MailerLite vs Mailchimp Free: Same 250 Subscribers, Five Times the Sends
How this review was built. Pricing, tiers and limits come from the vendor's own pricing page and documentation as of the date above — and where a figure is the vendor's claim, we say so rather than repeat it as fact. Some links on this page are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, which is why the drawbacks are printed in full on this page rather than left for you to find later. About the rating. It is our own editorial judgement on a 1–5 scale — not the output of a formula, and not the result of hands-on testing. Treat it as one publication's opinion and read the drawbacks, which are the useful part. See our full methodology & disclosure →
Starting at $12/month
Verdict: Both free plans cap at 250 subscribers. MailerLite lets you send 2,500 emails a month against Mailchimp's 500, and its paid entry is $12 against $13. On the specific comparison most people are actually making, it wins on the numbers.
Pros
- ✓Free plan sends 2,500 emails a month — five times Mailchimp's free allowance
- ✓Comfort starts at $12/month, and Power at $25 removes send limits entirely
- ✓Free plan includes a website builder and a landing page, not just email
- ✓The editor is clean and fast; less clutter than the older incumbents
Cons
- ✗250 free subscribers is the same tight ceiling as Mailchimp — this is not a generous free tier
- ✗Free plan allows only 3 active forms and 2 user seats
- ✗Smaller integration ecosystem than Mailchimp — check your stack first
- ✗Comfort's send limit is 10× your subscriber tier, so heavy senders climb tiers faster than list growth suggests
The comparison people are actually making
Most searches that land on a MailerLite review are really asking one question: is this better than Mailchimp for what I need? Usually at the free tier, usually for a list under a few hundred people.
So here is that comparison directly, from both companies' own pricing pages, checked August 2026.
| Free plan | MailerLite | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 250 | 250 |
| Monthly sends | 2,500 | 500 |
| Websites / landing pages | 1 + 1 | not included |
| User seats | 2 | — |
| Active forms | 3 | — |
Identical subscriber ceiling. Five times the send allowance.
Why the send number is the one that matters
A 250-subscriber ceiling sounds like the binding constraint. In practice it usually is not — the send limit is.
Email 250 people once a week and you use 1,000 sends a month. That is comfortable on MailerLite and double Mailchimp's entire free allowance. On Mailchimp's free plan you can email your full list twice a month and then you are done.
Check your intended sending frequency before your list size. It is the number that decides which free plan is usable, and it is the one nobody checks.
What paid looks like
| Plan | Price | Sends |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2,500/mo |
| Comfort | from $12/mo | 10× your subscriber tier |
| Power | from $25/mo | Unlimited |
| Enterprise | custom | custom |
Comfort's send allowance is a multiple, not a fixed number — ten times whatever subscriber tier you are on. That is unusual and worth understanding: if you send frequently to a small list, you can hit the send ceiling while nowhere near the subscriber ceiling, and the fix is to climb a tier you did not otherwise need.
Power at $25 removes the send limit entirely. For anyone emailing daily, that is the tier the pricing model is quietly pushing you toward, and it is worth pricing directly rather than arriving at it by accident.
Where Mailchimp still wins
Being fair about this matters more than the headline.
Integrations. Mailchimp's ecosystem is the widest in email marketing. If a tool you depend on has one email integration, it is probably Mailchimp. Check yours before switching on price.
Familiarity. If someone else will run your email, more people have used Mailchimp than anything else, and that is a real operational cost you avoid.
Template depth. Mailchimp's library is larger. If design variety matters to your brand, that is a genuine advantage.
Where neither is the right tool
If you need sales funnels, checkout and courses as well as email, both of these are dedicated email senders and you are shopping in the wrong category. [Systeme.io's free plan runs 2,000 contacts with unlimited emails](/reviews/systeme-io-free-plan-limits) and includes funnels and a course platform — eight times the free subscribers of either tool here, with the trade-off that its email design tools are more basic and its page builder is rigid.
And if you are publishing rather than selling, [Kit's free plan carries 10,000 subscribers](/reviews/convertkit-review) — forty times either of these — with unlimited broadcasts but no automation until you pay.
The honest summary
On the narrow question of MailerLite versus Mailchimp at the free tier, MailerLite wins on the numbers — same subscribers, five times the sends, a website and a landing page included, and a cheaper paid entry.
That is not the same as saying it is the better product for you. Mailchimp's integration ecosystem is a real reason to pay more, and it is the only reason that survives a look at the pricing pages.
All figures from MailerLite's and Mailchimp's own pricing pages, checked August 2026.
A different approach: Bonfire Terminal
MailerLite runs in the vendor's cloud — your data is processed on their servers, and you pay every month for as long as you use it. Bonfire Terminal is a different kind of tool: an AI agent that runs as a desktop app on your own machine. No cloud, no API credits, and nothing you type leaves your computer.
To be straight with you: it is not a drop-in replacement for MailerLite, and we are not going to pretend it is — they do different jobs. It is worth a look if the cloud-subscription model itself is what you want out of, or if you want an AI agent that works privately and offline. If MailerLite is doing its job for you, keep it.
| Feature | MailerLite | Bonfire Terminal |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Cloud email-marketing SaaS | Local AI desktop agent (Rust), bundled with affiliate-marketing training |
| Where it runs | Vendor’s cloud — your data is processed on their servers | On your own machine — no cloud, no API credits, no data leaves your computer |
| What you pay | From $12/month | $27 entry (AI Marketers Club) — includes 21-day Bonfire Terminal access |
| Guarantee | See the vendor’s own terms | 60-day money-back guarantee |
The way in is the AI Marketers Club — $27 one-time, which includes 21 days of Bonfire Terminal access. Keeping it after that is a separate purchase, and the vendor's FAQ states Bonfire Terminal starts at $5,000. We earn a commission if you join, at no extra cost to you — which is exactly why our criticisms of MailerLite are printed in full above, why we have told you what this is not, and why the $5,000 is in this sentence rather than left for you to discover later.
Compare MailerLite head-to-head:
All tool comparisons →More Email Marketing Platforms reviews:
- Benchmark Email's Send Limit Is a Formula, Not a Number — 10× Your Contact Count →
- Omnisend's Standard Plan Gives You 500 Contacts — Twice the Free Tier, For $11.20 →
- AWeber's Monthly Billing Costs Up to 50% More Than Annual →
- Kit's Free Plan Goes to 10,000 Subscribers. What's the Catch? →
- GetResponse Has No Free Plan — But No Send Limits Either →
- What Mailchimp's Free Plan Actually Gives You in 2026 →