Mailchimp vs GetResponse — which should you choose?

Mailchimp is the best-known name on the market and GetResponse one of the two European all-rounders in our comparison. The comparison is unusually straightforward: GetResponse wins on price and data location, i.e. on both axes this site usually settles a choice by. Mailchimp’s answer is two things you cannot see on the price list.

The short answer

Choose GetResponse if the list is over a thousand names. It is cheaper at both the 2,500 and the 10,000-contact list, at the larger one by €319 a year, and the data stays in the EU.

Choose Mailchimp if the integrations have already been built around it or if you want list checking inside the app: Omnivore checks imports automatically on every account, while GetResponse’s deliverability team is only on the MAX tier.

Comparison table

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Prices exclude VAT, billed monthly unless stated otherwise.

• The price is the monthly price of the cheapest paid plan at that list size. The Free plan column shows when you do not have to pay.
• GetResponse: the smallest list sold is 1,000 contacts, so the 500-contact column shows that price.

Prices side by side

Both price by contact count and both in euros, so the figures are directly comparable. The gap grows with the list.

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Cheapest paid plans (Mailchimp Essentials, GetResponse Starter) read from the price lists (Mailchimp, GetResponse) on 3 September 2026, monthly prices excluding VAT. GetResponse’s smallest list sold is 1,000 contacts, so the 500-contact row shows the price for a thousand contacts. Mailchimp’s figure is the list price after the first-year discount.

Two things deepen the gap outside the table. Mailchimp’s price is the list price after the first year: the first 12 months are sold cheaper, so the comparison is often made at the discounted price and the bill rises later. And Mailchimp’s contact tiers are bands, so one subscriber over the band’s edge moves the whole bill to the next tier. Overage fees are opened up separately: Mailchimp’s overage fees.

Data location: the EU against the United States

GetResponse is a Polish company and its servers are in the EU. Mailchimp is part of the US Intuit group, and the transfer of personal data outside the EU relies on the Data Privacy Framework and standard clauses. Both read from the services’ own privacy policies on 3 September 2026.

The transfer is not prohibited and using Mailchimp is not unlawful. The difference is in the amount of work and in what you have to explain: a transfer outside the EU is recorded in your own policy with its transfer basis, and when a customer asks, the answer is longer. For GetResponse the entry stays short. What to check and what to record: email marketing and GDPR.

Deliverability: Omnivore against a MAX-plan team

We do not test deliverability ourselves. Below are two things: Tooltester’s 2017–2024 series as history — it ended in January 2024, and the source no longer stands behind its method — and eight points from the services’ own help pages, which are the current basis of this comparison.

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Tooltester ended the series with the January 2024 round and explained why in August 2026: seed lists proved unreliable and providers started optimising for them. The figures are therefore history, not a measurement of current deliverability.

Source: Tooltester deliverability test, 12 rounds 8/2017–1/2024. About 80 seed addresses, 28 providers, shared IP addresses. Average across all platforms in the latest round 83.1%. Average and range calculated from the published rounds.

Deliverability features from the help docs

Eight points read from each provider’s own help pages on 13 September 2026. This replaces percentages as a buying basis: a feature can be checked and dated, a seed-list result no longer can. Every cell links to the article it was read from.

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Yes = the help page describes the feature. No = the help page says it is absent or points to an external tool. — = not found in the help pages; that does not mean the feature is absent.

As history: in Tooltester’s series Mailchimp’s average was 87.6% and its range the narrowest of the five we compare; GetResponse’s average was 83.8% with an upward trend at the end. The series ended in January 2024.

Read from the help pages, the difference is in two points, and they land on senders of different sizes. Mailchimp’s Omnivore checks every import automatically and applies to every account. GetResponse’s dedicated IP addresses and deliverability team are only on the MAX plan, which a small business does not buy. Both have a list cleaning tool — at GetResponse the List hygiene page — and the basics in the help pages are the same.

Most of deliverability is still the sender’s own responsibility — authentication, list quality and sending pace: what Gmail and Yahoo require of senders.

Contact counting — the same direction at both

The price list says what a thousand contacts cost. It does not say what counts as a contact, and in this pair the answer is unfavourable at both.

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The rules are read from the providers’ own help pages. “Not read” means the rule could not be opened in the original source — we do not guess it in either direction.

• Mailchimp. An unsubscribed contact counts toward the monthly limit, as do non-subscribers who ended up in the account by other routes. Archived, cleaned and deleted contacts do not count, so lowering the bill takes a separate step: the contacts have to be archived, not just allowed to unsubscribe.
• GetResponse. Billing is set by two figures: the month’s highest number of active contacts and the total number of contacts added during the month, regardless of what later happens to them. The same address on several lists is counted several times. Exceeding the limit is not a one-off charge but recurs every billing period, on an annual contract too, and above 100,000 contacts the charge is $4 for every thousand started.

At Mailchimp an unsubscribed contact counts toward the monthly limit until it is archived separately, as do non-subscribers who ended up in the account by other routes. At GetResponse there are three traps: billing is set by the month’s highest number of active contacts, additionally by the total number of contacts added during the month, and the same address on several lists is counted several times.

At both, then, the bill follows the list’s history rather than its current size, and at both lowering it takes a separate step. That is rare: in most pairs in our comparison at least one is more lenient here. All seven rules side by side: how contacts are counted.

What else the price includes

GetResponse has webinars built in and sending is unlimited on every paid plan. If you run webinars, calculate what a separate tool would cost.

Mailchimp has over 300 integrations and the best-known name on the market. That is not an empty advantage: a ready connector exists for most e-commerce and publishing platforms, guides are plentiful, and finding someone who knows the tool is easier. If the integrations have already been built around Mailchimp, they are the real price of the move — not the monthly fee.

A third option if you are leaving Mailchimp

GetResponse is not the only direction. At a 10,000-contact list Brevo asks €28 a month, less than GetResponse’s €69, and it is an EU provider too; the flip side is that its price follows sending volume. For a list under 2,500 names EmailOctopus is enough for free. All directions and savings: Mailchimp alternatives.

Which one for you