Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact: a data-backed comparison
Explore Mailchimp and Constant Contact's pricing, market share, adoption trends, features, and ideal use cases to determine which email marketing platform best fits your business.
Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact at a glance
Mailchimp and Constant Contact both offer reliable email marketing solutions, but differ in their approach and strengths. Mailchimp provides a comprehensive marketing platform with advanced automation and analytics, making it an ideal choice for growing businesses that require sophisticated targeting.
Constant Contact delivers straightforward email marketing with exceptional ease of use and customer support, making it perfect for small businesses that prioritize simplicity and direct assistance.
The free tier from Mailchimp (up to 500 contacts) offers unmatched value for startups, while Constant Contact's intuitive interface and template variety benefit businesses without specialized marketing expertise.
Metrics | Constant Contact | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
Relative cost | 82% lower cost than category average | 80% lower cost than category average |
Adoption trend | 13% QoQ adoption growth | 12% QoQ adoption growth |
Primary user segment | – | – |
Best for | Constant Contact is best for small businesses and nonprofits seeking user-friendly email marketing with excellent customer support and pre-built templates. | Organizations in their early to mid-growth phases, making it an attractive option for businesses planning to scale their email marketing efforts over time. |
Mailchimp overview
Mailchimp is a marketing platform that started as an email service in 2001 and now includes website building, CRM features, and multi-channel campaign tools. It combines intuitive design with automation and analytics to enable businesses to target customers based on their behavior and preferences.
Best for small to mid-sized businesses growing beyond introductory email, Mailchimp offers a flexible toolkit for managing customer relationships and running coordinated campaigns across channels, without requiring heavy technical expertise.
Mailchimp key features
Features | Description |
|---|---|
Customer journey builder | Design complex, multi-step workflows triggered by specific customer behaviors and actions. |
AI-powered personalization | Leverage machine learning for content recommendations and send-time optimization. |
Advanced segmentation | Filter audiences using multiple conditions combining both positive and negative relationships. |
E-commerce integration | Connect with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce to sync customer data and track purchase-driven metrics, providing insights to tackle e-commerce accounting challenges. |
Built-in website tools | Create and host websites with free tools that integrate directly with email marketing campaigns. |
Comparative reporting | Benchmark performance against industry averages and track revenue attribution. |
Multi-channel marketing | Extend beyond email to social media advertising, postcards, and landing pages from one platform. |
Constant Contact overview
Constant Contact is a well-established email marketing platform that prioritizes simplicity and reliability, providing user-friendly tools and a comprehensive template library tailored to diverse industries and campaigns.
Best suited for small businesses and nonprofits, Constant Contact offers additional features, including event management, social media scheduling, and donation collection. Its hands-on support, available via phone, chat, and email, makes it accessible for teams without dedicated tech resources.
Constant Contact key features
Features | Description |
|---|---|
Email templates | Drag-and-drop editor with industry-specific, mobile-responsive layouts. |
Automation | Triggered welcome emails, drip campaigns, and birthday reminders. |
Event management | Create and promote events with registration, ticketing, and attendee tracking. |
Surveys & polls | Build surveys and polls to gather customer feedback. |
Social campaigns | Schedule and post directly to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. |
List segmentation | Group contacts by engagement, demographics, or custom fields. |
Pros and cons
Tool | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
Constant Contact |
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Mailchimp |
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Use case scenarios
Mailchimp excels for growing businesses needing sophisticated marketing automation and data-driven insights. At the same time, Constant Contact offers straightforward email marketing with exceptional support and ease of use, making it ideal for less technical teams.
When Mailchimp is the better choice
- Growing businesses seeking a scalable platform that expands beyond basic email marketing
- E-commerce companies needing deep integration with their online stores
- Organizations requiring advanced segmentation and personalization
- Marketers interested in behavior-based automation and customer journeys
- Budget-conscious startups with under 500 contacts
- Teams looking to consolidate multiple marketing tools into one platform
- Companies wanting data-driven insights with comparative analytics
When Constant Contact is the better choice
- Small businesses prioritizing ease of use over advanced features
- Organizations hosting events that need integrated event management tools
- Teams desiring comprehensive person-to-person support across all plan levels
- Marketers who value a wide selection of pre-designed templates
- Companies without technical expertise seeking a straightforward implementation
- Nonprofits looking for specialized donation collection features
- Teams wanting to create and schedule social media content alongside emails
Other email marketing tools
- ActiveCampaign: Better for businesses needing advanced automation and CRM integration with predictive sending features.
- Klaviyo: Ideal for e-commerce with powerful customer segmentation and revenue-focused analytics.
- Marketo: Enterprise-level solution with B2B focus and advanced lead management capabilities.
- Omnisend: Specialized for e-commerce with strong product recommendation features and omnichannel campaigns.
- SendGrid: Developer-friendly platform with robust API for high-volume senders and transactional emails.