Sources checked Sep 21, 2026 – Sep 23, 2026
What would your Mailchimp list cost on Kit, beehiiv, or MailerLite?
Mailchimp bills for subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts. Kit, beehiiv, and MailerLite state their plan limits in subscribers, so the people you import set the price there. Compare Mailchimp’s price for the contacts it counts with each alternative’s price for the people you would actually email—then check whether archiving contacts in Mailchimp lowers the bill without a move.
Add a one-time switching cost to the alternative, then see how many months the monthly difference takes to repay it.
HOW MAILCHIMP COUNTS
Four billing rules to check before you price a move.
- 01Unsubscribed contacts still count
Mailchimp includes subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts in your contact count. Archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts do not count toward the contact total or the price of your plan.
- 02Your highest contact total sets the bill
Mailchimp bills on the peak contact total during the billing period, so a contact total that falls late in the month still bills at its highest point. Its help center says to keep a lower total for a full billing cycle to avoid future additional charges.
- 03Going over a limit adds charges rather than stopping sends
On paid plans, going over your tier’s contact or send limit adds charges for extra contact blocks instead of interrupting service. On the Free plan, exceeding 250 contacts puts a hold on sending until you upgrade or reduce your contact total.
- 04Older accounts may be on different terms
If you had a paid Mailchimp account before May 15, 2019, you may be on a legacy pricing plan that these figures do not describe. Use your own billing page in that case.
Mailchimp’s published monthly prices by contact band
These are the “then, starts at” monthly prices after the 14-day free trial, in US dollars, as shown on Mailchimp’s pricing page. The page opened in euros for us and we selected USD, so your region may show a different currency and amount. Mailchimp’s help center says quoted prices exclude sales and other transaction-based taxes.
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| Contacts Mailchimp counts | Essentials (USD/month) | Essentials sends/month | Standard (USD/month) | Standard sends/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–500 | $13 | 5,000 | $20 | 6,000 |
| 501–1,500 | $26.50 | 15,000 | $45 | 18,000 |
| 1,501–2,500 | $45 | 25,000 | $60 | 30,000 |
| 2,501–5,000 | $75 | 50,000 | $100 | 60,000 |
| 5,001–10,000 | $110 | 100,000 | $135 | 120,000 |
Send allowances follow Mailchimp’s documented rule: Essentials allows 10 times your contact limit each month and Standard 12 times. The Free plan covers up to 250 contacts with 500 sends a month and no more than 250 sends a day. At the 5,001–10,000 band the page also offered 15% off for the first 12 months; the table shows the regular price. Premium is priced separately and is not covered here. Confirm your own band and total on Mailchimp’s pricing page before comparing.
What the alternatives publish for the same audience
These are the plan limits and starting prices we hold for each alternative, with their own verification dates below. Where our records do not cover your list size, get a quote rather than estimating between tiers.
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| Platform | Free plan limit | Paid starting price (monthly billing) | What to check at your size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Free: up to 10,000 subscribers | Creator: $39 for up to 1,000 subscribers | The free plan limits automations and sequences. Paid prices rise with subscriber count. |
| beehiiv | Launch: up to 2,500 subscribers | Scale: $49 at 1,000 · $69 at 2,500 · $89 at 5,000 · $109 at 10,000 | Paid subscriptions, ads, and automations need Scale. |
| MailerLite | Free: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 sends a month | Comfort: from $12; Power: from $25 at 500 subscribers | Comfort’s starting tier allows 5,000 sends a month; compare Power if you send more. |
A Mailchimp Free account over its 250-contact limit has three different ceilings to compare: 10,000 subscribers on Kit’s free plan, 2,500 on beehiiv Launch, and 250 on MailerLite Free. A higher free ceiling is only useful if the free plan also includes the features you use.
Hypothetical account: 3,000 contacts, of which 2,200 are subscribed. All 3,000 count, so the bill sits in the 2,501–5,000 band.
Archive the 800 unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts you cannot email anyway and the total falls into the 1,501–2,500 band: $40 a month less, with no migration.
$0 if Kit’s free plan or beehiiv Launch covers your features; $69 on beehiiv Scale’s 2,500 tier. Get Kit and MailerLite paid quotes at this size.
WHAT SWITCHING INVOLVES
Price the move before you treat the gap as savings.
- 01Export by contact status
Mailchimp’s export can arrive as a ZIP file with a separate CSV for subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, and cleaned contacts. Only Owners and Admins can export audiences, and exports stay available in the account for 30 days.
- 02Know what the export leaves behind
Contact exports do not include open and click rates, email signup source, or purchase history. Download email reports separately if you want engagement history before you close the account.
- 03Import subscribers, keep the rest as suppression records
Import the subscribed file into the new platform. Keep the unsubscribed and cleaned files so people who left do not start receiving email again.
- 04Count the rebuild
Forms, templates, automations, tags, integrations, and sending-domain authentication all need recreating. Add your hours, outside help, and any overlap between the two subscriptions to the one-time cost.
- 05Use a move/no-move rule
In the example above, archiving already saves $40 a month. Moving to a $69 plan would cost $9 a month more than staying and archiving, so it only makes sense if you need that platform’s features. Moving to a free plan saves $60 a month; if the move costs $600 in time and help, it takes 10 months to repay.
RUN YOUR NUMBERS
Price your list, then plan the move.
Enter your subscribed count in the newsletter platform cost calculator to compare Kit, beehiiv, and MailerLite at today’s size and in 12 months. Then work through the migration checklist before cancelling Mailchimp. The vendor links below are direct and are not affiliate links.