Quick verdict: Mailchimp and Constant Contact have competed for the same small-business email marketing market for over two decades — and in 2026, they remain closely matched. Mailchimp wins on template variety, the Customer Journey Builder automation, advertising integration, and price-per-feature at comparable tiers. Constant Contact wins on deliverability, phone support availability, event management tools, and a more transparent pricing model. Neither platform is dramatically superior — the right choice depends on which specific capabilities matter most to your business.
| Your situation | Our pick |
|---|---|
| Large template library and design flexibility | Mailchimp |
| Phone support without enterprise pricing | Constant Contact |
| Multi-step behavioral automation | Mailchimp |
| Event management and registration tools | Constant Contact |
| Facebook/Google ad retargeting integration | Mailchimp |
| Better inbox deliverability | Constant Contact |
| Nonprofit with event-driven marketing | Constant Contact |
| Ecommerce with predictive segmentation | Mailchimp |
| Simple, straightforward email campaigns | Tie |
Mailchimp vs Constant Contact at a Glance
| Category | Mailchimp | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | By contact count | By contact count |
| Starting price | $13/mo (Essentials, 500 contacts) | $12/mo (Lite, 500 contacts) |
| Free plan | Yes — 250 contacts, 500 emails/month | No — 14-day free trial only |
| Automation | Customer Journey Builder (Standard+) | Email series on Standard; unlimited on Premium |
| Email templates | 260+ | Hundreds (described as dated by some users) |
| Event management | Not available | Built-in — RSVP, registration, invites |
| SMS marketing | Paid add-on (US only) | Included on Premium; add-on on Standard (US only) |
| CRM | Not included | Not included |
| Integrations | 300+ | 300+ |
| Phone support | Premium plan only ($350+/month) | All paid plans |
| Deliverability | Lower in independent tests | Higher (stronger industry reputation) |
| G2 rating | 4.3/5 (12,698 reviews) | 4.1/5 (6,613 reviews) |
| Best for | SMBs, ecommerce, design-focused, ad retargeting | Small businesses, nonprofits, event-driven orgs |
Pricing from emailtooltester.com, flowium.com, and official websites. G2 ratings from g2.com. Deliverability based on industry reputation and third-party blog reviews (not standardized testing). All verified March 2026.
Mailchimp was founded in 2001, Constant Contact in 1995 — these are the two oldest names in email marketing and together have shaped what millions of small businesses expect from an email tool. Their long histories also mean they carry some legacy baggage: Mailchimp has been steadily restricting its free plan (250 contacts as of 2026, down from 2,000 pre-2023), and Constant Contact eliminated its free plan entirely in June 2025.
Despite decades of competition, they still serve overlapping audiences and remain legitimately competitive for similar use cases. Here’s a thorough breakdown of every relevant category.
Pricing Comparison
Both platforms use contact-based pricing — you pay more as your list grows. Neither offers annual billing discounts in the traditional sense, though Constant Contact offers 10–15% prepay discounts.
Mailchimp Pricing (Monthly Billing, USD)
| Contacts | Free | Essentials | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250–500 | $0 | $13 | $20 | $350 |
| 2,500 | — | $45 | $60 | $350 |
| 5,000 | — | $75 | $100 | $350 |
| 10,000 | — | $110 | $135 | $350 |
| 25,000 | — | $270 | $270 | $620 |
| 50,000 | — | $385 | $450 | $815 |
[source: emailtooltester.com, last updated Jan 26, 2026]
Mailchimp billing caveats: Bills for ALL contacts including unsubscribed. Duplicates across audiences count separately. No traditional annual discount (15% available for 10,000+ contacts on Standard for first 12 months).
Constant Contact Pricing (Monthly Billing, USD)
| Contacts | Lite | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–500 | $12 | $35 | $80 |
| 501–1,000 | $33 | $55 | $110 |
| 1,001–2,500 | $50 | $75 | $150 |
| 2,501–5,000 | $80 | $110 | $200 |
| 5,001–10,000 | $120 | $160 | $275 |
| 20,001–25,000 | $280 | $310 | $425 |
| 45,001–50,000 | $430 | $460 | $575 |
[source: flowium.com Jan 2026; sender.net Jan 2026; moosend.com — 3-source consensus]
Constant Contact billing notes:
- No free plan (eliminated June 2025)
- 14-day free trial (reduced from 60 days)
- 30-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans
- Prepay discounts: 10% off for 6 months prepay; 15% off for 12 months prepay
- Nonprofit discounts: 20% off (6-month prepay) or 30% off (12-month prepay) on Standard and Premium
- Email send limits: Lite = 10x contacts/month; Standard = 12x contacts/month; Premium = 24x contacts/month; overage fee = $0.002/email
Email Send Limits Compared
| Scenario | Mailchimp Essentials | Constant Contact Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 500 contacts — emails/month allowed | 5,000 (10x) | 6,000 (12x) |
| 5,000 contacts — emails/month allowed | 60,000 (12x) | 60,000 (12x) |
Both platforms use a multiplier-based send limit. They’re roughly equivalent at comparable tiers.
Direct Price Comparison
| List size | Mailchimp Essentials | Mailchimp Standard | CC Lite | CC Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 contacts | $13 | $20 | $12 | $35 |
| 1,000 contacts | ~$30 | ~$30 | $33 | $55 |
| 2,500 contacts | $45 | $60 | $50 | $75 |
| 5,000 contacts | $75 | $100 | $80 | $110 |
| 10,000 contacts | $110 | $135 | $120 | $160 |
At entry level (500 contacts), Constant Contact Lite ($12) is marginally cheaper than Mailchimp Essentials ($13). But at 1,000 contacts, Constant Contact Lite jumps to $33 — significantly more than Mailchimp’s ~$30 for Essentials. For Standard tier with automation features, Constant Contact is consistently 10–20% more expensive than Mailchimp Standard.
Bottom line: Mailchimp is generally cheaper at mid-sized lists on feature-equivalent plans. Constant Contact’s advantage disappears quickly above 500 contacts. Constant Contact’s nonprofit prepay discounts (up to 30%) can make it competitive for qualifying organizations.
Free Plan vs Free Trial
| Feature | Mailchimp Free | Constant Contact Trial |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Permanent free plan | 14-day free trial |
| Contacts | 250 | 100 (trial) |
| Email sends | 500/month | Up to 100 |
| Automation | None (removed Jun 2025) | Basic features |
| Templates | Limited selection | Full access during trial |
| Support | Email (30 days only) | Included during trial |
| After trial | Continues free | Must pay or lose access |
| Money-back | N/A | 30 days on paid plans |
Mailchimp wins on free access — you can keep a permanent free account. But Mailchimp’s free plan is severely limited: 250 contacts, 500 emails/month, no automation, email support for only 30 days. It barely qualifies as a functional email tool.
Constant Contact offers no free plan at all as of June 2025. Its 14-day trial gives you more features during the trial period but requires payment to continue. The 30-day money-back guarantee partially compensates.
Bottom line: Mailchimp wins on having a free plan at all. Neither free option is genuinely usable for serious email marketing at scale. If you want a real free-tier email platform, consider Brevo (100,000 contact storage, 300 emails/day free) or our best email marketing for creators guide.
Email Builder and Templates
Mailchimp Templates
- 260+ mobile-responsive templates spanning newsletters, promotions, seasonal campaigns, event announcements, and more
- Drag-and-drop editor with content blocks, product grids, and social media embeds
- Dynamic content on Standard+ — show different content blocks to different segments within a single email
- Creative Assistant on Standard — AI tool for generating on-brand visuals
- Custom-coded templates on Premium
Constant Contact Templates
- Hundreds of templates (exact count not published) — covers emails, event invitations, newsletters, promotions, announcements
- Drag-and-drop email builder on all plans
- Dynamic content on Premium only
- Templates are functional but frequently described by users as feeling dated compared to competitors
- Mobile-responsive on all templates
| Feature | Mailchimp | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Template count | 260+ | Hundreds (unspecified) |
| Template freshness | Modern, regularly updated | Functional but dated (per reviews) |
| Drag-and-drop editor | ✅ | ✅ |
| Dynamic content | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Premium only) |
| A/B testing | ✅ (Essentials+) | ✅ (Standard+ — subject line only; Premium for content) |
| AI content tools | ✅ (Essentials+) | ✅ (Premium only) |
| Custom HTML | ✅ (all plans) | ✅ |
Bottom line: Mailchimp wins on template design quality, quantity, and AI content tools available on lower tiers. If email design quality matters, Mailchimp has the edge.
Marketing Automation
Mailchimp Automation
- Free plan: No automation (Customer Journey Builder removed June 2025)
- Essentials: Basic single-step automations (welcome emails, birthday campaigns, abandoned cart triggers — limited)
- Standard: Multi-step Customer Journey Builder with behavioral triggers, conditional branching, predictive segmentation based on machine learning
- Premium: Same as Standard plus multivariate testing
Mailchimp Standard’s Customer Journey Builder is the platform’s strongest automation offering — it handles ecommerce behavioral sequences well and includes predictive segmentation that identifies contacts most likely to purchase.
Constant Contact Automation
- Lite: Basic automation — resend to non-openers (a simple but useful feature)
- Standard: Automated email series, welcome emails, birthday campaigns — pre-built templates for common sequences
- Premium: Unlimited automation templates, custom automation paths, advanced triggering
| Feature | Mailchimp | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-step workflows | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Standard limited; Premium full) |
| Behavioral triggers | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Standard+) |
| Predictive segmentation | ✅ (Standard+) | ❌ |
| Dynamic email content | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Premium only) |
| Resend to non-openers | ✅ | ✅ (Lite+) |
| Pre-built templates | ✅ | ✅ |
Bottom line: Mailchimp Standard’s Customer Journey Builder is more sophisticated than Constant Contact Standard’s automation. Constant Contact Premium’s unlimited automation paths bring the two closer, but at $80/month (500 contacts) vs Mailchimp Standard at $20/month, the price difference is substantial.
Event Management
This is Constant Contact’s biggest differentiator and a feature Mailchimp simply doesn’t offer.
Constant Contact Event Management (all plans):
- Event RSVP pages and registration forms
- Sell tickets directly (paid events)
- Event invitation email templates
- Automated reminder emails before the event
- Attendee management and tracking
- Integration with Eventbrite for larger events
- Event reporting and registration analytics
For businesses that run workshops, webinars, in-person meetups, conferences, or fundraising events, Constant Contact’s built-in event tools eliminate the need for a separate platform. Organizations can manage the full event lifecycle — promote, register attendees, send reminders, follow up post-event — all within one tool.
Mailchimp: No native event management. You can create event-announcement emails and landing pages, but registration, ticketing, and attendee management require external tools (Eventbrite, etc.).
Bottom line: Constant Contact wins this category outright. For event-driven organizations — nonprofits, associations, community groups, local businesses — this is often the deciding factor.
Deliverability
Deliverability is one of the most important metrics for email marketing effectiveness, and the two platforms diverge meaningfully here.
Mailchimp: Scores lower in third-party deliverability tests. Mailchimp’s shared sending infrastructure and massive user base (including many low-engagement senders) likely pull down its average inbox placement rates. Your actual deliverability depends heavily on your own list hygiene, authentication setup, and sending patterns.
Constant Contact: Widely regarded as having stronger inbox placement. Constant Contact enforces stricter list hygiene policies and tighter sender requirements, which likely contribute to better deliverability for the average user.
Why we don’t quote specific percentages: Deliverability rates are notoriously hard to measure consistently. Published figures from blog reviews vary wildly depending on testing methodology, time period, sender profile, and list quality. We’ve seen numbers ranging from the low 80s to high 90s cited for both platforms in different contexts. The directional consensus — Constant Contact higher, Mailchimp lower — is consistent across sources, but specific percentages are unreliable.
Bottom line: Constant Contact has the stronger deliverability reputation. For businesses where inbox placement is critical, this is a meaningful advantage — but your results will depend on your own sending practices more than any platform average.
Social Media and Advertising
Here Mailchimp pulls ahead.
Mailchimp:
- Schedule and publish to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter directly from Mailchimp (Essentials+)
- Facebook and Google retargeting ads — create ad campaigns that target your email list or lookalike audiences (Essentials+)
- Website tracking with retargeting capabilities
- Social sharing built into campaign send
Constant Contact:
- Social media post scheduling (all plans)
- Facebook and Google Ads integration (Standard+)
- Lookalike ad targeting (Premium)
- Social reporting
Both platforms offer social media posting and ad integration, but Mailchimp’s advertising capabilities are more developed and available at lower price tiers. For ecommerce businesses running coordinated email + Facebook/Google campaigns, Mailchimp’s deeper ad platform integration is a genuine advantage.
Bottom line: Mailchimp wins on advertising integration and breadth, particularly at Essentials tier.
Customer Support
This is Constant Contact’s clearest operational advantage.
| Support type | Mailchimp | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Phone support | Premium only ($350+/month) | All paid plans (6 days/week) |
| Live chat | All paid plans | All paid plans |
| Email support | All plans (30-day limit free) | All plans |
| Knowledge base | Extensive | Extensive |
| Onboarding | Self-serve | Priority onboarding (Standard+) |
Constant Contact offers phone and chat support on ALL paid plans — including its entry-level Lite plan at $12/month. Mailchimp only offers phone support on its Premium plan at $350/month. For a small business owner who might occasionally need to call and talk to a human, Constant Contact removes a significant anxiety point.
Constant Contact Standard and Premium also offer priority onboarding assistance, which Mailchimp does not provide at equivalent price points.
Bottom line: Constant Contact wins on support accessibility. The phone support on all paid plans vs Mailchimp’s Premium-only phone support is a categorical difference for non-technical users.
Ecommerce Features
| Feature | Mailchimp | Constant Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify integration | ✅ (deep, purchase triggers) | ✅ |
| WooCommerce integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| BigCommerce integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| Etsy / eBay integration | Limited | ✅ |
| Abandoned cart automation | ✅ (Essentials+) | ✅ (Standard+) |
| Purchase behavior triggers | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Standard+) |
| Product retargeting ads | ✅ (Facebook/Google) | ✅ (Standard+) |
| Predictive segmentation | ✅ (Standard+) | ❌ |
| Revenue tracking | ✅ (Standard+) | ✅ (Premium) |
Both platforms support the major ecommerce platforms. Mailchimp’s edge comes from predictive segmentation on Standard and deeper Facebook/Google ad integration for product retargeting. Constant Contact adds Etsy and eBay marketplace integrations that Mailchimp lacks.
Bottom line: Mailchimp has a slight edge for ecommerce thanks to predictive segmentation and ad integration. Constant Contact’s marketplace integrations (Etsy, eBay) add value for sellers on those platforms.
Integrations
| Platform | Integration count |
|---|---|
| Mailchimp | 300+ integrations |
| Constant Contact | 300+ integrations |
Both platforms offer approximately 300+ integrations, covering similar territory: Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, WordPress, Canva, Google Analytics, and more. Mailchimp’s integrations are generally considered better documented and more deeply native. Constant Contact adds Eventbrite (natural fit for event management) and some nonprofit-specific tools.
Bottom line: Roughly tied on integration count. Mailchimp has slightly better documentation; Constant Contact has better event and nonprofit-specific integrations.
User Reviews
Mailchimp: 4.3/5 on G2 with 12,698 reviews. [source: G2, March 2026] Rating breakdown: 57% five-star, 33% four-star. Most-praised aspects: interface ease of use, template design, Shopify integration. Most-criticized: pricing increases over the years, billing for unsubscribed contacts, free plan restrictions.
Constant Contact: 4.1/5 on G2 with 6,613 reviews. [source: G2, March 2026] Rating breakdown: 52% five-star, 33% four-star. Most-praised: customer service (especially phone support), deliverability, event tools. Most-criticized: pricing vs competitors, templates feeling dated, automation limitations on lower tiers.
Mailchimp has a higher G2 score and more reviews, reflecting its larger user base and higher general satisfaction. However, Constant Contact’s support-related reviews are consistently more positive — users who need assistance report better experiences.
Bottom line: Mailchimp scores higher overall on G2. Constant Contact users report higher satisfaction with customer support.
Who Should Choose Mailchimp
- Beginners who need the most recognizable brand with extensive tutorials, community, and agency partner support
- Design-focused teams that need 260+ polished, modern email templates
- Ecommerce businesses leveraging Facebook and Google ad retargeting integrated with email
- Teams using the Standard tier who need multi-step behavioral automation with predictive segmentation
- Businesses on tight budgets — Mailchimp Standard ($20/month for 500 contacts) provides more automation capability at lower cost than Constant Contact Standard ($35/month)
- Companies already integrated with Mailchimp’s ecosystem of 300+ partners and well-documented integrations
For comparisons with other platforms at similar price points, see our Kit vs Mailchimp comparison and GetResponse vs Mailchimp comparison.
Who Should Choose Constant Contact
- Event-driven organizations — nonprofits, associations, local businesses, community groups — that need RSVP management, ticketing, and registration in their email tool
- Businesses that need phone support without paying $350/month for Mailchimp Premium
- Nonprofits that qualify for 20–30% discounts and run regular events (Constant Contact’s combination of nonprofit pricing and event tools is hard to beat)
- Deliverability-sensitive businesses — if inbox placement is a primary concern, Constant Contact’s consistently stronger deliverability reputation gives it an edge
- Small businesses wanting simpler pricing — Constant Contact’s prepay discount model is straightforward, and the 30-day money-back guarantee reduces switching risk
- Businesses on Etsy or eBay that want native marketplace email integrations
Not sure which fits your stack? Explore our AWeber alternatives guide for a broader view of the legacy platform landscape.
Mailchimp vs Constant Contact is one of the oldest debates in email marketing — and it remains genuinely close in 2026. Mailchimp wins on template quality, automation sophistication at comparable price points, ad platform integration, and G2 score. Constant Contact wins on deliverability, phone support accessibility, event management, and nonprofit pricing.
The tipping point is usually support needs and use case specificity. If your business runs events, needs phone support on a budget, and values inbox placement above all, Constant Contact is the better fit. If you want a more modern design experience, deeper marketing automation on a tight budget, and better advertising integration, Mailchimp delivers more per dollar. For businesses looking beyond these two legacy platforms — especially if budget is a top concern — consider our Brevo alternatives guide or the full landscape in our best email marketing for creators guide.
Related Comparisons
- Kit vs Mailchimp: Full Comparison — creator tools vs all-purpose marketing hub
- GetResponse vs Mailchimp: Full Comparison — automation and webinar differences
- Mailchimp Review 2026 — full Mailchimp review
- Best Email Marketing for Creators 2026 — full field comparison
Last updated: March 2026. We regularly update this content — if something has changed, let us know.