Drip vs Mailchimp
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Drip and Mailchimp, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
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.
Drip
- Standard
Most popular: $39/mo at 2.5k contacts
$39/mo
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 Standard (Drip) against Essentials (Mailchimp). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Drip | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 2,500 contacts (entry tier; scales) | 500 contacts (anchor; scales up) |
| Emails / month | · | 5,000 sends (10x contacts) |
| Team seats | · | 3 |
| Automations | · | 4 flow steps |
| Workflows | 50 | · |
| Campaigns | · | 3 audiences |
When Drip wins
- E-commerce stores on Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce running flows on customer behavior
- Small to mid stores graduating from Mailchimp's e-commerce features
Where Drip is the wrong fit
- B2B marketers (use ActiveCampaign or Customer.io)
- Creators running newsletters (use Kit or beehiiv)
- Buyers who need to know full pricing before signup
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
Common questions
- Is Drip cheaper than Mailchimp?
- At the entry tier, Mailchimp starts at Free versus Drip at $39/mo. Mailchimp is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Drip or Mailchimp have a free plan?
- Only Mailchimp has a permanent free plan. Drip only offers a free trial.
Drip: https://www.drip.com/pricing · Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.