You know that email marketing is an important part of your marketing plan. But if you aren’t sure where to start, the entire process can seem overwhelming. Mailchimp and Constant Contact are the two leading players in the email marketing industry, and to someone just beginning their journey of subscribers and mail lists
and click rates (oh my!), the two can seem one and the same.
However, there are some important distinctions between the two, and getting both sides of the story will help you make an informed decision about the email marketing solution–Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact–you want to use.
First, let’s look at who is more popular overall:
A recent survey of business owners found that close to 75% prefer Mailchimp and around 25% prefer Constant Contact, with just a few undecided votes.
Don’t let these statistics skew your decision just yet, however. There are a few important factors to consider for each solution: Cost, features, customer support, and level of integration will ultimately decide who the winner is in Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact.
Mailchimp Pricing
Mailchimp is free if you have less than 2,000 email subscribers and will send out less than 12,000 emails each month. If you want to send unlimited emails, it’s $10/month for up to 500 subscribers, and $5 additional each month for every 500 subscribers you add. 
There is a Pay As You Go option for businesses whose email list fluctuates a lot or who don’t want to permanently increase their subscriber plan for a one-time list increase. You’ll purchase email credits to use in this case, which come out to about $.005-$.03 cents per email sent.
And if you’ll be sending emails less than 4 times each month to a large subscriber list, Mailchimp’s high volume CPM pricing might benefit you best: You can purchase email credits starting at around $1.25 per thousand emails (it can go as low as $.40/thousand if you purchase a lot of credits at once).
Nonprofit organization? That’s great, because Mailchimp will give you 15% off your paid account each month.
Constant Contact Pricing
Constant Contact has a 60 day free (limited) trial for new users. During the trial, you’ll be able to email up to 100 contacts an unlimited number of times. Once the trial is over, pricing starts at $20/month when you have less than 500 subscribers, and increases by subscriber count up to $85/month for 10,000 
contacts.
Constant Contact’s Email Plus Plan includes surveys, forms, coupons, and more starting at $45/month for 500 contacts, $110/month for 10,000 contacts.
They say the early bird gets the worm, and that must be true because there’s a special discount if you prepay your account for 6 months in advance: 10% off, or a year in advance: 15% off.
Nonprofits can benefit from CC’s prepayment plan twice as well with a 20% off 6 month prepay discount or 30% off a 1 year prepayment. But when it’s Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact, Mailchimp wins with its’ automatic nonprofit discounts, Forever Free service for smaller lists and businesses, and low cost per month on paid plans.
The Price Winner: Mailchimp
Mailchimp Features
Mailchimp is given a run for its’ money in the features race with Constant Contact.
Both companies offer many of the same features: customizable, drag and drop editor, social sharing, archived emails, list segmentation, contact/subscriber management, text messaging, and detailed reports, to name a few.
But put Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact in a few categories: Easier customization, free, unlimited storage, subject lines and segments for A/B testing, surveys, and a user-preferred report layout–and Mailchimp is probably going to be the user’s preference.
Constant Contact Features
Constant Contact may lack a bit in certain features compared to Mailchimp, but some say it’s the best choice for users without much email marketing experience.
There are a wider variety of templates available on CC, and if you know HTML, you can customize them even further. Unlike Mailchimp, which charges for time zone integration, CC users can segment their subscribers by time zone to ensure the emails land in their inbox at the right time no matter where they are.
But lots of features Mailchimp offers for free are either unavailable entirely, or only offered as a paid feature on Constant Contact.
The Features Winner: Mailchimp, but it’s close
Mailchimp Integration
Mailchimp is so widely used, it seamlessly integrates with many CRMs, blogging platforms, and social media networks:
- WordPress
- Magento
- Salesforce
- ZenDesk
- BigCommerce
- Drupal
- Mandrill
- Eventbrite
- Google Analytics
Constant Contact Integration
Constant Contact offer fewer integrations, but those include:
- QuickBooks
- Outlook
- Hootsuite
- Salesforce
- ACT!
- Mindbody
- WordPress
The Integration Winner: Mailchimp
Let’s review: In the pricing battle of Mailchimp vs. Constant Contact, Mailchimp came away the winner due to it’s Forever Free option for small businesses and subscriber lists. When it comes to features, Constant Contact comes closer to competing with Mailchimp, but in the end, Mailchimp wins due to a wider variety of features and functionality without additional costs.
And last, as far as integration goes, Mailchimp is the hands-down winner, connecting seamlessly with more sites and programs than Constant Contact.
