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Email Marketing Comparison

beehiiv vs. Mailchimp

At a glance

At a glance

beehiiv

Best for

Best for newsletter creators and media teams that want audience growth and monetization built into the platform.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Mailchimp

Best for

Best for teams that want an email marketing platform with designed templates, automation and AI writing tools, and a Marketing API to connect their own data.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion beehiiv Mailchimp
Starting price Free plan; Scale from $43 / month Scale covers up to 100,000 subscribers, around $517 billed annually. Max $96 / month, Enterprise custom. Priced by subscriber count. lower value From $13 / month Essentials plan; the price scales with the number of contacts.
Free trial Free Launch plan for up to 2,500 subscribers Free plan available for up to 500 contacts
API Yes, API and webhooks on all plans; a Send API on Max Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync, plus more than 300 integrations
Hosting Cloud (SaaS) Cloud (SaaS)
Campaign types Yes, newsletters and email campaigns, plus a no-code website builder and podcast hosting Yes, email newsletters and campaigns, with A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans
Automation and journeys Yes, email automations on the paid plans, with click-triggered automations on Max Yes, automation flows, up to 3 steps on Essentials and up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium
Segmentation and personalisation Yes, audience segmentation, dynamic content, and surveys and polls Yes, segmentation and dynamic content, with predictive segmentation on Premium
Templates and editor Yes, a drag-and-drop newsletter editor and templates, plus an AI website builder Yes, professionally designed templates and an editor, with custom-coded templates on Premium
Deliverability and testing Optimized deliverability across all plans Yes, A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans
Ecommerce and CRM data Yes, Stripe-powered paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate on paid plans, digital products and a built-in ad network Yes, audience data with tags and more than 300 integrations
Integrations and API Yes, API access and webhooks, a Send API on Max, plus a beehiiv MCP server Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync
AI features Yes Yes
MCP-ready stated Yes No
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support Not stated Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Stripe, Zapier, Google Analytics Not stated

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Starting price beehiiv Free plan; Scale from $43 / month Mailchimp From $13 / month
  • Free trial beehiiv Free Launch plan for up to 2,500 subscribers Mailchimp Free plan available for up to 500 contacts
  • MCP-ready beehiiv Yes Mailchimp No
  • API beehiiv Yes, API and webhooks on all plans; a Send API on Max Mailchimp Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync, plus more than 300 integrations
  • Campaign types beehiiv Yes, newsletters and email campaigns, plus a no-code website builder and podcast hosting Mailchimp Yes, email newsletters and campaigns, with A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

beehiiv

Strengths

  • Growth and monetization built in, with an ad network, paid subscriptions and a recommendation network
  • Generous free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends
  • No-code website builder and podcast hosting alongside the newsletter
  • Offers a beehiiv MCP server for external AI agents

Limitations

  • Automations and the ad network require a paid plan
  • Priced by subscriber count, so cost grows with the list

Mailchimp

Strengths

  • Generative AI writing and design tools on the Standard and Premium plans
  • Marketing API with webhooks and OAuth 2 for audiences and automations
  • More than 300 integrations
  • Free plan for up to 500 contacts

Limitations

  • Prices scale with the number of contacts
  • Predictive segmentation and custom-coded templates are reserved for the top plans

Plans

Pricing

beehiiv

  • Launch $0 / month Up to 2,500 subscribers, with unlimited email sends, a website and podcast hosting. No automations or ad network.
  • Scale From $43 / month Up to 100,000 subscribers. Adds automations, the ad network, a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions, digital products and 3 team seats. Around $517 billed annually.
  • Max From $96 / month Adds removed branding, the Send API, audio newsletters, up to 10 publications and unlimited team seats. Around $1,151 billed annually.
  • Enterprise Not stated Custom pricing for 100K+ subscribers, with dedicated IPs, SSO and a dedicated account manager.
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Mailchimp

  • Free $0 / month Up to 500 monthly sends and 250 contacts, with a limited set of templates.
  • Essentials From $13 / month Designed templates, A/B testing, scheduling and up to 3 automation flow steps. Scales with contacts.
  • Standard From $20 / month Adds AI writing and design tools and up to 200 automation flows. Scales with contacts.
  • Premium From $350 / month Adds unlimited contacts and seats, predictive segmentation, phone and priority support and custom-coded templates.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

beehiiv

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Mailchimp

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

beehiiv https://www.beehiiv.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-21

Mailchimp https://mailchimp.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-19

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.