HubSpot vs Mailchimp: Pricing and Features Compared [2026]

HubSpot and Mailchimp are two of the biggest names in email marketing. Having been around for 20 and 25 years, respectively, they’ve built huge fan bases, and many of their users will happily tell you their favorite is the only platform worth considering. But is that really true? Let’s find out whether both platforms still deserve their reputation and, more importantly, which one does email marketing better.

TL;DR HubSpot vs Mailchimp comparison at a glance

Mailchimp scored an 8.4/10 in our 2026 hands-on testing, while HubSpot got a 7.9/10. Mailchimp is a better solution for companies focused on email marketing, while HubSpot is only worth its premium price for teams that need email as part of an all-in-one CRM, sales, and marketing platform.

Here’s a quick summary of all the aspects we compared.

HubSpot wins more categories, but Mailchimp takes the top score because the three heaviest-weighted categories (pricing, ease of use, and email features) all go its way. But before you make your decision, let’s look at where each platform excels, because the highest score doesn’t automatically mean it’s the best fit for your business.

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HubSpot vs Mailchimp pricing and feature differences

They’re both in their 20s, both American, and both very popular – but that’s about where the similarities end. Most of the things that matter when choosing an email marketing platform differ quite a lot between HubSpot and Mailchimp. Below, we’ll go through them one by one, starting with the most important: pricing.

Pricing plans

HubSpot: 4/10 | ⭐ Mailchimp: 7/10

Disclaimer: Pricing changes frequently. All prices in this comparison were verified against Mailchimp’s official pricing and HubSpot’s official pricing as of August 26, 2026. Always confirm current costs on the official pages.

Neither HubSpot nor Mailchimp is particularly affordable. HubSpot is an enterprise-level platform with enterprise-level pricing, while Mailchimp is just not among the most affordable email marketing tools on the market.

For this comparison, we included the entry-level and one of the higher-tier plans for both HubSpot and Mailchimp. We also added SendPulse’s Standard plan as a benchmark to show that email marketing doesn’t necessarily have to cost this much.

One more thing: we used Mailchimp’s regular prices, not the 50% introductory discount offered during the first year. Most businesses don’t switch email platforms every 12 months, so what you’ll actually pay after that first year is far more relevant than a temporary discount.

The differences in pricing and even in email sending limits are quite telling. Now the question is whether HubSpot offers something extraordinary enough to justify the price, or if it is simply too expensive. The following sections will tell the full story.

Ease of use and interface

HubSpot: 7/10 | ⭐ Mailchimp: 9/10

While testing both platforms, we concluded that Mailchimp is a tool you can pick up and start using the same day, while HubSpot is software you’ll have to grow into. Both approaches work well, yet for different use cases.

If email marketing is your main focus, Mailchimp is much easier and more enjoyable to work with, while HubSpot shows its value only when you begin using the rest of its tools alongside email.

Here’s how we think the learning curve progresses over time:

Email builder and templates

HubSpot: 8.4/10 | ⭐ Mailchimp: 9.4/10

This category shows why it’s difficult to compare HubSpot and Mailchimp based on the email builder alone. Mailchimp has one of the best email builders we’ve tested, while HubSpot treats email as one part of a much broader marketing system. That’s also why the two platforms are so different in day-to-day use, even when you’re doing the exact same task.

Before we get to the email builder itself, there’s one thing you should know about HubSpot. Unlike almost every other email marketing platform we’ve tested, it starts with a marketing campaign, not a pure email.

Instead of creating a template first, you create a campaign with a goal and then build everything it needs in one place. That can include a landing page, signup form, promotional and automated emails, workflows, ads, social posts, CTAs, follow-up surveys, and more. All assets belong to the same campaign, so your whole team can see what’s finished and how the campaign performs overall.

That’s possible because HubSpot is built around a CRM system. Marketing, sales, and customer data all live in the same system, allowing HubSpot to connect more than 30 different asset types under a single campaign. We haven’t seen anything quite like this in any other platform we’ve reviewed.

Of course, not every business needs this type of functionality. If you’re sending newsletters or occasional promotions, it’s more than you’ll ever use. Still, for B2B companies, agencies, and larger teams running coordinated campaigns across multiple communication channels, it’s one of HubSpot’s biggest advantages.

Now, to the email builder itself. HubSpot’s builder isn’t trying to give you endless design options, but it still has some impressive features. One of them is sender personalization. Instead of sending every email from the same marketing email address, HubSpot can automatically use the contact’s assigned sales representative as a sender. For B2B businesses where every lead has a sales rep, this creates a much more personal experience than a standard marketing email.

The builder also includes several practical tools you don’t normally see. You can exclude specific contact groups directly while building the campaign, monitor email size in real time to avoid overly large messages, collaborate with teammates in the editor, and run A/B tests without leaving the builder. eCommerce businesses also get dedicated Products, Cart, and Payments modules, while larger teams can create custom modules to keep every email consistent with their brand.

If HubSpot focuses on CRM, Mailchimp’s key focus is design. Its builder offers one of the richest editing experiences we’ve tested. Besides the usual formatting options, you can insert anchor links for long emails, place images directly inside text blocks, adjust letter spacing, control borders and rounded corners, and even apply different spacing for desktop and mobile. If you’re very particular about typography and layout, Mailchimp gives you far more control than most competitors.

Overall, both builders are excellent. HubSpot is the better choice if your emails are closely connected to your CRM and sales process, while Mailchimp gives designers much more freedom. If creating polished, pixel-perfect emails is your priority, Mailchimp wins.

Marketing automation

⭐ HubSpot: 9.3/10 | Mailchimp: 7.8/10

Both platforms have visual automation builders, triggers, conditions, and templates, yet in practice, they don’t feel like competitors at all. HubSpot is built for businesses that want to automate almost every customer interaction, while Mailchimp focuses on marketing workflows that are much easier to build but also easier to outgrow.

HubSpot’s automation builder goes far beyond sending emails after someone clicks a link or fills out a form. It can build automations around almost any CRM object, including contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and abandoned carts.

That opens up possibilities you won’t find in a typical email marketing platform. Take abandoned carts. In most tools, the workflow is enrolled on the contact, and “cart abandoned” is simply one of the available triggers. In HubSpot, the workflow can be enrolled on the cart record itself, so you can filter by cart properties like its status or the store it came from. From there, it automatically finds the contacts associated with that cart and sends the appropriate email.

Another thing that stands out is how much business data HubSpot lets you use when building automations. Beyond standard conditions, you can trigger workflows based on AI-powered buyer-intent signals or company data, making it much easier to build highly targeted B2B automations.

Mailchimp is different: instead of focusing on CRM objects, it helps you connect automation to external platforms. One of the most interesting examples is LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. Mailchimp can receive leads directly through its Events API and immediately launch an automation when someone submits a LinkedIn form. If your marketing relies on external tools or custom integrations, this flexibility can be very useful.

The customer journey builder itself is also pleasant to work with. Unlike the traditional vertical layout, Mailchimp uses a freeform canvas where branches spread across the screen, making larger workflows easier to follow. Helpful touches like visible entry filters, clearly marked exit points, and unfinished branch placeholders make building automations more intuitive, even as they become more complex.

For most growing businesses, HubSpot is the more powerful automation platform. Mailchimp remains a good option for simpler marketing workflows.

Contact management

⭐ HubSpot: 9.5/10 | Mailchimp: 7.5/10

Mailchimp does a great job in contact management for traditional email marketing, and most businesses will never run out of segmentation options. But HubSpot is created for companies that want every customer interaction to become usable data. That’s why its segmentation is so much more powerful and why it earns a 2-point higher score.

One important thing to keep in mind with Mailchimp is how contacts are counted. Audiences are separate databases, so the same contact added to multiple audiences is counted multiple times toward your billing limit. This makes keeping your audience structure clean especially important as your list grows.

For a business choosing between HubSpot and Mailchimp specifically for email marketing, the absence of contact tags in HubSpot is a real friction point if the team has a tag-heavy workflow. It’s not a dealbreaker, though, as properties can replicate anything tags do, but it requires a mindset shift and some upfront configuration. For teams coming from a tag-based tool like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, that’s a real adjustment. For anyone already thinking in CRM properties, it’s a non-issue.

Signup forms and landing pages

⭐ HubSpot: 8.8/10 | Mailchimp: 8.5/10

Most businesses won’t choose a platform because one has an extra pop-up trigger or better design options. What happens after someone subscribes is usually the deciding factor. If you need every new lead to go through a sales pipeline, HubSpot wins. If your main goal is to collect email addresses with polished, on-brand forms, Mailchimp can be a more enjoyable tool.

And here’s how they differ in practice. HubSpot’s form builder collects only the information you need. Its standout feature is AI-powered form shortening. Instead of asking returning visitors to fill in the same fields over and over again, HubSpot automatically hides information it already has in the CRM system. If it already has a visitor’s company name or job title, those fields disappear. The result is a shorter form, a better user experience, and potentially higher conversion rates without sacrificing valuable data.

The builder also gives you plenty of control over each field. You can create multi-step forms, add conditional logic, customize placeholders and help text, block specific email domains, and connect every field directly to a CRM property.

Instead of making forms smarter, Mailchimp focuses on making them look exactly the way you want. The builder offers an impressive level of design control. You can create multi-step pop-ups, preview desktop and mobile versions side by side, build reusable style systems that update multiple elements at once, and even customize hover states, animations, shadows, opacity, etc. It’s one of the most design-focused form builders we’ve seen.

So, if you’re choosing an email marketing platform based on its lead generation tools, ask yourself this: do you care more about collecting better data or creating better-looking forms? HubSpot optimizes the experience for the person filling out the form, while Mailchimp optimizes the experience for the person designing it. Which one is better depends entirely on what matters most to your business.

Integrations

⭐ HubSpot: 9.2/10 | Mailchimp: 9/10

This is one of the closest categories in the comparison. HubSpot wins on paper, but that’s largely because it already includes capabilities that Mailchimp expects you to connect through integrations. If your business already runs on several specialized tools, Mailchimp will fit in just fine. If you want to reduce the number of tools your team uses every day, HubSpot has the advantage.

But let’s talk about the CRM system for a minute, because this is one of the biggest differences between the two platforms.

With HubSpot, CRM is the core of the platform. Contacts, companies, deals, and tickets all live in the same database. That means every email open, meeting, deal update, and customer interaction is connected to the same record. When a deal moves from Proposal to Closed Won, HubSpot can automatically send a follow-up email, create a task, notify the team, or trigger another workflow without anyone switching tools. Mailchimp, by comparison, doesn’t have a full-featured CRM system.

AI features

⭐ HubSpot: 9.2/10 | Mailchimp: 6.5/10

While Mailchimp’s AI is like a helpful tool you can turn to when needed, HubSpot’s AI assistant is more like another team member that can take work off your plate. HubSpot integrates AI throughout the platform, while Mailchimp uses it to simplify individual tasks.

For occasional campaigns, Mailchimp’s AI will cover everything you need. But as your workflows become more sophisticated, HubSpot’s AI starts saving time in ways that go beyond writing emails, which explains the much larger score gap in this category.

Deliverability

⭐ HubSpot: 9.5/10 | Mailchimp: 8.5/10

Both platforms follow email marketing best practices for deliverability, but HubSpot provides more tools and insights for managing it. Actual inbox placement still depends on a combination of the platform’s infrastructure and your own sending practices. For high-volume senders, HubSpot’s additional diagnostics and deliverability controls can be a real advantage, while smaller senders may simply have less need for that level of control.

Mailchimp’s lower score is also influenced by customer feedback. On Capterra, 80% of the 585 reviews mentioning deliverability describe negative experiences, making it one of the platform’s most frequently criticized areas. While many users send emails successfully, the volume of complaints suggests deliverability issues occur more often than we’d expect from a platform of this size.

Reporting and analytics

⭐ HubSpot: 9.2/10 | Mailchimp: 8.8/10

Both platforms give you enough data to understand how your marketing is performing, but what’s next? Mailchimp focuses on helping you improve your marketing campaigns, while HubSpot connects marketing performance to the rest of your business. If you want to know which email generated the most clicks, both will tell you, but if you want to understand how your marketing influences sales and revenue, HubSpot will be a better helper.

The small difference in scores reflects that both platforms have strong analytics. HubSpot, however, gives you more room to grow before you outgrow its reporting capabilities.

Customer support

⭐ HubSpot: 7.4/10 | Mailchimp: 7/10

Neither platform stands out for customer support, as they both rely on self-service resources, with direct access to human agents only on higher-priced plans. If you expect to contact support regularly, neither platform is particularly generous. The good news is that both have nice documentation, so you’ll often find the answer yourself before you need to open a ticket.

Support isn’t a strong selling point for either platform, but Mailchimp’s lower Capterra support rating suggests users are more likely to be disappointed when they do need assistance.

What changed in 2025–2026 for Mailchimp and HubSpot?

Both platforms have added plenty of AI capabilities and other new features over the past two years. Looking at them can give you a better sense of where each platform is heading and whether that aligns with your own vision.

What changed in 2025–2026 for Mailchimp?

Mailchimp maintained its four-tier plan lineup (Free, Essentials, Standard, and Premium) and, in 2025-2026, introduced a combination of AI capabilities and everyday feature updates.

• Analytics AI that answers questions about campaign performance and recommends next steps;
• support for both ChatGPT and Claude when creating email and SMS campaigns from a website URL or text prompt;
• enhanced website tracking for Wix and WooCommerce;
• reusable saved email sections for faster email creation;
• MMS support on Standard and Premium (US and Canada) with built-in SMS age verification.

What changed in 2025–2026 for HubSpot?

HubSpot introduced significant changes to its price structure, transitioning partially to seat-based pricing, which ended up in a hybrid model. Now the platform is more expensive for growing teams. Breeze AI agents also switched to usage-based charging.

HubSpot introduced several major features, including the following:

• Data Hub, replacing Operations Hub with expanded data capabilities;
• Breeze Marketplace with 15+ AI agents for marketing, sales, and customer service;
• smarter Breeze Assistant with web search, memory, file uploads, and Google Workspace and Slack integrations;
• Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for improving visibility in AI search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity;
• Smart Deal Progression, using AI to analyze meetings, update CRM records, and draft follow-up emails.

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HubSpot and Mailchimp pros and cons

Here we’ve gathered the most important strengths and weaknesses of HubSpot and Mailchimp, so you can see them all at a glance before deciding which platform to choose.

Your decision checklist

Now that you’ve seen how HubSpot and Mailchimp compare, use this checklist to make sure you’re choosing the right platform for your business.

If three or more answers point to one platform, that’s a strong sign it’s the better fit. But before making your final decision, consider where your business is heading. The best email marketing platform is the one that will still support your business as it grows over the coming months and years.

Final verdict and recommendations

⚖️ Final scores: HubSpot – 7.9/10 | Mailchimp – 8.4/10

Our scores put Mailchimp ahead as an email marketing platform, and for most businesses, we think that’s the right call. HubSpot’s higher price makes more sense when you also use its CRM, sales, and customer service tools. If email marketing is your main priority, paying for the broader platform may be difficult to justify.

If Mailchimp isn’t quite right for you either, there are several alternatives worth considering:

• SendPulse if you want an AI-powered platform that combines email marketing, chatbot automation, and CRM for managing and nurturing leads.
• ActiveCampaign if you need more advanced marketing automation and complex customer journeys.
• Kit if you’re a creator or newsletter-based business looking for subscriber-focused tools and a generous free plan.
• MailerLite if you want a simpler, more affordable email marketing platform for a small business or creator brand.
• Klaviyo if you run an eCommerce business and need more advanced personalization and revenue-focused automation.

The good news is that whichever direction you go, you’ll end up with a mature platform that’s trusted by millions of businesses. The challenge here is not to find the best platform, but the one that best matches how your team works.