// head-to-head
Mailchimp vs Loops
Mailchimp is the default. Loops is the developer-first SaaS email tool gaining ground with Y Combinator startups and small SaaS teams.
The short version: Loops costs less, ships with a real transactional API, and treats Markdown templates as first-class. Mailchimp wins on journeys, audience insights, and ecommerce integrations.
No paid rankingsPricing checked June 15, 20262 options
Pricing comparison
| Tool | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Standard (5k contacts) | $100/mo | Scales with contacts. Premium tier required for advanced segmentation past 10k. |
| Loops (10k contacts) | $49/mo | Marketing + transactional included. Free tier covers 1k contacts and 2k emails/mo. |
Who should switch
- ✓SaaS teams that send onboarding, password resets, and product update emails from the same stack.
- ✓Founders who want to write emails in Markdown and trigger them with a single API call.
- ✓Teams that don't need Mailchimp's journey builder or pre-built ecommerce automations.
Who should not switch
- ·Ecommerce stores leaning on Mailchimp's abandoned-cart and product-recommendation flows.
- ·Marketing teams whose entire workflow lives in Mailchimp's Customer Journeys.
- ·Brands that need 10+ years of Mailchimp historical data preserved for compliance.
Savings math
- Mailchimp Standard at 5k contacts: $100/mo = $1,200/yr.
- Loops at 10k contacts: $49/mo = $588/yr.
- Monthly savings: $51 · Annual: $612 · 51% cheaper at the same contact size.
- At 25k contacts: Mailchimp ≈ $290/mo vs Loops $99/mo. Saving: ~$2,300/yr.
Caveats
- !Loops' template editor is intentionally minimal. If you need pixel-perfect HTML, build templates yourself.
- !Mailchimp's deliverability reputation is strong out of the box. Loops uses a shared pool that performs well but requires your own domain warm-up.
- !Loops' analytics are simpler than Mailchimp's — no heatmaps or click maps.
Final verdict
If you're a SaaS team under $50k MRR, switch to Loops today and save half. If you're an ecommerce brand or your marketing team lives in Mailchimp's journey builder, stay.
Pricing checked June 15, 2026. We re-verify every comparison page on a rolling basis.
Sources
Related guides
Prices change often — verify on the vendor's site before switching.