There are quite a lot of cheaper Mailchimp alternatives. Not all of them offer all the perks of Mailchimp, but if you are happy to trade some Mailchimp features you rarely or never use for a better pricing plan, these five services are the ones I would go with.
1. Aweber
If you are looking for a mailer service for up to 25K subscribers, then you really need to check Aweber. It’s almost as popular as Mailchimp, and in terms of features it’s also good. Their plans start at $19 a month for up to 500 subscribers, which is a ripoff compared to Mailchimp, but you get unlimited emails. All their plans have the same features – the only difference is the number of subscribers.
Among its numerous features are integration with WordPress, Facebook, Paypal, etc., auto-responders, signup forms, and analytics, as well as more than 700 email templates and more than 6,000 stock photos. Aweber is also known in the industry for its great delivery rates.
2. Zoho Campaigns
Zoho Campaigns is another mailer service for the small business. Its free plan is the same as Mailchimp’s – 12,000 emails to up to 2,000 subscribers. As a whole, it isn’t much cheaper than Mailchimp because its cheapest paid plan is for unlimited emails to up to 500 subscribers for $5. Some of the other plans are $10 for up to 1,000 subscribers, $25 for 1,000-2,500, etc. However, what makes it different is its pay-as-you-use plan. This plan allows you to pay for emails only when you need to send them rather than pay a fixed monthly fee.
In terms of features it comes with templates and customizable layouts, social media and Google App integration, A/B testing, analytics and above all integration with Zoho CRM.
3. MailGet
If you need an affordable plan for more subscribers, try MailGet. Their cheapest plan is $29 for unlimited emails to 10,000 subscribers. They also offer plans for $49 and $79 for up to 50,000 and 100,000 subscribers, respectively, as well as a gazillion plans for millions of subscribers and more. Clearly they are targeted at large emailers, but if you plan to grow, you can try them while you are still small. MailGet comes with a lot of features, such as email builder, list management and segmentation, auto-responders, email drip feeding, scheduling and preview, and lots of tracking and analytics features. They claim 99% inbox delivery, which is really cool if they manage to achieve it.
4. MailerLite
MailerLite is one more cheaper Mailchimp alternative to explore. Its free plan is for up to only 1,000 subscribers, but it comes with unlimited emails every month. This is useful if you have a small list but you email them frequently. The cheapest paid plan is $10 a month, and in exchange you get unlimited emails to up to 2,500 subscribers. All their plans come with unlimited emails – only the number of subscribers varies: $20 for 2,501–5,000 subscribers, $35 for 5,001–10,000, etc.
Its feature-set isn’t bad for its low price. MailerLite offers all the basics and more, such as auto-responders, integrations, free templates, drag-and-drop editor, list management, email tracking, and analytics.
5. SendinBlue
SendinBlue takes a different approach to pricing – they don’t limit the number of subscribers but the number of emails you send a month. Their free plan comes with a very limited feature-set, such as daily sending limits, no advanced reporting, the presence of their branding on your emails, etc., but it allows you to send 9,000 emails a month. For $7.37 a month, the daily limits are removed, and you get 40,000 emails a month. For $39 and $66 a month you get 60,000 and 120,000 emails, respectively, and more features. For over 120,000 emails a month, they have custom plans.
The features you get depend on the plan you pick, but even the free and cheaper plans come with some sort of tracking and analytics, free templates, and list management. There are cheaper mailers than these five for sure, but if you are serious about your mailing campaigns, you don’t go with a cheaper alternative that doesn’t have the features you need. Price was a concern while picking the services, but I was more concerned about their features and reputation because if you go with a blacklisted mailer service that doesn’t deliver your emails, or if it lacks basic features, its low price isn’t of much use to you.
