What Is Mailchimp? Intuit's Email and Automation Platform

The short answer: If you sell through Shopify or WooCommerce and want email tied to carts and orders, Mailchimp is the platform to measure others against: connecting a store is free, and the Standard plan starts at $20 a month for up to 500 contacts, per its pricing page. It is Intuit's email and SMS marketing platform, with a free plan for up to 250 contacts and paid plans priced by contacts.

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Before you choose a tier:

1. Work out your send ceiling. Monthly sends are capped at 10 times the contact limit on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium (pricing page). For example, 5,000 contacts on Standard can receive 5,000 x 12 = 60,000 emails a month.
2. Count audiences, not only contacts. Essentials allows 3 audiences and 3 seats, Standard 5 of each, Premium no cap (pricing page). A setup with one audience per brand or country hits this first.
3. Know which report you will judge it by. Custom reports and dynamic content start on Standard.

What Mailchimp does

Campaigns come from a drag and drop builder and 300+ templates. Automation flows take up to 4 steps on Essentials and up to 200 on Standard or higher, which also adds up to 3 triggers per flow, conditional splits and webhooks (automation flows). Stores connect for free, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and PrestaShop; BigCommerce lacks the abandoned cart automation (store connection). SMS is a paid add-on in selected countries.

Intuit AI can generate whole branded emails inside flow templates such as cart recovery, but it is an English-only beta for Standard or higher, and the account's primary mailing address must be in the United States (Intuit AI flows). A business registered in the EU should plan without it.

Who it suits

Online shops that want cart and order data in their email without building an integration. Less so a B2B team that needs lead scoring and a pipeline.

What it costs

Monthly prices in USD after the free trial, checked on 24 October 2026 on the Mailchimp pricing page.

The Free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and sending pauses if you pass 250 contacts (plans article). Paid plans bill overages automatically after the trial. In euros, the pricing page starts Standard at €17.97 and Essentials at €11.68 a month.

The same page leads with 15% off for 12 months on 10,000 or more contacts, such as Standard for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts at $114.75 a month (offer terms). Budget on the "then starts at" figure, $135 for that tier, because that is what month 13 costs.

How it compares

ActiveCampaign puts contact scoring and site tracking on every plan, from $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts (ActiveCampaign pricing). The question is whether leads go to a sales team or carts go to checkout.

MailerLite charges $49 a month for 5,000 subscribers on Comfort (MailerLite pricing), against $100 for Mailchimp Standard at 2,501 to 5,000 contacts. Unless the store integrations matter, that gap decides it.

Moosend charges $48 a month for 5,000 subscribers with no send cap (Moosend pricing), which suits frequent senders.

Getting started

Connect your store, build the abandoned cart flow, test it and switch it on: How to use Mailchimp follows the help centre for that job.

FAQ

Is Mailchimp free?

Up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with one audience and one seat, per the plans article. Essentials and Standard start with a 14-day trial.

Can I use its AI features from Europe?

Not the Intuit AI flow templates, which need Standard or higher and a primary account address in the United States, per Mailchimp's help article.

What happens if I go over my contact limit?

Paid plans keep sending and bill the overage; on Free, sending waits until you upgrade or trim contacts (plans article).