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Need help nailing down which email marketing service provider to use for your business? Two of the most popular, AWeber and Mailchimp, each have their devotees (and detractors). So, which wins in the battle of AWeber vs. Mailchimp?
On the first inspection, they offer a lot of the same features. We dig deeper into these rivals to see how their differences could affect your ultimate choice.
Visit AWeber’s Website | Visit Mailchimp’s Website
| AWeber | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Design Tools |  | |
| Deliverability | | |
| Automation | | |
| Tracking & Analytics | | |
| Features | | |
| Customer Support | | |
| Pricing | | |
| Overall Winner | | |
| Our In-Depth Reviews | AWeber Review | Mailchimp Review |
Design Tools
Both AWeber and Mailchimp offer responsive templates, meaning they’ll automatically look good on any device—a must in email marketing these days. AWeber has 700+ ready-made templates (many more than Mailchimp), but if you’re looking for more customization and design capability, Mailchimp is the better option.
Winner: Design Tools
While Mailchimp has far fewer templates than AWeber (100+ compared to AWeber’s 700+), Mailchimp’s attractively designed email templates are easily customizable for a professional-looking campaign in minutes. Mailchimp’s user-friendly design tools make email marketing fun instead of a chore. Thus, it’s the clear winner in this category.
Deliverability
In 2022, global email users reached 4.26 billion, so it’s no wonder email marketing has become a successful tool for businesses. You want to make sure your emails are getting where they’re supposed to go in the first place. Who’s better at this? AWeber has a long history of having one of the highest deliverability rates in the industry. Mailchimp’s deliverability rate has previously been well in the 90th percentile.
Winner: Deliverability
We input delivery IPs from both services into Sender Score—a free tool for determining email deliverability—and found that AWeber has the edge on deliverability. According to data from EmailDeliverabilityReport.com, AWeber receives a deliverability score of 89, which is higher than Mailchimp’s 87.
Automation
If you’re running an email campaign and want to send follow-up emails to specific customers based on their response to your previous emails (e.g., thanking them for signing up on your website or making a purchase), AWeber and Mailchimp come out about even with their autoresponder functionality.
So, where do they differ? Mailchimp makes it easier to target a subset of your email list with its autoresponder interface—choosing subsets with AWeber is possible; it’s just much more cumbersome. On the other hand, with AWeber, it’s much easier to manage and track your follow-up emails to see who has opened them and when they were opened. Mailchimp falls short on its autoresponder tracking capability.
Tracking & Analytics
Both AWeber and Mailchimp provide extensive email tracking and analytical tools to help you gauge who’s opening and clicking through your emails. You can monitor subscriber activity, bounces, unsubscribes, click-throughs, and generate revenue reports. Both also provide Google Analytics integration.
Where does Mailchimp come out ahead? If you’re running social media campaigns along with your emails, Mailchimp tracks your social sharing efforts; again, AWeber does not.
Winner: Tracking & Analytics
Both email marketing providers offer quality tools for understanding your customers and growing your business. However, Mailchimp takes the win with its multi-channel tracking and analytics.
Features
| AWeber | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Template Selection | 700+ | 100+ |
| Template Editor | WYSIWYG & HTML | WYSIWYG & HTML |
| Responsive Design | | |
| AI Copywriting Tool | | |
| Image Hosting | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contact Manager/Import | | |
| Newsletter Archiving | | |
| Social Media Marketing | | |
| RSS To Email | | |
| Autoresponder | | |
| SMS (Texting) | Integration Only | Starting at $20/month |
| Surveys | Integration Only | |
| List Segmentation | | |
| Allows Attachments | Up to 1MB | |
| Google Analytics | | |
| Spam Score (Checking) | | |
| Reporting/Stats | | |
| Private (Dedicated) IP Address | | |
| Split A/B Testing | | |
| Multivariate Testing | | |
| Trigger Based Messaging | | |
| Developer API | | |
| Customer Support | Phone, Live Chat, Email | Live Chat, Email (Phone for premium plan) |
Mailchimp edges out AWeber for the overall features you get with your email marketing service. Not only does Mailchimp have more advanced features, but it also has far more integrations available to give you the ability to do almost anything imaginable with your email campaigns.
Winner: Features
Mailchimp has a clear edge when it comes to features. One of our favorites is Mailchimp’s multivariate testing, which helps you find the best version of various elements (subject line, from name, content, and send time) to improve user engagement.
Customer Support
AWeber has a clear edge on customer support, although both services have good online tutorials, FAQs, and other resources. AWeber provides 24/7 live support via chat, email, and phone. Mailchimp has more limited hours for email and live chat support. It does offer phone support, but only for premium plans.
Winner: Customer Support
AWeber is the winner when looking at customer support. The customer support team is excellent and has better availability than Mailchimp.
Pricing
| AWeber | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Up to 500 contacts/month 3,000 emails/month | Up to 500 contacts/month 1,000 emails/month |
| Lowest Price Plan/Month (500 Contacts) | $12.50/month | $13/month |
| Up To 2,500 Contacts | $22.50/month | $45/month |
| Up To 5,000 Contacts | $42.50/month | $75/month |
| Up to 10,000 Contacts | $62.50/month | $110/month |
| Up To 25,000 Contacts | $142.50/month | $270/month |
As you can see, when comparing AWeber vs. Mailchimp pricing, AWeber is the clear winner. Even in higher-tier plans and subscriber counts, AWeber comes out on top.
Winner: Pricing
This is another easy win for AWeber. While paid plans start at similar prices, Mailchimp can’t compete with AWeber’s higher-tier plans.
How Does An Email Marketing Service Build Relationships?
Email marketing is an excellent way to build and maintain relationships with your customers. Check out the following video by Michelle Schneider for tips on using email marketing to engage your customers.
Overall Winner
Based on our in-depth reviews, Mailchimp comes out ahead of AWeber. Mailchimp gives you more tools and is easier to use than AWeber. If reliable customer support is essential, AWeber is the way to go. Of course, your decision depends on the specific features you’re looking for with your email marketing strategy.
Overall Winner
While AWeber took the lead for deliverability, customer support, and pricing, Mailchimp is the overall winner.
In-Depth Reviews
Want to find out more about each company? Check out our in-depth reviews of AWeber and Mailchimp.
How Do AWeber And Mailchimp Compare To The Competition?
How do AWeber and Mailchimp stack up against their competitors? Check out our coverage of the top email marketing companies for an in-depth analysis of more than 20 of the top players. There you’ll find key features, pros and cons, pricing, and even our “best for” picks for different business types and needs. You can also compare all companies side-by-side with our large comparison table.
Are you leaning towards AWeber or Mailchimp (or someone else)? Let us know in the comments!
Tagged With: Email Marketing, VS
