When is Mailchimp the better choice?

You want a classic marketing dashboard with audience management, campaign creation, forms, landing pages, and basic reporting in one place. You only need a very small free list, such as a side project or early newsletter with under 250 contacts. You care more about Mailchimp’s marketing features than sending volume, and the free plan’s limits will not block you quickly. You want one free audience and one user, with a simple path into broader marketing automation later.

When is Mailjet the better choice?

You need APIs, SMTP Relay, or webhooks for transactional email or product notifications. You want a free tier that supports a larger list, such as up to 1,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month. You are a developer or builder who wants to wire email into an app, not just run campaigns from a marketer UI. You expect to outgrow the free plan soon and want a cheaper entry paid tier at $9/month. You want no daily sending limit on the first paid tier.

Mailchimp vs Mailjet: Free Tier Comparison

Q: How much does Mailchimp cost after the free tier?

Essentials - $17/mo. Mailchimp uses flat-priced tiers that jump from $17/month to $25/month to $500/month, so the cost curve rises sharply if you need more contacts or users. Mailjet also uses flat pricing, but its entry paid tier is cheaper at $9/month and its next steps are $17/month and $27/month. For small teams, Mailjet is usually cheaper once you need to move past the free cap. Mailchimp becomes more expensive faster, especially if you are scaling contacts rather than needing developer tooling.

Q: How much does Mailjet cost after the free tier?

Starter - $9/month. Mailchimp uses flat-priced tiers that jump from $17/month to $25/month to $500/month, so the cost curve rises sharply if you need more contacts or users. Mailjet also uses flat pricing, but its entry paid tier is cheaper at $9/month and its next steps are $17/month and $27/month. For small teams, Mailjet is usually cheaper once you need to move past the free cap. Mailchimp becomes more expensive faster, especially if you are scaling contacts rather than needing developer tooling.

Quick answer

Mailjet - Mailjet wins for most builders because its free tier is larger and more developer-friendly, while Mailchimp only pulls ahead if you mainly want a broader marketing suite and can live with a much tighter free cap.

How the free tiers compare

The difference is not just quota size. Mailchimp’s free plan is a small marketing starter kit: 250 contacts, 500 emails per month, one audience, one user, plus templates, landing pages, basic reports, and some automation preview. It is better for a solo marketer who wants a traditional campaign workflow and does not need much volume. Mailjet’s free plan is built more like an email sending layer for teams and developers: 1,000 contacts, 6,000 emails per month, APIs, SMTP Relay, webhooks, and an advanced editor. That makes it more useful for product emails, lightweight marketing sends, and technical workflows. On paid plans, Mailchimp stays flat-priced but quickly becomes expensive at scale, while Mailjet stays cheaper at the entry level and adds capability more gradually.

Mailchimp vs Mailjet free tier, side by side

	MailchimpFTV 41	MailjetFTV 53
Free contactsMailchimp’s free plan is much tighter on list size.	250	1,000
Free sends per monthMailjet gives far more headroom before paying.	500 emails/month	6,000 emails/month
Free sends per dayMailjet has the larger monthly cap, but both still enforce a daily limit on free.	250/day	200/day
Free usersMailchimp explicitly limits the free plan to one user.	1 user	Not specified
Free audiencesMailchimp clearly caps this; no equivalent quota was provided for Mailjet.	1 audience	Not specified
Free API accessMailjet’s free plan includes APIs, SMTP Relay, and webhooks.	Not specified	Included

After you outgrow the free tier

Mailchimp uses flat-priced tiers that jump from $17/month to $25/month to $500/month, so the cost curve rises sharply if you need more contacts or users. Mailjet also uses flat pricing, but its entry paid tier is cheaper at $9/month and its next steps are $17/month and $27/month. For small teams, Mailjet is usually cheaper once you need to move past the free cap. Mailchimp becomes more expensive faster, especially if you are scaling contacts rather than needing developer tooling.

Mailchimp next stepEssentials - $17/moFlat monthly

Mailjet next stepStarter - $9/monthFlat monthly

Cost at real usage

Usage	Mailchimp	Mailjet
~1,000 contacts, 5,000 emails/monthMailchimp free tier is capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails/month.	Would require paid plan; price not provided for this exact usage	Free (within tier)
~2,000 contacts, 8,000 emails/monthMailjet Starter includes 8,000 emails/month and 2,000 contacts.	Would require paid plan; price not provided for this exact usage	$9/month
~15,000 emails/monthMailjet Essential covers 15,000 emails/month.	Would require paid plan; price not provided for this exact usage	$17/month
~50,000 contactsMailchimp Essentials lists up to 50,000 contacts. Mailjet’s provided paid tiers do not specify a contacts quota this high except Unlimited contacts on Essential/Premium, but the price for that scale is not tied to a higher volume scenario in the input.	$17/month	No exact price provided; would need a higher plan

Estimates, not quotes. Usage-based rates change - verify with the vendor's pricing page before committing.

When to pick each one

Pick Mailchimp when…

You want a classic marketing dashboard with audience management, campaign creation, forms, landing pages, and basic reporting in one place.
You only need a very small free list, such as a side project or early newsletter with under 250 contacts.
You care more about Mailchimp’s marketing features than sending volume, and the free plan’s limits will not block you quickly.
You want one free audience and one user, with a simple path into broader marketing automation later.

Pick Mailjet when…

You need APIs, SMTP Relay, or webhooks for transactional email or product notifications.
You want a free tier that supports a larger list, such as up to 1,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month.
You are a developer or builder who wants to wire email into an app, not just run campaigns from a marketer UI.
You expect to outgrow the free plan soon and want a cheaper entry paid tier at $9/month.
You want no daily sending limit on the first paid tier.

Bottom line

For the most common builder case, Mailjet is the better free-tier choice because it gives you more contacts, more sends, and actual developer plumbing without charging right away. Mailchimp is the better pick only if you are specifically buying into its marketing workflow and can stay within a very small free allowance. Once you outgrow the free tier, Mailjet’s paid ladder starts lower and stays easier to justify for small teams.

Read the full listings: Mailchimp and Mailjet. Scores use the FTV methodology at /ftv. Browse more head-to-heads on /compare, or see the top-ranked free tiers on /top.