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Comparing GetResponse vs. Mailchimp — two popular email marketing platforms — reveals that both suit small businesses and ecommerce stores looking for an entry point into email marketing. Each has pre-built automations, segmentation tools, analytics, and integrations for commonly used tools and platforms.

Mailchimp’s monthly pricing is lower as its cheapest plan supports contact lists as low as 500, while GetResponse’s starts from 1,000.

As you scale, the pricing equalizes, and GetResponse can be cheaper. Mailchimp offers a free plan, but it’s too limited for most marketing scenarios.

Upgrading your account to a mid-tier option, such as Mailchimp Standard and GetResponse Marketer, gives you comparable features and capabilities, like advanced segmentation, revenue tracking, and custom reports.

There’s much more to cover before deciding which is better for your business. Join us below for a complete comparison of Mailchimp vs. GetResponse.

Mailchimp vs. GetResponse — key takeaways

• GetResponse and Mailchimp both target small businesses and ecommerce stores
• Pricing varies by list size, with Mailchimp offering a free plan and GetResponse providing unlimited email allocation on paid plans
• GetResponse leads in automation capabilities, offering more pre-built workflows suitable for ecommerce across all plans
• GetResponse outperforms Mailchimp in AI features, providing more advanced email generation and subject line tools
• Mailchimp does SMS marketing but not push messages, while GetResponse does push messages but not SMS (unless you go for the custom Enterprise plan)
• Both platforms offer similar reporting and analytics, with GetResponse providing slightly more detailed revenue tracking

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: Overview

Check out this table for a basic comparison of GetResponse and Mailchimp:

Feature	GetResponse	Mailchimp
Automation	More pre-built automations across all plans, transactional emails from the Marketer plan	Single-step automations on basic plans, multi-step on Standard, transactional emails available as an add-on
Segmentation	Eight conditions and eight condition groups	Five conditions on basic plans, unlimited on Standard
Integrations	Covers key platforms like WordPress and Shopify	250+ pre-built integrations
AI	OpenAI-powered email generation, subject line tools	Intuit Assist (beta) for workflow and content prediction
Reporting and analytics	Tracks opens, clicks, conversions, ecommerce and newsletter revenue, plus offers custom reports from the Marketer plan	Standard metrics, custom reports on higher tiers, ecommerce revenue
Templates	150+ templates, HTML editing on all plans	100+ templates, custom HTML on Standard plan
Multichannel	Push notifications on higher tiers	SMS on higher tiers
Support	24/7 chat, phone support only on Enterprise	24/7 chat and email, phone support on Premium plan

GetResponse is a better fit for ecommerce as it’s the only platform offering transactional emails in its plans. Mailchimp doesn’t provide these without an add-on, so it’s more suited to service-based businesses wanting to build simpler campaigns.

Another distinction is Mailchimp offers SMS marketing capabilities on all paid plans while GetResponse only supports it in its custom-priced Enterprise plan.

Mailchimp vs. GetResponse: Plans and pricing

Both platforms offer 30-day free trials without credit cards. Mailchimp has three paid plans plus a permanent free tier with basic features, while GetResponse has four paid plans.

Here’s a comparison of each platform’s plans:

Plan	GetResponse	Mailchimp
Free plan	Not available	Yes (max of 1,000 emails/month or 500/day)
GetResponse Starter / Mailchimp Essentials	$19/month (unlimited emails on all plans)	$13/month (email send limit of 10x contacts)
GetResponse Marketer / Mailchimp Standard	$59/month	$20/month (email send limit of 12x contacts)
GetResponse Creator / Mailchimp Premium	$69/month	$350/month (email send limit of 14x contacts)

While Mailchimp is the cheapest platform for its low-tier plan, that isn’t the end of the story. GetResponse’s unlimited email allocation can be more cost-effective for large campaigns, and as you scale your list size, its pricing works out cheaper.

For example, GetResponse Marketer charges $95/month for a 5,000-list size, while Mailchimp Standard charges $100/month for the same list size. Upgrading to a 10,000-list size costs $114/month for GetResponse and $135/month for Mailchimp.

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: Features

GetResponse and Mailchimp have comprehensive email marketing features covering all customer journey stages.

There’s plenty of feature overlap, but the takeaway is that Mailchimp’s feature set is best for service-based businesses wanting to create marketing campaigns. In contrast, GetResponse’s features are more suitable for the automated workflow requirements of ecommerce.

• Automation capabilities
• Segmentation
• Integrations and compatibility
• AI features
• Reporting and analytics
• Templates
• Multichannel features

Automation capabilities

When comparing Mailchimp vs. GetResponse, Mailchimp has pre-built journeys and single-step automations in its Essentials plan as part of its Classic Automations Builder, letting you send one email based on a trigger:

The Standard plan unlocks multi-step automations, multiple starting points, and branching points to build more complex workflows. All paid plans have the abandoned cart workflow and the Customer Journey Builder to help you map out automated emails.

GetResponse has more pre-built automations, with templates covering common customer scenarios. It also lets you build custom automations across all plans. 

Here are a few examples from its Automation templates library:

The Marketer plan provides abandoned, event-based, and visited URL triggers, contact scoring, and quick transactional emails. 

It’s crucial to know that transactional emails in Mailchimp are only available as an add-on to the Standard or Premium plans. You’ll buy blocks of Mailchimp Transactional credits at a recurring monthly rate, which could be very expensive. 

The winner: GetResponse. It’s the more capable platform for email automations that refine your customer experience during pre- and post-purchase stages. However, Mailchimp’s automations are easy to use and suit basic requirements.

Segmentation

Both platforms offer extensive email segmentation. Mailchimp allows five conditions per segment in basic plans, expanding to unlimited conditions from the Standard plan.

You can segment based on email engagement, demographics, predicted analytics (age, gender, location), campaign activity, and purchase behavior. It includes advanced features like predictive lifetime value and purchase likelihood segmentation.

Creating a segment in Mailchimp requires navigating to Audience > Segments in your sidebar:

GetResponse lets you group subscribers with eight conditions and eight condition groups. You can create segments based on contact details, actions (message opens/clicks, webinar participation), geolocation, scoring, and ecommerce data (orders, spending, abandoned carts).

Creating a segment in GetResponse is as easy as navigating to Contacts in the dashboard:

Comparing GetResponse vs. Mailchimp, the two dynamically update segments as contacts meet your criteria. For instance, your segments will update every time an email gets opened.

The winner: Draw. Both GetResponse and Mailchimp have comprehensive segment condition options and dynamic updates. You can group your subscribers by multiple data points and use that information to create targeted email campaigns.

Integration and compatibility

In comparison, Mailchimp has more pre-built integrations (250+) than GetResponse, but that doesn’t necessarily make it more capable of handling your email marketing requirements. 

Both platforms integrate with WordPress, Wix, Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Stripe, Square, Zapier, Google Analytics, Zoho, Salesforce, and the automation platform Make, which can connect your chosen email platform to 1,000+ apps.

GetReponse’s integrations page looks like this:

While Mailchimp’s looks like this:

The winner: Draw. There isn’t much to choose between them. Mailchimp has more advertised integrations, but GetResponse offers everything you need to start email marketing. Of course, there will be some omissions on both sides, so do your research.

AI features

Comparing Mailchimp vs. GetResponse, Mailchimp’s Intuit Assist (in beta) helps automate personalized campaigns. You can generate automation workflows and email content with AI-powered features that predict customer conversion likelihood and optimize content.

Another useful feature is the Creative Assistant, which scans your website’s colors and content to create email templates that match your brand:

GetResponse integrates OpenAI technology to power its email generation tools. You can create entire emails using keywords and industry preferences, with options to customize tone and design. The platform includes an AI subject line generator and supports automated A/B testing.

For instance, when you go to create a newsletter in GetResponse, you get the option to create it with the AI email generator:

The winner: GetResponse. It offers email content and subject line generation tools, while Mailchimp’s Intuit Assist focuses primarily on automation and prediction.

Reporting and analytics

Both platforms track campaign performance. Mailchimp does this through multiple metrics, including opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, social activity, and purchase data. 

It provides detailed insights through click maps, 24-hour performance graphs, top subscriber locations, and social media performance tracking. Only the Standard and Premium plans have real-time data and custom reports.

Here’s an example report:

GetResponse does the same, tracking your email performance through opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes while analyzing behavior through click maps and subscription trends.

Here’s a snapshot from the dashboard Summary:

Mailchimp’s Standard and GetResponse’s Marketer plans offer revenue reporting when connected to your ecommerce store. For instance, you can see total email revenue.

However, GetResponse’s Marketer plan goes further, providing revenue stats for newsletters based on the last-click model and revenue tracking via ecommerce integration.

The winner: GetResponse. It offers more detailed revenue tracking and covers every basic email metric Mailchimp offers.

Templates

Comparing GetResponse vs. Mailchimp, GetResponse advertises over 150 newsletter and email templates, while Mailchimp says it offers over 100. So, on paper, there isn’t much to split them.

While both platforms offer a drag-and-drop editor, GetResponse offers more email template customization potential, as all plans provide access to the HTML editor and custom HTML. Mailchimp hides its custom coding feature behind the mid-tier Standard plan.

The quality of pre-built email templates across GetResponse vs. Mailchimp is equal — all templates are responsive and link up with GIPHY and other stock photo sites. You can use them as a base to create more interesting templates.

Here’s the Mailchimp library:

GetResponse’s template library is a little easier to navigate thanks to its central menu:

The winner: GetResponse. If you want access to custom coding on the cheapest plans (trust us, it comes in handy), GetResponse is the only option.

Multichannel features

In comparing Mailchimp vs. GetResponse, Mailchimp offers a few multichannel features, including landing pages, social posting, and popup forms across all plans. Its Standard plan adds retargeting ads (for Google). 

SMS marketing and pre-built SMS automations are available as add-ons in the Essentials plan, supporting bulk and two-way conversations. You don’t get free SMS credits and must set up a monthly subscription:

GetResponse also offers popups across all plans but doesn’t offer SMS marketing unless you choose its custom-priced Enterprise plan.

Instead, GetResponse offers unlimited automated push notifications instead of SMS across its Marketer, Creator, and Enterprise plans. Mailchimp doesn’t support push notifications to customers (although you can set them up for your account).

Setting up push notifications in GetResponse requires navigating to Tools > Communicate > Push notifications and then adding your site:

The winner: Mailchimp. It’s the only platform that lets you use SMS alongside email marketing without a custom plan. However, Mailchimp doesn’t support push notifications, so if that’s what you want to send instead of SMS, GetResponse is a better fit. 

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: A video breakdown of features

Watch our video comparing Mailchimp with other leading marketing platforms for a breakdown of features and capabilities:

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: Deliverability

Email deliverability isn’t guaranteed and depends heavily on list quality and external factors. While GetResponse and Mailchimp conduct internal deliverability tests, these metrics don’t predict your campaign performance.

To maximize deliverability:

• Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers
• Use double opt-in to ensure genuine email addresses
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines and content
• Maintain consistent sending schedules to establish sender reputation

Mailchimp vs. GetResponse: Customer support

You can email Mailchimp and GetResponse anytime for support, although their response times depend entirely on how busy they are. Both platforms offer 24/7 chat support and only make phone support available in their highest-tier plans.

Here’s a comparison table of the support options:

Support feature	GetResponse	Mailchimp
Email support	All plans	24/7 for paid plans, free plan has 30 days of email support
Chat support	24/7, all plans	24/7 for paid plans
Guides and tutorials	Yes	Yes
Phone support	Only available on Enterprise plan	24/7 for Premium plan only
Personalized onboarding	Only available on Enterprise plan	One session for Standard plan, four for Premium plan

Overall, both platforms offer similar support levels.

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: User reviews

GetResponse and Mailchimp have favorable scores on reviews platform G2 — GetResponse has 4.3/5 stars based on 760+ reviews, while Mailchimp also has a 4.3/5 star rating based on over 12,000 reviews. Here’s what some users had to say:

GetResponse feedback

“Nice pre-designed templates and a drag-and-drop editor”

This reviewer praises GetResponse’s intuitive design and easy email creation while noting challenges with platform integration and complex automation workflows:

“Flexible platform that lets me do everything I want it to do”

This GetResponse user highlights the platform’s automation and design capabilities, comparing it favorably to Mailchimp while praising its versatile email marketing tools:

“With this tool we can conduct practically all marketing of the company”

This user appreciates GetResponse’s marketing capabilities for pinpointing customer behaviors and enabling precise targeting:

Mailchimp feedback

“Mailchimp makes our emails EASY!”

This Mailchimp user appreciates its ease of use for newsletter creation and seamless Eventbrite integration for effortless database growth and communication:

“They offer a free plan which is very helpful for us who are just starting to build our list”

This Mailchimp user praises its user-friendly interface, free plan, contact segmentation, template flexibility, fast support, and seamless WordPress integration as key advantages:

“Fairly easy to use with great support via email”

This Mailchimp user appreciates its comprehensive marketing features and powerful email platform but sometimes struggles with list management and platform-specific integrations:

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: Pros and cons

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of Mailchimp vs. GetResponse:

GetResponse pros and cons

Pros

• More pre-built automations across all plans
• Unlimited email allocation on all plans
• Advanced AI email generation tools
• More detailed revenue tracking
• Automated push notifications on higher-tier plans

Cons

• No free plan is available
• Cheaper plans start from 1,000 contacts
• Limited SMS marketing (only on the Enterprise plan)
• Fewer total integrations compared to Mailchimp
• Phone support only on custom-priced Enterprise plan

Mailchimp pros and cons

Pros

• Free plan available
• Lower monthly pricing for smaller lists
• SMS marketing included in the Essentials plan
• More pre-built integrations (250+)
• Retargeting ads in the Standard plan

Cons

• Email send limits tied to contact list size
• Transactional emails are costly add-ons
• Custom HTML coding only on mid-tier plans
• Less advanced AI features
• Custom reports only on higher-tier plans

Our methodology

Our testing focused on areas critical to email marketing success, including pricing, features, automation, segmentation, integrations, and user experiences.

We examined platform documentation, feature lists, pricing tiers, interface screenshots, and user review insights to understand how easy each platform is to master and its capabilities.

The quality of templates, automations, AI capabilities, reporting, ecommerce versus SME workflows, and support helped us understand who Mailchimp and GetResponse suit best (GetResponse suits ecommerce stores while Mailchimp suits SMEs).

GetResponse vs. Mailchimp: Which option to choose?

Service-based businesses and SMEs should choose Mailchimp for its user-friendly approach to email marketing. It has a free plan, lower entry pricing for small lists, and 250+ integrations.

Mailchimp also has the advantage of SMS integration on Standard plans, giving you two ways to communicate with subscribers. However, email-sending limits are tied to contact list size, making it less suitable for large businesses.

Ecommerce stores will benefit more from GetResponse’s advanced email automations. Its mid-tier Marketer plan includes quick transactional emails (directly after purchase), and all plans have unlimited monthly email sends.

GetResponse excels in automation workflows and AI-powered content generation to save you time. While it costs more at lower tiers, it’s more cost-effective than Mailchimp at higher tiers.

Of course, none of these are definitive points — your best-fit email marketing software depends on your specific needs. Consider these factors:

• Campaign frequency and volume
• Required features (SMS vs. push notifications)
• Budget and expected list growth
• Integration requirements
• Level of automation needed
• Support for your business model (ecommerce vs. service-based)

If, after this GetResponse vs. Mailchimp review, neither one is drawing you in, consider Omnisend. 

Omnisend offers advanced ecommerce-focused automation designed to enhance ROI. Plus, it’s great for omnichannel marketing, letting businesses connect with their audience across multiple platforms. This, combined with 24/7 email and chat support (included in the free plan) and competitive pricing, you can’t go wrong with trying Omnisend.