Mailchimp vs ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign: Which Sucks Least?

Quick Verdict

Mailchimp feels like a 2010 tool that got drunk on automation features. ConvertKit is the smug indie author’s choice – great if you sell ebooks, annoying if you sell anything else. ActiveCampaign actually works but expects you to already know what the hell you’re doing.
Mailchimp ⭐⭐ (2/5)
ConvertKit ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5/5)
ActiveCampaign ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

I was eating cold pizza at 2am, staring at a spreadsheet of email open rates that looked like a flatlining patient. My free Mailchimp account had just sent a “We miss you!” campaign to active subscribers because I accidentally forgot to exclude the list segment that said “Opened last email.” 200 annoyed unsubscribes later, I realized I had to pick one of these three and actually pay for it.

Mailchimp – the clown car of email marketing

I’d been on Mailchimp since 2017 because it was free and I was cheap. But that “free” came with a hidden cost: my sanity. The interface changes every three months like a nervous chihuahua that can’t sit still. One week the “create campaign” button is top right, next week it’s buried in a hamburger menu under “automations” which isn’t even where automations are. I spent 40 minutes just trying to duplicate a template. Forty minutes. That’s a whole episode of The Office.

The thing that surprised me (negatively) was the pricing trap. You think you’re paying $13/month, but then they count contacts by “audience” and if you have two audiences? Oh you need the Standard plan for that. Suddenly you’re at $59. And they nickel-and-dime every feature. Want A/B testing? That’s a premium add-on. Want phone support? Lol, only if you’re on Premium. I once emailed support and got a bot response that literally said “Your issue has been escalated to our priority team” – never heard from them again.

ConvertKit – the hipster’s choice

ConvertKit is like that friend who only drinks pour-over coffee and tells you about their Substack newsletter. It’s built for creators (authors, course sellers, people who say “my audience”). And honestly? The tagging system is beautiful. You can tag a subscriber based on what link they clicked, what product they bought, what time of day they opened. It’s elegant.

But here’s the thing nobody admits: ConvertKit’s email builder is garbage. You get a text box and a single image. That’s it. No drag-and-drop. No fancy layouts. I tried to make a simple “thank you for purchase” email with a button and a product photo, and I had to write HTML. In 2024. Are you kidding me? Also, the landing pages are so basic they look like they were built on Geocities.

And the price. Oh god the price. You’re paying $29/month for 300 subscribers. That’s 10 cents per email address per month. Mailchimp gives you 500 for $13. But ConvertKit supporters will tell you “it’s about the relationships, not the cost.” Sure, Jan. I burned $60 on ConvertKit for two months and only had 200 subs. Not worth it unless you’re making serious money from your list.

ActiveCampaign – the one that actually works

I was skeptical. Everyone says ActiveCampaign is for “advanced users” and “big businesses.” But I had a Shopify store with 1,200 subscribers and a few automations that were getting tangled. I signed up for a trial on a Tuesday night. By Thursday I had built a whole abandoned cart sequence without Googling a single thing. The automation builder is a visual flowchart – you drag conditions, actions, delays. It makes sense in a way that Mailchimp’s “journeys” never did.

What surprised me positively: the email builder isn’t amazing but it works. And the split testing is actually built-in, not a premium upsell. I tested two subject lines in three clicks. Also, the CRM features are decent – you can track deals and contacts in one place. But it’s not a full CRM, don’t get crazy.

The downside? It’s ugly. The UI looks like a 2015 admin panel that nobody redesigned. Lots of gray boxes and tiny fonts. And the learning curve is real – my first week I accidentally sent a test email to 50 real customers because I didn’t understand the “send as test vs. send live” toggle. That was a fun email to write. “Oops, sorry for the incomplete email. Here’s a 10% coupon.”

The parts nobody talks about

Okay, here’s the real shit.

Mailchimp’s “free” plan is a marketing trap. Once you hit 2,000 contacts, they downgrade your account and delete your automation data. I lost a six-email sequence I’d spent two weekends building. No warning. Just a banner saying “You’ve exceeded your audience limit. Some automations have been paused.” Thanks.

ConvertKit charges you for subscribers you already deleted. If you import a list, clean it, and remove 100 unsubscribes, you’re still billed for the peak number that month. So if you’re doing list hygiene? You get punished.

ActiveCampaign’s support is… reactive. I had a bug where my automation looped infinitely (sent 47 welcome emails to one guy). Chat support took 20 minutes to respond, then gave me a link to a knowledge base article. The fix was: delete a specific condition I didn’t even create. Also, they charge extra for “Chat & Email support” on lower plans. So if you’re on Plus ($49/month), you don’t get priority support. That’s just rude.

And all three have hidden fees for SMS. ActiveCampaign wants $0.10 per SMS. Mailchimp wants $0.08. ConvertKit doesn’t even offer SMS without a third-party integration. So if you think you’re getting a full email+SMS platform for $50, you’re not.

What I Actually Use Now

ActiveCampaign. No hesitation. I pay $79/month for 1,500 contacts (Plus plan) and it’s worth every penny. The automations actually run without breaking. The segmentation is powerful – I can send different emails to people who bought >$50 vs <$50. And the reporting gives me real numbers, not Mailchimp’s cherry-picked “Your campaign is performing 20% better than similar senders!” (Bullshit. They just didn’t show me the unsubscribes.)

I keep a free ConvertKit account for one stupid reason: the landing pages are the only ones that actually convert for my book launch. I use ConvertKit to collect new subscribers with a PDF download, then immediately move them to ActiveCampaign via Zapier. It’s a pain in the ass but it works.

Mailchimp? I wouldn’t go back even if they paid me. Which they won’t. Because I unsubscribed from their own marketing emails after the ninth “You’re missing out on our new features!” email in a week.

Pros & Cons

Mailchimp

• Free tier is usable for tiny lists (up to 500)
• Drag-and-drop email builder is actually decent when it works
• Massive template library if you’re okay with looking generic

• Interface changes constantly, nothing is where you left it
• Contact-based pricing punishes list growth
• Support is basically a chatbot that apologizes a lot

ConvertKit

• Tagging and segmentation is best-in-class for creators
• Clean, text-focused emails have high open rates
• Excellent subscriber management for authors/course sellers

• Email builder is a joke in 2024 – code or nothing
• Price per subscriber is high compared to competitors
• No built-in CRM or advanced automation triggers

ActiveCampaign

• Visual automation builder that actually makes sense
• Deep segmentation and conditional logic
• Built-in split testing and decent CRM features

• UI is dated and clunky
• Steep learning curve for non-techies
• Support is slow unless you pay for Premium

Pricing at a Glance

| Tool | Starting Price | What You Actually Get | |——|—————|———————-| | Mailchimp | Free / $13/mo for 500 contacts | Basic emails, but you’ll hit upgrade walls fast | | ConvertKit | $29/mo for 300 contacts | Beautiful tags, ugly emails, and no design help | | ActiveCampaign | $15/mo for 500 contacts (Lite) | Good automations, but Lite is missing features – Plus ($49) is the real start |

FAQ

Q: Is Mailchimp free to use?
A: Yes, for up to 500 contacts and 1,000 sends/month. But you’ll get feature-crippled fast – no automations, no A/B testing, and your reports are basically a lie.

Q: Which is best for a small business selling physical products?
A: ActiveCampaign. The abandoned cart automations and product-based segmentation are solid. ConvertKit is too text-focused, and Mailchimp will upsell you to death.

Q: Can I switch from Mailchimp to ConvertKit easily?
A: Yes, but import your tags carefully. ConvertKit doesn’t automatically import Mailchimp’s groups or segments – you’ll need to map them one by one. Expect to lose a Friday afternoon.

Q: Do any of these include SMS marketing?
A: ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp offer SMS as an add-on (extra $). ConvertKit doesn’t – you’ll need a separate service like Twilio or Klaviyo. If SMS is core to your strategy, look elsewhere.

Q: Which has the best deliverability?
A: ActiveCampaign and ConvertKit are neck-and-neck. Mailchimp’s deliverability has tanked in 2024 because they let too many spammers use the free tier. I saw a 20% drop in inbox placement when I was on Mailchimp.

Anyway, good luck. Hope you don’t accidentally email your entire list. I did that