Is Chargebee or Mailchimp better?

Neither clearly leads. Chargebee starts at $29/month and Mailchimp at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Chargebee or Mailchimp?

Mailchimp has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Chargebee and Free for Mailchimp.

Does Chargebee or Mailchimp run on more platforms?

Chargebee runs on Web, Api. Mailchimp runs on Web, iOS, Android.

Can I use Mailchimp for free?

Yes. Mailchimp has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Chargebee starts at $29/month.

What is Chargebee best used for?

Chargebee is most often used for subscription billing, revenue operations, pricing experimentation. Of those, subscription billing and revenue operations are not what Mailchimp is typically brought in for.

What can Chargebee do that Mailchimp cannot?

Chargebee covers Subscription management, Recurring billing, Revenue recognition, Dunning management. Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Landing pages, Forms & popups. Both handle Salesforce, PCI DSS.

Software · head to head

Chargebee vs Mailchimp

Chargebee

Software

Subscription billing & revenue management

From: $29/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Mailchimp

Software

Turn emails into revenue

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Mailchimp has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Chargebee priced as a percentage of billing, 0.80 percent on pay-as-you-go or 0.65 percent plus $99 a month on the committed plan, so the fee rises with revenue; Mailchimp the free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250 daily cap
They diverge on capability: Chargebee covers Subscription management, Mailchimp covers Email campaigns.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chargebee and Mailchimp actually diverge.

Attributes where Chargebee and Mailchimp differ
Attribute	Chargebee	Mailchimp
Starting price	$29/month	Free
Pricing model	subscription	Unknown
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, Api	Web, iOS, Android
Founded	2011	2001

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chargebee

Subscription management
Recurring billing
Revenue recognition
Dunning management
Checkout pages
Stripe
PayPal
NetSuite

Only in Mailchimp

Email campaigns
Marketing automation
Landing pages
Forms & popups
Audience management
Content studio
Analytics
Social media

Both cover

Salesforce
PCI DSS

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chargebee

Subscription billingnot Mailchimp
Revenue operationsnot Mailchimp
Pricing experimentationnot Mailchimp

Mailchimp

Email newslettersnot Chargebee
E-commerce marketingnot Chargebee
Lead generationnot Chargebee
Customer engagementnot Chargebee
Marketing automationnot Chargebee

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chargebee

Priced as a percentage of billing, 0.80 percent on pay-as-you-go or 0.65 percent plus $99 a month on the committed plan, so the fee rises with revenue
Split into four separate product lines, Billing, CPQ, RevRec and Growth, each with its own tiers and most quote-only
CPQ Lite is free only for the first 50 quotes
Revenue recognition pricing is demo-only
Enterprise Plus requires an annual commitment

Mailchimp

The free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250 daily cap
Price is driven by contact count, so the list growing raises the bill regardless of how much you send
Send allowances are a multiple of contacts, 10x on Essentials and 12x on Standard, so a large list with heavy sending forces a tier change
Essentials allows 3 seats and Standard 5; unlimited seats need Premium at $350 a month
The headline $13 and $20 prices are for 500 contacts, not a flat rate

Pricing, plan by plan

Chargebee

$29/month

StarterFree
- First $250K revenue free
- Basic billing
- Invoicing
Performance$599/month
- Revenue recognition
- Advanced analytics
- Multi-currency

Mailchimp

Free

FreeFree
- 250 contacts
- 500 sends per month
- Basic email campaigns
Essentials$13/month
- 500+ contacts
- Email campaigns
- Basic automation
Standard$20/month
- Advanced automation
- Segmentation
- Landing pages

Which should you pick?

Choose Chargebee if

You need subscription management.
You work on Web, Api.
You also want recurring billing.

Chargebee review

Choose Mailchimp if

You need email campaigns.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want marketing automation.

Mailchimp review

Questions people ask

Is Chargebee or Mailchimp better?: Neither clearly leads. Chargebee starts at $29/month and Mailchimp at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chargebee or Mailchimp?: Mailchimp has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Chargebee and Free for Mailchimp.
Does Chargebee or Mailchimp run on more platforms?: Chargebee runs on Web, Api. Mailchimp runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Mailchimp for free?: Yes. Mailchimp has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Chargebee starts at $29/month.
What is Chargebee best used for?: Chargebee is most often used for subscription billing, revenue operations, pricing experimentation. Of those, subscription billing and revenue operations are not what Mailchimp is typically brought in for.
What can Chargebee do that Mailchimp cannot?: Chargebee covers Subscription management, Recurring billing, Revenue recognition, Dunning management. Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Landing pages, Forms & popups. Both handle Salesforce, PCI DSS.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Mailchimp: Does Mailchimp offer a free plan?

Yes, Mailchimp's free plan supports up to 250 contacts and 500 sends per month with a 250-per-day cap.

Source

Mailchimp: What email features does Mailchimp include?

Mailchimp provides email campaign builder, automation sequences, segmentation, contact management, and A/B testing for email marketing.

Source

Mailchimp: Can Mailchimp integrate with e-commerce platforms?

Yes, Mailchimp integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and other e-commerce platforms for customer sync and abandoned cart automation.

Source

Chargebee vs Mailchimp

Chargebee

Mailchimp

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Chargebee

Only in Mailchimp

Both cover

What people use each for

Chargebee

Mailchimp

Where each one falls short

Chargebee

Mailchimp

Pricing, plan by plan

Chargebee

Mailchimp

Which should you pick?

Choose Chargebee if

Choose Mailchimp if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Chargebee

More on Mailchimp

Keep looking

Other head to heads