# Looking for a Mailchimp alternative?

> Mailchimp prices by contact tier and sells transactional email as a paid add-on. Email Fast includes transactional on every plan with unlimited contacts.

Canonical: https://emailfast.dev/compare/mailchimp-alternative

Mailchimp is the marketing suite nearly everyone has used once — an enormous template
and integration ecosystem under Intuit's ownership. The overlap with Email Fast is
thinner than this page's title suggests: Mailchimp prices by contact tier and sells
transactional email as a separate paid add-on (Mailchimp Transactional, formerly
Mandrill); we price sending, include transactional on every plan, and never bill for
contacts.

## The comparison

| | Mailchimp | Email Fast |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Intuit | Independent |
| Contacts pricing | Contact-based tiers | contacts and subscribers are never billed — we price sending, not the size of your audience |
| Transactional email | Separate paid add-on (Mailchimp Transactional, formerly Mandrill) | Included on every plan ([pricing](/pricing)) |
| Ecosystem | Enormous template and integration ecosystem; brand familiarity | Small and new — we won't pretend otherwise |

## Where Mailchimp is the right choice

- **Your team lives in templates and integrations.** That ecosystem is real, mature, and the best reason to stay.
- **Familiarity is worth money.** Everyone has used Mailchimp; nobody needs training on it.

## Switching

The shape of the change: one platform for newsletters and transactional, priced by
sending volume. Bring your whole list — contacts and subscribers are never billed — we price sending, not the size of your audience. Start with a
[sandbox key](/get-started): sandbox keys (ef_sandbox_…) that run the real pipeline dry: real validation, real rendering, real events, a hosted capture inbox — and no email leaves. Live delivery opens at launch.

*Mailchimp is a trademark of its owner; Email Fast is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Facts about Mailchimp were verified on their public pages on the date above — corrections: [hello@emailfast.dev](/contact).*

## Is Email Fast a full Mailchimp replacement?

Not for the ecosystem. If your workflow depends on their template marketplace and integration directory, we're not that. If you need newsletters, automations, and transactional email on one API with unlimited contacts, we are — pricing shows what's on every plan.

## Does Mailchimp include transactional email?

It's a separate paid add-on — Mailchimp Transactional, formerly Mandrill — on top of the marketing product. Here it's included on every plan, through the same pipeline as everything else: every send — REST, SMTP, browser SDK, compatibility endpoints, broadcasts, automations — passes through one admission gate: idempotency, suppression, quota, and content policy in a single checkpoint no ingress can skip.

## Do you charge per contact?

No: contacts and subscribers are never billed — we price sending, not the size of your audience. Mailchimp prices by contact tier; our bill doesn't move when your audience grows.