Mailchimp vs AWeber vs GetResponse

Mailchimp is the default choice for most people starting an email list, and for a lot of them it is the wrong one. Not because it is a bad product, but because its limits are structured in a way that costs you more as your list grows. We compared Mailchimp against AWeber and GetResponse on the numbers that actually decide the bill: entry price, how many emails you can send, what gets capped, and what support you get when something breaks. Every figure below comes from each provider’s own pricing page and was checked in September 2026.

What each platform costs to start

Mailchimp has a free plan for under 250 contacts, then Essentials from $13 a month, Standard from $20 a month, and Premium at $350 a month. Paid plans come with a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card, but until you add a card that trial is capped at 100 emails in total.

AWeber has a free plan that holds 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, then AWeber Plus from $20 a month at 0 to 500 subscribers with a 14-day trial.

GetResponse starts at $15.58 a month billed annually at 1,000 subscribers, with a 14-day trial and no card required.

The sending limits nobody mentions

This is the difference that matters most and the one buried deepest in the pricing tables. Mailchimp ties your monthly email allowance to your contact count: Essentials gives you 10 times your contacts, Standard 12 times, Premium 15 times. Exceed either your contact limit or your send limit and overage charges apply.

AWeber Plus works the same way at 12 times your subscriber count. GetResponse does not do this at all: every GetResponse plan includes unlimited monthly email sends. If you mail your list often, run a daily newsletter, or send several sequences at once, that single difference can decide the whole comparison. On Mailchimp Essentials a 1,000-contact list gets 10,000 emails a month. On GetResponse the same list has no ceiling.

Free plans compared

Mailchimp’s free plan stops at 250 contacts, and sending pauses once you hit a limit. AWeber’s free plan holds 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month, with AWeber branding on every message, one list and one automation. If you are on Mailchimp Free and bumping against 250 contacts, AWeber Free gives you twice the headroom before you have to pay anything.

Where Mailchimp starts limiting you

Mailchimp Essentials at $13 a month is the cheapest entry price of the three, but it is a narrower product than the price suggests. Automation is capped at four flow steps. You get three user seats and three audiences. Branded templates, custom reports and dynamic content are all excluded, and the generative AI features are not included. Custom-coded templates can be created but not sent until you upgrade.

Standard at $20 a month lifts those ceilings to five seats, five audiences and up to 200 automation flows. AWeber Plus costs the same $20 and caps none of it: lists, landing pages, automations, users and segments are all unlimited. If you expect to run more than a handful of audiences or sequences, that is a meaningful difference at an identical price.

Support when something breaks

Mailchimp gives Essentials and Standard customers 24/7 email and chat support. Phone support is reserved for Premium, which costs $350 a month. AWeber Plus includes priority 24/7 support by phone, live chat and email at $20 a month. GetResponse provides 24/7 chat and email support on all plans. If being able to call a human matters to you, the price gap here is enormous.

Which one should you choose?

If you mail your list frequently, choose GetResponse. Unlimited sends on every plan removes the one variable that makes Mailchimp bills unpredictable, and at $15.58 a month it is the cheapest of the three once you are past a few hundred subscribers.

If you want one tool that never forces an upgrade, choose AWeber Plus. It matches Mailchimp Standard on price and beats it on every ceiling that matters, and it is the only option here that puts a phone number in front of you for $20 a month rather than $350.

If you are not ready to pay anything, start on AWeber’s free plan rather than Mailchimp’s. Twice the subscribers, and a clear upgrade path when you outgrow it.

Mailchimp is still the right answer for some people. It has more than 300 integrations, a mature ecommerce feature set, and if your store, CRM and reporting are already wired into it, the cost of moving may outweigh the savings. It is also the most familiar interface in the category, which counts for something if other people on your team need to use it.

Still weighing up the two we rate highest? Our full email marketing comparison puts AWeber and GetResponse side by side on price, list limits, automation and deliverability, and our cost calculator prices all three for your exact list size.