Omnisend vs Mailchimp: Store Flows, SMS and the Revenue They Report

The short answer: if you run a Shopify or WooCommerce store with about 2,500 subscribers and want text messages in the same flows as email, Omnisend is the tighter fit: its Pro plan is $59 a month on monthly billing for up to 2,500 contacts, with unlimited email and SMS from $0.007 a message, against $60 for Mailchimp Standard at 1,501 to 2,500 contacts with SMS sold as an add-on (Omnisend pricing, Mailchimp pricing, checked on 24 October 2026). If you sell services or content as well as products, or your list is under 500 and email only, Mailchimp is the broader and slightly cheaper start.

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Omnisend starts from the shop. Its pages lead with cart, browse and post-purchase workflows, and the footer of its homepage lists Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix and Ecwid among supported platforms. Mailchimp is a general email platform that also connects stores, for free, across Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce and more (store guide). The question is how much of your marketing is the store.

Red flags before you buy:

1. A $1 gap that hides a channel. At 2,500 contacts, Omnisend Pro at $59 and Mailchimp Standard at $60 look level, but Pro includes unlimited email and volume SMS pricing, while Mailchimp lists SMS as an add-on for paid plans in select countries (Omnisend pricing, Mailchimp pricing). Price the texts before you price the plans: Omnisend's page shows $50 buying 5,882 messages to the United States, $0.0085 each.
2. The connection you already run. If the store is on Shopify or WooCommerce, both tools connect. If it is on Magento or PrestaShop, Mailchimp's store guide names them and Omnisend's footer list of platforms does not, so check Omnisend's app market before you plan around it.
3. Migration is offered, so keep your own copy. Omnisend moves lists, segments, flows and templates for free in up to 5 days with read access to your old account (pricing FAQ). Export from Mailchimp first anyway; its export guide covers unsubscribed and cleaned contacts too.
4. The revenue figure on the dashboard. Both report revenue attributed to their own messages. Decide now how you will check it.

Feature by feature

The three things that decide it

SMS inside the plan, or beside it

Omnisend's Pro plan carries SMS at volume rates and sends unlimited email, so a cart flow can mix an email at one hour with a text at four hours without a second contract (pricing). Mailchimp's SMS is an add-on that requires an application and approval, delivers only to contacts in the country you choose, and issues credits monthly that do not roll over, per the disclaimers on its pricing page. Selling in three EU countries? Check each one before planning a text flow on either.

What the AI can do with store data

Omnisend Agent turns a plain-language description into segment rules on every plan, Free included, once a store is connected, and shows a preview of matching contacts before you use it; form generation, product recommendations and the reporting assistant need a paid plan (agent guide). Mailchimp's flow-email generator builds branded automation emails from your brand kit, but only on Standard or higher and only for accounts with a primary address in the United States (help).

Two revenue claims built the same way

Omnisend's disclaimer calls its figure "an estimated average of ecommerce revenue attributed to email, SMS, push campaigns & automations" from internal analysis (pricing). Mailchimp's 27x is "based on all e-commerce revenue attributable to Standard plan users' Mailchimp email campaigns" (pricing). Attributed means an order followed a message; it does not mean the message caused the order. A customer who would have bought on payday anyway still counts.

Price by list size

USD on monthly billing, checked on 24 October 2026 on the Omnisend pricing page and the Mailchimp pricing page. Mailchimp prices are for the tier containing the list size shown.

Omnisend's pricing page leads with 30% off for paying three months up front, after which billing returns to the monthly price. Mailchimp shows 15% off for 12 months from 5,001 contacts, so Standard at 10,000 is $114.75 until month 13.

The free check that comes first

Both free plans hold 250 contacts, and Omnisend's includes every feature, SMS among them, so you can build the welcome and cart flows before paying (pricing FAQ). The check that matters costs nothing on either tool. For one month, keep every tenth new subscriber out of the welcome flow, then compare orders per subscriber between the two groups in your store's own order export. For example, if the 90 who got the flow placed 9 orders and the 10 held back placed 1, the flow added 9 / 90 - 1 / 10 = 0 orders per subscriber, whatever the dashboard credits it with.

Letting Omnisend Agent build a segment

In Omnisend, go to Audience, Create Segment and describe the group: customers who bought twice in the last 90 days and nothing in the last 30. Omnisend Agent writes the rules and shows a preview of matching contacts (agent guide). The person who owns the campaign compares that count with the same filter in the store's own customer report before anything is sent. If the two disagree, fix the rule, not the report.

Choose Omnisend if your job is

• Running cart, browse and post-purchase flows for an online store, with texts in the same flow.
• Sending unlimited email on a list of a few thousand, on Pro.
• Feeding Facebook and Google ad audiences from the same contact list.

Choose Mailchimp if your job is

• Mailing customers of a business that sells more than products in a store.
• Starting below 500 contacts on email alone, where Essentials at $13 is the cheaper door.
• Connecting a Magento, PrestaShop or Big Cartel store, which Mailchimp's guide lists.

The number neither dashboard shows

Each dashboard is built by the company whose renewal it supports, so it counts every order that followed a message. The holdout described above is the check neither one runs for you. If you later want that comparison running every month across email, SMS and paid ads, a causal attribution tool does it; Causality Engine is one, and I founded it.

FAQ

Is Omnisend's free plan limited in features?

No, only in volume. Its FAQ says the free plan includes every feature of the paid plans, SMS and push included, with sends capped at 500 emails a month to 250 contacts (pricing).

Does Mailchimp charge to connect my store?

No. Its guide says connecting a store is always free; you pay for the marketing plan, not the connection (store guide).

Can Mailchimp's SMS reach several countries?

Not from one purchase. Its pricing page says messages go only to contacts in the country you select, after an application.