The short answer
- Moving from Mailchimp Essentials to listmonk costs $1,304 more in the first year, after setup and upkeep time (Stackcut's model: modeled, not measured).
- listmonk's community migration guide moves 1 kind of data in full; 2 things stay behind. What moves
- 2 public accounts of making this switch: 2 switched. Read them
- 2 comparison pages checked, each labeled with who wrote it. What they claim
What Mailchimp and listmonk cost
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Essentials | $13/mo | not shown | 500-contact tier; sends 10x contacts; 3 seats; up to 50,000 contacts |
| Mailchimp Standard | $20/mo | not shown | 500-contact tier; sends 12x contacts; 5 seats; automation flows; up to 100,000 contacts |
| Mailchimp Premium | $350/mo | not shown | 10,000-contact tier; sends 15x contacts; unlimited seats |
| Mailchimp Essentials (50,000 contacts) | $385/mo | not shown | Top Essentials tier: up to 50,000 contacts, sends 10x contacts |
- Mailchimp free plan: Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/month (250/day), 1 seat, 1 audience mailchimp.com
- listmonk free plan: Free and open source listmonk.app
listmonk's plans aren't in the Stackcut catalog yet; check listmonk's own site.
What comparison pages say
Each claim as the page makes it, and who it favors. Vendor pages are labeled; weigh them accordingly.
2 pages compared, 0 of them written by one of the two vendors. Claims are the pages' own, paraphrased; prices in them may be older than the catalog prices above.
| About | The page says | Favors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Mailchimp bills by contact count so a growing list grows the bill, while self-hosted listmonk's costs stay roughly flat. | listmonk | Tobias Leinss independent |
| Data portability | Listmonk subscribers live in the operator's own database, while Mailchimp keeps them on its platform under its terms. | listmonk | Tobias Leinss independent |
| Reliability | Mailchimp manages sending reputation for you; self-hosting listmonk means owning SPF, DKIM, DMARC and deliverability yourself. | Mailchimp | Tobias Leinss independent |
| Features | listmonk is lightweight and fast but lacks the advanced marketing-automation features Mailchimp has. | Mailchimp | OctaByte independent |
| Lock-in | The article frames self-hosted, open-source options like listmonk as a privacy-focused, cost-effective alternative to a hosted platform like Mailchimp. | listmonk | OctaByte independent |
Moving from Mailchimp to listmonk
What listmonk's importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To listmonk
Community guide brainbaking.com · Tools: Custom script against listmonk's Subscribers API, Mailchimp-to-listmonk CSV converter (community Perl one-liner)
Moves: New subscriber signups (full). brainbaking.com
Doesn't move: Automated welcome-on-subscribe emails (must be rebuilt); Any Mailchimp automation workflow (listmonk has no built-in marketing automation). brainbaking.com
Watch out for:
- listmonk's import API needs numbered list IDs, not associative arrays brainbaking.com
- The API requires a name field even if you never collected subscriber names brainbaking.com
- You must set up your own SPF/DKIM/DMARC and sending reputation; listmonk doesn't manage deliverability for you brainbaking.com
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
People who moved from Mailchimp to listmonk
2 public accounts of leaving Mailchimp: 2 switched. Summaries are ours; each links the original, and each was checked against its page before it appeared here.
Facing a $78/month Mailchimp bill for an unmonetized list, the author self-hosted listmonk on Docker behind Amazon SES's free tier, handling the subscriber migration and setting up templates, tracking and TLS himself. Yasoob Khalid
A developer self-hosted listmonk instead of Mailchimp after Intuit's acquisition raised GDPR concerns, building a custom WordPress integration to route new signups to listmonk and automating backups and deployment with Ansible. Brain Baking
How to leave Mailchimp
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
How to leave Mailchimp
Export first
- Account data: emails, audiences, reports, templates and more: Profile icon → Account → Settings → Manage my data → Export Data (ZIP of CSV and HTML files). Large exports can take up to 24 hours, and you get 1 export per 24-hour period. mailchimp.com
What you lose
- Audiences, campaign archives and reports, if you delete rather than pause
Cancel
- Export your account data first (see export).
- To stop billing but keep your data: profile icon → Account & billing → Settings → Manage my plan → Pause my plan, for 3 or 6 months.
- To leave for good: Manage my plan → Delete my account → type DELETE → confirm.
- After you cancel
- Deleting removes all data tied to audiences, campaign archives and reports. Pausing is limited to 2 pauses in 12 months.
FAQ
Is listmonk cheaper than Mailchimp?
Modeled, not measured: moving from Mailchimp Essentials to listmonk costs $1,304 more in the first year, after setup and upkeep time at $50/hour. It depends on your plan, seats and usage. the math
Can I move my Mailchimp data to listmonk?
listmonk's community guide moves: New subscriber signups. It doesn't move: Automated welcome-on-subscribe emails (must be rebuilt); Any Mailchimp automation workflow (listmonk has no built-in marketing automation). brainbaking.com
What do I lose when I leave Mailchimp?
Per Mailchimp's own pages, leaving or downgrading loses: Audiences, campaign archives and reports, if you delete rather than pause. mailchimp.com
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find_alternatives({"vendor": "Mailchimp"})