Newsletter platforms compared
SendHQ vs Mailchimp for newsletters
Mailchimp and SendHQ both send newsletters. They charge differently: Mailchimp prices by the number of subscribers you keep, and SendHQ prices by the emails you send.
Price at every list size
| Subscribers | Emails a month | Mailchimp | SendHQ | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 4,334 | not listed | $19 Starter | – |
| 2,500 | 10,834 | $45† Essentials | $19 Starter | $26 less |
| 5,000 | 21,667 | $75† Essentials | $19 Starter | $56 less |
| 10,000 | 43,334 | $110† Essentials | $19 Starter | $91 less |
| 25,000 | 108,334 | $270† Essentials | $39 Scale | $231 less |
† Read from a dated third-party pricing table named in the sources, because the vendor's own page did not show list prices for every size. Confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
Mailchimp fees: No paid-newsletter feature, so no transaction fee.
Mailchimp free plan: 250 contacts; 500 sends/month, max 250/day; sending paused if exceeded. SendHQ has no free plan.
Where Mailchimp does more
- Marketing automation flows (up to 200 flows, branching and multiple starting points on Standard/Premium)
- Landing pages on every plan
- A/B testing (paid plans) and multivariate testing (Standard/Premium)
- SMS marketing and transactional email products
- Large ecommerce/CRM integration ecosystem
If any of these is central to how you grow, Mailchimp is likely the better fit, and that is fine.
Where SendHQ fits better
- You pay for what you send. 50,000 emails for $19 a month, however many subscribers you keep between issues.
- Your own domain and inbox. Issues go out from your verified domain, and replies can land in a SendHQ inbox on that domain.
- Built for developers and agents. The same lists and broadcasts work from the REST API, the CLI and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
- Consent and guardrails built in. Double opt-in forms, a consent basis on every import, automatic suppression and published pause rules.
Moving from Mailchimp
- Audience > Export audience > Export CSV (also per segment/tag/group). Arrives as a ZIP with one CSV per status (subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, cleaned). Downloads kept 30 days.
- In SendHQ, add and verify your sending domain.
- Create a list, then import the CSV with a consent basis such as "Subscribed to our newsletter on Mailchimp".
- Write your issue with merge tags such as
{{first_name | there}}and send it.
Mailchimp exports columns such as Email Address, MEMBER_RATING, OPTIN_TIME, OPTIN_IP, CONFIRM_TIME, CONFIRM_IP, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE. SendHQ needs an email column and reads name, or first_name and last_name; other columns become custom fields you can use in merge tags.
New workspaces start at 100 emails a day and ramp up with healthy sending, so a large list's first issues go out over a few days.
Questions
Is SendHQ cheaper than Mailchimp for a newsletter?
For a weekly newsletter to 10,000 subscribers, Mailchimp lists $110 a month (Essentials) and SendHQ Starter Marketing is $19 a month for 50,000 emails, checked October 2026. SendHQ charges by emails sent, so the gap is largest for big lists sent weekly or less.
How do I move my subscribers from Mailchimp to SendHQ?
Audience > Export audience > Export CSV (also per segment/tag/group). Arrives as a ZIP with one CSV per status (subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed, cleaned). Downloads kept 30 days. Then import the CSV into a SendHQ list with a consent basis such as 'Subscribed on our Mailchimp newsletter', verify your sending domain, and send.
What does Mailchimp do that SendHQ does not?
Marketing automation flows (up to 200 flows, branching and multiple starting points on Standard/Premium); Landing pages on every plan; A/B testing (paid plans) and multivariate testing (Standard/Premium); SMS marketing and transactional email products; Large ecommerce/CRM integration ecosystem.
Will my first issue go out to the whole list at once?
New SendHQ workspaces start at 100 emails a day and climb as healthy sending builds trust, up to 50,000 a day. A larger broadcast keeps sending as the limit allows, so plan the first issues of a large list over a few days.
Sources
- https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/
- https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/compare-plans/
- https://mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans/
- https://mailchimp.com/help/view-export-contacts/
- https://www.emailvendorselection.com/mailchimp-pricing/
- https://blog.groupmail.io/mailchimp-pricing-2026/
- SendHQ pricing
Checked 2026-10-29. Prices change; tell us at /contact if one is out of date and we will correct it.