1 MA
MailerLite
The one most people can actually operate
- Cleanest interface of everything we tested
- Free plan is genuinely usable, not a trial in disguise
- Websites, landing pages and forms included
- Cheapest path past 10,000 contacts
Alternatives · Updated September 2026
Mailchimp alternatives
Three platforms scored against our published criteria, ranked for people leaving Mailchimp specifically.
Intuit Mailchimp is rated 4.3 out of 5 on G2 across 12,679 verified business reviews, and 2.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 1,513 reviews , 66% of them one star. The gap between those two numbers is usually the story.
2 BR
Brevo
Pay for emails sent, not contacts stored
- Billing by send volume, so a large dormant list costs nothing
- CRM, SMS and transactional email in the same account
- Unlimited contacts even on the free plan
- Transactional sending API is solid
3 GE
GetResponse
Deepest automation of the group, priced for growing lists
- Visual automation builder with conditional branching
- Landing pages and webinars included, not add-ons
- AI subject-line and copy assistance built in
- Free plan covers 500 contacts with no time limit
The short answer
MailerLite is the closest like-for-like swap. Brevo wins if your list is large and you send rarely.
Why people leave Mailchimp
- Pricing counts unsubscribed and bounced contacts on several plans, so the bill climbs while the reachable list does not
- The free tier has been cut repeatedly since the Intuit acquisition
- Support is email-only below the higher tiers, and reviewers report long waits
- Automation is capable but priced into upper plans most small senders will not reach
Worth saying plainly: Mailchimp rates 4.3 on G2, where reviewers are verified business users. The software is not broken and it works well for plenty of senders. What the lower Trustpilot figure captures is the commercial experience around it — billing, renewals, getting a human on the line. If neither of those is biting you, switching costs more than it returns.
What moving actually costs you
Contacts, tags and segments export as CSV and import cleanly almost everywhere. That part takes an afternoon. Automations do not transfer — every flow gets rebuilt by hand in the new platform, and that is where migrations stall. Count your live automations before you commit: under five and this is a weekend, over twenty and it needs a plan.
Two things people forget. Your sending domain needs new SPF and DKIM records, and inbox placement usually dips for a week or two while the new provider's IPs build reputation with your list. Warm up by sending to your most engaged segment first rather than blasting the whole list on day one.
Which of the three fits you
MailerLite — 8.7. Best for creators, newsletters and small businesses starting out. Watch out for: automation runs out of room once flows get complex. Full review.
Brevo — 8.5. Best for large lists that are emailed occasionally. Watch out for: template editor lags the rest of this group. Full review.
GetResponse — 8.9. Best for teams that want automation and landing pages from one vendor. Watch out for: the cheapest tier holds back the automation builder. Full review.
Try before you commit
All three run free tiers. Import a few hundred contacts into MailerLite, rebuild your single most important automation, and send one campaign. If it feels better than what you have now, the rest of the migration is just repetition.