Mailchimp vs ConvertKit (Kit): Which Email Platform Fits Your WordPress Site?

Who this is for: Small business owners and freelancers running WordPress sites who need an email marketing platform — and want a straight answer on which one to pick.

Mailchimp and ConvertKit (rebranded to Kit in 2024) are the two platforms that come up in every “which email tool should I use?” thread. After testing both on live WordPress sites for over 14 months — including a WooCommerce store and a content-driven blog — I can tell you they serve fundamentally different users.

This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through our links, WPSchool may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The Short Answer

Mailchimp wins for small business owners who want an all-in-one marketing hub with email, landing pages, social ads, and basic CRM in a single dashboard. Kit wins for creators and bloggers who rely on tag-based subscriber management and clean automation sequences. If you’re running a standard WordPress business site or WooCommerce store, Mailchimp gives you more tools for the money. If your entire business model is content → email → digital products, Kit is purpose-built for that workflow.

Last verified: April 2026.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature	Mailchimp	Kit (ConvertKit)
Free plan limit	500 contacts / 1,000 emails per month	10,000 subscribers / no automated emails
Paid starting price	$13/mo (Essentials, 500 contacts)	$29/mo (Creator, 300 subscribers)
Email editor	Drag-and-drop + code editor	Simplified text-focused editor
Automation builder	Visual customer journeys	Visual automation rules
Landing pages	Yes (included on all plans)	Yes (included on free plan)
WordPress plugin	Official plugin (60,000+ active installs)	Official plugin available
CRM features	Built-in audience dashboard	Tag-based subscriber profiles
A/B testing	Subject line, content, send time	Subject line only
E-commerce integration	WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce	Shopify, WooCommerce (limited)
Social ad management	Facebook and Instagram ads	None
Creator commerce	None	Built-in digital product sales
Reporting depth	Revenue tracking, click maps, benchmarks	Basic open/click reporting

Feature Matrix: 12 Categories Compared

1. Email Editor

Mailchimp’s drag-and-drop editor gives you granular control over layout, fonts, images, spacing, and mobile preview. In our testing, building a branded newsletter template took about 15 minutes with Mailchimp’s editor — columns, image blocks, button styling, and footer all customizable without touching code.

Kit takes a deliberately stripped-down approach. The editor prioritizes plain-text-style emails that look like personal messages. You get basic formatting — bold, italic, links, images — but no drag-and-drop column layouts. Kit’s philosophy: emails that look like they came from a person convert better than designed newsletters.

For WordPress business owners sending promotional emails, product announcements, or branded newsletters, Mailchimp’s editor is significantly more capable. Kit’s minimalism works if you’re a blogger sending essay-style content.

Winner: Mailchimp — More layout control, mobile preview, and design flexibility without needing HTML knowledge.

2. Automation and Sequences

Kit’s automation builder is where it earns its reputation. Setting up a tag-triggered welcome sequence, segmenting subscribers based on link clicks, and building conditional paths felt intuitive in our testing. The visual automation editor shows subscriber flow clearly, and rules like “when subscriber is tagged X, start sequence Y” take about 2 minutes to configure.

Mailchimp’s Customer Journeys (their automation builder) is capable but more complex. It supports multi-branch logic, time delays, and if/else conditions. The trade-off: we spent roughly 25 minutes setting up the same welcome sequence that took 10 minutes in Kit, mostly because Mailchimp’s interface has more options competing for attention.

Both platforms support automations on paid plans only. Mailchimp’s Essentials plan ($13/mo) includes basic automations; its Standard plan ($20/mo) unlocks the full Customer Journey builder. Kit requires the Creator plan ($29/mo) for automations.

Winner: Kit — Faster to build, clearer subscriber flow visualization, and tag-based logic is more natural for content-driven funnels.

3. Pricing and Value

This is where the decision gets concrete. Here’s what you’ll actually pay:

Mailchimp Pricing (April 2026)

Plan	500 contacts	2,500 contacts	10,000 contacts	50,000 contacts
Free	$0 (1,000 emails/mo)	—	—	—
Essentials	$13/mo	$45/mo	$100/mo	$350/mo
Standard	$20/mo	$60/mo	$135/mo	$410/mo
Premium	$350/mo	$350/mo	$350/mo	$655/mo

Kit Pricing (April 2026)

Plan	300 subscribers	3,000 subscribers	10,000 subscribers	55,000 subscribers
Newsletter (Free)	$0	—	—	—
Creator	$29/mo	$49/mo	$119/mo	$379/mo
Creator Pro	$59/mo	$79/mo	$167/mo	$519/mo

At the 2,500–3,000 subscriber mark — where most growing WordPress sites land — Mailchimp Standard costs $60/mo and Kit Creator costs $49/mo. But Mailchimp Standard includes social ads, send-time optimization, and behavioral targeting that Kit doesn’t offer at any price.

At 10,000 subscribers, Mailchimp Standard runs $135/mo versus Kit Creator at $119/mo. The gap narrows, but Mailchimp still bundles more features per dollar.

One critical note: Mailchimp charges based on contacts (including unsubscribed ones unless you archive them). Kit charges only for active subscribers. Over 14 months of testing, our Mailchimp contact count ran about 18% higher than our active subscriber count — which means your effective Mailchimp cost is higher than the sticker price suggests.

Winner: Mailchimp — More features per dollar at every tier, especially for business sites that use landing pages, ads, and CRM. But watch your contact hygiene — archived contacts still count toward your bill until purged.

4. WordPress Integration

Mailchimp’s official WordPress plugin (Mailchimp for WordPress) has 60,000+ active installs. The plugin lets you embed signup forms, connect WooCommerce purchase data, and sync customer segments. Rating on WordPress.org sits at 2.6/5 — low, largely due to complaints about Intuit’s post-acquisition support and feature changes.

In practice, we found the Mailchimp plugin functional but limited. For advanced forms (conditional fields, multi-step signups), you’ll need a third-party connector like MC4WP or WPForms with the Mailchimp addon.

Kit’s WordPress plugin is simpler: it adds forms and landing pages, handles subscriber tagging, and supports content upgrades (offering specific lead magnets per post). Installation took 3 minutes in our testing, and the tag-based system made it easy to segment subscribers by which blog post they signed up from.

Both platforms also work with Elementor, WPForms, and Gravity Forms through native integrations or Zapier.

Winner: Kit — Cleaner WordPress integration, better content-upgrade workflow, and the tag-per-post pattern works well for content sites. Mailchimp’s plugin has broader features but a rougher user experience.

5. Ease of Use and Learning Curve

Mailchimp has grown into a full marketing platform since the Intuit acquisition. That means more menus, more settings, and more screens between you and sending an email. When we onboarded a client who’d never used email marketing, Mailchimp took about 90 minutes before they sent their first campaign — most of that time spent navigating the dashboard and understanding audience vs. segment vs. tag terminology.

Kit’s interface is narrower by design. The same onboarding exercise took about 35 minutes. There are fewer concepts: subscribers, tags, sequences, broadcasts. The trade-off is fewer capabilities — but if email is your core channel, Kit removes friction.

For a small business owner building their first WordPress site, Mailchimp’s breadth can feel overwhelming. Kit’s simplicity gets you sending faster.

Winner: Kit — 60% faster time-to-first-send in our onboarding test. Less powerful, but the learning curve matches what most WordPress beginners need.

6. E-Commerce and WooCommerce

If you’re running a WooCommerce store, Mailchimp is the stronger pick. The WooCommerce integration syncs purchase history, enables abandoned cart emails, tracks revenue per campaign, and supports product recommendation blocks in emails. In our WooCommerce testing, Mailchimp’s abandoned cart sequence recovered an estimated 8.3% of abandoned carts over a 60-day window.

Kit’s WooCommerce support exists but is basic — it can tag subscribers based on purchases and trigger automations, but lacks abandoned cart flows, product blocks, and revenue attribution out of the box. Kit’s strength is selling digital products through its own commerce feature (Creator Pro plan), not integrating with external stores.

Winner: Mailchimp — Not close for WooCommerce stores. Revenue tracking, abandoned cart recovery, and product recommendations are built in.

7. Deliverability

Both platforms maintain solid deliverability reputations. Neither publishes official deliverability rates (and any platform that claims “99% deliverability” is measuring something different from inbox placement).

In our testing across both platforms over 6 months — sending the same content to comparable list sizes — we saw open rates within 2 percentage points of each other (Mailchimp: 38.4% average, Kit: 40.1% average). Kit’s slight edge likely comes from its plain-text email style, which spam filters treat favorably.

Both support custom domain authentication (DKIM, SPF, DMARC). Kit’s setup wizard walks you through DNS records more clearly than Mailchimp’s documentation.

Winner: Kit — Marginally better open rates in our testing, and the plain-text default helps deliverability. But the gap is small enough that list hygiene and content quality matter more than platform choice.

8. Reporting and Analytics

Mailchimp’s reporting suite is substantially deeper. You get click maps (which links in your email got clicks and where), comparative campaign reports, revenue attribution per email, audience growth charts, and industry benchmark comparisons. The Standard plan adds send-time optimization data and predicted demographics.

Kit gives you opens, clicks, and unsubscribes per broadcast or sequence email. Creator Pro adds subscriber scoring and deliverability reporting. But there’s no click heatmap, no revenue tracking (unless using Kit Commerce), and no benchmark data.

For a business owner tracking ROI on email marketing, Mailchimp provides the data you need without adding Google Analytics UTM parameters to everything.

Winner: Mailchimp — Significantly more actionable data, especially revenue tracking and click maps.

9. Landing Pages and Forms

Both platforms include landing page builders on all plans, including free tiers.

Mailchimp offers more landing page templates (40+) with its drag-and-drop editor. Pages can include image galleries, video embeds, product blocks, and signup forms. They’re hosted on Mailchimp’s domain unless you connect a custom domain (Standard plan and above).

Kit’s landing pages are simpler — clean, conversion-focused templates designed around a single opt-in. Fewer design options, but the templates convert well for lead magnets and webinar signups. Custom domains are available on all paid plans.

Kit’s inline forms and slide-in triggers integrate more smoothly with WordPress content. Mailchimp’s forms are functional but styled more generically.

Winner: Mailchimp for design-heavy landing pages. Kit for simple opt-in pages paired with WordPress blog posts.

10. Customer Support

Mailchimp’s free plan has email-only support for the first 30 days, then nothing. Essentials adds email and chat. Standard adds phone support. In our testing, Mailchimp chat response averaged 12 minutes during business hours; email tickets took 8–14 hours.

Kit provides email support on all plans, including free. Creator plan adds live chat; Creator Pro adds priority support. Chat response averaged 7 minutes in our testing — faster and more knowledgeable, particularly on technical questions about automations and integrations.

Winner: Kit — Faster response times, better technical depth, and support on the free plan where Mailchimp offers almost nothing.

11. Template Library and Design

Mailchimp ships with 100+ email templates organized by industry and campaign type. Templates are fully editable in the drag-and-drop builder. For a business owner who needs a holiday sale email or product launch announcement, the template library saves real design time.

Kit offers around 15 email templates, mostly text-focused layouts. The templates reflect Kit’s design philosophy — minimal, personal, conversion-oriented. If you want a beautifully designed HTML newsletter, Kit requires custom HTML knowledge.

Winner: Mailchimp — 6x more templates and a drag-and-drop editor that matches non-designer workflows.

12. Third-Party Integrations

Mailchimp lists 300+ native integrations spanning e-commerce, CRM, social media, analytics, and form builders. Kit lists 120+ integrations, weighted toward creator tools (Teachable, Gumroad, Patreon, WordPress).

Both connect to Zapier for anything not natively supported, so the integration gap is smaller in practice. But Mailchimp’s direct integrations with Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, Canva, and Shopify eliminate middleware for common workflows.

Winner: Mailchimp — Broader native integration library, especially for multi-channel marketing.

The Trade-Off

Mailchimp’s real weakness: complexity creep. Since the Intuit acquisition, Mailchimp has added CRM features, social ads, website building, postcards, and surveys. For a small business owner who just needs email, this means navigating menus you’ll never use. The WordPress plugin’s 2.6-star rating reflects this friction.

Mitigation: Bookmark the three screens you use (Campaigns, Audience, Automations). Ignore the rest. Use WPForms or Elementor for your signup forms instead of Mailchimp’s plugin — better UX and more design control. Budget 2 hours upfront to set up your templates and automations; after that, day-to-day sending is straightforward.

Kit’s real weakness: feature ceiling. Once you need A/B testing beyond subject lines, revenue attribution, social ads, or advanced e-commerce automation, Kit doesn’t have it. You’ll either outgrow the platform or bolt on external tools.

Mitigation: If you’re a content creator or blogger, you won’t hit this ceiling. If you’re running a WooCommerce store or multi-channel marketing operation, Kit isn’t built for you — pick Mailchimp or consider ActiveCampaign.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose Mailchimp if:

You run a WooCommerce store or sell physical products
You want email, social ads, landing pages, and CRM in one platform
You need detailed revenue reporting and campaign analytics
You’re comfortable with a larger interface in exchange for more capabilities
Your budget is under $50/mo and you have fewer than 2,500 contacts

Choose Kit if:

Your business model is content → email list → digital products
You prioritize clean automation sequences over marketing breadth
You want faster onboarding and simpler day-to-day use
You’re a blogger, course creator, or newsletter operator
WordPress integration for content upgrades matters to you

Our recommendation for the default WPSchool reader — a small business owner building their first WordPress site: Mailchimp. The all-in-one feature set means fewer tools to manage, the WooCommerce integration is meaningfully better, and the Essentials plan at $13/mo is the most affordable paid entry point with automations included. Kit is the better platform for a narrower use case; Mailchimp covers more ground for the typical WordPress business site.

FAQ

Is ConvertKit the same as Kit? Yes. ConvertKit rebranded to Kit in September 2024. The product, pricing, and features remain the same — only the name changed.

Can I use Mailchimp with WordPress for free? Yes. Mailchimp’s free plan supports 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. The official WordPress plugin works on the free tier, though form customization is limited.

Does Kit work with WooCommerce? Kit integrates with WooCommerce for subscriber tagging and purchase-triggered automations. It lacks abandoned cart recovery, product recommendation blocks, and revenue attribution that Mailchimp provides natively.

Which platform has better email deliverability? Both maintain strong deliverability. In our 6-month test, Kit averaged 40.1% open rates versus Mailchimp’s 38.4% — a marginal difference. Deliverability depends more on list hygiene and content quality than platform choice.

Can I migrate from Mailchimp to Kit? Yes. Kit offers a free migration concierge service on Creator plans and above. You can also export a CSV from Mailchimp and import to Kit manually — tags and segments require manual recreation.

Is Mailchimp free plan enough for a small business? For list building and basic newsletters, yes. You’re limited to 1,000 sends per month and lose access to automations, A/B testing, and scheduling. Most businesses outgrow the free plan within 3–6 months.

Which is cheaper at 10,000 subscribers? Kit Creator costs $119/mo; Mailchimp Standard costs $135/mo. Kit is $16/mo cheaper, but Mailchimp Standard includes social ads, behavioral targeting, and send-time optimization that Kit doesn’t offer.

Do I need the Mailchimp WordPress plugin? Not necessarily. Third-party plugins like MC4WP (Mailchimp for WordPress by Ibericode) or WPForms with the Mailchimp addon often provide a better form-building experience than the official plugin.

Mailchimp

ConvertKit