Mailchimp vs Substack
Mailchimp
mailchimp.com
Substack
substack.comSide by side
| Figure | Mailchimp | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $13/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 4 |
| Spec score · Email marketing tools | 9.4 (#2) | 9.2 (#8) |
| Spec score · Email Marketing Software | 9.0 (#10) | 8.6 (#41) |
| Company size | LinkedIn lists Mailchimp as an Atlanta-based private company with 1,001–5,000 employees. | LinkedIn lists 51–200 employees, while Crunchbase lists headcount in the 101–250 range. |
| Email automation | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Mailchimp advertises more than 300 integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Zapier, Salesforce, WordPress, Stripe and QuickBooks Online. | Official integrations include RSS, podcast distribution to Apple and Spotify, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, X and Facebook pixels, Google site verification, YouTube and LinkedIn account connections. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | 4.9 out of 5 from 52K ratings | 4.9 out of 5 from 540K ratings |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.5 out of 5 from 17,528 reviews | 0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.3 out of 5 from 18,430 reviews | 4.3 out of 5 from 17 reviews |
| Rating on Google Play | 4.7 out of 5 from 24.1K reviews | 4.8 out of 5 from 319K reviews |
| Rating on Trustpilot | 2.5 out of 5 from 1,522 reviews | 1.5 out of 5 from 182 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.4 out of 10 from 2,886 reviews and ratings | 9.2 out of 10 from 13 reviews |
| Audience segmentation | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Official feature pages state 24/7 service and support, with onboarding specialists and customer-success services for paid customers. | Substack directs users to its Help Center for FAQs and walkthroughs and handles subscriber support questions on behalf of writers. |
| What it does | Mailchimp is an email and marketing-automation platform for growing businesses, combining email, social, landing pages, advertising and AI recommendations. | Substack is a publishing and subscription platform for writers, podcasters, video creators and media companies, combining content creation, email distribution, payments, community and analytics. |
Plans
Mailchimp
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Essentials$13 a month
- Standard$20 a month
- Premium$350 a month
Substack
- Free publishingFree
- Free to startFree
- Custom domain$50, paid once
- Paid subscriptionsPrice not published
In their own words
Substack
Substack is a publishing platform for writers, creators, and subscribers, bringing posts, newsletters, podcasts, video, live streams, and pages into one publishing flow. Its editor supports scheduling, autosaved drafts, version history, templates, SEO metadata, and headline A/B testing. Creators can offer free or paid posts, subscriptions, trials, gifts, and group plans. Discovery tools include recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, referrals, and search; audience segmentation and email automation are also available. Podcast episodes can be distributed automatically to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, while video can go automatically to YouTube and LinkedIn. Publishing is free. When creators enable paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue, and Stripe charges payment processing fees. Creators own their intellectual property and mailing list and can export their data. Substack serves writers, journalists, podcasters, video creators, experts, educators, and media companies. It is available on the web, Android, and iOS. Substack directs users to its Help Center and handles subscriber support questions on behalf of writers.