Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign 2022: which is the best email marketing tool?

The world of email marketing has changed dramatically over the last few years. With the rise of mobile devices, the advent of social media, and the explosion of Internet advertising, the rules of traditional email marketing have been turned on their head. So, which is the best email marketing software? In this article, we’ll compare two of the most popular email marketing platforms in the world, ActiveCampaign and MailChimp.

Mailchimp has been around since 2001 and there are so many who have used it at least once – or who wrote in their CV that they did, even if it wasn’t true – because it’s easy to use and you learn quickly.

On the other side there is ActiveCampaign, which has been around since 2003 and is therefore almost the same age: in this case, however, very few people lie in the Curriculum, for a very clear reason. ActiveCampaign has a reputation for being a devastating lead-generating machine, but if you know how to use it or are supported by a partner in doing so.

Both of these tools offer great functionality and will work for your business, but which one is right for you?

ActiveCampaign: email marketing and automation software

ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one tool that lets you send, track, and manage your emails. It can help you to create, schedule, track, and analyze your campaigns. You can also use it to create landing pages, landing page templates, and forms.

In addition, you can use it to design, optimize, and test your emails. You can even track how many people opened your emails, what links they clicked on, and what they did after opening your email. This can help you to improve your digital marketing strategy.

It has not free version, but you can try the full version for free for 14 days.

One of the main benefits of ActiveCampaign is that it provides more features than MailChimp. ActiveCampaign has many advanced features, including Customer Experience Automation, a CRM, and A/B testing. It also has many different email templates, including a responsive email template that will automatically adjust to fit the size of the screen on any device.

One of the main drawbacks of ActiveCampaign is that it has not a free version. It also requires more technical preparation to use it effectively.

Mailchimp email marketing platform

MailChimp is a popular email marketing platform that allows you to create, schedule, track, and analyze your emails. It can also help you to design, optimize, and test your emails.

With a few clicks, Mailchimp lets you create and edit your list, track and reply to subscribers, add and update messages, and make changes to your email design. It’s very easy to use.

It makes sense to use it since you are a professional or a small business brand. They probably assume that a lot of their customers are business owners who are wearing multiple hats.

Mailchimp has both a free version and a paid version.

The free version has all the same features as the paid version, but it doesn’t allow you to send unlimited emails or track unlimited subscribers. The paid version offers all the features of the free version, plus some additional features. 

There are several benefits to using MailChimp, including the fact that it is a free service. Another benefit is that it is a very easy tool to use. You can create a new campaign in just a few minutes and start sending out emails immediately.

MailChimp is also very affordable. It is an excellent email marketing tool for beginners who want to send out newsletters or promotional messages to their customers. 

There are generous free and entry-level plans with Mailchimp, but things get more expensive once your email list gets bigger.

One of the drawbacks to using the service is that when your audience grows, it is more expensive. You need to be aware that every single contact counts as a billable contact, even those who don’t subscribe. If you want to keep costs low, you need to keep an eye on your email list cleaning.

In addition, Mailchimp encourages you to have a single list known as an audience and to use tags to segment it. It’s not an easy job and could be hard to manage your mailing list effectively.

One thing to keep in mind about Mailchimp is that it has some great advanced features, but they are mostly reserved for the higher pricing tiers.

Plans & Pricing

The plans of Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign seem quite similar at first glance: both offer four tiers that vary in price depending on the features offered and the number of contacts.

Mailchimp stands out from ActiveCampaign in offering a free plan. This includes up to 2,000 contacts, an audience list, and some automations.

This is a pretty generous free plan in the world of email marketing, especially when compared to ActiveCampaign, which offers no free plan at all. You can, however, get a 14-day free trial with all the features available from their more expensive plan.

Mailchimp’s pricing is more competitive for the basic tools and features, but for businesses looking to build a solid strategy for the future with marketing automation, ActiveCampaign has a lot more to offer.

So, if your budget is null or very low, Mailchimp is the way to go, otherwise go for AC.

Mailchimp vs. ActiveCampaign: Key Takeaways

ActiveCampaign and MailChimp are both great options for small businesses. Both offer an easy to use interface and can be customized to fit your business needs.

When you consider what it is actually capable of, ActiveCampaign is the superior platform. If you want to take your business seriously, this is the obvious choice. However, I completely understand why MailChimp is so appealing to such a large audience:

If you don’t think you need any of the advanced features or automation, MailChimp is more than fine.

Maybe, today you don’t need advanced features in email marketing software like ActiveCampaign. That is true until you will really need them. When starting a business, it’s very hard to predict where we’ll be a year from now.

If you start with MailChimp, you’re putting a limit on what you can achieve. If you want to break through, you’ll have to go through a seriously painstaking and expensive process to fix it. Think long term.

Verdict: ActiveCampaign is the tool you need now and the tool you wish you had started with when it comes time to scale your business. If you choose MailChimp, you’ll save some money, but it’ll be like shooting yourself in the foot.