Mailchimp vs Zoho Campaigns
Mailchimp is a all-in-one marketing platform while Zoho Campaigns is a email marketing platform. Mailchimp has been around since 2001, giving it a 11-year head start over Zoho Campaigns (founded 2012). Zoho Campaigns is the more affordable option at $3.5/mo — that's $9.5 less than Mailchimp's $13/mo entry point. Both offer free plans to get started. Mailchimp has the edge with landing pages, advanced analytics.
Quick Verdict
Mailchimp wins on deliverability, integrations.
Zoho Campaigns wins on price.
Best for most users: Mailchimp (small businesses).
Mailchimp
Turn emails into revenue
Mailchimp is the most widely recognized email marketing platform, used by millions of businesses worldwide. Acquired by Intuit in 2021, it offers a full suite of marketing tools but has become increasingly expensive compared to alternatives.
Zoho Campaigns
Affordable email marketing deeply integrated with the Zoho ecosystem
Zoho Campaigns is the email marketing arm of the Zoho ecosystem, launched in 2012 and designed to work directly with Zoho CRM, Zoho One, and 45+ other Zoho products. Its standout value proposition is extraordinary affordability — starting at just $3.50/month with unlimited email sends — making it one of the cheapest full-featured email marketing platforms available. For businesses already invested in Zoho's suite, the native CRM sync eliminates the data silos that plague multi-tool setups.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Mailchimp | Zoho Campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.3/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Starting Price | $13/mo | $3.5/mo |
| Free Plan | 250 contacts, 500 emails/month | 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails/month, 5 users |
| Founded | 2001 | 2012 |
| Email Templates | 100 | 50 |
| Integrations | 300 | 40 |
| Deliverability Rate | 96% | 95% |
| Marketing Automation | ✓ | ✓ |
| A/B Testing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Landing Pages | ✓ | ✕ |
| Segmentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Drag & Drop Editor | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS Marketing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ecommerce Features | ✓ | ✓ |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Language | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web Push Notifications | ✕ | ✕ |
| Live Chat | ✕ | ✓ |
| Advanced Analytics | ✓ | ✕ |
Mailchimp: Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Most recognized brand in email marketing
- +Excellent drag-and-drop editor
- +300+ integrations with third-party tools
- +Strong analytics and reporting
- +Good for beginners with guided setup
Cons
- −Free plan severely limited (500 contacts, 1,000 sends)
- −Premium plan is expensive ($350/mo)
- −Charges for unsubscribed contacts
- −Affiliate marketing restricted
- −Deliverability has declined in recent years
Zoho Campaigns: Pros & Cons
Pros
- +Native two-way sync with Zoho CRM auto-updates email lists when contacts become customers, eliminating manual data transfers
- +Exceptionally affordable starting at $3.50/month for 500 contacts with unlimited emails — one of the lowest entry points in the market
- +Forever Free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 6,000 emails/month, and 5 users, generous for small teams getting started
- +Professional plan includes 25+ workflow automation components with contact scoring, cart abandonment, and optimal send-time optimization
- +14-day free trial with full feature access and no credit card required lets users test all capabilities before committing
Cons
- −Email deliverability is inconsistent with users reporting emails failing for no clear reason and higher-than-expected bounce rates
- −Interface design feels dated compared to modern competitors with slow loading times that impact daily workflow productivity
- −No built-in landing page builder — a significant gap when competitors like Mailchimp and MailerLite include this feature
- −Third-party integrations outside the Zoho ecosystem are limited to around 40 native connections, requiring middleware for most external tools
- −Reporting lacks real-time insights and advanced customization, falling behind competitors on campaign performance analytics depth
The Verdict
Mailchimp and Zoho Campaigns are closely matched — both score within 0.0 points of each other in our overall rating. Your decision should come down to specific needs rather than overall quality. On deliverability, Mailchimp reports 96% compared to 95% for Zoho Campaigns — a meaningful difference if inbox placement is critical for your campaigns.
| Criterion | Weight | Mailchimp | Zoho Campaigns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | 30% | $13/mo | $3.5/mo |
| Deliverability | 25% | 96% | 95% |
| Rating | 25% | 4.3/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Integrations | 10% | 300 | 40 |
| Free Tier | 10% | Yes | Yes |
Weights determine how much each criterion counts toward the final score. See full methodology
Choose Mailchimp if…
- + You need built-in landing pages
- + You need advanced analytics
- + You're a small businesses
- + You're a beginners
Choose Zoho Campaigns if…
- + You want lower starting costs ($3.5/mo)
- + You're a small businesses already using zoho crm or zoho one
- + You're a budget conscious startups needing email marketing under $10/month