Mailchimp vs Constant Contact

Pick wrong here and you pay twice: once on the monthly bill, and again when you migrate a year from now. Here’s where I land. Mailchimp for a small list that needs real automation, Constant Contact for a local business that runs events and wants a human on the phone, and neither once you pass about 5,000 contacts.

• Mailchimp is the only one with a free plan: 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
• Constant Contact starts lower on paper, at $10.20 a month billed annually ($12 monthly), but Lite includes 1 automation template and 1 custom segment.
• Branching automation costs $20 a month on Mailchimp Standard at 500 contacts. On Constant Contact, custom automations start on Premium, from $68 a month billed annually.
• Constant Contact puts live phone and chat support and event tools on every plan. Mailchimp keeps phone support for Premium.
• Mailchimp bills unsubscribed contacts, so a growing list costs more than the headline price. Past 5,000 contacts, price Brevo and MailerLite before either of these. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.)

Constant Contact’s review score is a tenth of a point higher than Mailchimp’s (3.9 vs 3.8). A review score rates the whole product, and Constant Contact earns its edge on support: live phone and chat on every plan, where Mailchimp gives you a phone line only on Premium ($350 a month at 10,000 contacts). Mailchimp’s review also counts billing for unsubscribed contacts against it.

This page answers a narrower question: which tool should a small business start on? For that, two things outweigh a tenth of a point. Mailchimp lets you start at $0, and it puts branching automation on a $20 plan, while Constant Contact holds custom automations back for Premium. If support or events matter more to you than automation, the score is telling you something real, and Constant Contact is your pick.

List prices as of October 2026: Mailchimp checked October 7, Constant Contact checked October 19 on its pricing page and FAQ.

• Mailchimp bills monthly by contacts: Essentials is $13 and Standard $20 at 500 contacts, $75 and $100 at 5,000, and $110 and $135 at 10,000. Unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward your tier.
• Constant Contact starts at $12 a month on Lite and $35 on Standard with monthly billing. Prepaying 12 months saves up to 15%, which brings Lite to $10.20, Standard to $29.75 and Premium to $68 a month at starting contact counts. Nonprofits save 20% prepaying six months and 30% prepaying 12, with no discount on monthly billing.

Watch the send caps. Constant Contact keeps sending past your allowance and bills $0.002 per extra send, so 10,000 extra sends add $20. Mailchimp charges for extra contact blocks when you go over your tier. Full price tables: Mailchimp review and Constant Contact review.

Mailchimp is my pick for automation because Standard opens up to 200 branching flows with time delays and behavioral triggers, on a plan that starts at $20 a month. Essentials limits flows to 4 steps.

Constant Contact scales automation by plan: 1 automation template on Lite, 3 on Standard plus its AI campaign builder and automatic resends to non-openers, and unlimited custom automations, ecommerce templates and welcome emails on Premium. A welcome email and a birthday send are covered early. A branching nurture sequence needs Premium.

This is Constant Contact’s ground. Every plan can host events, sell products and take payments, post to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and reach live phone and chat support. Standard adds social scheduling. Premium adds 500 SMS a month, US only.

Mailchimp has none of the event tooling and keeps phone support for Premium. For a restaurant, studio or chamber that fills seats by email, that gap decides it.

BestSends doesn’t run inbox-placement tests, so I don’t rank these two on it. EmailToolTester’s January 2024 seed test, its latest published round, recorded 91.7% overall for Constant Contact and 89.5% for Mailchimp, both at 100% for Gmail. That’s a small gap in old data. Constant Contact also cites a 98% inbox rate from 2025 Validity tests on its pricing page, which is its own self-reported figure. Authentication and list quality will move your numbers more than this choice.

Pick Mailchimp if your list is under about 5,000 contacts, you want to start free, and you’ll use branching flows on Standard. Pick Constant Contact if you run a local business or nonprofit that sells event seats, wants a person on the phone from day one, and sends a monthly promo more than a nurture sequence.

If your list is already past 5,000, compare Brevo and MailerLite first; both cost less at most sizes. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.) Either way, price the list you plan to have next year. The cheapest tool is the one you won’t have to leave.