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Both tools send emails, run automations, and help you grow a list — but they make different bets on what “email marketing software” actually means. Mailchimp doubles down on audience intelligence, behavioural targeting, and a free entry point that scales with contact count. GetResponse leans into a broader toolkit that spans AI-driven campaign creation, ecommerce features, course building, and monetisation tools alongside the email core. Neither is simply “better” — the right pick depends on where you’re starting and where you’re going.
The Core Difference
Mailchimp’s positioning is squarely around email marketing, SMS, automation, social ads, landing pages, and audience management — with features like Predictive Demographics, Behavioral Targeting, and a Marketing CRM built in. It’s explicitly pitched at small businesses, professional services, mid-market, and entertainment/leisure operators.
GetResponse positions itself around AI-driven emails, automation, landing pages, and ecommerce tools — and then goes further into territory Mailchimp doesn’t visibly enter: an AI Course Creator, Premium Newsletters, a Creator’s Profile, a Conversion Funnel builder, an AI Website Builder, and Live Chats. It also surfaces features aimed at monetising an audience (courses, paid newsletter subscriptions via GetResponse HUB) rather than purely growing and messaging one.
Pricing
This is where the two tools diverge most sharply. Mailchimp prices by contact count — the numbers you see below are floor prices at the minimum audience size, and they climb as your list grows. GetResponse’s published prices are flat per tier (contact-count scaling is not stated in the captured data).
Side-by-Side Pricing Table
| Plan | Mailchimp | GetResponse |
|---|---|---|
| Free / Entry | $0/month (up to 250 contacts) | — |
| Entry paid | $13/month (Essentials, from 500 contacts), billed monthly | $19/month (Starter), billed monthly / $15.58/month, billed annually |
| Mid tier | $20/month (Standard, from 500 contacts), billed monthly | $59/month (Marketer), billed monthly / $48.38/month, billed annually |
| Upper mid | — | $69/month (Creator), billed monthly / $56.58/month, billed annually |
| Top tier | $350/month (Premium, from 10,000 contacts), billed monthly | Enterprise — contact sales |
A few honest notes on these numbers:
- Mailchimp’s $0 Free plan is a genuine starting point, but it caps at 250 contacts — it’s a try-before-you-buy tier, not a long-term home for a growing list.
- Mailchimp’s paid prices are floor prices; your bill scales with contact count, so $13 and $20 will rise as your audience grows. GetResponse’s contact-count scaling is not specified in the captured data.
- GetResponse offers an annual billing discount across its Starter, Marketer, and Creator plans; Mailchimp’s captured pricing does not include an annual billing option.
- Both tools have a top tier requiring a sales conversation: Mailchimp’s Premium starts at $350/month (minimum 10,000 contacts); GetResponse’s Enterprise is quote-only.
Some Mailchimp users report friction around price and value as their lists scale — worth factoring in if you’re growing fast.
Features: Where They Overlap and Where They Don’t
Email & Automation (Both)
Both platforms cover the email marketing fundamentals: email builders, automation, A/B testing, templates, signup forms, landing pages, and SMS marketing. Neither is thin here.
- Mailchimp captures: A/B Testing, Marketing Automation Flows, Email Builder, Email Templates, Subject Line Helper, Generative AI tools, Transactional Email, and Audience Management including Behavioral Targeting, Marketing CRM, and Predictive Demographics.
- GetResponse captures: AI Email Generator, AI Campaign Generator, AI Writing Assistant, Visual Workflow Builder, Autoresponders, Send-Time Optimization, Web Events, Advanced Triggering, Prebuilt Templates, AI Landing Pages, Popups and Forms, and Web Push Notifications.
Both have AI-assisted content features. GetResponse names an AI Campaign Generator and AI Writing Assistant explicitly; Mailchimp names Generative AI and a Subject Line Helper.
Audience & CRM
Mailchimp’s captured features include a Marketing CRM, Behavioral Targeting, and Predictive Demographics — tools aimed at understanding and segmenting your audience based on data signals. GetResponse does not surface equivalent named features in its captured data.
Ecommerce & Monetisation
GetResponse captures Ecommerce Integrations, Abandoned Cart recovery, Product Recommendations, and a Conversion Funnel builder — all pointed at selling. It also captures an AI Course Creator, Premium Newsletters, Creator’s Profile, and GetResponse HUB (described as a place to manage courses and paid newsletter subscriptions). Mailchimp’s captured features do not include these categories.
Website & Pages
GetResponse captures an AI Website Builder with a drag-and-drop editor and predesigned templates, alongside AI Landing Pages. Mailchimp captures Landing Pages as a feature category, but not a full website builder.
Live Engagement
GetResponse captures Live Chats (“connect with your customers instantly, thanks to easily embedded direct chats”). This does not appear in Mailchimp’s captured features.
Social & Content
Mailchimp captures Social Media Marketing and a Content Studio with Dynamic Content. GetResponse captures Paid Ads. These aren’t identical overlaps.
Developer & API Access
Mailchimp captures a Marketing API, Transactional API, and Developer Tools. GetResponse captures API Docs.
User Experience Signals
In the reviews we scanned, no recurring complaint patterns stood out for GetResponse — worth noting neutrally, not as a verdict.
For Mailchimp, some users report friction with customer support, invoicing and payments, price/value (particularly relevant as lists grow), the mobile app, and reliability/bugs. These are signals worth asking about in any evaluation, not dealbreakers in isolation.
Who Each Tool Is For
The captured features point toward different primary audiences:
Mailchimp explicitly names Small Business, Professional Services, Mid Market, and Entertainment & Leisure as its industry/solution targets. Its feature set emphasises understanding and messaging an audience — CRM, behavioural targeting, predictive tools — alongside the standard email and automation stack.
GetResponse surfaces a notably broader range of use cases in its captured features: beyond email and automation, it covers ecommerce selling (abandoned cart, recommendations, conversion funnels), knowledge monetisation (courses, paid newsletters), and live engagement (chats, web push). A “Creator” plan tier name — alongside an AI Course Creator, Premium Newsletters, and Creator’s Profile — signals that content creators and knowledge sellers are an intended audience alongside marketers.
Choose Mailchimp If…
- You want a $0 free plan to start with no upfront cost (up to 250 contacts).
- Your priority is audience intelligence — behavioural targeting, a marketing CRM, and predictive demographics are captured Mailchimp features with no equivalent in GetResponse’s captured data.
- You want transactional email in the same platform (captured for Mailchimp; not present in GetResponse’s captured features).
- You’re in small business, professional services, or mid-market and want a tool explicitly positioned for those segments.
Choose GetResponse If…
- You want annual billing discounts — GetResponse publishes annual pricing across three tiers; Mailchimp’s captured pricing does not include an annual option.
- You need ecommerce-specific features like abandoned cart recovery, product recommendations, and conversion funnels.
- You want to monetise content — courses, paid newsletters, and GetResponse HUB are captured GetResponse features with no counterpart in Mailchimp’s captured data.
- You want a website builder alongside your email tools (GetResponse captures an AI Website Builder; Mailchimp does not).
- You want live chat embedded in the same platform (captured for GetResponse; not present in Mailchimp’s captured features).
- Your list is large enough that Mailchimp’s contact-count pricing model would push costs significantly higher — GetResponse’s flat-tier pricing may be more predictable at scale (though their Enterprise tier is also quote-only).
Bottom line: If you’re starting from zero and want to dip in for free, Mailchimp hands you a no-cost entry point. If you want ecommerce tools, course monetisation, or a website builder baked into your email platform, GetResponse’s captured feature set covers ground Mailchimp’s doesn’t. Neither is a clear winner on every dimension — the question is which set of captured capabilities matches what you actually need to do.