beehiiv #1 vs Mailchimp #5 of 9 on /best/email-marketing
beehiiv vs Mailchimp
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for beehiiv and Mailchimp, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
beehiiv
- Starting price
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 30 days
- Plans
- 4
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
beehiiv
- Launch
Free up to 2,500 subscribers
Free - Scale
Monetize and grow
$43/mo - Max
Pro features for larger operators
$96/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Mailchimp
- Free
Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/month
Free - Essentials
Entry paid tier with A/B testing
$13/mo - Standard
Most popular paid tier
$20/mo - Premium
For high-volume senders and bigger teams
$350/mo
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Scale (beehiiv) against Essentials (Mailchimp). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | beehiiv | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 100,000 subscribers | 500 contacts (anchor; scales up) |
| Emails / month | Unlimited | 5,000 sends (10x contacts) |
| Team seats | 3 | 3 |
| Automations | · | 4 flow steps |
| Campaigns | 3 publications | 3 audiences |
When beehiiv wins
- Newsletter operators who plan to monetize via ads, sponsorships, or paid subscriptions
- Solo creators who want one tool for newsletter, website, and podcast
- Publications under 100k subscribers that value growth networks (recommendations, boosts) over deep automation
Where beehiiv is the wrong fit
- B2B teams that need deep CRM integration or pipeline workflows
- Brands that need granular email design and dev-level template control
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend instead)
When Mailchimp wins
- Small businesses that want one tool with a real onboarding flow and a huge integration list
- Teams already living in Intuit (QuickBooks) products
- Operators who want a brand-name vendor for stakeholder approval
Where Mailchimp is the wrong fit
- Creators with growing newsletters; the per-contact tax compounds (Kit, beehiiv, or MailerLite tend to be cheaper at 10k+ subscribers)
- B2B sales teams; the CRM is light versus HubSpot or ActiveCampaign
- Teams needing predictive AI on a budget; you have to jump to the $350 Premium plan
Migrating between these tools 1 guide
Long-form migration guide for this exact pair. Each covers the cost math, what you lose, what you gain, and the pair-specific gotchas that bite during cutover.
Compare across the category
This page is beehiiv vs Mailchimp. To put both side by side with every other email marketing tool we track on a single price-only table, see the email marketing pricing comparison . Free tiers, entry paid plans, and mid-tier plans for the full email marketing cohort.
Common questions
- Is beehiiv cheaper than Mailchimp?
- Both beehiiv and Mailchimp have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does beehiiv or Mailchimp have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. beehiiv: Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Mailchimp: Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/month.
- Are beehiiv and Mailchimp in the same category?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a natural head-to-head comparison.
- Which has more plans, beehiiv or Mailchimp?
- Both beehiiv and Mailchimp ship 4 plans. Tier counts match; the differentiation is in features and pricing structure rather than tier ladder depth.
- Where can I see alternatives to beehiiv or Mailchimp?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/beehiiv for beehiiv and /alternatives/mailchimp for Mailchimp. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Disclosure: links labeled "sponsored" above are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up. Pricing is the same; nothing in this head-to-head is influenced by commercial relationships. How we rank.
beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing · Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.