Small teams often start with email marketing and later discover they also need to track leads, deals and customer conversations. Mailchimp and HubSpot both get shortlisted at that point, but they start from opposite places. Mailchimp is built around email and audiences. HubSpot is built around a free customer database, with marketing, sales and service tools added in layers.
This comparison focuses on what each vendor publishes about plans, limits, AI features and support, and where the pricing can surprise you. It is written for teams of a handful of people who need to decide before spending money.
How we researched this: we did not run hands-on tests for this article. It is based on the vendor’s own documentation and public sources, checked on 11 November 2026. Features and prices change, so confirm details on the vendor’s site before you buy.
Key takeaways
- Mailchimp prices by contact band and caps monthly sends as a multiple of your contacts; HubSpot prices by product tier and seats, with marketing contacts included in each tier.
- Both offer a free plan, but the limits differ: Mailchimp Free is capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, while HubSpot Free covers up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts.
- Mailchimp lists generative AI features on Standard and Premium only, not on Free or Essentials.
- HubSpot’s own pages show some price inconsistencies, so get a written quote before you budget.
- The best test is to rebuild one real campaign and one real lead workflow in each tool.
Why compare these two
For a small team the real question is usually scope. If your main job is sending newsletters and simple automations to a list, you may not need a full CRM. If you want one place for contacts, deals, email and a website form, a CRM-first tool may reduce the number of apps you manage. Mailchimp’s own plan comparison page does not even use the word CRM; the closest features it lists are contact profiles, tags, an audience dashboard and segmentation.
Mailchimp has a page titled “Mailchimp, Klaviyo and HubSpot: See how we compare”, but when we read it, its head-to-head section covered other vendors and the HubSpot data was dated 20 June 2023. So it does not help with today’s decision, and we did not rely on it.
If you have not yet defined what you need, begin with how to choose an AI tool, and see how to use AI for email marketing for the email side.
Quick overview
| Point | Mailchimp | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Email marketing and audiences | Free CRM with marketing, sales and service hubs |
| Plan names | Free, Essentials, Standard, Premium, plus Pay As You Go | Free tools, Starter, Professional, Enterprise by hub |
| How price scales | Contact band you choose; send limits tied to contacts | Seats and tier; marketing contacts included per tier |
| Free plan | Up to 250 contacts, 500 emails a month, 1 seat | Up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts, no time limit |
| Free plan branding | Not stated in our sources | HubSpot branding on several free tools |
Criteria that matter
- Size and growth of your list. This drives Mailchimp cost and HubSpot tier jumps.
- Whether you need a CRM. Deals, pipelines and contact history sit differently in each product.
- Automation depth. Number of flows, branching and triggers by plan.
- AI features and what plan unlocks them.
- Support and onboarding. Especially if you have nobody technical.
- Total cost beyond the headline. Overages, onboarding fees, seats.
Free plans and limits
Mailchimp Free
Mailchimp’s pricing page says Free is for up to 250 contacts, with a maximum of 500 emails a month or 250 a day, 1 seat and 1 audience, and no marketing automation flows. Custom-coded templates can be created but not sent. Email support is for the first 30 days only. If you exceed the contact or send limits, sending is paused. Mailchimp’s help page adds that if you go over 250 contacts, sending live or test emails is blocked until you upgrade or reduce your list, although you can still edit emails and import contacts.
HubSpot free tools
HubSpot’s pricing page describes free tools at $0 a month for up to 2 users, with no credit card or time limit. They include 1,000 contacts and 1,000 records across other standard object types, lite versions of selected tools, and the free CRM as the underlying database. Several tools, including live chat, one-to-one email, landing pages and the blog, carry HubSpot branding. Support is through community forums, HubSpot Academy and the knowledge base.
| Free plan point | Mailchimp | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Up to 250 | Up to 1,000 (plus 1,000 other records) |
| Users or seats | 1 seat | Up to 2 users |
| Sending limits | 500 emails a month, 250 a day | Not stated on the page we read |
| Automation | No flows | Lite tools; Starter raises limits, e.g. 1 automated email action on Free against up to 10 on Starter |
| Support | Email for 30 days | Community, Academy and knowledge base |
Features and AI
Mailchimp by plan
Mailchimp’s plan comparison page lists seats of 1, 3, 5 and unlimited across Free, Essentials, Standard and Premium. Automation is a free preview on Free, up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, and up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium. A/B testing starts at Essentials. Multivariate testing, send time optimisation and custom reports start at Standard. Predictive and behavioural segmentation, customer lifetime value and purchase likelihood are Standard and above. Support is email for 30 days on Free, 24/7 email and chat on Essentials and Standard, and phone and priority support on Premium. Onboarding is none on Free and Essentials, one session on Standard and four on Premium.
On AI, the page says generative AI features are included at no extra cost on Standard and Premium and are not included on Essentials or Free. Intuit Assist is described as a beta for certain Premium, Standard and legacy users in select countries, English only, at no additional cost for now, with terms and availability subject to change. Subject Line Helper and Next Best Action appear on all plans.
HubSpot Starter and above
HubSpot says Starter removes HubSpot branding, raises usage limits and adds email and chat support, along with automation, AI agents, payments, meeting scheduling, e-signatures, multi-currency and a dedicated phone number. In marketing it lists up to 10 automated email actions (Free: 1), a 5x email send limit, CTAs and up to 50 active CRM segments (Free: 10). Sales features include up to 50 workflows, 15 pipelines and 500 calling minutes. An Agent Builder is listed on Starter across hubs. HubSpot’s Professional and Enterprise tiers are covered below under pricing; we did not read their full feature lists, so we do not describe them.
Pricing models
Checked on 11 November 2026. Prices change often; see how to read an AI tool’s pricing page.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp’s pricing page lists Essentials at $13 a month for the first 12 months, Standard at $20 a month for the first 12 months and Premium at $350 a month for the first 12 months, all for the smallest contact band and with a 15 percent saving shown for lists of 10,000 or more contacts. Essentials and Standard have a 14-day free trial. Contact bands run from 0 to 500 up to more than 1,000,000. Monthly sends are tied to contacts: 10 times your contact limit on Essentials, 12 times on Standard and 15 times on Premium. Overages on paid plans are charged and sending is not stopped. Subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count toward your limit, while archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not, and test and transactional emails count toward your sends.
The plan comparison page gives two example price points for larger lists: a $385 a month tier for up to 50,000 contacts on Essentials and an $800 a month tier for up to 100,000 on Standard. A Pay As You Go option lets infrequent senders buy email credits and includes the same features as Essentials.
HubSpot
HubSpot’s page lists Starter at $20 a seat a month, with a limited-time discount for new customers of $7 a seat on annual payment or $10 month to month. A HubSpot blog page on Marketing Hub, updated 14 September 2026, lists Professional at $800 a month billed annually ($890 monthly) with 3 core seats, 2,000 marketing contacts and a $3,000 one-time onboarding fee, and Enterprise at $3,600 a month with 5 core seats, 10,000 contacts and a $7,000 onboarding fee. It says exceeding a contact limit moves you to the next tier, for example about $250 more a month for a Professional account with 2,001 contacts.
The same blog table shows Starter at $9 a seat on annual billing and gives conflicting monthly figures of $10 in the table and $15 in the body text. We could not resolve that, so ask HubSpot for a written quote.
| Cost point | Mailchimp | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid | Essentials from $13 a month (first 12 months) | Starter listed at $20 a seat a month, with a limited-time new-customer discount |
| Mid tier | Standard from $20 a month (first 12 months) | Professional listed at $800 a month annual on a HubSpot blog page |
| Top tier | Premium from $350 a month (first 12 months) | Enterprise listed at $3,600 a month on the same page |
| Onboarding fees | Included sessions: 1 on Standard, 4 on Premium | $3,000 (Professional) and $7,000 (Enterprise), per the blog page |
| Going over limits | Overage fees; sending continues on paid plans | Moves you to the next contact tier |
Privacy and data
We did not read either vendor’s privacy documentation in this research, so we cannot compare how they treat data used for AI features. Mailchimp’s pages say Intuit Assist is a beta in select countries, and its premium plan lists enterprise single sign-on. HubSpot lists data quality scanning as a beta on Starter. Before you connect customer lists, read each vendor’s privacy and data processing terms and ask where AI features process your contacts. Our guide on protecting company data when using AI tools lists questions to ask. For consent and unsubscribe rules in your country, seek advice from a qualified professional; this article is general information.
Who each suits
Mailchimp may suit you if
- Your main use is newsletters and campaigns to a growing list.
- You want to pay by contact band and predict cost by list size.
- You want support and onboarding to scale with your plan.
HubSpot may suit you if
- You want a free CRM now and the option to add hubs later.
- You track leads and deals as well as email.
- You can accept per-seat pricing and a tier jump at higher contact counts.
Think twice if
- You have more than a few thousand contacts and a tight budget, because both products scale up in cost with list size.
- You need advanced automation but only want a low-cost plan; Mailchimp’s Free plan has none.
- You need a fixed published price for the tier you want; HubSpot’s pages disagreed with each other.
How to run your own test
Follow the approach in how to test an AI tool before you pay for it.
- Export a real list of a few hundred contacts and import it into both tools using free plans or trials.
- Build the same welcome email sequence in each and note how many steps you can use on the plan you would buy.
- Create one lead form and see what happens to a new contact in each system.
- Try the AI writing or segmentation features on a small task and check the output carefully, using how to check AI output for mistakes.
- Ask each vendor for a written quote at your expected list size in 12 months.
Decision checklist
- Do I need a CRM or only email?
- How many contacts will I have in 12 months?
- What happens to my bill when I cross a contact threshold?
- Which plan unlocks the AI features I want?
- Are there onboarding or setup fees?
- Does the cheap first-year price rise afterwards?
- Have I tested a real campaign in both tools?
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper for a small team?
It depends on list size and seats. Mailchimp’s entry plans are listed at $13 and $20 a month for the smallest contact band, and HubSpot offers a free CRM and a discounted Starter for new customers. Costs can change as your list grows.
Does Mailchimp have a CRM?
Its plan comparison page does not use the term CRM. It lists contact profiles, tags, an audience dashboard and segmentation on all plans.
Is HubSpot free really free?
HubSpot says the free tools cost $0 for up to 2 users with no time limit, but several tools carry HubSpot branding and limits apply.
What happens if I exceed my contact limit?
On Mailchimp paid plans you are charged an additional fee rather than being cut off, while Free pauses sending. HubSpot says exceeding a contact limit moves you to the next tier.
Which has better AI features?
Mailchimp lists generative AI on Standard and Premium. HubSpot lists AI agents and an Agent Builder on Starter. We have not tested either, so judge by a trial on your own task.
Can I switch later?
Both let you export contacts in general, but we did not verify migration steps. Test an export and import before committing.
Conclusion
Mailchimp fits teams that mostly send email and want pricing tied to list size, with AI features on higher plans. HubSpot fits teams that want a CRM from day one and are willing to deal with per-seat and tiered pricing. Neither is better in general. Check live pricing, request a quote and run a real workflow in each.
For next steps read how to compare AI tools side by side fairly and how to automate lead capture to your CRM.
Sources
- Mailchimp pricing page, accessed 11 November 2026
- Mailchimp plan comparison, accessed 11 November 2026
- Mailchimp help: About Mailchimp pricing plans, accessed 11 November 2026
- Mailchimp: how we compare, accessed 11 November 2026
- HubSpot pricing: free tools and Starter, accessed 11 November 2026
- HubSpot blog: Marketing Hub pricing, updated 14 September 2026, accessed 11 November 2026
