Best Mailchimp Alternatives for Newsletter Creators
If you mainly send a weekly newsletter, Mailchimp is usually more than you need. It was built for general email marketing, e-commerce flows, and multi-channel campaigns, which means you pay for and navigate features that never touch a simple weekly send. Kit is the better fit if your priority is straightforward creator email with strong automations. But it is not the only option. This page compares the alternatives worth considering, including Kit, beehiiv, MailerLite, Buttondown, Substack, and Ghost, and explains which one matches how you actually publish so you are not paying for complexity you will never use.
When Mailchimp is more than a newsletter creator needs
Mailchimp is a capable marketing platform, but its strengths are aimed at businesses running e-commerce campaigns, transactional email, landing page funnels, and cross-channel marketing. For a creator whose main job is writing and sending a weekly newsletter, most of that surface area sits unused. The interface asks you to think in terms of audiences, segments, and campaign types before you can send a single email. Contact-based pricing can also climb quickly as your list grows, even when you only send one email a week. None of this is a flaw in Mailchimp. It is simply a mismatch between what the tool optimizes for and what a solo newsletter creator does day to day.
What matters instead: simplicity, pricing, and monetization
For a weekly newsletter, the criteria that matter are narrower than a full marketing suite. First, simplicity: how fast can you write, schedule, and send without configuring campaign machinery you do not use. Second, pricing that scales with a newsletter, not with a store, so you are not paying marketing-platform rates for one send a week. Third, growth and monetization built for creators, meaning subscribe forms, referral mechanics, and ways to earn from your audience through paid subscriptions, ads, or products. Deliverability and clean list management round it out. Judge each alternative against these, not against Mailchimp's feature count, because more features do not help if they are not the features you need.
beehiiv: newsletter-first with built-in growth tools
beehiiv is built around the newsletter itself rather than being a general marketing tool adapted to email. It is an all-in-one platform for creators, publishers, and media brands to create, grow, and monetize newsletters, websites, podcasts, and digital products without code. That framing matters for the buyer weighing Mailchimp against Kit: beehiiv skips the campaign-marketing overhead and focuses on writing, sending, growing a list, and earning from it in one place. If your goal is a weekly newsletter that you want to grow and monetize over time, beehiiv fits the job directly. If you need broad e-commerce automation and multi-channel marketing, a dedicated marketing platform still serves that better.
Kit: creator-focused email with strong automations
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, was designed for creators from the start, and it is the closest direct answer to the Mailchimp overkill question. Its automations and sequences are a genuine strength: visual flows, tagging, and trigger-based emails let you build onboarding and evergreen funnels without a marketing-suite learning curve. For creators who sell courses, run launches, or want behavior-driven email beyond a simple broadcast, Kit is hard to beat. If your newsletter is mostly a straightforward weekly send with occasional automation, Kit gives you room to grow into more sophisticated flows. Its focus stays on creators and audience relationships rather than general business marketing, which is why it feels lighter than Mailchimp for this use case.
MailerLite and Buttondown: simple, affordable options
MailerLite is a strong choice if you want clean, approachable email marketing at a lower cost than Mailchimp, with a drag-and-drop editor, basic automation, and landing pages. It covers the essentials without overwhelming a newsletter creator. Buttondown goes further toward minimalism. It is a lightweight, developer-friendly tool that keeps writing and sending front and center, with markdown support and a small footprint. If you value plain-text simplicity and a tool that stays out of your way, Buttondown is worth a look. Both are good fits for creators who want low overhead and predictable costs, though neither aims to be a full growth-and-monetization suite the way some alternatives do.
Substack and Ghost: publication-style alternatives
Substack and Ghost approach the problem as publishing platforms rather than email tools. Substack is the simplest way to start a paid newsletter, with subscriptions, a reader network, and near-zero setup, though it takes a percentage of your revenue and gives you less control over branding and data. Ghost is open-source and strong for creators who want a full owned website plus newsletter, with membership and subscription features and the option to self-host. Both suit creators who think of themselves as publishers and want a public-facing home for their work, not just an inbox presence. Choose these if the publication and its brand matter as much as the email itself.
How to pick the right Mailchimp alternative
Start with how you actually publish. If you send a straightforward weekly newsletter and want the least overhead, Buttondown or MailerLite keep things simple and affordable. If automations and creator funnels matter, Kit is the strongest fit. If you want a newsletter you can grow and monetize with built-in tools in one platform, beehiiv is built for that. If you see yourself as a publisher and want a public home for your work, Substack for the fastest paid-subscription start or Ghost for a fully owned site. Match the tool to your primary job, not to the longest feature list, and you will avoid paying for a marketing suite you do not use.
Bottom line
If you mainly send a weekly newsletter, Mailchimp is more platform than you need. Kit is the strongest direct alternative when automations matter, while Buttondown and MailerLite win on simplicity and cost. beehiiv fits creators who want to grow and monetize a newsletter in one place, and Substack or Ghost suit those who think like publishers. Pick based on your primary job, not feature count.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Mailchimp overkill for a weekly newsletter?
- For most creators sending one email a week, yes. Mailchimp is built for e-commerce and multi-channel marketing, so a simpler newsletter-first tool like Kit, beehiiv, MailerLite, or Buttondown usually fits better and costs less.
- Mailchimp vs Kit: which is better for creators?
- Kit is generally the better fit for creators because it was designed for them, with strong automations and audience-focused features. Mailchimp suits businesses running broader marketing and e-commerce campaigns.
- What is the simplest Mailchimp alternative?
- Buttondown is among the most minimal, keeping writing and sending front and center with markdown support. MailerLite is also simple while offering a bit more marketing functionality.
- Which alternative is best for growing and monetizing a newsletter?
- beehiiv is built as an all-in-one platform to create, grow, and monetize newsletters, websites, podcasts, and digital products without code, so it fits creators focused on growth and revenue.
- Should I choose Substack or Ghost instead?
- Choose Substack for the fastest way to launch a paid newsletter with minimal setup, or Ghost if you want an owned, open-source website with newsletter and membership features.
- Will switching from Mailchimp lose my subscribers?
- No. Most platforms let you import your existing contact list, though you should follow list-hygiene and re-permission best practices to protect deliverability after a migration.