Mailchimp Alternatives: 8 Email Tools for Shopify Shops Compared

The short answer

Yes, there are good alternatives to Mailchimp. The right one depends on your shop system, data protection needs and channels:

• German provider with hosting in Germany or the EU: CleverReach (with a Shopify app) or rapidmail.
• Shopify shop with lots of automation: Klaviyo or Omnisend.
• Small shop that wants everything in the Shopify admin: Shopify Messaging.
• Email plus WhatsApp: Brevo, Klaviyo and Shopify Messaging have WhatsApp built in. At Chatarmin, WhatsApp is the core product, and the team handles the move for you.

Which Mailchimp alternatives are there?

As of October 2026. Prices and limits change regularly; sources are linked in each tool section.

Why do shops look for an alternative to Mailchimp?

To be clear from the start: Mailchimp is a solid tool with a German interface, plenty of templates and a huge knowledge base. For e-commerce brands, the reasons to switch usually come down to four things.

1. The free plan is very small. According to Mailchimp's pricing page, the free plan includes 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with a maximum of 250 per day. For a growing shop, that usually only covers the start.

2. The entry price is a discounted price. The Essentials plan starts at 13 US dollars a month, and Mailchimp says this price applies for the first twelve months. If you want to budget properly, plan with the regular price afterwards. You can switch from dollars to euros on the pricing page.

3. Data processing in the US. Mailchimp has belonged to Intuit since 2021, and its servers are in the US. The tool remains legally usable, because Mailchimp is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework through Intuit (Mailchimp Help). A provider hosting in the EU still often makes the conversation with your data protection officer easier.

4. Automatic suspensions and reviews. Mailchimp checks lists and campaigns with fixed mechanisms:

• Bounce suspension kicks in automatically when a campaign exceeds the limits for bounces, unsubscribes or abuse complaints. During the review you can still log in and access your data, but you cannot send (Mailchimp Help).
• The Omnivore algorithm rates new addresses in advance and can block sending to an audience until it has been cleaned (Mailchimp Help).
• The Acceptable Use Policy excludes some industries and names areas such as dietary supplements for extra scrutiny (Mailchimp AUP). For D2C supplement brands, that is a relevant point.

Mailchimp does not publish specific thresholds. For your shop, that means a suspension can come unexpectedly, and every week without a newsletter costs revenue.

That is exactly what happened to one of our customers: his Mailchimp account was blocked from sending, and all email campaigns came to a halt. He is now moving his email marketing over to Chatarmin.

What should you look for in a Mailchimp alternative?

Online shops need different things from an email tool than clubs or agencies do. These six points decide it in practice:

• Shopify or shop system connection: Do orders, carts and product data flow into the tool automatically? Without that data, abandoned cart and post-purchase flows stay manual work.
• Automation: Welcome series, abandoned cart, winback. Check how many flows your plan allows and whether conditions can use purchase data.
• Pricing model: The tools charge by contacts (Mailchimp, CleverReach, Omnisend), by active profiles (Klaviyo) or by sending volume (Brevo, Shopify Messaging). For large lists with few campaigns, that makes a considerable difference.
• Hosting and DPA: Where is the data stored, and is a data processing agreement easy to get?
• Other channels: SMS and WhatsApp matter more and more for shops. Some tools have them built in, others only via Zapier.
• What the import brings across: Almost every tool moves contacts cleanly. The import features of the tools compared here generally do not bring over templates, automations or reports. Plan for that work from day one, either doing it yourself or with a provider that rebuilds it for you.

Mailchimp alternatives in detail

Brevo: large lists, many channels

Brevo was called Sendinblue until May 2023 and is based in Paris. For customers in the DACH region, Brevo GmbH in Berlin is the contracting party, and data is hosted exclusively in the EU (Brevo Help).

• Strength: Brevo charges by sending volume, and the free plan allows up to 100,000 contacts. Shops with large lists that they email rarely save money as a result.
• Shopify: Connected via the "Brevo PushOwl" app, with contact and order data plus abandoned cart features.
• WhatsApp: Built in natively, although the pricing page lists it only from the Professional plan.
• Limits: The free plan caps you at 300 emails per day, and every email carries Brevo branding.
• Switching from Mailchimp: A native integration imports contacts and keeps them in sync (Brevo Help).

Klaviyo: the Shopify benchmark for segmentation

Boston-based Klaviyo is something of a standard in D2C when it comes to segments built on purchase data. Its Shopify app has 4.7 stars from over 3,300 reviews on the Shopify App Store.

• Strength: Deep Shopify data, strong flows, plus email, SMS, WhatsApp and push in one tool.
• Price: Free for 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month, then from 20 US dollars for up to 500 contacts. Billing is based on active profiles.
• Data protection: By default, data is stored in the US (AWS). The current legal documents also name an optional EU data residency in Germany. It can only be chosen when a new account is created; existing accounts remain in the US (Klaviyo subprocessors).
• Limits: Costs rise noticeably as your list grows, because every active profile counts. The interface and email support are also available in German (Klaviyo Help).
• Switching from Mailchimp: Klaviyo imports profiles, lists and 90 days of engagement data; templates and tags stay behind (Klaviyo Help).

CleverReach: German provider with a Shopify app

CleverReach is based in Rastede in Lower Saxony and stores data exclusively on servers in Germany and the EU. That keeps the conversation with your data protection officer simple.

• Strength: German company, German interface and ticket support in German. Phone support costs extra.
• Shopify: There is an official app built by CleverReach with abandoned cart emails and product data in emails (Shopify App Store).
• Price: The free "Lite" plan covers 250 recipients and up to 1,000 emails a month. According to the pricing page, the Basic plan starts at 15 euros plus VAT and is aimed at business customers only.
• Limits: SMS and WhatsApp only run via Zapier. For shops building out several channels, that is a detour.
• Switching from Mailchimp: Import via CSV or Excel; we could not find a dedicated Mailchimp guide.

rapidmail: simple, German, strong on Shopware and co.

Freiburg-based rapidmail is ISO 27001 certified and runs its servers in a German data centre (rapidmail Help). The focus is on ease of use.

• Strength: A very tidy interface, a DPA you can sign directly in your account and unlimited mailings on the Essential plan (rapidmail Help).
• Shop systems: Official plugins exist for Shopware, WooCommerce, OXID, Magento and Plentymarkets. We could not find a Shopify app in the plugin overview.
• Price: There is no permanent free plan, but according to the pricing page you can start for free. The Essential plan costs from 15 euros a month plus VAT for up to 500 contacts. Without a subscription, a single send to 500 contacts costs 20 euros. The offers are aimed at business customers only (rapidmail pricing).
• Limits: Shopify shops miss a direct connection, and SMS or WhatsApp are not listed.
• Switching from Mailchimp: There is a dedicated switching guide. Note that unsubscribe status is not carried over automatically.

MailerLite: affordable and lean, with a language trade-off

MailerLite is fully remote and has been part of the Polish Vercom group since 2022. Customers in the EU contract with MailerLite Limited in Dublin, and the data sits in an EU data centre.

• Strength: A generous free plan with 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Paid plans start at 12 US dollars a month.
• Shopify: An official app with customer and order sync, automatic segments and abandoned cart emails.
• Limits: According to MailerLite Help, the interface is only available in English, Spanish and Polish. SMS and WhatsApp are not part of the product.
• Switching from Mailchimp: A direct importer brings across subscribers, segments and fields from Mailchimp.

Omnisend: email and SMS for online shops

Vilnius-based Omnisend was built for e-commerce from the start. Its Shopify app has 4.7 stars from over 3,100 reviews.

• Strength: Email and SMS in one tool, ready-made e-commerce flows, and emails that can be translated into 18 languages. The pricing page lists SMS on the Pro plan.
• Price: Free for 250 contacts and 500 emails a month; the Standard plan costs 16 US dollars a month at the regular rate.
• WhatsApp: On its pricing page, Omnisend lists email, SMS and web push. For WhatsApp, the Omnisend Help Centre documents the integration with Chatarmin.
• Limits: According to its listing, the Shopify app is only available in English. Omnisend does not state the hosting region explicitly.
• Switching from Mailchimp: Contacts, fields, tags and subscription status come across via the integration; templates and automations have to be rebuilt.

Shopify Messaging: the solution inside your shop admin

Shopify Email is now called Shopify Messaging and runs directly in the Shopify admin. With 4.8 stars from over 4,600 reviews, it has the most reviews in this comparison.

• Strength: 10,000 emails a month are included, after which it costs 1 US dollar per 1,000 emails. Abandoned checkout automations are always free (Shopify Help).
• WhatsApp: WhatsApp campaigns are built in.
• Limits: For deep segmentation and complex flows it is leaner than Klaviyo or Omnisend. SMS to Austrian numbers has been paused since 1 October 2026, which affects shops with many customers in Austria.
• Switching from Mailchimp: There is no direct importer. You export your contacts as a CSV and import them into your Shopify customer list, including consent status.

Chatarmin: email and WhatsApp from one team

A note on our own product: many people know Chatarmin as a WhatsApp marketing tool, and more than 500 brands use it for that. Since autumn 2026 we have been building email marketing on top of it, with campaigns and flows for both channels on one platform.

• Strength: Email and WhatsApp share contacts, segments and Shopify data. An AI helps you create your emails. Onboarding is personal and available in German.
• Hosting: The infrastructure is in Germany; email sending runs via servers in the EU and the US.
• Done-for-you migration: Our team handles the entire switch from Mailchimp for you, in two steps:
  1. Rebuild and improve your setup. We bring your lists, segments, automations and templates into Chatarmin and optimise them along the way.
  2. Move over. Only once the new setup is in place do we move your contacts, including unsubscribe status, and switch your sending to Chatarmin.
• Who it suits: Shops that want to plan email and WhatsApp together and prefer a personal contact to a self-service tool.
• Limits: In email, Chatarmin is the newest provider in this comparison. There is no free plan, the template library is still smaller than Klaviyo's or Mailchimp's, and pricing is shared in a personal conversation.

When should you stay with Mailchimp?

Switching takes time, and not every shop comes out ahead. Stay with Mailchimp if these three points apply to you:

• Your list is well maintained and you have never had problems with suspensions or deliverability.
• Your data protection officer is comfortable with processing under the Data Privacy Framework.
• Your automations run and bring in revenue. Rebuilding them would cost you weeks, with no clear advantage from a new tool.

In that case, the better question is often which additional channel is missing. Some shops add WhatsApp to Mailchimp for that reason and keep their email tool.

Reviews: what do shops say about the alternatives?

So you don't have to rely on our view alone, here are the public ratings on the Shopify App Store (as of 19 October 2026):

The ratings show that all of these apps are well received by Shopify merchants, Mailchimp included. The differences show up mainly in hosting, pricing model and channels. If you have been through a Mailchimp suspension, you will find first-hand accounts mainly in the r/MailChimp subreddit. Mailchimp itself names high bounce, unsubscribe and complaint rates as triggers (Mailchimp Help). Cleaning your list regularly lowers the risk with every provider.

How do you switch from Mailchimp without pausing your campaigns?

The biggest mistake when switching: cancelling first and building second. Here is how to do it safely.

1. Export everything. Under Audience > Export audience you get your contacts as a ZIP of CSV files, split by status (Mailchimp Help). Also save your templates as HTML and take screenshots of your automations.
2. Bring your unsubscribes along. Import unsubscribed contacts separately and mark them as unsubscribed in the new tool. With rapidmail, for example, this does not happen automatically.
3. Set up your sending domain. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your own domain. Google and Yahoo have required this from bulk senders since 2024, and smaller lists also end up in spam less often with it.
4. Rebuild your flows. Start with the revenue drivers: welcome series, abandoned cart and post-purchase. Newsletter templates come afterwards.
5. Run in parallel. Send your first campaigns to your most engaged contacts. That way the new domain builds its reputation step by step.
6. Pause Mailchimp instead of deleting it. Mailchimp offers a pause for three or six months. Deletion is permanent, so only do it once everything is running (Mailchimp Help).

Conclusion: which Mailchimp alternative suits your shop?

• Data protection with a German provider: CleverReach and rapidmail, with CleverReach the better choice for Shopify shops.
• Deep Shopify automation: Klaviyo and Omnisend.
• Small shops: Shopify Messaging, affordable and right inside your admin.
• Email plus WhatsApp: Brevo, Klaviyo and Shopify Messaging offer both. If WhatsApp should become a main channel and you want to hand off the move, take a look at Chatarmin.

Whichever tool you choose: plan the switch before a suspension plans it for you.

FAQ: Mailchimp alternatives

Is there a free alternative to Mailchimp?

Yes. CleverReach, MailerLite, Omnisend and Klaviyo have free plans, Brevo allows 300 free emails per day and Shopify Messaging includes 10,000 emails a month.

Which Mailchimp alternative has servers in Germany?

rapidmail stores data exclusively in Germany, CleverReach in Germany and the EU. Brevo and MailerLite host in the EU.

Is Mailchimp GDPR compliant?

It depends. Mailchimp processes data in the US and is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Whether that is enough for your business is a question for your data protection officer.

Which is better, Mailchimp or Brevo?

It depends. Brevo hosts in the EU and charges by sending volume, which pays off for large lists. Mailchimp, on the other hand, offers a broader range of templates and integrations.

Which Mailchimp alternative works best with Shopify?

Klaviyo, Omnisend and Shopify Messaging are the most closely connected to Shopify. CleverReach and MailerLite also offer official Shopify apps.

Can I export my contacts from Mailchimp?

Yes. Under Audience > Export audience you can download all contacts as CSV files, split by subscription status.

Can I pause Mailchimp instead of cancelling?

Yes. Mailchimp offers a pause for three or six months, whereas deleting the account is permanent.

Does Chatarmin help with moving from Mailchimp?

Yes. Our team rebuilds your existing Mailchimp setup in Chatarmin, improves it and then moves your contacts and sending over for you.

Can Chatarmin send emails?

Yes. Since autumn 2026, Chatarmin sends email campaigns and email flows alongside WhatsApp messages from the same platform.