Trying to find an email marketing and marketing automation platform for your business can be a stressful and overwhelming task. The average person isn’t well-versed on what makes an email marketing platform great. When you’re comparing two options such as Convertkit vs. Mailchimp, how are you supposed to know what makes one better than the other? This can make the process of finding one even more frustrating.

If you’re anything like me, then you want to find a product that works best for you and your business without breaking the bank. You don’t want to spend more of your own hard-earned money or dive any deeper into the company’s budget for an email marketing platform. This is why we wanted to compare two of the most popular email marketing platforms.

Below you’ll find in-depth and honest reviews of both products. You’ll also find our top winner along with a buying guide to help you know which of the two products will work best for you.

Overall Winner

Both of these email marketing platforms are popular options, but one may stand out more than the other. It’s important to mention that my overall winner may be different than yours, and that’s okay. A lot of factors can go into which platform is the best for you.

You’ll notice in the categories below that ConvertKit earned the crown in the majority of them. Considering all of the features we’re using as rating criteria as well as ones that we are not, the overall winner is ConvertKit. 

There are several reasons why I chose this platform as the winner. For starters, it’s incredibly easy to use, no matter your skill capability. It may not be as customizable as Mailchimp, but that can be a big plus for money savers. Overall, I found that ConvertKit came out just ahead of Mailchimp in just about every category.

One thing I do want to note is that even though these tools are fairly equal when it comes to features, they were designed with specific audiences in mind. If you’re just starting out as a blogger or you have a small business, you may prefer ConvertKit. This is because it has WordPress integration and readability built-in. There may not be as many landing page templates and it doesn’t have any email templates, but this can be a big plus for bloggers and smaller businesses.

On the other hand, if you’re a large brand, e-commerce business, or agency, you’ll likely get more out of Mailchimp. It has highly customizable emails and far more integration options. If you have sales, announcements, or promotional emails to send out often, you’ll want to use Mailchimp. 

Rating Criteria

Above you’ve read a little bit about which product we think is the winner, but how did I go about choosing that? What makes it better than the other? Do CovertKit and Mailchimp have anything in common?

You may have a lot of questions unanswered at this moment, which is why I’m going to compare the two products in terms of five of their main features. We will go in-depth about the capabilities of each product for each feature. Also, you will see a winner chosen for every category. We’re hoping this will help you pick the one product that has the features to suit your needs best.

Below is a list of all of the features we are going to be comparing today in order:

• Opt-in forms and landing pages
• Email marketing automation
• Pricing 
• Customer support
• Integration

Let’s dive in. 

ConvertKit And Mailchimp Comparison Review

ConvertKit and Mailchimp are just two of several email marketing platforms available online. Even though these different platforms have several features in common, they can still work quite differently. Several things can set them apart, whether that be the price, how easy it is to use, or the customer support that comes with it.

Both ConvertKit and Mailchimp have a lot of the main features that you’d expect from an email marketing platform. There are also some features and tools that you may not see coming; let’s talk about it all! 

Opt-In Forms And Landing Pages

ConvertKit

Is your goal to convert your blog traffic into email subscribers? If so, you’ll enjoy what ConvertKit has to offer. This platform makes it incredibly easy to add opt-in forms to your blog pages. It uses several different lightweight opt-in forms that can simply be added to a WordPress blog with just a few clicks of a mouse. 

The forms come in a few main styles, including a basic form that just asks the visitor for their email address and displays a “subscribe” button. There are also larger forms that have space for more information and the ability to place images.

There are many benefits when it comes to using ConvertKit, one of the main being how easy it makes it to customize forms. The platform uses a front-end designer to help you easily edit headers, field names, description boxes, as well as anti-spam messages. 

ConvertKit also makes it incredibly easy to upload images. This makes opt-in forms a bit more engaging for your blog traffic, without you needing to learn HTML or CSS. Besides, you’ll also be able to change the color of texts, buttons, and accents when you’re using CoverKit’s form builder!

The platform also makes it simple and quick to add forms to your blog. You’ll have three embed options, including Javascript, HTML, and WordPress shortcode if you’re using a WordPress plugin. Another unique thing that ConvertKit includes is Twitter Cards. These cards allow you to create new email subscribers by using your business’s Twitter account, without your online following needing to visit the blog in the first place! 

It is important to note that ConvertKit has an area that could use some improvement when it comes to landing pages. The platform uses three landing page templates to give you trendy, minimalist, and stylish options. The pages are designed with all digital goods in mind, which will come in handy if you’re trying to promote something like an eBook. 

You can add in an Instapage subscription within ConvertKit too. This will cost you an additional fee every month, but it will give you more options when it comes to landing page templates. If you’re a blogger or the like, you’ll get a lot of use out of this ConvertKit feature.

Mailchimp

Now, let’s talk a bit about Mailchimp. Mailchimp comes with a unique customizable opt-in form builder. This is great because it allows you to make the opt-in forms your own in relation to your email campaign. It’s important to note that Mailchimp doesn’t come with a landing page builder at all. That being said, you will have to use a third-party tool for landing pages, which can be a pain for some users. 

Mailchimp is known for integrating tools within the platform. One of the more popular tools is Instapage, which makes the lack of a landing page builder not quite as bad. With that being said, you will have to plan to pay an extra fee for an entirely separate landing page tool if you’re wanting to have your company’s social media following able to easily sign up for an email subscription. 

One of the better things about Mailchimp is how easy it is to design sign-up forms. The form builder is browser-based, which helps give you complete control over just about every aspect of the forms. This includes things like colors, photos, headings, drop-down menus, and more. This can come in handy if you have several blogs or multiple web pages. 

Also, this platform has four unique form types that you can use. This includes classic, horizontal, naked, and super slim. These can be used if you’re looking for a template while still wanting to have plenty of control over how the form looks. This will make it easy if you don’t have any HTML or CSS experience.

Some users claim that Mailchimp’s forms tend to look a little amateur. This usually isn’t an issue for most designers, but some believe that it makes their forms stand out negatively. If you’re looking to add in a Mailchimp opt-in form to your blog or website, it’s quite simple and quick. You have the option to add the code that Mailchimp gives you or you can use one of the Mailchimp WordPress plugins when incorporating a WordPress widget. 

It’s important to note that when it comes to opt-in forms and landing pages, Mailchimp is geared more towards marketing departments than bloggers. This is partially due to the need for an additional tool such as Instapage. Depending on how you use Mailchimp, you may also need a bit of HTML knowledge. 

With all of this being said, if you’re looking for an email marketing platform for your established business or marketing agency, you may get a lot of use out of Mailchimp. 

Overall Winner

For the first category, the winner is ConvertKit. Overall, the opt-in forms are much better. It also comes with a handful of easy-to-use landing page templates for you to choose from. While both ConvertKit and Mailchimp have opt-in forms, ConvertKit stands out due to the added feature of native landing pages. 

Overall, ConvertKit’s features, like the opt-in forms and landing pages, are designed for bloggers to use. This is because they’re user-friendly and simple. Mailchimp’s landing page integration is geared more for marketing departments or power users. 

Email Marketing Automation

ConvertKit

The designers of ConvertKit designed it from the ground up. They know that making email marketing and marketing automation can be complicated, so they made it as easy as possible. They want their users to feel confident when using this feature. If you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience when it comes to email marketing software, you’ll enjoy how easy to use and simple ConvertKit makes everything. 

Doing tasks like creating email campaigns is incredibly easy with ConvertKit. They are designed to be handled using a series of sequences. The sequences include making lists of emails that automatically send when someone joins your mailing list or if they purchase a product for your website.

One of the most convenient parts of this feature is that emails in sequences can actually be scheduled. You can have them mailed out in intervals, at specific times of the day, or when you have certain sales that are live. In addition, you’ll be able to send out email broadcasts, which are one-off emails designed for notifying your email list about important announcements or flash sales. 

Another great feature of this platform is how easy it is to create new emails. There is a built-in email campaign builder that has the same type of interface as a text editor would. There are buttons where you can easily change things like the font and alignment, add images, make text italic, and more.

ConvertKit makes the automation email marketing service easy as well. This automation uses rules. These rules allow the system to trigger a specific type of email to go out based on things like your customer’s behavior or if they click on a specific link after signing up for the email list.

Since this can come across as confusing, we wanted to give you an example. Let’s say you have a digital product for sale, so you’ll be able to use rules to automatically add new customers to specific lists after they have purchased said product. 

One of the more unique things about ConvertKit is that there aren’t any email templates included. While at first this may be alarming, you may enjoy knowing that having plain text-only emails will prevent your emails from getting flagged as spam when they reach a person’s email inbox. This can help create a more personal bond between your company and the consumer.

Overall, ConvertKit has simple and easy to use email marketing features. They may be beneficial to bloggers and content marketers alike. Some users may not enjoy the lack of email templates available, but it can actually help you in the long run.

Mailchimp

One of the first things to note when it comes to Mailchimp is that it comes with a more detailed set of email marketing and online automation tools. This includes a wide variety of email templates that can come in handy for agencies and smaller businesses. 

This platform’s email builder offers a large amount of control when it comes to how your emails look. It’s incredibly simple to add things like images, calls-to-action, links, headers, and even background images. One of my favorite things about this is that you’re able to preview how it will look on desktop and mobile before finalizing the email. 

This means if you need one email to be polished and minimalistic, you can do that. On the other hand, if you need an email with lots of photos, unique fonts, and links, that’s an option as well. If this is a big plus for you, you’ll benefit from Mailchimp over ConvertKit when it comes to this feature since ConvertKit only allows basic text emails. 

With Mailchimp, you’ll get a ton of marketing automation features. You can easily set up rules so that emails can be sent out for just about any reason. This can come in handy if someone leaves items in their cart without carrying out the transaction. You can also have emails scheduled to go out after a customer purchases a certain item. 

Lastly, Mailchimp also offers tons of useful resources to its users. There are free guides that can help you sharpen your marketing automation skills and more. This can be an incredibly useful feature for people who are new to the whole email marketing topic. 

Overall Winner 

When it comes to email marketing automation, ConvertKit is the clear winner. It’s easier to use and is great for users that don’t have the necessary programming skills needed for other marketing automation platforms. 

It’s important to note that both ConvertKit and Mailchimp have every email marketing automation feature that you could need. Both options also have an ease-of-use that many users enjoy. 

ConvertKit just happens to pull ahead in this category. This is mainly because of the built-in intuitive design and how well-explained each feature is. However, if you have a small business, you may actually prefer Mailchimp over ConvertKit. 

Pricing 

ConvertKit

Just because it costs money doesn’t mean that it’s expensive (or not worth your while). ConvertKit starts at just $29 for every month. (All prices are correct at the time of writing.) For that price, you’ll be able to add up to 1,000 contacts to your email list. Every plan they offer includes unlimited opt-in forms, automation rules, landing pages, email courses, and emails.

If you have a growing email list or you start with more than 1,000 addresses, you can calculate the cost for a custom plan by using the convenient pricing calculator. It’s important to note that there are also plans available for up to 3,000 email addresses; this will cost you $49 per month. Lastly, there is a pre-made plan for up to 5,000 subscribers that will cost you $79 per month.

Mailchimp

With the free version, you’ll get support for up to 2,000 email addresses and up to 12,000 emails per month. As a free user, you will also get access to almost all of the available features that Mailchimp has to offer. There are additional features that you can pay for, such as unlimited emails sent, delivery by time zone, and even predicted demographics.

There are paid Mailchimp options as well. The cheapest paid plan is just $10 per month, while the most expensive paid plan they offer is $199 per month. You shouldn’t need the more expensive option unless you’re a professional marketer with an incredibly large list of email subscribers. 

There are plenty of other plans available that will fit your needs. In general, Mailchimp costs less than ConvertKit and you get the same amount of subscribers and monthly emails, so why pay more? It then obviously comes down to the features you want and need, but customer support and integration play a part in your decision too. 

Overall Winner 

When it comes to price, you’ll find that there are a variety of options when it comes to software for your business. Thankfully, Mailchimp has a free option available. This can come in incredibly handy for those who’d prefer to give the email marketing automation a test drive before spending any money.

ConvertKit doesn’t offer a free trial and the product itself isn’t free, so you’ll be taking a chance by going with that option, but let’s talk a bit more about what ConvertKit will cost you.

Customer Support

ConvertKit

When it comes to the support you get from this platform, there’s quite a bit to unbox. ConvertKit offers a variety of online workshops along with blog articles and guides for practically every aspect of marketing automation and email marketing. 

In addition to this, there is also ticket-based support for your specific needs. ConvertKit has a Facebook group with over 4,000 members where you can chat as a community, learn more about the platform, and maybe find some answers to questions you have.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp has one of the largest online knowledge bases available. They also offer online support through email, phone calls, and chat. Just like the other platform, there is a Facebook group called Mailchimp Answers that has well over 2,000 members. This is a great way to get answers to your questions as well as learn something new about the platform.

Overall Winner 

When it comes to the overall winner for customer support, I think it’s a tie. Both ConvertKit and Mailchimp have a variety of different online support options, training tools, knowledge bases, tutorials, ticket best support, and more. Either one you choose will have a ton of additional information at your fingertips.

Integration

ConvertKit

This platform has quite a bit fewer integrations when it comes to landing page software. It is important to note that ConvertKit comes with over 30 integrations with e-commerce tools, landing page software, membership website platforms, and more.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp really stands out in this category. This is mainly because this platform has over 700 integrations with analytics, payment processing software, landing page software, and CRM. If you need a platform that has tons of integration options, you’ll definitely have to choose Mailchimp. 

Overall Winner

When it comes to integration, there is definitely one email marketing platform that stands out from the other. Mailchimp has over 20 times the amount of integrations that ConvertKit offers. This is why Mailchimp is my overall winner for this category. If landing page software along with other types of software is important to you, you’ll want to go with Mailchimp. 

Conclusion

There is a lot that will go into which email marketing platform that you choose. If you take a look at both of the options above, you’ll find that they both offer amazing features and that they’re somewhat similar.

Depending on what you’re looking for and what type of business you have, you may like Mailchimp over ConvertKit, or vice versa. Both of these options are easy to use and come with additional monthly add-on features at an extra charge.

Even though these are two of the more popular options available, there are more out there if neither of these sound like a platform that will work for you. I will say that they both have amazing reputations from people who have already purchased features and put the email marketing platform to use.

Whichever one you choose, I hope that it makes a few aspects of your online business a bit more stress-free! Either Mailchimp or ConvertKit can make that happen! The choice is up to you.