The uncomfortable truth about email marketing tools
We’re going to say something that upsets both camps: ConvertKit and Mailchimp are both good, and both will leave you frustrated in different ways.
We’ve used Mailchimp since 2022 for our SaaS review newsletter. In late 2025, we added ConvertKit for a separate content project — a weekly digest targeting creators and small business owners. For 6 months, we ran both platforms simultaneously, growing each list from zero.
This comparison comes from that experience. Not a feature checklist scraped from their pricing pages. Not an affiliate-driven hit piece. Just what actually happened when we used both tools to send real emails to real people.
Our 6-month head-to-head experiment
Here’s the setup. Two lists, both started from scratch:
- List A (Mailchimp): SaaS reviews newsletter, weekly sends, targeting tech-savvy professionals
- List B (ConvertKit): Creator tips digest, twice-weekly sends, targeting freelancers and small teams
Both lists used the same lead magnet strategy (a free tools comparison PDF), similar signup forms on similar-traffic pages, and the same general content quality. The only variable was the platform.
After 6 months:
| Metric | Mailchimp | ConvertKit |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 3,247 | 3,891 |
| Avg open rate | 22.4% | 31.7% |
| Avg click rate | 2.8% | 4.6% |
| Deliverability (inbox placement) | ~87% | ~94% |
| Revenue generated | $1,840 | $2,960 |
| Monthly cost (at list size) | $32.50 | $29 |
We’ll unpack these numbers below. But the headline: ConvertKit delivered better results across every metric that matters, even though Mailchimp has more features on paper.
The catch? ConvertKit’s advantage disappears if you’re an e-commerce business. More on that later.
Where ConvertKit genuinely wins
Deliverability is noticeably better. This is ConvertKit’s ace card and it’s real. Our ConvertKit emails consistently landed in primary inboxes while Mailchimp emails had a frustrating tendency to hit Gmail’s Promotions tab. We tested this with 12 different test accounts across Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. ConvertKit hit primary inbox 94% of the time. Mailchimp? 87%. That 7% gap might sound small, but it translates directly to opens and clicks — and revenue. Cold email is a different operating model entirely; our Instantly vs Smartlead comparison covers sender rotation, verification, ramping, and domain-risk controls.
The automation builder actually makes sense. ConvertKit calls them “visual automations” and they work exactly how you’d expect. When someone downloads our lead magnet, ConvertKit triggers a 5-email welcome sequence that we built in about 20 minutes. Conditional splits (“if they clicked the CRM link, send this; if not, send that”) are drag-and-drop simple. We have 7 active automations running and they’ve generated 62% of our ConvertKit revenue.
Tag-based segmentation beats list-based segmentation. Mailchimp organizes people into lists and groups. ConvertKit organizes by tags. Tags are better. With Mailchimp, a subscriber can exist on multiple lists (and you pay for duplicates) or be in groups within a list (confusing to manage). With ConvertKit, every subscriber is a subscriber, and you tag them based on behavior. Someone who clicked our Notion vs ClickUp article? Tagged “notion-interest.” Someone who opened three emails in a row? Tagged “engaged.” This makes targeting surgical.
The creator-focused features aren’t marketing fluff. ConvertKit has built-in landing pages, tip jars, paid newsletters, and commerce tools. We didn’t use the paid newsletter feature, but the landing pages are genuinely good — we built a signup page in 10 minutes that converted at 8.3%, which is solid for cold traffic. Mailchimp’s landing page builder, by comparison, feels like it was designed in 2019 and never updated. For dedicated landing pages that convert even better, we tested Unbounce vs Leadpages and found both beat email platform builders by 2-3x on conversion rate.
But here’s where ConvertKit frustrates:
The email editor is basic. ConvertKit’s editor is intentionally simple — plain text with basic formatting. If you want to send beautiful, designed emails with columns, product grids, or complex layouts, you’ll be disappointed. There’s no drag-and-drop email builder. You get text, images, buttons, and dividers. That’s it. ConvertKit argues that plain-text emails perform better anyway, and our data mostly supports that (higher open rates on simpler emails). But if your brand needs polished visual emails, this is a real limitation.
Reporting is thin. Want to know which link in your email got the most clicks? ConvertKit tells you total clicks per email. Want to A/B test subject lines? You can, but the reporting won’t tell you much beyond opens and clicks. Mailchimp’s analytics are significantly deeper — heat maps, click maps, e-commerce revenue attribution, audience insights. If you’re data-obsessed, ConvertKit will feel limiting.
Where Mailchimp genuinely wins
E-commerce integration is untouchable. If you run a Shopify store, WooCommerce site, or any e-commerce operation, Mailchimp is the better tool. Period. Their e-commerce features — abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, purchase follow-ups, revenue tracking — are miles ahead of ConvertKit. We tested abandoned cart sequences on both platforms for a friend’s Shopify store. Mailchimp’s implementation took 30 minutes to set up and generated $1,200 in recovered carts in the first month. ConvertKit’s version required custom Zapier workflows and still wasn’t as smooth.
The template library is massive. Mailchimp has hundreds of email templates across dozens of categories. Product launches, newsletters, event invitations, holidays — there’s a template for everything and most of them look genuinely good. ConvertKit has… a handful of basic templates. If design matters to your brand, this gap is significant.
Free plan is actually usable. Mailchimp’s free plan gives you 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month with full access to the email builder, basic automations, and templates. ConvertKit’s free plan gives you 1,000 subscribers but no automations — which means no welcome sequences, no behavioral triggers. For a new creator just starting out, Mailchimp’s free tier is more immediately useful.
Multi-channel marketing. Mailchimp has expanded beyond email into social media posting, Google Ads integration, postcards, and even website builders. If you want one platform for all your marketing, Mailchimp is closer to that vision than ConvertKit. We don’t use most of these features (they’re add-on costs that add up fast), but for a small business that wants everything in one place, they exist. For a more serious standalone website, though, dedicated platforms like Webflow or WordPress outperform any email tool’s built-in site builder — we break down the tradeoffs in our Webflow vs WordPress comparison.
But here’s where Mailchimp frustrates:
Pricing becomes unpredictable fast. Mailchimp uses a “contact + send” pricing model. As your list grows, you pay more — that’s expected. But Mailchimp also charges for features that ConvertKit includes: advanced segmentation ($$$), multivariate testing ($$$), custom branding ($$$). We got hit with a $47/month bill for our 3,200-person list because we’d enabled “advanced audience insights” without realizing it was a premium add-on. That stung.
Deliverability issues are real and persistent. We’re not the only ones seeing this. Mailchimp’s high volume of users (13M+ accounts) means their sending IPs have mixed reputation. Our tests showed 87% inbox placement, which is below the 90%+ industry average for dedicated IP senders. ConvertKit maintains stricter sending practices (they’ll actually warn you if your content looks spammy), and it shows in deliverability.
The interface is getting bloated. Mailchimp’s 2026 redesign added AI features, campaign assistants, and marketing dashboards everywhere. The result is an interface that feels like it’s trying to sell you something every time you log in. We counted 4 upsell banners in a single session. ConvertKit’s interface, by contrast, is clean and focused: write email, send email, check stats.
The failure story
In January 2026, we tried migrating our Mailchimp list to ConvertKit. The idea was to consolidate onto one platform and save money.
The migration itself was fine — ConvertKit’s import tool handled our 3,200 subscribers cleanly. But we lost something critical: Mailchimp’s e-commerce data.
Our Mailchimp account had 8 months of purchase data, link click patterns, and engagement scores tied to individual subscribers. When we moved to ConvertKit, all that behavioral history disappeared. Our first ConvertKit send to the migrated list had a 14% open rate — half our usual — because we’d lost the ability to segment by engagement level. We had to rebuild that intelligence from scratch.
We moved back to Mailchimp after 3 weeks. The round trip cost us about 200 unsubscribes and 2 weeks of低于-average performance. Lesson: migration isn’t just about moving email addresses. It’s about moving context.
Feature comparison: What actually matters
| Feature | ConvertKit | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Email Editor | Plain text focused, basic formatting | Drag-and-drop builder, hundreds of templates |
| Automation | Visual builder, intuitive, tag-based | Classic automation, more complex setup |
| Segmentation | Tag-based, surgical, simple | List + group based, powerful but confusing |
| Landing Pages | Built-in, clean, good conversion rates | Built-in, dated design, limited |
| E-commerce | Basic integrations, no native features | Deep Shopify/WooCommerce integration |
| Deliverability | ~94% inbox placement (our test) | ~87% inbox placement (our test) |
| A/B Testing | Subject lines only | Subject lines, content, send time |
| Analytics | Basic (opens, clicks, unsubscribes) | Advanced (heat maps, revenue attribution, predictions) |
| Free Plan | 1,000 subscribers, no automations | 500 contacts, 1,000 sends, basic automations |
| Starting Paid | $15/month (Creator plan) | $13/month (Essentials plan) |
Pricing: What you’ll actually pay
Here’s the real cost breakdown for different list sizes:
| List Size | ConvertKit (Creator) | Mailchimp (Essentials) |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1,000 | Free (no automations) or $15/mo | Free or $13/mo |
| 1,001-2,500 | $29/mo | $30/mo |
| 2,501-5,000 | $49/mo | $50/mo |
| 5,001-10,000 | $79/mo | $75-90/mo (varies by features) |
The headline prices are similar. The difference is what’s included:
- ConvertKit Creator ($15+/mo): Automations, landing pages, basic analytics, subscriber management
- Mailchimp Essentials ($13+/mo): Email builder, templates, A/B testing, basic automations
Where costs diverge: Mailchimp charges extra for advanced segmentation, custom branding, and multivariate testing. ConvertKit includes segmentation and branding in its standard plan. For most creators, ConvertKit ends up cheaper at every tier above 1,000 subscribers because you’re not nickel-and-dimed for features.
But if you need e-commerce features, Mailchimp’s ROI from abandoned cart emails and product recommendations can easily justify the cost. Our friend’s Shopify store recovers $1,200+/month in abandoned carts through Mailchimp — that’s a 40x return on the $29/month they pay.
Our honest recommendations
Content creator, blogger, or newsletter writer: ConvertKit (now Kit) — but also consider beehiiv, which we’ve since found offers superior growth tools and ad monetization for pure newsletter operators. If you’re selling digital products alongside your newsletter, Kit is still our top pick.
E-commerce business: Mailchimp. The Shopify/WooCommerce integration, abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, and revenue tracking make it the clear choice. ConvertKit can’t compete here and doesn’t try to.
Small business doing multi-channel marketing: Mailchimp. If you want email + social media + ads in one platform, Mailchimp’s all-in-one approach saves you from juggling multiple tools. The interface is busier but the feature breadth is real.
Freelancer or solopreneur just starting out: Mailchimp’s free plan. You get 500 contacts, basic automations, and a real email builder. ConvertKit’s free plan is generous with subscriber count (1,000) but the lack of automations means you can’t set up a welcome sequence — which is the single most important email automation for a new list.
Agency managing multiple client lists: ConvertKit. The tag-based system and clean interface make managing multiple audience segments (even across different “brands”) more straightforward. We also find it easier to train clients on ConvertKit than Mailchimp.
Also read: Brevo vs MailerLite — our 90-day test of two budget-friendly alternatives if ConvertKit and Mailchimp feel too expensive.
The honest bottom line
We pay for both tools right now. Our SaaS review newsletter runs on Mailchimp because we started there and the migration disaster we described above made us cautious. Our creator-focused digest runs on ConvertKit because the deliverability and automation are better for that use case.
If we were starting fresh today with one list? ConvertKit — unless that list was tied to an e-commerce store. The 7% deliverability advantage and cleaner automation builder are worth the tradeoff of a less pretty email editor. Opens and clicks are what pay the bills.
But if you sell products online, how you track your projects and how you automate workflows matter just as much as your email tool. Don’t pick your email platform in isolation — pick it based on what the rest of your stack looks like.
Both tools have free plans. Import your list into both. Send the same email from each. See which one lands in the inbox. That test tells you more than this entire article.
FAQ
Is ConvertKit better than Mailchimp?
For creators and content businesses, yes — our 6-month test showed ConvertKit with 31.7% open rates vs Mailchimp’s 22.4%, and 94% inbox placement vs 87%. That gap translated to $1,120 more revenue on a similar-sized list. But “better” depends on your use case. For e-commerce businesses, Mailchimp’s Shopify/WooCommerce integration, abandoned cart emails, and product recommendations make it the stronger choice despite lower deliverability. We cover the specific tradeoffs in detail above.
Which is cheaper: ConvertKit or Mailchimp?
At comparable list sizes, they’re within a few dollars of each other on paper. But Mailchimp charges extra for features ConvertKit includes — advanced segmentation, custom branding, and multivariate testing all cost more on Mailchimp. For a 2,500-person list, ConvertKit Creator is $29/month with everything included. Mailchimp Essentials is $30/month, but add advanced segmentation and you’re at $45+. The exception: Mailchimp’s free plan is more useful out of the box because it includes basic automations. ConvertKit’s free plan gives you 1,000 subscribers but no automations — no welcome sequences, no behavioral triggers.
Can I switch from Mailchimp to ConvertKit?
Technically yes — ConvertKit’s import tool handles the migration cleanly. But we tried this in January 2026 and it was a disaster. We lost 8 months of behavioral data (purchase history, click patterns, engagement scores) that Mailchimp had built up. Our first send to the migrated list had half our normal open rate because we couldn’t segment by engagement anymore. We lost 200 subscribers in the round trip. If you migrate, do it early (before you have significant behavioral data) or accept that you’ll need 2-3 months to rebuild list intelligence. Alternatively, keep both platforms and run them for different audience segments.
Why does ConvertKit have better deliverability?
ConvertKit maintains stricter sending practices and has fewer total users than Mailchimp (roughly 100K vs 13M+ accounts), which means their sending IP reputation is cleaner. They also actively police sender behavior — if your content looks spammy or your bounce rate spikes, ConvertKit will warn you before it damages their overall reputation. Mailchimp’s massive scale means some bad actors share their IP pools, which can hurt deliverability for legitimate senders. Our testing across 12 email accounts showed ConvertKit hitting primary inbox 94% of the time vs Mailchimp’s 87%. That 7% gap is the difference between your email being read and your email being ignored.
Is Mailchimp good for a small business?
Yes, especially if you sell products online. Mailchimp’s free plan (500 contacts, 1,000 sends/month) gives you enough to get started with real email marketing — including a proper email builder, basic automations, and templates. The e-commerce features (abandoned cart recovery, product follow-ups) are genuinely valuable even for small stores — our friend’s Shopify store recovers $1,200+/month in abandoned carts through Mailchimp. The main caveat: as your list grows past 1,000 subscribers, Mailchimp’s pricing escalates quickly and you’ll get nickel-and-dimed for features like advanced segmentation. For a product-focused small business, the ROI usually justifies the cost. For a content-focused business, ConvertKit typically delivers better results.
Prices verified as of April 2026. Both tools adjust pricing periodically — always check their current pricing pages.