A fair comparison, and a clear answer for your situation.
Mailchimp is the best-known email marketing tool, and Zoho Campaigns is the option most often considered by businesses that use Zoho. Both send good-looking campaigns, automate sequences and report on results. The real differences are in how they charge, how they connect to the rest of your systems and which features sit in which plan. This comparison covers those differences and gives a clear recommendation by situation. It is part of our Zoho Campaigns guide.
Choose Zoho Campaigns if you use Zoho CRM or Zoho One, or want unlimited emails at a low price per contact. Choose Mailchimp if you rely on a wide range of non-Zoho integrations, especially for ecommerce, and value its large template and AI tool set. On price, Zoho Campaigns is usually cheaper as lists grow.
| Zoho Campaigns | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month | Up to 250 contacts, with a low monthly send limit |
| Entry paid price | From about $4 per month for 500 contacts, $3 billed annually | Essentials from about $13 per month for 500 contacts |
| Pricing model | By contacts, with unlimited emails on paid plans | By contacts, with monthly send limits tied to contact count |
| CRM integration | Native Zoho CRM sync, plus other CRMs | Integrations with many third-party CRMs |
| Automation | Workflows on paid plans | Basic automation on Essentials; advanced customer journeys from Standard |
| Ecommerce | Ecommerce automation on Professional | Strong ecommerce integrations, including Shopify |
| Included in Zoho One | Yes | No |
Prices are starting points in US dollars and change often. Check Zoho Campaigns pricing and Mailchimp pricing with your real contact count before deciding.
Both tools price by the number of contacts, but they treat sending differently. Zoho Campaigns' paid plans include unlimited emails, so sending more often does not raise the bill. Mailchimp's paid plans cap monthly sends at a multiple of your contact count, and contacts who have unsubscribed can still count toward your limit unless you archive them.
At 500 contacts the difference is a few dollars a month. As a list grows into the thousands, the gap widens, and Mailchimp's Standard and Premium plans become significantly more expensive than Zoho Campaigns' Standard and Professional plans at the same contact count. For a business already paying for Zoho One, Zoho Campaigns is included, which makes the comparison even more one-sided.
Zoho Campaigns' Forever Free plan covers up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month, which is enough for a small business to run a real newsletter. Mailchimp's free plan has been cut back several times and now covers only 250 contacts, which suits testing more than ongoing use. Neither free plan includes the automation most businesses eventually want.
Both tools handle the automations small businesses need most: welcome series, nurture sequences and follow-ups triggered by sign-ups, clicks or dates. Mailchimp reserves its multi-step customer journey builder with branching for the Standard plan and above. Zoho Campaigns includes workflows on its paid plans, and when connected to Zoho CRM, workflows can respond to changes in the CRM record, such as a lead becoming a customer.
This is often the deciding factor. Zoho Campaigns' strength is depth inside Zoho: Zoho CRM, Bigin, Zoho Forms, SalesIQ and the rest of Zoho One share data without third-party connectors. Mailchimp's strength is breadth: it connects to a very wide range of third-party apps, ecommerce platforms and CRMs. If most of your business runs on Zoho, Campaigns fits naturally. If you use many tools from different vendors, Mailchimp may need fewer workarounds.
Mailchimp has long been popular with online stores, with strong Shopify and ecommerce integrations for abandoned cart emails, product recommendations and purchase follow-ups. Zoho Campaigns offers ecommerce automation on its Professional plan and works naturally with Zoho Commerce. Stores built on Shopify or WooCommerce with no other Zoho apps often lean toward Mailchimp; stores using Zoho Commerce, Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books are usually better served by Zoho Campaigns.
Both tools offer drag-and-drop editors and template galleries that non-designers can use. Mailchimp's interface is polished and widely known, with a large template library and built-in AI writing tools on higher plans. Zoho Campaigns' interface follows the style of other Zoho apps, which feels familiar to Zoho users. For most teams, either can be learned in an afternoon.
Starting prices hide most of the difference. To compare properly, put the same numbers into both pricing calculators:
Your contact count today and your expected count in twelve months.
How many emails you send per month, including automations.
Whether unsubscribed or inactive contacts will stay in your account.
The features you need, which decide the plan, such as advanced automation or ecommerce.
Add-ons you will pay for, such as SMS or extra users.
Compare the annual cost at your twelve-month list size. That number, not the 500-contact starting price, is what you will actually pay.
Both tools report on deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes, with link and device breakdowns. The difference is what happens after the click: with Zoho CRM connected, Zoho Campaigns activity sits on the same record as the deal, so you can report on revenue by campaign. On support, Mailchimp reserves phone support for its Premium plan, while Zoho lists phone support among the features of its paid Campaigns plans. Check both providers' current support terms for your plan.
| Your situation | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You use Zoho CRM, Bigin or Zoho One | Zoho Campaigns | Native data sync, included in Zoho One |
| Your list is growing past a few thousand contacts | Zoho Campaigns | Lower cost per contact and unlimited emails |
| You run a Shopify store with no Zoho apps | Mailchimp | Mature ecommerce integrations |
| You depend on many non-Zoho apps | Mailchimp | Broader third-party integration catalog |
| You send a small newsletter on a tight budget | Zoho Campaigns | More generous free plan |
Clean your Mailchimp audience: remove unsubscribed, bounced and long-inactive contacts before you export.
Export your audience with consent details, tags and the fields you use for segmentation.
Authenticate your sending domain in Zoho Campaigns.
Import contacts into lists, or connect Zoho CRM and sync lists from CRM views if your contacts already live there.
Rebuild your key templates and automations, starting with the welcome series.
Start sending to your most engaged contacts first, then build up to the full list over a few campaigns.
Keep Mailchimp active until your first campaigns and automations run cleanly in Zoho.
For a small business with one or two lists and a handful of automations, moving from Mailchimp to Zoho Campaigns usually takes one to two weeks. Exporting and importing contacts takes minutes; the time goes into cleaning the list, authenticating the domain, rebuilding templates and automations, and building sending volume gradually so inbox providers recognize your new setup. Run both tools in parallel for the first few campaigns, then close the Mailchimp account once everything has been confirmed in Zoho.
Usually, yes. Both price by contacts, but Zoho Campaigns' paid plans include unlimited emails and start lower, and the gap widens as lists grow. Zoho Campaigns is also included in Zoho One.
Zoho Campaigns. Its Forever Free plan covers up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails per month, while Mailchimp's free plan now covers only 250 contacts.
Yes, especially for businesses using Zoho CRM or Zoho One. It offers similar core features, native CRM sync and lower pricing per contact. Mailchimp remains stronger for broad third-party and Shopify-focused ecommerce integrations.
Yes. Export your Mailchimp audience with consent details and fields, authenticate your domain in Zoho Campaigns, then import the contacts or sync them from Zoho CRM. Rebuild templates and automations before switching fully.
Integrations between Mailchimp and Zoho CRM exist through connectors, but they are not native. Zoho Campaigns syncs with Zoho CRM directly, which is simpler to maintain for businesses that already run on Zoho.
Both are easy to learn. Mailchimp's interface is polished and widely known, while Zoho Campaigns feels familiar to anyone using other Zoho apps. Most teams can send a first campaign in either tool within an afternoon.
A planned move protects your deliverability and keeps your automations running from day one.