Constant Contact vs Mailchimp (2026): events and phone support, or a free plan?

Quick verdict

• Pick Constant Contact if you run events or want to call a person: event registration, ticketing and payments are on every plan, live phone and chat support is on every plan, and the 30-day free trial needs no card. Lite starts at $12 a month for up to 500 contacts.
• Pick Mailchimp if you want to start free: its Free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. It lists 300+ integrations on every plan, Free included, and Mailchimp is the cheaper of the two at every list size we priced except 500 contacts. Essentials starts at $13 a month.
• The cheaper middle option: MailerLite has a free plan (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month) and costs less than both from 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers in our table, but it lists neither event ticketing nor phone support.
• The catch with each: Constant Contact has no free plan and bills on your highest active contact count, so deleting contacts doesn’t lower your tier. Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts toward your plan and keeps phone support for Premium.

See Constant Contact plans See Mailchimp pricing

The Constant Contact button is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid plan, at no extra cost to you. The Mailchimp button is a plain link.

Constant Contact vs Mailchimp side by side

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Prices from 500 to 10,000 contacts

Monthly billing, US dollars. Constant Contact’s bands are 0–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–2,500, 2,501–5,000 and 5,001–10,000; Mailchimp’s second band runs from 501 to 1,500 instead. MailerLite tiers are “up to” that many active subscribers.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Premium plans: Constant Contact Premium runs from $80 (up to 500) to $275 (up to 10,000); Mailchimp Premium starts at $350 a month and includes 10,000 contacts. Constant Contact takes up to 15% off for prepaying 12 months; Mailchimp sells annual plans only for Standard and Premium at 10,000+ contacts, through sales, and at 10,000 contacts its calculator also showed 15% off for the first 12 months ($93.50 a month on Essentials, $114.75 on Standard) before the prices in the table; MailerLite takes 10% off yearly billing. All checked October 7, 2026.

By our arithmetic:

• Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: Mailchimp Essentials is $3.50 a month less than Constant Contact Lite at 1,000 contacts, $5 less at 2,500 and 5,000, and $10 less at 10,000. Only at 500 is Lite cheaper, by $1. Standard against Standard, Mailchimp is $10 to $25 a month less at every size.
• Band edges matter: at 1,200 contacts, Constant Contact Lite moves to its 1,001–2,500 band at $50, while Mailchimp Essentials stays at $26.50.
• MailerLite: Comfort ties Constant Contact Lite at 500 and costs less than every Constant Contact and Mailchimp plan in the table from 1,000 up. At 5,000, a year costs $529.20 on Comfort billed yearly, against $816 on Constant Contact Lite prepaid and $900 on Mailchimp Essentials monthly.

How each one counts contacts and sends

• Constant Contact bills on the highest number of active contacts you’ve had. Unsubscribed contacts are inactive and don’t count, but bounced contacts you haven’t removed do, and deleting contacts doesn’t lower your tier. Your send allowance is a multiple of the top of your tier; automated emails such as welcome series don’t use it, and sends over the allowance cost $0.002 each rather than stopping.
• Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts across your audiences; archived, cleaned and deleted contacts don’t count. Going over your contact limit mid-cycle adds a charge rather than pausing sends. Test and transactional emails count toward your send limit.

Example, by our arithmetic: 900 subscribed contacts plus 200 who unsubscribed. Constant Contact counts 900, which fits its 501–1,000 band ($30 on Lite). Mailchimp counts 1,100, which fits its 501–1,500 band ($26.50 on Essentials).

Free plan vs 30-day trial

Mailchimp Free covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a daily limit of 250, one seat and basic reporting. Automation flows and scheduled emails need a paid plan. Going over 250 contacts puts a hold on sending until you upgrade or reduce your list. Paid plans start with a 14-day trial, and Mailchimp’s Free Trial Terms say valid payment information is required when you enroll.

Constant Contact has no free plan. Its 30-day trial needs no credit card, allows up to 100 email sends and lets you upload as many contacts as you like. You can build automated emails, landing pages, surveys and events during the trial, but you can only publish them after upgrading. New paying customers also get a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first monthly payment, claimed by calling billing within 30 days.

Events: Constant Contact’s biggest advantage

Constant Contact lists event tools on every plan: in-person, virtual or hybrid events, free or paid tickets, branded event pages, promo codes and early-bird pricing, RSVPs, reminders, check-in and a reporting dashboard. Attendees are added to your contact list. Payments run through Stripe or PayPal.

Fees on paid tickets: Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per order and PayPal 3.49% + $0.49, which can vary with your PayPal agreement. Constant Contact adds its own platform fee, and its help center gives two rates: 2.9% for events created before August 1 and 3.5% for events created on or after August 1. You can pass that platform fee to registrants or take it out of your revenue. Free or ticketless events don’t need a payment method.

Mailchimp’s pricing page and plan guide don’t list event registration or ticketing, so you’d pair it with a separate event tool.

Support

Constant Contact lists live phone and chat support on every plan, and a dedicated priority team on Premium. Its US and Canada support line is listed as open Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm ET, and Saturday, 10am to 6pm ET. Mailchimp gives Free accounts email support for the first 30 days, Essentials and Standard 24/7 email and chat, and Premium phone and priority support with screen-share help.

Integrations, automation and SMS

• Integrations: Mailchimp lists 300+ integrations on every plan, Free included; Constant Contact lists 300 on every plan, including Shopify, Zapier and Eventbrite. On count they’re level, so check the specific apps you use.
• Automation: Mailchimp’s Standard plan offers up to 200 flows plus advanced segmentation; Essentials caps flows at 4 steps. Constant Contact keeps custom automations for Premium; Lite gets 1 automation template and Standard 3, plus resend to non-openers.
• SMS: Constant Contact offers SMS to US customers only, with 500 messages a month on Premium and an add-on from $10 a month on Lite and Standard. Mailchimp sells SMS as an add-on to paid plans in select countries.

The cheaper middle option: MailerLite

If you don’t need ticketing or phone support, MailerLite sits between the two. Its Free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month (five times Mailchimp’s 500), with 3 automations, a website and a landing page. Comfort costs $19 a month at 1,000 subscribers and $49 at 5,000, adds paid newsletters through Stripe, and only active subscribers count. Free accounts get live chat for the first 14 days, then community support; Comfort adds 24/7 email and Power 24/7 live chat. MailerLite’s pricing page doesn’t list phone support. See MailerLite vs Mailchimp or our MailerLite pricing guide.

Try MailerLite freeAffiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid plan, at no extra cost to you.

Which should you choose?

Choose Constant Contact if…

• You run workshops, classes, meetups or fundraisers and want tickets and email in one place.
• You want to phone a support team on any plan.
• You want a month to build your setup before paying, with no card.

Start a free Constant Contact trialAffiliate link: we may earn a commission if you buy a paid plan, at no extra cost to you.

Choose Mailchimp if…

• You have fewer than 250 contacts and want to start free.
• You want the lower price of the two at almost every list size.
• You need deeper automation flows on Standard without paying for Premium.
• The apps you rely on are in Mailchimp’s integrations directory.

See Mailchimp’s pricing page, or compare more options in our Mailchimp alternatives roundup and Constant Contact guide. Running a shop or service business? Our best email marketing for small business roundup adds ActiveCampaign, Brevo and EmailOctopus.

FAQ

Is Constant Contact cheaper than Mailchimp?

Usually not. Mailchimp Essentials costs less than Constant Contact Lite at 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts; Lite is $1 cheaper at 500 (checked October 7, 2026).

Does Mailchimp have phone support?

Only on Premium, which starts at $350 a month. Constant Contact lists live phone support on every plan.

Can you sell event tickets with Mailchimp?

Mailchimp’s pricing page doesn’t list event ticketing. Constant Contact includes ticketed events on every plan, with a platform fee on paid tickets.

Related

• Constant Contact for creators
• MailerLite vs Mailchimp
• Beehiiv vs Mailchimp
• Mailchimp alternatives
• Best email marketing for small business
• MailerLite for creators · MailerLite free plan
• All comparisons

Sources (checked October 7, 2026)

• Constant Contact pricing page: plans, contact-tier fee schedule (monthly and prepaid), send multiples, overage fee, events row, support, SMS and integrations
• Constant Contact free trial help article: 30 days, 100 sends, what you can publish
• How you’re billed for Constant Contact: contact tiers and deleting contacts
• Active versus inactive email contacts: which contacts count
• Email send allowance and overage fee: how sends are counted
• Constant Contact money-back guarantee terms
• Constant Contact event marketing page: event features and payment options
• Payment methods for an event: Stripe, PayPal and platform fees
• Constant Contact support page: phone numbers and hours
• Mailchimp pricing page: plan table, “starts at” prices by contact band (USD), annual-plan note and free-trial terms
• Mailchimp help: pricing plans: Free plan limits, plan features and how contacts are counted
• MailerLite pricing page: Free, Comfort and Power prices, limits and support levels

Constant Contact, Mailchimp and MailerLite are trademarks of their owners. We run Creator Mail Stack independently, and it is not endorsed by any of these companies. We’re in Constant Contact’s and MailerLite’s affiliate programs, as described in the disclosure, and have no relationship with Mailchimp. Found something out of date? Tell us.

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