Mailchimp Used to Be Great. What Happened?

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OBITUARY

Mailchimp Used to Be Great. What Happened?

March 2026•4 min read
Writer’s Review: “For a decade, Mailchimp was the default answer to ‘how do I send emails?’ The friendly monkey, the generous free plan, the simple interface — it was the gateway drug for every small business entering email marketing. Then Intuit bought it for $12 billion, gutted the free plan, jacked up the prices, and turned it into just another enterprise SaaS product. The Mailchimp that people loved is dead.”

The rise and fall

2001 — THE BEGINNING

Founded by Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius as a side project. Bootstrapped. No VC money. Built slowly and profitably for 20 years — one of the most impressive bootstrapping stories in tech.

2009 — THE FREE PLAN ERA

Launches “Forever Free” plan: 2,000 subscribers, 12,000 emails/month. Revolutionises email marketing by making it accessible to everyone. Small businesses flood in. Mailchimp becomes synonymous with email marketing.

2019 — THE PIVOT

Tries to become an “all-in-one marketing platform” instead of just email. Adds websites, social media scheduling, CRM. Drops its Shopify integration in a power play. Starts losing focus.

2021 — THE ACQUISITION

Intuit buys Mailchimp for $12 billion. The founders cash out. The company begins its transformation from beloved indie tool to corporate enterprise product.

2022-2026 — THE DECLINE

Free plan gutted from 2,000 subscribers to 500. Prices increased across all tiers. UI becomes bloated with features nobody asked for. Long-time users leave in droves for Kit, Beehiiv, and MailerLite. The monkey remains. The soul doesn’t.

What went wrong

− Free plan slashed from 2,000 to 500 subscribers — no longer viable for small businesses
− Pricing no longer competitive — Standard plan starts at $13/mo for 500 contacts, more expensive than Kit or MailerLite
− Interface became bloated with features that dilute the core email experience
− Counts unsubscribed contacts toward your subscriber limit — you pay for people who left
− Lost Shopify integration — alienated e-commerce users who were the core customer base
− Intuit’s corporate culture replaced the indie ethos that made Mailchimp lovable
The core problem: Intuit didn’t buy Mailchimp to make email marketing better. They bought it to cross-sell QuickBooks and TurboTax users. Mailchimp is now a lead generation funnel for Intuit’s product suite, not a standalone email platform. Every product decision since the acquisition reflects this.

Where to go instead

Kit (ConvertKit)Best for creators

Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Built for bloggers, course creators, and small businesses. Does what old Mailchimp did, but better. Full review →

BeehiivBest for newsletters

Free up to 2,500 subscribers with growth tools included. If newsletters are your primary channel, this is the modern replacement. Full review →

MailerLiteBest budget option

Free up to 1,000 subscribers with automations and A/B testing. The closest thing to what Mailchimp’s free plan used to be. Full review →

The bottom line

Mailchimp isn’t terrible. It still works. Millions of businesses still use it. But it’s no longer the best option for anyone, at any price point, in any category. It’s the default choice for people who haven’t looked at alternatives yet. If you’re still on Mailchimp, this is your sign to look around. The tools that replaced it are genuinely better. For comparisons: free email tiers roundup · Beehiiv vs Kit showdown

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