Mailchimp vs Constant Contact
Both bill by contact tier and both aim at people who are not professional marketers, but they package help differently. Mailchimp has a free plan, 300+ integrations and chat support on its lower paid plans, with phone reserved for Premium. Constant Contact publishes support phone lines, includes an RSVP block on every plan and scales automation by plan.
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Choose Mailchimp ifyou are comfortable with email and chat support, need email connected to the other software you run, and want to begin on a free plan of up to 250 contacts.
Choose Constant Contact ifyour business has no marketer, you value a published phone line with weekday and Saturday hours, and you send invitations that need an RSVP block.
Mailchimp and Constant Contact side by side
| Mailchimp | Constant Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Our email marketing rank | #9 of 12 | #11 of 12 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| Pricing | Free tier to 250 contacts; paid plans per contact per month, published | Per plan and contact tier per month, published |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | A non-specialist who needs to send a decent newsletter tomorrow | A small business with no marketer that wants a phone number to call |
| Not for | A store where every euro of send cost has to earn its keep | Anyone who will build automation themselves |
Both are reviewed in full in our email marketing ranking: Mailchimp and Constant Contact.
Where they differ
Mailchimp 1 · Constant Contact 2 · open 2- 01
Help when you are stuck
Constant Contact publishes support phone numbers with weekday and Saturday hours, alongside chat. Mailchimp's plan table gives the free plan email support for the first 30 days only, Essentials and Standard 24/7 email and chat, and keeps phone and priority support for Premium. A buyer who wants to ring someone without buying the top plan is better served by Constant Contact.
Edge: Constant Contact
- 02
Connecting to the rest of your tools
Mailchimp lists 300+ integrations on every plan, the free one included, and its Shopify connection triggers abandoned-cart flows and reports campaign revenue inside the Shopify dashboard. Constant Contact's known strengths lie elsewhere: phone support, event tools and a simple editor. For a business with a shop, CRM or booking system to link, Mailchimp is the safer assumption.
Edge: Mailchimp
- 03
What the contact-based price buys
Mailchimp prices by contact tier and adds a free plan capped at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Constant Contact bills by plan plus contact tier, and the tier follows the highest number of active contacts the account has held, so deleting contacts does not lower it. Both charge overages beyond the send allowance, so each has a catch.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Room for automation later
Mailchimp's free plan has no automation flows, Essentials allows flows of up to four steps and Standard up to 200 flows. Constant Contact includes its automation builder in every plan but limits active paths: one on Lite, three on Standard, unlimited on Premium. The ceilings are measured differently, so the better fit depends on whether you need longer flows or more of them.
Depends on the buyer
- 05
Seats, events and SMS
Constant Contact gives Lite one user, Standard three and Premium unlimited, puts an RSVP block in every plan and includes 500 SMS messages a month in Premium, with SMS an add-on below that. Mailchimp gives the free plan one seat, Essentials three and Standard five, with SMS as a paid add-on in select markets. Event senders lean towards Constant Contact.
Edge: Constant Contact
When neither fits
If the list is large but mailed rarely, per-contact billing from either is the wrong meter and Brevo, which charges by send volume, fits better. If you simply want the fundamentals for less, MailerLite costs roughly half what the incumbents charge.
Mailchimp or Constant Contact: questions
4 answersIs Mailchimp or Constant Contact better for a small business?
It depends on how much help you expect to need. Constant Contact suits a small business with no marketer that wants a published phone line and RSVP blocks. Mailchimp suits a non-specialist who wants a free plan, chat support on paid plans and 300+ integrations.
Does Mailchimp have a free plan, and what are its limits?
Yes. Mailchimp's free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with one seat, no automation flows and email support for the first 30 days.
Constant Contact's help centre describes three paid plans, Lite, Standard and Premium, billed monthly or prepaid for 6 or 12 months.
Which has better automation, Mailchimp or Constant Contact?
They limit different things. Mailchimp Essentials caps a flow at four steps and Standard allows up to 200 flows. Constant Contact allows one active automation path on Lite, three on Standard and unlimited on Premium, where contacts can also be removed from a path automatically.
How does Constant Contact decide which contact tier I pay for?
The tier is based on the highest number of active contacts the account has had, which can differ from the current count, so removing contacts does not bring the bill down. Overage fees apply if you exceed the email sending allowance of the plan.
Sources
Checked 30 September 2026- Mailchimp pricing page: plan prices, free plan limits, seats, support channels, flow limits and 300+ integrations.
- Mailchimp Shopify integration page: abandoned-cart automations and campaign revenue shown in Shopify.
- Constant Contact knowledge base: Lite, Standard and Premium plans: users, automation paths, RSVP block and SMS per plan.
- Constant Contact knowledge base: how you are billed: billing by plan and highest contact tier, prepay terms and overage fees.
- Constant Contact support contact page: published support phone numbers, hours and chat.