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Email Marketing Comparison

Drip vs. Mailchimp

At a glance

At a glance

Drip

Best for

Best for ecommerce and direct-to-consumer brands on Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce that want behavior-based email automation with onsite popups in one platform.

  • 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 Drip Mailchimp
Starting price From $39 / month For up to 2,500 active people; the price scales with the number of active people and the volume of emails sent. lower value From $13 / month Essentials plan; the price scales with the number of contacts.
Free trial 14-day free trial Free plan available for up to 500 contacts
API Yes, open API access on every plan Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync, plus more than 300 integrations
Hosting Cloud (SaaS) Cloud (SaaS)
Campaign types Yes, one-off email campaigns and newsletters plus automated workflows, with an onsite suite of popups, slide-ins, sticky bars and quizzes Yes, email newsletters and campaigns, with A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans
Automation and journeys Yes, a visual workflow builder with branching logic, goals and split tests, and 15-plus prebuilt templates for abandoned cart, browse abandonment, welcome and win-back Yes, automation flows, up to 3 steps on Essentials and up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium
Segmentation and personalisation Yes, dynamic segments that update automatically from behavior, purchase history and engagement, synced from the store in real time Yes, segmentation and dynamic content, with predictive segmentation on Premium
Templates and editor Yes, a drag-and-drop visual email builder with 50-plus themed templates, plus a plain-text builder Yes, professionally designed templates and an editor, with custom-coded templates on Premium
Deliverability and testing Yes, A/B split testing of up to four subject line or content variations, reporting opens, clicks and revenue per variation Yes, A/B testing and scheduling on paid plans
Ecommerce and CRM data Yes, deep native Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrations that sync customers, orders and product catalog in real time Yes, audience data with tags and more than 300 integrations
Integrations and API Yes, open API access and 50-plus integrations on every plan Yes, a Marketing API for audiences, automations and data sync
AI features No stated Yes
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support Email helpdesk, Chat more entries Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone
Company size Small and mid-sized, Enterprise more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce 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 Drip From $39 / month Mailchimp From $13 / month
  • Free trial Drip 14-day free trial Mailchimp Free plan available for up to 500 contacts
  • Company size Drip Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Mailchimp Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
  • Support Drip Email helpdesk, Chat Mailchimp Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone
  • AI features Drip No Mailchimp Yes

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Drip

Strengths

  • Every feature included on every plan, with nothing locked behind higher tiers
  • Deep native Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrations with real-time data sync
  • Onsite suite of popups, slide-ins and quizzes included at no extra cost
  • Billed only on active people who can receive email

Limitations

  • No free plan, only a 14-day free trial
  • Purpose-built for ecommerce, so less suited to non-store senders
  • Live chat support is reserved for the $99 / month and higher plans

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

Drip

  • All features From $39 / month For up to 2,500 active people. Every feature is included on every plan; the price scales with the number of active people and email volume. Live chat support is available on the $99 / month and higher plans.
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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

Drip

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

Drip https://www.drip.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-23

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.