Mailchimp's Free Plan Shrank to 250 Contacts in 2026

Mailchimp's free plan now allows 250 contacts, 500 email sends a month and a hard cap of 250 sends a day. The limits took effect on 17 February 2026, down from 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends. One audience, one user seat, basic reporting, and sending pauses entirely once you pass 250 contacts.¹

That is the smallest contact allowance of any email platform in this series. Kit gives away 10,000 subscribers. Brevo stores 100,000 contacts. Mailchimp gives you a quarter of a thousand and asks you to choose a paid plan the moment you outgrow a small room.

The limitation is not really the send count. It is the wall: contact 251 stops your campaigns rather than triggering a polite upgrade prompt.²

What you actually get

Those numbers come straight from Mailchimp's own pricing help article, which is the only place the daily cap is stated clearly. The marketing page shows the monthly figure and leaves the rest to the small print.

What changed in February 2026

Before 17 February the free tier allowed 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly sends, which was already the tightest in the category but usable for a small list.

The revision halved both. It also introduced the 250-a-day ceiling, which matters more than it looks: a single campaign to a full list now consumes the entire day's allowance.

Mailchimp did not frame this as a cut. The help page simply states the current limits and notes that sending is paused while your audience exceeds 250 contacts. Existing accounts were moved onto the new terms rather than grandfathered.

Why the daily cap matters more than the monthly one

Five hundred sends a month sounds like two campaigns of 250. In practice it is exactly that, and nothing else.

If you send a weekly newsletter to 250 people, you exhaust the monthly allowance after two weeks. Weeks three and four do not send.

The 250-a-day cap then prevents catching up in a single burst. Two sends a day to the same 250 contacts is impossible under this plan.

For a list of 100, the arithmetic improves: five campaigns a month fit, or roughly one a week. That is the realistic free use case, and it is a small one.

The contact wall

At 251 contacts, Mailchimp stops sending. The account stays accessible and the list stays intact, but campaigns are held until you either trim the audience or upgrade.

This is harsher than a soft limit. Other platforms throttle features or add a watermark; Mailchimp removes the core function.

Trimming is possible and worth knowing about. Archiving inactive contacts removes them from the sendable count without deleting their history, which can buy a few hundred more free days.

What still works well on free

The form builder, landing pages and basic templates are genuinely good, and they are the part of Mailchimp that earned its reputation.

Basic reporting covers opens, clicks and a small dashboard. The audience management screens are still the clearest in the business.

Domain authentication is available on free, which matters: it means your sending domain can carry your own DKIM signature even before you pay.

How it compares

Brevo's free tier allows 300 sends a day and stores 100,000 contacts without charging. MailerLite gives 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails with two seats.

Kit is in a different category entirely: 10,000 subscribers, unlimited sends, no daily cap. beehiiv also sends without a volume limit on its free tier.

On raw allowance Mailchimp loses to all four. What it still wins is brand recognition and template quality, which explains why people stay.

HubSpot is the only other free tier here with a comparable contact limit, and it pairs 1,000 contacts with an actual CRM. If the list exists to feed a sales pipeline, that trade is worth understanding before paying Mailchimp for a smaller one.

When it is enough

A hobby list under 250 people that sends twice a month or less. A small shop announcing restocks. A club newsletter to members who all know each other.

Anyone using Mailchimp's forms embedded on a site as a signup capture, and not caring much about sending, will find the free tier adequate for a long time.

It also suits someone who needs one good-looking campaign a month and has no intention of building an automation.

When it stops being enough

The first time you write a third campaign in a month and the send button is already unavailable.

The first time a waitlist pushes you to 260 contacts and nothing sends at all.

At that point the honest comparison is not Mailchimp Essentials at $13 against free. It is Essentials against Kit at $0 for the next 9,750 subscribers, and that comparison is not close.

Frequently asked questions

How many contacts does Mailchimp's free plan allow?
250 contacts, as of 17 February 2026. It was 500 before that date.

How many emails can I send a month for free?
500 a month, with a maximum of 250 in a single day.

What happens if I go over 250 contacts?
Sending is paused until the audience is reduced or the account is upgraded. The list and account remain accessible.

Does Mailchimp require a card for the free plan?
No. The free plan does not require payment details, though upgrades and the trial do.

Does the free plan include automation?
Only basic single-step automation. Multi-step customer journeys are a paid feature.

Is the free plan still worth using?
For a list under 250 sending twice a month, yes. Beyond that, Kit and Brevo both offer far more at zero cost.

Contact limits, send caps and the February 2026 revision verified against Mailchimp's pricing help article on 20 October 2026. Paid tier starting prices also checked against the marketing pricing page the same day.

Sources

1. Mailchimp help: about pricing plans: mailchimp.com/help/about-mailchimp-pricing-plans. Used for: 250 contacts, 500 monthly sends and the 250-a-day cap.
2. Mailchimp marketing pricing: mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing.

All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.