard Terms of Use updated and effective 10 October 2025, section 30: Inputs and Outputs are your Content; Mailchimp makes no warranty that Outputs are protectable, and Outputs may not be unique. By using the AI Model you grant Mailchimp a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, sublicensable (through multiple-tiers) license to ... process any and all Inputs and Outputs ... for any purpose, including to develop and improve the AI Model, and We may use your Inputs and Outputs, including Customer Data, for machine learning purposes in order to develop and improve the AI Model, the Services, and similar products and features, and you instruct us to process Customer Data for such purposes. You may select preferences about your data by visiting your account settings.Third-party AI providers may access, use and store Inputs and Outputs under their own terms. The Intuit Global Privacy Statement (updated 9 March 2026) lists training its AI and machine learning models as a use of personal information. No benchmark clause was found. Terms |
| Free plan | Yes. Paid ads on the free plan: Unclear |
| Free trial | The pricing page offers a free trial of Premium for 1 month (read 2026-11-01). |
| Languages | The site is offered in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Italian; AI writing languages not stated, and the terms say AI Models may be limited to certain languages. |
| API | Yes |
| Status | Active |
What Mailchimp is
Mailchimp is an email marketing platform owned by Intuit. You collect contacts with forms and landing pages, then send campaigns (one-off emails) and automations (emails triggered by a sign-up, a date or an order).
The plans are Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium. Each paid plan is priced by a contact tier you pick. Each tier comes with a monthly send limit: 10 times your contacts on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium (plan grid).
The AI email marketing hub sets Mailchimp beside the other 14 email tools we track.
What Mailchimp costs at your list size
Mailchimp sits in the middle of our email price data. At 500 contacts two paid plans cost less: Brevo Starter at $9 and MailerLite Comfort at $12. Kit, beehiiv, Brevo and Substack are also free at that size.
| Tool | 500 contacts | 2,500 contacts | 10,000 contacts | 50,000 contacts | Free plan | Checked | Pricing page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $13 Essentials | $45 Essentials | $110 Essentials | $385 Essentials | Free: up to 250 contacts, 500 emails a month250 contacts, 500 sends a month with 250 a day, 1 audience, 1 seat, Mailchimp branding, no scheduling, limited templates, no generative AI. Sending is held above 250 contacts. | mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing |
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The gap opens as the list grows. At 10,000 contacts Brevo, GetResponse and MailerLite all charge less than Essentials, and Kit Free costs nothing. At 50,000, Essentials costs $385 a month: below Omnisend, Klaviyo and HubSpot, above Brevo, GetResponse, beehiiv, MailerLite and Kit.
Every figure above is Essentials, the plan without AI. The Mailchimp pricing page has Standard and Premium at each step, the 50 per cent introductory offer and the SMS packs.
Which Mailchimp plan has the AI features
Standard is the cheapest plan with generative AI, the tools that draft campaign copy for you. The pricing grid marks it “No additional cost add-on” on Standard and Premium, and “Not included” on Essentials and Free.
| Tool | AI feature | Lowest plan | Limits | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Email writing Generative AI features (content generation) | Standard | Listed as No additional cost add-onon Standard and Premium, Not includedon Essentials and Free. Terms 30 says it covers campaigns, performance analysis and organising contacts. | |
| Mailchimp | Segments Advanced segmentation and pre-built segments | Standard | Not marked as AI on the page. | |
| Mailchimp | Predictions Predictive segmentation | Standard | Named in the Premium feature set; footnote 17 says Predictive segments available on Standard or Premium plans only. |
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Terms section 30 says the AI covers campaigns, performance analysis and organising contacts.
Predictive segmentation groups contacts by how likely they are to buy. The grid lists it among Premium features, and a pricing page footnote makes predictive segments available on Standard or Premium. So the cheapest way in is Standard, from $20 a month for 500 contacts.
The step from Essentials to Standard is the price of the AI. At 10,000 contacts Standard costs $135 a month, $25 more than Essentials (pricing data).
Does Mailchimp train AI on your list?
Its terms allow it. Section 30 of the Standard Terms of Use, updated 10 October 2025, says Mailchimp “may use your Inputs and Outputs, including Customer Data, for machine learning purposes in order to develop and improve the AI Model”.
Standard Terms of Use, 30
We may use your Inputs and Outputs, including Customer Data, for machine learning purposes in order to develop and improve the AI Model, the Services, and similar products and features, and you instruct us to process Customer Data for such purposes.
| Tool | Trains AI on your data | In plain words | The clause | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Yes | Terms section 30 grants Mailchimp an irrevocable licence to AI Inputs and Outputs for any purpose including developing and improving the AI Model, and says it may use them, including Customer Data, for machine learning. It mentions account-setting preferences but does not say they stop training. The Intuit Global Privacy Statement lists training AI models as a use of personal information. Opt out: Terms 30 says You may select preferences about your data by visiting your account settings; the terms do not say this switches training off. | We may use your Inputs and Outputs, including Customer Data, for machine learning purposes in order to develop and improve the AI Model, the Services, and similar products and features, and you instruct us to process Customer Data for such purposes.Standard Terms of Use 30 | Dated 10 Oct 2025 |
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Mailchimp’s Data Processing Addendum defines Customer Data as “any personal data that Mailchimp processes on behalf of Customer via the Service”, and the contacts you upload are personal data of that kind.
Section 30 also grants Mailchimp an irrevocable licence to process your AI inputs and outputs “for any purpose”. It adds that “You may select preferences about your data by visiting your account settings”, and it does not say whether those preferences switch training off.
The same section asks you to add a disclaimer to campaigns built with the AI wherever Mailchimp requires one.
The Intuit Global Privacy Statement, updated 9 March 2026, lists training AI and machine learning models among its uses of personal information. The AI training guide sets this clause beside the other 14 tools.
How Mailchimp counts contacts and bills overages
Mailchimp bills unsubscribed contacts. Subscribed, non-subscribed and unsubscribed contacts all count towards your limit; archived, cleaned and deleted ones do not (help centre).
How contacts are counted
Subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts are included in your contact count.
Archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts don’t count toward your contact total or the price of your marketing plan.
That matters for an older list. Every address that ever opted out keeps costing you until you archive it.
The bill also follows the peak. Mailchimp charges on “the peak contact total during your billing period”, so trimming the list late in the month leaves that month’s bill unchanged (additional charges).
Go over your contact or send limit on a paid plan and sending carries on. The extra shows up as overage blocks on the next bill. Block size and price depend on your plan and tier. The help article’s Standard example is a block of 1,000 contacts with 12,000 sends (additional charges).
Free works the other way: sending pauses until the next monthly cycle.
Slow support and account lockouts lead the user complaints
We read 25 public reviews dated 12 June to 30 October 2026: the 20 most recent on Trustpilot and 5 Reddit items.
Unhelpful or slow support is the most common complaint (9 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot). One reviewer writes that technical support requires a paid plan (Trustpilot).
Accounts locked or suspended come next, along with lists held by compliance review (5 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot). The waits run from a weekend (Trustpilot) to over three weeks (Trustpilot), and one list import sat in review for five days (Trustpilot).
Billing draws the third theme (5 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot). One reviewer reports a charge for an SMS package they say they never ordered (Trustpilot).
The praise is narrower. Live chat that fixed a problem quickly earns three reviews (3 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot). One review mentions the AI, saying the support assistant mostly upsells (1 of 25 sources: Trustpilot).
Deliverability, meaning whether your mail reaches the inbox, comes up once in the reviews we read, as praise (1 of 25 sources: Trustpilot). The pricing page lists no dedicated IP (a sending address only your mail uses).
Mailchimp pros and cons
Pros
- Essentials at 500 contacts is the third-lowest paid price in our email data, after Brevo Starter and MailerLite Comfort
- Paid plans keep sending past the limit; overages go on the next bill
- Predictive segments on Standard and Premium
- Live chat that solves problems fast (3 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
- Smooth, easy software (2 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
Cons
- No generative AI on Essentials or Free; it starts on Standard
- Unsubscribed contacts count towards the contact limit and the bill
- Section 30 covers Customer Data for machine learning, with no stated opt-out
- Free holds 250 contacts and 500 sends a month
- Slow or unhelpful support (9 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
- Accounts locked or held for days (5 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
- Billing and pricing complaints (5 of 25 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot)
How Mailchimp compares
Mailchimp vs MailerLite sets it against a paid plan that costs less at 500 contacts and bills only active subscribers. Kit vs Mailchimp suits creators, since Kit Free holds 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv vs Mailchimp weighs it against a platform built for newsletters.
The Mailchimp alternatives list sorts the rivals by job. The email price table prices all 15 tools at your own list size.
Questions buyers ask about Mailchimp
What is Mailchimp used for?
Sending email campaigns and automations to a contact list, plus forms and landing pages to grow it. SMS is a paid add-on in some countries.
Is Mailchimp free?
Yes, up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with Mailchimp branding and no scheduling or AI.
Does Mailchimp have AI?
Yes, on Standard and Premium. Essentials and Free do not include the generative AI features.
Does Mailchimp use my data to train AI?
Terms section 30 lets it use your AI inputs and outputs, Customer Data included, for machine learning. The terms do not say the account preference stops it.
Why do unsubscribed contacts cost me money on Mailchimp?
They count towards your contact limit. Archive them and they stop counting from the next billing period.
Every email tool, with its price at your list size, is in the AI email marketing hub
Sources
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp marketing plans and pricing, the plan grid, the generative AI row, seats, support, the overage line and the Premium trial. Checked
- Mailchimp: About Mailchimp pricing plans, which contacts count towards the limit and the send limit per plan. Checked
- Mailchimp: About additional charges, billing on the peak contact total and overage blocks on the monthly bill. Checked
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp Standard Terms of Use, updated 10 October 2025; section 30 on AI inputs, outputs and Customer Data. Checked
- Mailchimp: Mailchimp Data Processing Addendum, effective 26 September 2024; the definition of Customer Data. Checked
- Intuit: Intuit Global Privacy Statement, updated 9 March 2026; lists training AI and machine learning models as a use of personal information. Checked
- Trustpilot: Intuit Mailchimp on Trustpilot, the 20 most recent reviews read, 30 September to 30 October 2026. Checked
- Reddit: r/Emailmarketing threads naming Mailchimp, five items from 12 June to 23 July 2026, four of them post titles whose bodies were removed. Checked
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative ad strategist and copywriter with ten years' experience in digital marketing across multiple channels.
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