Letterhead vs Mailchimp (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Letterhead if

• Fits if a team runs several newsletters and wants one view of them
• Makes sense if you want shared editing and goals across publications

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a price, as pricing comes after a demo
• Skip it if you want to try it free, since no plan or trial is stated
• Too light, or too heavy, for one-person lists, as it's built for teams
• Watch out: with more than 10 publications and a million subscribers you're pointed to Enterprise, and Braze is Enterprise only

Pick Mailchimp if

• Fits if you send a regular newsletter or promotions to a small list
• Works for shops on Shopify, WooCommerce or Square that want automated emails and SMS in one account

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if your list is big, at $110 a month on Essentials for 10,000 contacts
• Tight if you stay free, since sending stops at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month
• Skip it if surprise bills worry you, as passing a contact or send limit bills overages automatically
• Watch out: Essentials caps flows at 4 steps, and dynamic content and custom reports start at Standard
• Watch out: SMS is a paid add-on in select countries, needs approval, and unused credits expire

Letterhead

• No prices are published; the vendor says pricing depends on your current list and newsletters and is given after a demo.
• No free plan or trial is stated on the pages read.
• Teams with more than 10 publications and one million subscribers are pointed to an Enterprise platform.
• Some integrations, such as Braze, are listed as Enterprise plan only; others run through Zapier.

Mailchimp

• The Free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and sending pauses until you upgrade or trim the list.
• Paid plans bill overages automatically when you pass your contact or monthly send limit.
• Essentials caps automations at 4 flow steps; dynamic content and custom reports start at Standard.
• SMS is a paid add-on in select countries, needs an approved application, and its monthly credits expire unused.

Letterhead

Content curation

Pulls content from RSS feeds, APIs, a browser, a CMS such as WordPress, and Google Docs, and organizes it with tags and custom fields.

Team editing

Real-time collaborative editing, lockable sections and templates, review workflows and approvals, roles and permissions.

Automation

Workflows with triggers, delays and conditional branches, such as emailing readers who have not opened recent issues; the vendor places this on the Team plan.

Audience health

Groups readers by engagement (loyalists, casual, fading, ghosts) and rates each newsletter's health.

Goals and portfolio view

Set goals per newsletter, such as monthly net growth, and track all newsletters together.

Promotions and testing

Promotion and sponsor support, A/B testing and a read/write MCP server for connecting AI tools.

Mailchimp

Automation flows

Standard and Premium allow up to 200 automated flows, such as welcome series and abandoned-cart emails. Essentials is limited to 4 flow steps and Free has none.

Templates and email builder

Pre-built templates on every plan (a limited set on Free). Custom-coded templates can be built on any plan but only sent from Standard and Premium.

Segmentation and dynamic content

Standard adds advanced segmentation, pre-built segments and dynamic content; Premium adds predictive segmentation.

Popup forms and landing pages

Popup sign-up forms are included on every plan, and the Free plan can also build landing pages and forms.

SMS and MMS add-on

Paid plans can add SMS, with MMS on Standard and Premium in select countries, after an application is approved. Credits are bought in monthly blocks.

Mobile app

The iOS and Android app can build and send emails, scan business cards into contacts, make simple landing pages and show campaign reports.

Letterhead

Pricing could not be confirmed. See tryletterhead.com.

Mailchimp

• Free$0

  1 seat, 1 audience, 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Sending pauses when a limit is passed.

• Essentials$13

  per month for up to 500 contacts, billed monthly

  3 seats, 3 audiences, sends of 10 times your contacts, scheduling and 4-step flows. Price rises with the list: $110 a month at 10,000 contacts.

• Standard$20

  per month for up to 500 contacts, billed monthly

  5 seats, up to 200 automation flows, dynamic content and custom reports. Price rises with the list: $135 a month at 10,000 contacts.

• Premium$350

  per month for up to 10,000 contacts, billed monthly

  Unlimited seats and audiences, phone and priority support, multivariate testing. Price rises with the list: $815 a month at 50,000 contacts.

Letterhead

No public discounts listed.

Mailchimp

• Nonprofit

  15% off for nonprofits and charities

  Mailchimp's pricing page offers nonprofits and charities 15% off. You sign up for a free account and then contact the Billing team with your username and website.

• Other savings

  15% off the first 12 months at 10,000+ contacts

  New customers on a monthly Essentials, Standard or Premium plan with 10,000 or more contacts get 15% off for the first 12 months, then the list price.