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E-Commerce · head to head

Magento vs Mailchimp

Magento logo

Magento

E-Commerce

Open core commerce platform, free as Magento Open Source and licensed by revenue as Adobe Commerce

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Mailchimp logo

Mailchimp

E-Commerce

Turn emails into revenue

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Magento it is open core rather than open source, so B2B, customer segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation services sit behind the Adobe Commerce licence, and discovering that mid-project converts a free platform into a revenue-banded contract.; Mailchimp the free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250 daily cap
  • They diverge on capability: Magento covers Two editions, Mailchimp covers Email campaigns.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Magento and Mailchimp actually diverge.

Attributes where Magento and Mailchimp differ
AttributeMagentoMailchimp
Pricing modelopen-sourceUnknown
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded20082001

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

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 Magento

  • Two editions
  • Complex catalogue handling
  • Multi-store and multi-website
  • Native B2B in the paid edition
  • Multi-currency and multi-region
  • Composer module system
  • GraphQL and REST APIs
  • Hyva and Mage-OS ecosystem

Only in Mailchimp

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

What people use each for

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

Magento

  • A retailer with tens of thousands of SKUs and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that SaaS platforms restrictnot Mailchimp
  • A multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back officenot Mailchimp
  • A B2B seller needing company accounts, negotiated pricing and quoting inside the storefrontnot Mailchimp
  • An enterprise with an in-house or retained development team that treats commerce as owned softwarenot Mailchimp

Mailchimp

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

Where each one falls short

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

Magento

  • It is open core rather than open source, so B2B, customer segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation services sit behind the Adobe Commerce licence, and discovering that mid-project converts a free platform into a revenue-banded contract.
  • The Adobe Commerce licence is priced on bands of gross merchandise value, so the platform bill increases as the store succeeds and is largely unrelated to the infrastructure or support you consume.
  • A production installation needs a search engine, a cache, a reverse proxy, a message queue and a database tuned together, so hosting is a DevOps engagement rather than a plan, and the first serious traffic event is where under-sizing becomes visible.
  • Minor version upgrades regularly break third party modules, so staying current means a regression testing and remediation project several times a year, and merchants who skip upgrades to avoid that end up running software with unpatched vulnerabilities.
  • The specialist developer market is small and expensive relative to other platforms, so an agency retainer becomes a permanent operating cost and losing that agency is a genuine business continuity problem rather than a procurement inconvenience.

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

Magento

Free
  • Magento Open SourceFree
    • Unlimited products
    • Multiple storefronts
    • Advanced marketing
  • Adobe Commerce$20000/year
    • All Open Source features
    • 24/7 enterprise support
    • Managed cloud hosting

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 Magento if

  • You need two editions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want complex catalogue handling.
Magento 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 Magento or Mailchimp better?
Neither clearly leads. Magento starts at Free and Mailchimp at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Magento or Mailchimp?
Magento starts at Free and Mailchimp at Free.
Does Magento or Mailchimp run on more platforms?
Magento runs on Web. Mailchimp runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Magento for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Magento best used for?
Magento is most often used for a retailer with tens of thousands of skus and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that saas platforms restrict, a multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back office, a b2b seller needing company accounts, negotiated pricing and quoting inside the storefront, an enterprise with an in-house or retained development team that treats commerce as owned software. Of those, a retailer with tens of thousands of skus and attribute-heavy catalogue logic that saas platforms restrict and a multi-brand or multi-region group needing separate websites, currencies and tax treatment from one back office are not what Mailchimp is typically brought in for.
What can Magento do that Mailchimp cannot?
Magento covers Two editions, Complex catalogue handling, Multi-store and multi-website, Native B2B in the paid edition. Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Landing pages, Forms & popups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Magento: Is Magento free?

Magento Open Source is. Adobe Commerce is not, and it holds back B2B, segmentation, content staging and the Adobe analytics and recommendation layer. Establish which edition a requirement needs before you commit.

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
Magento: How is Adobe Commerce priced?

On bands of gross merchandise value, so the licence grows with revenue rather than with usage. Model it against your three year forecast, not this year's turnover.

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
Magento: What does it really cost to run?

Licence if applicable, plus tuned infrastructure, plus a specialist agency or in-house team. For most deployments the people and hosting exceed the licence.

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
Magento: Why do agencies keep mentioning Hyva?

The stock front end stack is slow to develop against, so Hyva, a commercially licensed replacement front end, has become a common default. It is another licence to budget for.

Magento: What happened with Magento 1?

It reached end of life and left merchants on unsupported, unpatched software facing a full replatform. It is the reference point for how long to assume support for any edition you adopt.

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