When Mailchimp came on the scene, they were the lean and straightforward alternative to Constant Contact. In 2015, it seemed like every client came to us with a Constant Contact account. We got to push them toward Mailchimp. The value proposition was simple – get great looking emails you can easily manage with a great pricing model. 

Now it’s 2021, and I am starting to feel the same way about Mailchimp. Are you? The pricing structure has become confusing and expensive, especially with more extensive lists. They offer many add-on products that aren’t useful for everyone, like Landing Pages, Websites, and Digital Ad management. When I log in, I am unsure of how to get where I need to go quickly. Most of all, Mailchimp moved some features into higher tier paid plans, and you no longer can access them without upgrading.  

All of that has me scratching my head like Freddie, the Mailchimp monkey does. It feels like the reasons we recommended it so frequently are all but dead. 

Okay, so now what?

There are some great competitors to Mailchimp on the market, which solve many of these issues. 

Here are a few we have demoed lately:

Mailerlite:

So far, Mailerlite is my favorite solution. The interface is simple. The built-in templates look nice and are flexible. There are more advanced features like email workflows, but the interface makes it easy to understand. You can connect it to Woocommerce or other e-commerce solutions to use your customer’s behavior to trigger emails. 

Mailpoet:

Mailpoet is an email service right from your WordPress dashboard. Their interface is straightforward to use in Mailpoet 3. The fact that it is right in WordPress makes it a breeze to send emails based on activity on your website. They also can send your transactional emails (think password resets). Mailpoet 2 did famously have a massive hack, but they resolved the issue according to their documentation.

Sendinblue:

I have the least experience with this solution, but it hits high marks for simplicity. The backend is straightforward to use and understand. They also allow sending of transactional emails. Worth checking out if you are on the hunt for Mailchimp alternatives. 

Active Campaign:

If you are looking for more marketing automation plus reliable email sending, Active Campaign has been nice to use lately.

If you are looking to get away from the 800-pound gorilla that Mailchimp has become, try the above email service providers. If you have another alternative you love, share it below in the comments. We are always looking for the latest exciting technology to serve you!