Mailchimp vs EmailOctopus: Features, Pricing and Reviews Compared
- Starting price
- $13/mo · free plan
- Ease of use
- 8.6
- Functionality
- 8.8
- Value for money
- 6.8
- Customer support
- 7.3
Best for
- Small businesses and nonprofits sending newsletters and promotions to a modest list
- Shopify, WooCommerce and Squarespace stores that want abandoned-cart and product-recommendation emails
- Teams without a designer who need templates and a drag-and-drop editor that just work
- Starting price
- $9/mo · free plan
- Ease of use
- 6.5
- Functionality
- 7.2
- Value for money
- 7.2
- Customer support
- 7.1
Best for
- Authors and newsletter writers
- Small online stores on Shopify or WooCommerce
- Nonprofits and charities
Our verdict
Mailchimp comes out ahead at 80/100 versus EmailOctopus at 70. Easy editor and a huge template library. Mailchimp is the better fit for small businesses that want a familiar, template-driven email tool. EmailOctopus makes more sense if you need the free plan has no time limit and supports up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month or you want to start cheaper ($9/mo vs $13/mo).
On Mailchimp: Mailchimp is still the easiest way for a small business to send a good-looking newsletter and run basic automations, and the template, form and landing-page tools are polished. It is no longer the cheap option: contact-based pricing climbs quickly, the free plan is small, and the automation depth on Essentials is thin. Choose it for ease and ecommerce integrations; choose Brevo or MailerLite if price per contact is the priority.
Features comparison
The 8 email marketing capabilities we check on every product, ordered by importance to buyers.
| Feature | Importance | Mailchimp | EmailOctopus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drag-drop editor | 90% | Included | Included |
| Automations | 84% | Included | Included |
| Segmentation | 78% | Included | Included |
| Signup forms | 69% | Included | Not included |
| A/B testing | 61% | Included | Not included |
| Landing pages | 47% | Included | Included |
| SMS | 39% | Included | Not included |
| API access | 31% | Included | Included |
What stands out in each
Email builder and templates
A drag-and-drop editor with a large template library, brand kit, and generative AI for copy and layouts. Emails render reliably across clients, and the creative assistant produces usable designs for people without a designer.
Automations and Customer Journeys
Essentials covers single-trigger automations (welcome, abandoned cart, re-engagement). Standard unlocks the Customer Journey Builder with branching logic, delays and conditions, which is where Mailchimp becomes a real marketing automation tool.
Audience management and segmentation
Tags, groups and behavioural segments; Standard adds predictive segmentation (likely-to-buy, customer lifetime value) using ecommerce data. One audience per account is the recommended model, which simplifies pricing.
Ecommerce integrations
Native connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and others pull order data into the audience for product recommendations, purchase-based segments and revenue reporting per campaign.
EmailOctopusDrag-and-drop email editor
Users build emails with images, video blocks, code and other content blocks, or write their own HTML. This lets senders create custom layouts without a designer.
Brand-matched templates
Templates adapt to a brand's colours and styles automatically, with more than 100 mobile-friendly options available. Senders can adjust layouts and add their own content as needed.
Automations and drip sequences
Automated sequences send a series of emails triggered by subscriber actions or events. This keeps new subscribers engaged without manual sends.
Tags and subscriber segmentation
Tags and custom subscriber fields let senders group contacts and target each segment with relevant emails. Subscriber data can be collected at sign-up and reused later.
Pricing comparison
Mailchimp starts at $13/mo with a free plan; EmailOctopus starts at $9/mo with a free plan. Plans are shown as the vendors publish them; the BSR Value subscore reflects what you get for the money.
Free
Up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month with Mailchimp branding.
- 500 contacts
- 1,000 emails/month
- Basic templates
- Forms and landing pages
Essentials
Removes branding, adds scheduling, A/B testing and 24/7 email support.
- Remove Mailchimp branding
- A/B testing
- Scheduled sends
- Basic automations
Standard
Customer journeys, send-time optimisation, dynamic content and predictive segmentation.
- Customer Journey Builder
- Send-time optimisation
- Dynamic content
- Predictive segmentation
Premium
Advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, phone support and unlimited seats.
- Unlimited seats and roles
- Multivariate testing
- Advanced segmentation
- Phone and priority support
Prices scale with contact count, and unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts have historically counted toward the total. Monthly send limits apply per plan (for example 10x contacts on Essentials). Overages are billed automatically. Transactional email (Mailchimp Transactional) is a separate paid product.
Value for money: 6.8/10 · Monthly, Pay as you go credits, Cancel anytime · Vendor pricing page ↗
EmailOctopusStarter
Suited to new senders with a small list who want to explore the platform before upgrading.
- Up to 2,500 subscribers
- 10,000 emails per month
- Reports available for 30 days
- 1 landing page and 1 form
Pro
Suited to senders who need unlimited forms, unlimited users and a fully branded email design.
- Full control over your email design
- Reports available forever
- Unlimited landing pages and forms
- Add unlimited users
Monthly and yearly billing are offered, with yearly plans saving 10%. There is no free trial, but the free plan has no time limit and no credit card is needed; payments are accepted by card and PayPal and processed through Stripe. Nonprofits receive a 20% lifetime discount, and lists over 500,000 subscribers require a custom quote.
Value for money: 7.2/10
Integrations comparison
4 integrations in common · 12 only in Mailchimp · 32 only in EmailOctopus. Logos link to our review when we cover the tool.
Both connect to
Shopify
SquarespaceOnly EmailOctopus32Which one is best for my use case?
Who each product is built for, who should look elsewhere, and the jobs it gets bought for, from our editorial review and the vendor's own customer profile.
Ideal for
- Small businesses and nonprofits sending newsletters and promotions to a modest list
- Shopify, WooCommerce and Squarespace stores that want abandoned-cart and product-recommendation emails
- Teams without a designer who need templates and a drag-and-drop editor that just work
Not for
- Lists over ~20,000 contacts, where per-contact pricing gets expensive
- Businesses that need SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email on one bill (Brevo does this)
- Marketers who need multi-branch automation on the lower tiers
Common use cases
Sells to: Freelancers, Small businesses, Nonprofits, Mid-size companies. Common industries: Ecommerce, Retail, Nonprofits, Creative and media, Hospitality, Education.
EmailOctopusIdeal for
- Authors and newsletter writers
- Small online stores on Shopify or WooCommerce
- Nonprofits and charities
- Freelancers starting with a free list
Not for
- Teams that need SMS messaging alongside email
- Lists above 500,000 subscribers without a custom quote
Common use cases
Sells to: Freelancers, Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Enterprises.
Support, training and setup
How you get help, how you learn the product, and how fast you can be running.
- Support score
- 7.3/10Leads
- Ease of use
- 8.6/10Leads
- Support channels
- Email and chat (paid plans)
- Phone (Premium)
- Help center
- Onboarding specialist (Standard+)
- Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
- Webinars
- Mailchimp Academy
- Deployment
- Cloud / SaaS
- iOS app
- Android app
- Typical setup
- Same day
- Languages
- English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian
EmailOctopus- Support score
- 7.1/10
- Ease of use
- 6.5/10
- Support channels
- Email/Help Desk
- FAQs/Forum
- Knowledge Base
- Chat
- Training
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Videos
- Deployment
- Web
- Typical setup
- Not published
- Languages
- Not published
Security and reliability
Certifications and controls as published by each vendor. We list them; we don't audit them.
- Security
- GDPR
- Two-factor authentication
- SOC 2 (via Intuit)
- Data encrypted in transit and at rest
- Public API
- Yes
- Mobile apps
- iOS · Android
- Company
- Atlanta, GA · 1,000+ employees · founded 2001
EmailOctopus- Security
- GDPR compliance
- CAN-SPAM compliance
- Payments processed through Stripe
- Public API
- Yes
- Mobile apps
- None published
- Company
- London, United Kingdom · Small remote team employees · founded 2015
Pros and cons
Our editors' pros and cons for each product. No user reviews have been published for these products yet.
Pros
- Easy editor and a huge template library
- Integrates with almost every e-commerce and CRM platform
- Free plan to get started
Cons
- Costs rise steeply as the contact list grows
- Free plan has become very limited
- Phone support only on the top tier
EmailOctopusPros
- The free plan has no time limit and supports up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month.
- The Pro plan costs $9 per month billed yearly and includes unlimited users, forms and landing pages.
- Live chat has an average response time of 9 seconds, and free accounts receive email and chat support for the first 30 days.
- The developer API and integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress and Zapier connect email to existing sites and tools.
- Pro plans upgrade automatically as the subscriber list grows, so buyers do not need to change plans manually.
Cons
- There is no free trial, so the only way to test paid features is to upgrade to Pro.
- The free plan shows EmailOctopus branding on emails, allows only one user and keeps reports for 30 days.
- The product is email only and does not include SMS messaging.
- Lists larger than 500,000 subscribers need a custom quote rather than a published plan.
Full side-by-side table
Mailchimp leads in 8 of 10 rows where they differ. Green marks the leader in each row.
EmailOctopus 70Leads 2 of 10 rows · Best for small businesses, authors and creators who want email marketing without SMS or paid extras| Feature | Mailchimp Best for small businesses that want a familiar, template-driven email tool | EmailOctopus Best for small businesses, authors and creators who want email marketing without SMS or paid extras |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| BSR score | 80 | 70 |
| Ease | 8.6 | 6.5 |
| Features | 8.8 | 7.2 |
| Value | 6.8 | 7.2 |
| Support | 7.3 | 7.1 |
| Pricing | ||
| Starting price | $13/mo | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Included | Included |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Features | ||
| Features included | 8 / 8 | 5 / 8 |
| Drag-drop editor | Included | Included |
| Automations | Included | Included |
| A/B testing | Included | Not included |
| Landing pages | Included | Included |
| SMS | Included | Not included |
| Segmentation | Included | Included |
| Signup forms | Included | Not included |
| API access | Included | Included |
| Details | ||
| Biggest strength | Easy editor and a huge template library | The free plan has no time limit and supports up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month. |
| Biggest weakness | Costs rise steeply as the contact list grows | There is no free trial, so the only way to test paid features is to upgrade to Pro. |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
| Best fit | 1–50 users | Freelancers, Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Enterprises |
Not a match?
Other email marketing software we list, ranked by BSR score.
Mailchimp vs EmailOctopus: FAQs
Is Mailchimp better than EmailOctopus?
Mailchimp scores 80/100 against EmailOctopus's 70, a 10-point lead. Easy editor and a huge template library. EmailOctopus is the better pick if the free plan has no time limit and supports up to 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month matters more to you.
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or EmailOctopus?
EmailOctopus has the lowest starting price at $9/mo and offers a free plan. Mailchimp starts at $13/mo. Per-user pricing, annual discounts and add-ons change the real total, so price out your actual seat count.
Which has more features?
Mailchimp covers 8 of the 8 email marketing features we track, including A/B testing, SMS, Signup forms which EmailOctopus lacks.
Do Mailchimp and EmailOctopus integrate with the same tools?
Both connect to Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, Eventbrite. Only Mailchimp lists BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix; Only EmailOctopus lists SendPulse, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Ticket Tailor.
How this comparison was made
Each product was scored on the same four subscores (Ease, Features, Value, Support) from the vendor's published pricing and documentation, our editorial review, then combined into a 100-point BSR score. Hands-on tested: Mailchimp. Feature checks use one list per category; plans, integrations, support and security come from what each vendor publishes and are refreshed when listings change. Green marks the leader in a row. Sponsored placements are labeled elsewhere on the site and never touch a comparison. Full methodology →