For years, Mailchimp’s free plan was the default starting point for startups, solo founders, nonprofits, and small businesses. It was generous enough to run a real newsletter and forgiving enough to grow into.
That’s no longer the case.
Mailchimp’s Free Marketing plan is now capped at just 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month, with a daily send limit of 250. Go over the contact limit, and Mailchimp can pause all sending – live and test emails included – until you upgrade or reduce your list.
This isn’t just a pricing adjustment. It’s a workflow change.
What the Free Plan Looks Like Now
According to Mailchimp’s current documentation, the Free plan includes:
- Up to 250 total contacts
- 500 sends per month
- 250 sends per day
- Sending is blocked if you exceed the contact limit
Mailchimp’s pricing page now positions Free explicitly for businesses with fewer than 250 contacts.
What Those Limits Mean in Practice
1. “250 contacts” includes more than subscribers
Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-subscribed contacts toward your total.
That means:
- Old imports
- Synced CRM contacts
- Past unsubscribes
…all count against your limit.
Only archived, cleaned, or deleted contacts are excluded.
This catches many teams off guard—especially anyone using Mailchimp as a lightweight CRM.
2. 500 sends disappear fast
A “send” is one email to one person.
So:
- 1 campaign to 250 people = 250 sends
- 2 full-list campaigns = you’re done for the month
Test emails and transactional emails also count.
Realistically, Free now supports:
- Two full newsletters per month, or
- Light segmentation plus a welcome email—then you hit the ceiling
3. Automation exists – but not the kind most marketers rely on
The Free plan includes basic automations like:
- A one-click welcome email
- Abandoned cart email
But Marketing Automation Flows (multi-step, behavior-based journeys) are not included. Those start on Essentials or higher.
If your strategy depends on onboarding sequences, lifecycle funnels, or branching journeys, Free won’t support it.
4. Branding and scheduling are locked
On the Free plan:
- Mailchimp branding stays
- Email scheduling isn’t available
For agencies, consultants, or client-facing brands, that’s not cosmetic – it affects professionalism and timing.
Why This Matters
The Free plan is now closer to a trial than a growth tool
Mailchimp hasn’t removed Free, but it has narrowed it enough that many legitimate small-business programs will hit limits quickly.
And because exceeding 250 contacts can halt sending entirely, there’s no grace period to “clean things up later.”
List hygiene is no longer optional
Since unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count, teams now need to:
- Archive inactive contacts regularly
- Actively manage imports and integrations
- Treat contact cleanup as an ongoing task, not annual maintenance
Many “best practices” now require paid plans
Common email fundamentals – like:
- Scheduled sends
- Lifecycle automation
- Full brand control
…are all gated behind paid tiers.
Mailchimp has clearly repositioned these as premium capabilities.
Confusing messaging increases planning risk
Some Mailchimp marketing materials still reference older, more generous free limits (like 2,000 subscribers or 10,000 emails/month). Remember unsubscribed and other contacts still count towards your 250 limit,
The current pricing and plan documentation is clear: the limits are much tighter now.
For teams planning budgets or tooling, that mismatch matters.
Bottom Line
Mailchimp didn’t cancel its Free plan completely, but it redefined it in ways that make it close to unusable even for small business.
With 250 contacts, 500 monthly sends, and major feature restrictions, Free is now best suited for testing ideas, not running any kind of serious email program for a small business of any size.
If you’re already over the contact limit, the most urgent takeaway is operational: sending can stop until you act.
