The core difference
ConvertKit was founded in 2013 by Nathan Barry, who wanted a simpler email tool for bloggers and online course creators. The philosophy shows: ConvertKit uses tags and segments rather than multiple lists, which makes managing an audience across different interests and purchase histories much cleaner. If someone buys your course, you can tag them automatically and stop sending them sales emails for that course. If they signed up for a freebie but never bought, you can drop them into a nurture sequence. That kind of subscriber management is where ConvertKit beats Mailchimp outright.
Mailchimp was founded in 2001 and acquired by Intuit in 2021. It has more name recognition, more templates, and deeper e-commerce integrations -- particularly with Shopify and WooCommerce. For a local restaurant sending monthly specials or a retail shop promoting seasonal sales, Mailchimp's template library and familiar interface are more useful than ConvertKit's creator-focused features.
The free tier difference is worth noting. ConvertKit's free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers but locks automation behind a paywall. Mailchimp's free plan caps at 500 contacts but includes more template options. If you are starting from zero and building a list, ConvertKit's free tier is more generous. If you have a few hundred existing contacts and want polished campaigns fast, Mailchimp's free tier is more practical.
"ConvertKit is built for audiences. Mailchimp is built for lists. The difference sounds subtle but shapes everything about how each tool works."
Quick comparison: ConvertKit vs Mailchimp
| Feature | ConvertKit (Kit) | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 10,000 subscribers | Up to 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month |
| Paid entry | Creator: $25/month (1,000 subscribers) | Essentials: $13/month (500 contacts) |
| Subscriber model | Tags and segments -- one list | Multiple lists (contacts counted per list) |
| Automation | Visual builder on Creator+ | Basic on Essentials, full on Standard+ |
| E-commerce integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce (via integrations) | Strong -- native Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe |
| Digital product sales | Native -- sell courses, subscriptions, downloads | Not built in |
| Landing pages | Yes -- included on all plans | Yes -- on Essentials+ |
| Templates | Clean but minimal | Extensive template library |
| Best for | Creators, coaches, consultants, course sellers | Small businesses, e-commerce, traditional marketing |
Pricing: what you actually pay
ConvertKit's free plan is one of the most generous in this category -- 10,000 subscribers with broadcast emails and basic landing pages. The catch is that automation sequences require the paid Creator plan at $25/month for 1,000 subscribers. Pricing scales from there: 5,000 subscribers on Creator runs $66/month, 10,000 runs $100/month. Creator Pro adds a newsletter referral program and priority support at roughly double the Creator price.
At 10,000 subscribers: ConvertKit Creator costs ~$100/month. Mailchimp Standard at 10,000 contacts costs ~$100/month. They land at nearly the same price at scale -- the decision comes down to features and use case, not cost. Confirm current pricing at kit.com and mailchimp.com.
Mailchimp's free plan covers 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month -- enough to test the platform but too limited for active marketing. Essentials at $13/month (500 contacts) adds A/B testing and removes Mailchimp branding. Standard at $20/month unlocks the full automation builder and retargeting ads. At 10,000 contacts, Standard runs about $100/month. Premium at $350/month targets businesses with 150,000+ contacts who need multivariate testing and phone support.
ConvertKit deep dive
ConvertKit's tagging system is why most creators switch from Mailchimp. Instead of maintaining separate lists for your freebie subscribers, paid course buyers, and podcast audience, you keep everyone in one place and use tags to segment. A subscriber can carry five tags and sit in three automations at once. You can send to "subscribers tagged interest:marketing but NOT tagged customer:course1" without any workarounds. Mailchimp can do similar things, but the logic takes more setup and the results are less clean.
The visual automation builder on the Creator tier lets you build sequences that branch based on what a subscriber does. Someone clicks a link, they move to a different sequence. Someone buys a product, their path changes. For a coach running a launch sequence or a course creator with multiple entry points, this conditional logic actually earns its keep rather than being a feature nobody uses.
ConvertKit's native commerce feature lets you sell digital products and subscriptions directly from the platform. No Shopify, no separate storefront. You create a product, set a price, and subscribers buy through a simple checkout page. ConvertKit takes a small transaction fee. For someone just starting to monetize an audience, this removes a real setup barrier.
- The template library is thin compared to Mailchimp. ConvertKit leans toward plain-text email, which tends to get better deliverability -- but if you want polished visual newsletters, you will need to build your own or hire a designer.
- Reporting is functional but not deep. Open rates, click rates, and subscriber growth. Mailchimp's analytics are more detailed at comparable price points.
- The platform is oriented toward creators. A restaurant or local service business will find Mailchimp more intuitive.
- Automation requires the paid Creator plan -- the free tier is broadcast-only, no sequences.
Mailchimp deep dive
Mailchimp's template library is the most extensive in this category for small businesses. Hundreds of pre-built templates organized by industry and use case -- newsletters, promotions, event invitations. For a business that wants professional-looking emails without a designer, the drag-and-drop editor covers most scenarios without any custom work.
E-commerce integration is Mailchimp's clearest advantage over ConvertKit for product-based businesses. The Shopify and WooCommerce connections are native and well-maintained. When a customer makes a purchase, they can automatically enter a post-purchase sequence. Abandoned cart emails go out without manual setup. Product recommendations in emails pull from your actual catalog. For a store selling physical goods, this level of integration is hard to replicate in ConvertKit without extra tools.
Mailchimp's analytics go deeper than ConvertKit's at comparable tiers. Revenue per email, e-commerce conversion tracking, and comparative campaign reports are all available on Standard and above. For businesses that want to measure email's impact on sales rather than just open rates, Mailchimp's reporting wins.
- The free tier caps at 500 contacts, which is restrictive next to ConvertKit's 10,000-subscriber free plan.
- Mailchimp counts contacts per list, which inflates costs if the same people appear on multiple lists. ConvertKit's single-list model avoids this problem entirely.
- The automation interface on lower tiers is less flexible than ConvertKit's visual builder for complex conditional sequences.
- Intuit's acquisition brought feature bloat. The interface is more complex than it used to be, and long-time users have noticed.
"If you are building and monetizing an audience, ConvertKit's tagging and native commerce make it the cleaner tool. If you are marketing a product-based business, Mailchimp's e-commerce integrations and template library are the better fit."
Who each platform is for
Choose ConvertKit when: You are a blogger, podcaster, coach, or course creator building an audience you plan to monetize. You need flexible subscriber segmentation without maintaining multiple lists. You want to sell digital products or paid subscriptions without a separate storefront. You are starting from zero and want the most generous free tier.
Choose Mailchimp when: You run a product-based business with a Shopify or WooCommerce store and want native e-commerce integration. You want a wide selection of email templates without building your own. You are a local business sending monthly newsletters to an existing customer list. You need e-commerce reporting tied directly to email performance.
The overlap: A small service business -- a marketing agency, a photography studio, a consulting firm -- can run effectively on either. Mailchimp is more familiar. ConvertKit is more flexible for audience segmentation. The deciding factor is usually whether you sell digital products (ConvertKit) or physical products online (Mailchimp).
The automation gap neither platform closes
Both platforms send emails well. Neither automatically wires to the rest of your business stack.
A new customer in your CRM does not trigger a Mailchimp welcome sequence without a manual integration. A completed sale in your e-commerce platform does not add the buyer to a ConvertKit tag without connecting the two tools first. A webinar registrant does not get added to the right email list in real time. A client who finishes your program does not automatically move to an alumni sequence while being removed from the active client one.
These connections require either native integrations you set up and maintain, or custom automation built on top of both platforms. ConvertKit and Mailchimp both have Zapier connections and APIs -- but someone has to configure them, test them, and fix them when they break. Building that cross-system wiring is what Aplos AI does.
Still manually tagging subscribers after purchases or moving people between sequences by hand? We build the automations that connect your email platform to your CRM, your e-commerce store, and your scheduling tools.
Get a Free Automation Audit →The verdict
Creator, coach, or consultant: ConvertKit. The tagging system, the visual automation builder, and native commerce are built for exactly this use case. The 10,000-subscriber free tier is a real bonus.
E-commerce or product-based small business: Mailchimp. The Shopify/WooCommerce integrations, template library, and e-commerce reporting are better suited to businesses selling physical products to a customer list.
Either way, your email platform is only as effective as the systems feeding it. A new customer who does not get tagged. A completed purchase that does not trigger a follow-up. A subscriber who falls through the cracks between sequences. Those are not email platform problems -- they are cross-system automation problems.