Sendra vs Mailchimp

Same campaigns. A fraction of the bill.

Mailchimp Standard runs $135/month at 10,000 contacts — and bills you for unsubscribed contacts too. Sendra is $20/month flat, plus about $1 per 10,000 emails billed directly by Amazon.

How Mailchimp charges

Mailchimp prices four plans (Free, Essentials, Standard, Premium) by contact-count bands, and every stored contact counts toward your bill — including people who unsubscribed. Multi-step automations require the Standard plan ($45/month at 1,000 contacts). Send limits scale with your plan (roughly 12× your contact count per month on Standard), and exceeding contact or send limits triggers automatic overage billing. As of July 2026, Standard runs from $45/month at 1,000 contacts to $800/month at 100,000.

How Sendra charges

Sendra is flat software pricing: free for your first 1,000 contacts, then $20/month for unlimited contacts. Delivery runs through your own Amazon SES account, billed directly by Amazon at roughly $1 per 10,000 emails. Your list can grow 100× without your software bill moving.

The math

Sendra vs Mailchimp, at every list size.

ContactsSendra (Premium)Mailchimp (monthly)
1,000Free$45
5,000$21$100
10,000$22$135
25,000$25$310
50,000$30$450
100,000$40$800

Sendra cost = $20/mo Premium plus estimated Amazon SES delivery at 2 emails per contact per month (about $0.10 per 1,000 emails); 1,000 contacts fits Sendra's free plan. Mailchimp = Standard plan (the cheapest with full multi-step automations), read from mailchimp.com/pricing, July 2026.

Side by side

What you get with each.

SendraMailchimp
Pricing model$20/mo flat, unlimited contactsPer-contact tiers, $45–$800+/mo (Standard)
Unsubscribed contactsNever billedCount toward your bill
Sending costs~$1 per 10,000 emails (Amazon bills you directly)Included up to ~12× contacts/mo, then overage fees
Multi-step automationsIncludedStandard plan and up
Signup forms & double opt-inIncludedIncluded
Landing pages, ads, social postingNot included — email onlyIncluded on paid plans
Integration ecosystemAPI, webhooks, events300+ native integrations
Deliverability infrastructureYour own Amazon SES account (you own the reputation)Shared/managed by Mailchimp

When Mailchimp is the better choice

Mailchimp is a full marketing suite, and for some teams that breadth is worth the price:

  • You want landing pages, ad campaigns, social scheduling, and email in one tool with one login.
  • You rely on niche native integrations — Mailchimp connects to more third-party apps than almost anything else.
  • You hire agencies or contractors often; nearly everyone has used Mailchimp before.
  • You want send-time optimization and mature multivariate testing out of the box.

Comparing other tools too? See the full list of comparisons or the Sendra pricing page.

Mailchimp FAQ

Things people ask before they switch.

How much cheaper is Sendra than Mailchimp, really?
At 10,000 contacts: Mailchimp Standard is $135/month; Sendra is $20/month plus about $2 of Amazon SES sending (assuming two campaigns per contact per month) — roughly $22 total, or about 84% less. The gap widens as your list grows: at 50,000 contacts it's $450 vs about $30.
Does Mailchimp really charge for unsubscribed contacts?
Can I migrate my list from Mailchimp to Sendra?
What do I give up by switching?
Is deliverability worse on Amazon SES than on Mailchimp?

Join the waitlist. Upgrade when
it pays for itself.

Try Sendra with up to 1,000 contacts. When your list grows, upgrade to Premium for $20/month and keep paying Amazon’s usage-based rates for delivery.