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Some clients of mine left mailchimp for this very reason (and because the web style editor wasn't great, but mostly pricing). You start on a free plan, and get

Some clients of mine left mailchimp for this very reason (and because the web style editor wasn't great, but mostly pricing). You start on a free plan, and get 2000 users, you hit that limit, and are considering moving up, then realise that their lowest plan is actually below the number of users on the free plan - you have to go up to the 5th plan to actually get over 2000 users again. The limits are pretty low and the costs mount steeply, but the worst thing was not having a clear first step up from the free plan. They also have an insane number of plans.

jabo 13y ago
Yeah, Mailchimp can get crazy expensive as you scale up. One nice thing I found is that you also get a substantial amount of credits in Mandrill as you keep upgrading plans in Mailchimp.
yeukhon 13y ago
This is crazy. The first impression is "oh shit I have so many option" but in the end, seriously, how do we keep track of the pricing? Is the average worthy? Is this really that cheap? I like their service but this is crazily complicated. Whoever did the pricing must have some innovation in marketing - this is like calculating EC2 cost (it's getting better but still hard).
sathishmanohar 13y ago
> Some clients of mine left mailchimp for this very reason left in favor of? Mind sharing them?
- grey-area 13y ago
  Sendgrid, they have a far more sensible pricing structure based on no. of emails sent, which doesn't get expensive till you're truly at a larger scale. Sending 2000 mails a month should not cost $30 in my opinion. There are plenty of options though.
  - oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
    Sounds like the trade-off depends on the frequency of sending. We have ~ 700-1,500 subscribers (still in flux due to recent migration) but send to them ~ 20 times a month. Mailchimp's 'unlimited sends' plans are a big plus for us, although I DO admit their pricing is a little 'idiosyncratic' to say the least (what's up with the really narrow bands every one in a while?)
  - aquadrop 13y ago
    But they are a bit different. MailChimp is about marketing emails, that's why 2000 - it's the number of subscribers, not emails. On paying accounts they have no limit to the number of emails sent. SendGrid gravitate more to transactional emails, and they limit number of emails sent per month. So choosing between them isn't that trivial.
    - grey-area 13y ago
      Unless you have a tiny number of subscribers, I think someone charging by emails sent is better value, but even without that, the step between 2000 on a list free, and 500 on a list paid for, seems somewhat bizarre, they should eliminate that.
      - aquadrop 13y ago
        Not tiny number of subscribers but large emails/subscribers ratio. If you have 1000 subscribers and some daily news, you'll end up with much less price at MailChimp than SendGrid. And main thing about step from free account is unlimited number of emails vs 12000 limit. In the end, it's just a matter of thinking and finding the best tool for your specific situation.
        oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
        This could barely be closer to our exact use-case, so I'm glad you used it as an example - nice to have the decision seconded! We ran for almost a month on the free plan, but were just about to exceed the 'total number of emails sent' limit, so upgraded. MailChimp's pricing automatically adjusts to the appropriate band depending on your current number of subscribers, so although the pricing is convoluted, I don't really need to worry about it. Even for a small business, £30/month (~ 5,000 subscribers) is very little, and for the peace of mind that comes with a solid offering such as MailChimp, it's well worth it. I'm sounding like a shill, but I'm really not - just a very happy customer at the moment.
dwwoelfel 13y ago
you have to go up to the 5th plan to actually get over 2000 users again. Sure, but it's only $30/month.

jabo 13y ago

Yeah, Mailchimp can get crazy expensive as you scale up. One nice thing I found is that you also get a substantial amount of credits in Mandrill as you keep upgrading plans in Mailchimp.

yeukhon 13y ago

This is crazy. The first impression is "oh shit I have so many option" but in the end, seriously, how do we keep track of the pricing? Is the average worthy? Is this really that cheap? I like their service but this is crazily complicated. Whoever did the pricing must have some innovation in marketing - this is like calculating EC2 cost (it's getting better but still hard).

sathishmanohar 13y ago

> Some clients of mine left mailchimp for this very reason left in favor of? Mind sharing them?

grey-area 13y ago
Sendgrid, they have a far more sensible pricing structure based on no. of emails sent, which doesn't get expensive till you're truly at a larger scale. Sending 2000 mails a month should not cost $30 in my opinion. There are plenty of options though.
- oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
  Sounds like the trade-off depends on the frequency of sending. We have ~ 700-1,500 subscribers (still in flux due to recent migration) but send to them ~ 20 times a month. Mailchimp's 'unlimited sends' plans are a big plus for us, although I DO admit their pricing is a little 'idiosyncratic' to say the least (what's up with the really narrow bands every one in a while?)
- aquadrop 13y ago
  But they are a bit different. MailChimp is about marketing emails, that's why 2000 - it's the number of subscribers, not emails. On paying accounts they have no limit to the number of emails sent. SendGrid gravitate more to transactional emails, and they limit number of emails sent per month. So choosing between them isn't that trivial.
  - grey-area 13y ago
    Unless you have a tiny number of subscribers, I think someone charging by emails sent is better value, but even without that, the step between 2000 on a list free, and 500 on a list paid for, seems somewhat bizarre, they should eliminate that.
    - aquadrop 13y ago
      Not tiny number of subscribers but large emails/subscribers ratio. If you have 1000 subscribers and some daily news, you'll end up with much less price at MailChimp than SendGrid. And main thing about step from free account is unlimited number of emails vs 12000 limit. In the end, it's just a matter of thinking and finding the best tool for your specific situation.
      - oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
        This could barely be closer to our exact use-case, so I'm glad you used it as an example - nice to have the decision seconded! We ran for almost a month on the free plan, but were just about to exceed the 'total number of emails sent' limit, so upgraded. MailChimp's pricing automatically adjusts to the appropriate band depending on your current number of subscribers, so although the pricing is convoluted, I don't really need to worry about it. Even for a small business, £30/month (~ 5,000 subscribers) is very little, and for the peace of mind that comes with a solid offering such as MailChimp, it's well worth it. I'm sounding like a shill, but I'm really not - just a very happy customer at the moment.

dwwoelfel 13y ago

you have to go up to the 5th plan to actually get over 2000 users again. Sure, but it's only $30/month.