I Ditched Mailchimp — Here’s What I Use Now – Top Tool Guides

Item: I Ditched Mailchimp — Here’s What I Use Now
Rating: 3.8
Author: TopToolGuides

Quick Verdict

Mailchimp used to be fine. Then they got greedy, broke their own UI, and started charging me for contacts that hadn’t opened an email in two years. I switched, and you should too if you value your sanity and your wallet. Here’s the ratings from someone who actually paid for all of these:

MailerLite ***** (5/5) — best all-around, cheap, doesn’t insult you ConvertKit **** (4/5) — beautiful, expensive, worth it if you sell stuff SendGrid *** (3/5) — for developers who hate design Brevo *** (3/5) — decent free tier, but clunky enough to make you cry

I left Mailchimp because they raised my price by 50% overnight. No warning. Just an email saying "Your plan has been upgraded." I called support. They said "Well, you have more than 500 contacts now." I had 502. So I paid $80 a month for a tool that sent six emails a month. That was my breaking point. Oh, and their support ghosted me after that call. Literally never heard back.

And don’t get me started on the UI. Mailchimp’s dashboard is like a Soviet apartment building — everything is a gray box, buttons are hidden under three layers of "advanced settings," and they keep moving things around. I once spent twenty minutes trying to find the "Preview" button. Twenty minutes. I could have written the email in that time.

I tried a bunch of alternatives. Here’s what I found.

MailerLite

MailerLite is boring. That’s its superpower. It looks like a spreadsheet from 2012. But it works. Automations are dead simple. The editor is a clean WYSIWYG that doesn’t fight you. You can create a form, slap it on your site, and be sending emails within an hour. Their free tier supports 1,000 subscribers — no credit card required. I accidentally emailed my entire client list with the subject line "Test" once, and MailerLite’s undo button saved me. Mailchimp would have just charged me for the privilege.

But it’s not perfect. The template library is small and ugly. Like, 2006 ugly. You’ll need to customize them if you want anything decent. Also, no native ecommerce tracking — you need to integrate with Shopify or WooCommerce. That’s a pain if you’re trying to track purchases. And the drag-and-drop blocks can be finicky. One time I moved a button and the whole layout broke. Had to redo it from scratch. Still, for $10 a month for 2,500 subs? I’ll take the jank.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is the Ferrari of email tools. It’s gorgeous. The forms look like they were designed by someone who actually cares. The tagging system is insane — you can segment your list down to "people who opened the third email, clicked the second link, but didn’t buy the course." Amazing for creators who sell stuff. I used it for six months and my open rates jumped 15%. Their support actually responds in minutes, not days.

But it costs. Like, really costs. Free tier is basically useless — no automations, limited forms, and you have to manually tag people like a caveman. Paid plans start at $29/month for 1,000 subscribers, and that’swith no automation (yes, you read that right). To get automation, you need the Creator plan at $49/month. That’s more than I paid for Netflix, Spotify, and a medium pizza combined. Also, their email editor is surprisingly clunky. It’s a code editor disguised as a visual builder. I spent an hour trying to center an image. If you’re not a professional writer with a budget, ConvertKit will eat your wallet.

SendGrid

SendGrid is for developers who think HTML emails are fun. It’s basically an API with a half-baked UI tacked on. You can send transactional emails (password resets, order confirmations) for pennies. Their deliverability is industry-leading because they’ve been doing this since the dawn of spam. I used it for my SaaS app and it never let me down.

For newsletters? God no. The editor is literally just a text box. No templates. No drag-and-drop. No forms. You have to build everything from scratch, either with code or by writing raw HTML. I tried to create a simple welcome series and ended up pulling my hair out. Also, their free tier only gives you 100 emails per day — that’s like three subscribers on a good day. If you’re not a developer, run away. If you are, it’s cheap and reliable.

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

Brevo is the free option that actually works. Their free tier gives you 300 emails per day, a basic CRM, and a half-decent email editor. It’s perfect if you have like 200 subscribers and just want to send a monthly update without paying a dime. I used it for a side project for three months. It didn’t go bankrupt.

But the interface feels like it was designed in 2014 and never updated. Everything is hidden behind tabs, the drag-and-drop is laggy, and their automations are laughably basic. Want to send an email when someone clicks a link? Good luck finding that trigger. It’s buried under "advanced workflow" which is just a flow chart that looks like it was drawn by a drunk person. Also, Brevo’s email deliverability can be spotty — I had a few campaigns land in spam for no obvious reason. You get what you pay for: a free tool that works, but barely.

Pros & Cons

MailerLite

Simple clean interface, cheap, free tier up to 1k subs, great automations
Undo send button saved my career

Ugly templates, no native ecommerce, drag-and-drop sometimes breaks

ConvertKit

Beautiful forms, powerful tagging, excellent deliverability

Expensive, email editor is clunky, free tier is worthless

SendGrid

Cheap for transactional, great API, solid deliverability
Literally no-nonsense — just send emails

Not for newsletters, no visual editor, free tier is tiny

Brevo

Free 300 emails/day, includes CRM, decent for tiny lists

Clunky UI, basic automations, deliverability can be hit-or-miss

Pricing at a Glance

FAQ

Q: Is MailerLite free? A: Yes, up to 1,000 subscribers. Then it’s $10 a month. Still half of Mailchimp’s minimum.

Q: Which alternative is best for selling online courses? A: ConvertKit if you have the budget. Its tagging and automation are built for creators. MailerLite works too, but you’ll need integrations.

Q: Can I import my Mailchimp list into these tools? A: Most let you export a CSV from Mailchimp and import it. Mailer