ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp: which should you pick?

Deep automation vs broad suite. Free plans, pricing basis, automation and transactional email from each vendor's pricing page, plus who should pick which.

ActiveCampaign free plan: No free plan; ActiveCampaign free plan
Mailchimp free emails: 500/mo; Mailchimp free emails
Lumail free emails: 3,000/mo; Lumail free emails

TL;DR

Mailchimp has a free plan (250 contacts, 500 sends) and a broader suite with website plans. ActiveCampaign has no permanent free plan but is the deeper automation and CRM tool. Both price by contacts. Simple campaigns and a website: Mailchimp. CRM-connected journeys and attribution: ActiveCampaign.

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp side by side

Every ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp cell comes from the vendor's public pricing page, verified on August 17, 2026. Lumail is the third column, as the alternative.

ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp comparison with Lumail
	ActiveCampaign	Mailchimp	Lumail (alternative)
Free plan	No permanent free plan; trial available	250 contacts and 500 sends/month	$0, 3,000 emails/month
Paid from	Calculated by contact count, plan, and currency	Varies by plan and contact tier	$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
Pricing basis	Contact tier and plan	Plan plus contact tier and monthly send allowance	Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
Automation	Five actions per automation on Starter; broader on higher tiers	Welcome automation on Free; broader journeys on paid plans	Graph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths
AI and developer access	Active Intelligence plus Claude and ChatGPT connections	Built-in marketing AI and integrations	ChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor
Transactional email	Available as an add-on	Available through Mailchimp Transactional add-on	Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
Publishing	Forms and landing pages on applicable plans	Landing pages, forms, and website plans	Capture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder
Best for	Marketing teams with complex customer journeys and CRM requirements	Teams that want one established suite for multiple marketing channels	Teams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume

Choose ActiveCampaign if

You need CRM-connected marketing journeys
Attribution and cross-channel orchestration are essential
Your team benefits from a mature automation ecosystem

Choose Mailchimp if

You want a free plan to start with
You want landing pages, forms and website plans in one suite
You prefer an established general-purpose marketing tool

Where Lumail fits

ActiveCampaign Starter caps automations at five actions; Mailchimp Free has a welcome automation only. Lumail includes graph workflows with branches and goals and prices by emails sent.

Lumail prices by emails sent, with unlimited subscribers on every plan: $0 for 3,000 emails a month, Premium at $20 a month for 40,000 emails then $0.60 per 1,000, and Business at $200 a month for 400,000 emails then $0.40 per 1,000. Campaigns, graph workflows and transactional email (API and SMTP) live in one account, and agents can run it through MCP, the CLI or the SDK.

Read the full Lumail vs ActiveCampaign and Lumail vs Mailchimp breakdowns, or the long-form ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp articles.

Start for free See Lumail pricing

Sources

ActiveCampaign pricing, verified on August 17, 2026
Mailchimp pricing plans, verified on August 17, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is ActiveCampaign better than Mailchimp for automation?

For complex, CRM-connected journeys, ActiveCampaign is the more automation-focused tool. Note that Starter limits automations to five actions; broader automation is on higher tiers.

Do both charge by contacts?

Yes. ActiveCampaign prices by contact tier and plan; Mailchimp by plan, contact tier and a monthly send allowance.

Do ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp include transactional email?

ActiveCampaign: Available as an add-on. Mailchimp: Available through Mailchimp Transactional add-on.

Is there an alternative to ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp that prices by emails sent?

Lumail. It is $0 for 3,000 emails a month, then $20 a month for 40,000 emails and $0.60 per extra 1,000, with unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, workflows and transactional email share one account.

Where do these numbers come from?

From each vendor's public pricing page (ActiveCampaign pricing and Mailchimp pricing plans), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

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3,000 emails a month free. Unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, automations and transactional email on one domain.

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