Alternative to Mailchimp

1

Hi all

I’ve been using MailChimp for a newsletter for a not for profit I help with but their costs are getting quite expensive

Any suggestions on a lower cost alternative?

Regards
Brian

1 Like
2

Check out MailerLite. They seem to have lower pricing than MC does.

1 Like
3

I haven’t used it yet myself, but Buttondown seems to get a lot of love.

4

I recently moved from Mailchimp to MailerLite for similar reasons for an organisation I help with. The distribution list we have is relatively small (a few hundred).

My observations having recently moved:

  • Their API / technical documentation is better than Mailchimp so if you are on the programmer end of the spectrum it’s more attractive
  • The interface for building newsletters is easy to use (on a level with Mailchimp)
  • Their support is very responsive (caveat: I’ve not had much experience with Mailchimp support)

On the downside, we are having an issue with deliverability in that part of their IP range is flagged on a spam database somewhere (presumably as a MailerLite “client” has abused it in the last). This is causing issues with mail being rejected and therefore people being unsubscribed for one specific domain that is common to a subset of our subscribers. We are awaiting a resolution, although MailerLite support have said they’ve escalated and are looking into it.

5

A client of mine uses Buttondown. He’s never told me about an issue and has never moved services. I had to build some custom integrations for it when I made his website, but IIRC, it wasn’t overly challenging (but that’s my profession, so take it with a grain of salt).

6

I don’t have a suggestion, but just flagging to check you’ve applied for the Not For Profit discount. MailChimp only offers 10% so even on a big account it doesn’t add up to much, but every little helps (do that at your next newsletter provider too!).

I guess depending on the size of your audience and your local regulations I’d be wary about moving myself. Aside from the actual digital services each newsletter provider offers (which varies of course), in the UK (and by extension the EU even though… well) we have fairly robust data (and charity) laws which means some common providers get eliminated simply because we’d not be compliant, or often more specifically that we’d be unable to demonstrate compliance. I don’t know what Australia’s data and charity laws are like but it might be something to consider.

Actually, I recently had an interesting meeting for a new IT support provider and when we were talking about processes for adoption of new software, they’d suggested we should be veto-ing U.S.-based software on principle because the Patriot Act in the U.S. now makes many smaller U.S. based apps potentially non-compliant for protected user data in the EU (and potentially commercially sensitive data).