Mailchimp was founded in 2001 by Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius as a side project while they ran a web design agency. It didn’t take off until they introduced a freemium model in 2009, which catapulted growth to millions of users. Intuit acquired Mailchimp in 2021 for approximately $12 billion.
The platform started as a simple email newsletter tool but has expanded into a full marketing platform. You can build landing pages, create social media ads, set up automated email sequences, and manage customer data — all from one dashboard.
Mailchimp’s email builder uses a drag-and-drop editor with a solid template library. The automation features range from simple welcome sequences to complex customer journeys with branching logic based on behavior and engagement.
The audience management tools include segmentation, tags, predicted demographics, and customer lifetime value scores. Reporting covers open rates, click rates, revenue attribution, and comparative performance.
Since the Intuit acquisition, Mailchimp has integrated more closely with QuickBooks for revenue tracking and small business financial data. The platform now positions itself as a broader marketing and commerce tool rather than just email.
The free tier allows up to 500 contacts and 1,000 email sends per month. Paid plans start at $13/month and scale based on contact count and features. The pricing has gotten more expensive over the years, which has pushed some users toward alternatives like ConvertKit or Brevo.
Mailchimp is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and employs around 1,200 people.
