Even though you’re grandfathered, you’ll still pay more.
Mailchimp changed its pricing model earlier this year. Instead of charging based on how many active subscribers an account has, it included unsubscribed users, too.
Existing customers were grandfathered on legacy plans based on active subscriber counts. But now those prices are going up, too.
Customers received a notice today informing them of the price increase. The increase seems to be about 15%-20%.
My $49.99 per month package increased to $59.99. My $150 package jumped to $174.
Depending on how many unsubscribed users you have, this means the legacy plans could cost more than the new ones. For example, my $174 per month account has 15,000 active subscribers. Accounts with the new audience definition pay $159.00 per month for 15,000 audience members.
In other words, even though these accounts are grandfathered in, they are effectively being charged somewhat for unsubscribed users.
Customers can still get a 10% discount for enabling two-factor authentication on their account.
Jeff Wheaton says
https://mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-discounts/
Only for 3 months though.. “offer a 10% discount for 3 months when you set up two-factor authentication”
Andrew Allemann says
That’s new, or at least new since I added it. I’m apparently grandfathered into getting the discount every month…at least for now.
Dustin says
Are there any alternatives worth considering?
Michael D says
SocketLabs, Sendgrid, SES,?
Meli says
Mailerlite
Green Jobs says
I like MailerLite because of the simplicity.
Kathleen says
AWeber is an awesome choice
Andrew Allemann says
I’ve used that too. Started well but eventually wasn’t so good. Granted, that was many years ago.
Danny Brown says
I moved to ConvertKit when MC initially came out with this money grab. Best decision I made.
Darren says
Is CovertKit a good option for eCommerce stores as I heard it is best suited for bloggers and freelancers?
Andrea Green says
I call B.S. I’d be happy to pay the increase when they fix their emails from going in to spam and promotions tabs. Throwing money out of the window. I’d also be interested in great alternatives as I don’t use any of their new features that they are asking me to pay for.
Sarah says
(removed astroturfing comment from Omnisend)
Thomas says
I’ve been following Octopus for about a year but haven’t used them yet. Their feature set (focused on email) and pricing is outstanding: https://emailoctopus.com/pricing
Erkki says
A really nice, easy to use alternative that has all the necessary features (drag and drop templates that work in mobile devices, automation workflows, integrations with almost everything and unlimited volumes and features included in the monthly fee) is Smaily https://smaily.com. It’s also about 2x cheaper.
notbootcamp says
Half the price, not 2x cheaper.
Erkki says
OK, thank you! 🙂
Miles Date says
Thanks for the info Andrew. Yes I got the same price increase email. Found an overview of email marketing tools that have a free trial and pricing overview here: https://www.emailvendorselection.com/free-cheap-email-marketing-software-comparison/#price-comparison
At least 5 that are way cheaper than MailChimp…..
Andrew Allemann says
The one I hear good things about is ConvertKit. I had its CEO Nathan Barry on my show last year talking about the rebrand they were going through…before the canned it:
https://domainnamewire.com/2018/07/16/convertkit-seva/
Justin (@justinmabraham) says
Was a MailChimp user for 2+years paying around 2k a month. Switched before the model and price increase changes to GetResponse Enterprise. So happy I did and not looking back. The premium MailChimp charges for things like Facebook ads and now unsubscribes being part of your audience is a joke. You can export your emails and upload it to Facebook to free including the unsubscribes if you want. Not to mention the MailChimp integration with Facebook cannot keep up with the fast changes Facebook makes to it’s its platforms. Do your research there are many other platforms out there that do the exact same thing MailChimp does and also does it better. Take some workload into your own hands and save your self a lot of $$$ by working on ad platforms seperatly.
Andrew Allemann says
I agree on your point about Facebook and retargeting. I suppose Mailchimp is made for people who don’t know how to do that.
I actually switched from GetResponse to Mailchimp. I found GetResponse’s interface to be abysmal. That said, at $2k a month you’re definitely a power user.
Miles Austin says
Andrew, how long ago did you use GetResponse? There improvements to user experience over the last year are working very well for me.
Andrew Allemann says
Greater than a year, so it’s certainly possible it has gotten better.
craigd723 says
A great alternative to MailChimp is PushSend, which is a relatively new service. Aside from email campaigns it’s got landing pages, lead gen forms and event marketing. I found it really easy to use and it’s got a ton of features.
Bren says
Even if you are not using the extra features you still get slugged for them?
Trevor says
Archive those who are unsubscribed or inactive and your plan will cost less. Unless you are using those contacts for campaigns beyond email you don’t need them. Export all the data you can on them and archive them so they are not part of your “Audience”.
lauranarusyte says
I would advice to consider Omnisend.
We already have thousands of happy Mailchimp customers who migrated after Mailchimp and Shopify break up.
We have a special offer which will help you to keep the same legacy pricing with full features for one more year!
Discount code – LEGACY25X12 gives you 25% off for 12 months for using Omnisend!
Hank Hoffmeier says
I work with j2 Global, which owns Campaigner and iContact. I feel that both platforms are worth a look at. Of course, each marketer will have different needs. Has anyone used either before?