Is Mailchimp or Printful better?

Neither clearly leads. Mailchimp starts at Free and Printful at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or Printful?

Mailchimp starts at Free and Printful at Free.

Does Mailchimp or Printful run on more platforms?

Mailchimp runs on Web, iOS, Android. Printful runs on Web.

Can I use Mailchimp for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Mailchimp best used for?

Mailchimp is most often used for email newsletters, e-commerce marketing, lead generation, customer engagement. Of those, email newsletters and e-commerce marketing are not what Printful is typically brought in for.

What can Mailchimp do that Printful cannot?

Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Landing pages, Forms & popups. Printful covers Print on demand, Custom products, Dropshipping, Automated fulfillment.

E-commerce · head to head

Mailchimp vs Printful

Mailchimp

E-commerce

Turn emails into revenue

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Printful

E-commerce & Retail

Print on demand dropshipping service

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Mailchimp the free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a 250 daily cap; Printful the Growth plan is $24.99 a month and only becomes free once a store reaches $12,000 a year in sales
They diverge on capability: Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Printful covers Print on demand.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mailchimp and Printful actually diverge.

Attributes where Mailchimp and Printful differ
Attribute	Mailchimp	Printful
Pricing model	Unknown	transaction
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web
Category	E-commerce	E-commerce & Retail
Founded	2001	2013

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

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 Mailchimp

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

Only in Printful

Print on demand
Custom products
Dropshipping
Automated fulfillment
Quality control
Inventory sync
Bulk orders
Designer tool

What people use each for

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

Mailchimp

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

Printful

Print on demand fulfilment for apparel and merchandisenot Mailchimp
Attaching a fulfilment backend to an existing online storenot Mailchimp

Where each one falls short

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

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

Printful

The Growth plan is $24.99 a month and only becomes free once a store reaches $12,000 a year in sales
Product discounts of up to 33% are tied to that paid plan, so the lowest unit costs are unavailable to small sellers
The free plan allows one sample order a month, capped at 3 items
Shipping and taxes are calculated separately from the quoted product price

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Printful

Free

FreeFree
- Unlimited integrations
- Basic dashboard
- Order fulfillment

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Printful if

You need print on demand.
You want to start without paying.
You also want custom products.

Printful review

Questions people ask

Is Mailchimp or Printful better?: Neither clearly leads. Mailchimp starts at Free and Printful at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or Printful?: Mailchimp starts at Free and Printful at Free.
Does Mailchimp or Printful run on more platforms?: Mailchimp runs on Web, iOS, Android. Printful runs on Web.
Can I use Mailchimp for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Mailchimp best used for?: Mailchimp is most often used for email newsletters, e-commerce marketing, lead generation, customer engagement. Of those, email newsletters and e-commerce marketing are not what Printful is typically brought in for.
What can Mailchimp do that Printful cannot?: Mailchimp covers Email campaigns, Marketing automation, Landing pages, Forms & popups. Printful covers Print on demand, Custom products, Dropshipping, Automated fulfillment.

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

Mailchimp vs Printful

Mailchimp

Printful

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Mailchimp

Only in Printful

What people use each for

Mailchimp

Printful

Where each one falls short

Mailchimp

Printful

Pricing, plan by plan

Mailchimp

Printful

Which should you pick?

Choose Mailchimp if

Choose Printful if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Mailchimp

More on Printful

Keep looking

Other head to heads