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Searching for the best affordable email marketing service (or even a free one)?! Two widely popular services, Benchmark and Mailchimp, compete toe-to-toe for the best email marketing service. But which one comes out on top in Benchmark vs. Mailchimp?
It’s not an easy call—Mailchimp has been the longtime go-to service for free plans and affordable top-tier plans. But Benchmark has stepped up the competition over the last few years in what appears to be a direct challenge to Mailchimp’s pricing and features. Read our Benchmark vs. Mailchimp review to learn what each has to offer.
Visit Benchmark’s Website | Visit Mailchimp’s Website
| Benchmark | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Design Tools |  | |
| Deliverability | | |
| Automation | | |
| Tracking & Analytics | | |
| Features | | |
| Customer Support | | |
| Pricing | | |
| Overall Winner | | |
| Our In-Depth Reviews | Benchmark Review | Mailchimp Review |
Design Tools
Both services provide a drag-and-drop editor for quick setup, an HTML coding option for experienced users, and 100+ attractive templates to choose from. Benchmark stands out with its addition of Smart Content, an AI-powered tool for content writing. Each plan gets Smart Content credits—even the free plan. Still, it’s hard to beat Mailchimp’s design tools. And with the rollout of its own AI features, it’s clear that Mailchimp still takes the category win.
Winner: Design Tools
Mailchimp’s editors and general user interface are easier to use than Benchmark’s. Mailchimp also provides better customization options for layouts, buttons, social media icons, and more.
Deliverability
A Statista poll revealed that around half of marketing professionals surveyed reported a two-time improvement rate in their email marketing campaigns’ return on investment (ROI), demonstrating the power of email in digital marketing. But an email can only be effective if it’s delivered.
MailChimp and Benchmark have excellent reputations for getting emails to inboxes. Both also have built-in anti-spam software to identify potential problems within your emails and campaigns that could trigger spam filters.
Winner: Deliverability
Automation
Mailchimp has really stepped up its automation game with the addition of more trigger-based responses; however, when looking at Benchmark vs. Mailchimp, Benchmark’s automation tools still edge out Mailchimp. With BenchmarkONE—Benchmark’s marketing and CRM platform—you can easily track contacts, automate workflows, send drip campaigns, and more.
Winner: Automation
Benchmark and Mailchimp both offer quality automation tools; however, you get more bang for your buck with Benchmark. Mailchimp is very standardized, which is great for faster business solutions. However, Benchmark is the way to go if you prefer tailor-made or complex automation.
Tracking & Analytics
Both Benchmark and Mailchimp offer fantastic basic reporting features, as well as social media tracking and geotracking. Still, Mailchimp goes beyond the expected stats, like opens, bounces, unsubscribes, etc. Mailchimp’s advanced analytics give you information on conversions, which links were clicked, revenue reports, subscriber activity reports, and much more.
Winner: Tracking & Analytics
It’s hard to beat Mailchimp when it comes to tracking and analytics. Mailchimp’s advanced AI and analytic tools provide comprehensive insights into your marketing data. Track performance, monitor trends, and boost sales with help from Mailchimp’s reporting tools.
Features
| Benchmark | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Template Selection | 400+ | 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 | Starting at $20/month |
| Surveys | | |
| List Segmentation | | |
| Allows Attachments | | |
| Google Analytics | | |
| Spam Score (Checking) | | |
| Reporting/Stats | | |
| Private (Dedicated) IP Address | $28.95/month | |
| Split A/B Testing | | |
| Multivariate Testing | | |
| Trigger Based Messaging | | |
| Developer API | | |
| Customer Support | Phone, Live Chat, Email | Live Chat, Email (Phone for premium plan) |
Both Benchmark and Mailchimp have impressive features with their free and paid plans to satisfy most small to medium business needs. In addition to what we’ve already covered in this article, other differences include:
- Benchmark integrates with 1,500 services, whereas Mailchimp has around 300 integrations.
- Mailchimp’s inbox preview features are more advanced than what Benchmark offers.
Winner: Features
Customer Support
There’s a clear winner in this category. Benchmark offers live chat, phone, and email customer service with all plans, including their free plan. Mailchimp only gives you live chat and email support with their paid plans (neither is available with their free plan), and phone support is only available for the top-tier plan.
Winner: Customer Support
Compared to Benchmark, Mailchimp’s customer support is severely lacking. Benchmark is the clear winner in terms of customer support.
Pricing
| Benchmark | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | Up to 500 contacts/month 3,500 emails/month | Up to 500 contacts/month 1,000 emails/month |
| Lowest Price Plan/Month | $13/month (500 contacts) | $13/month (500 contacts) |
| Up To 2,500 Contacts | $30/month | $45/month |
| Up To 5,000 Contacts | $49/month | $75/month |
| Up To 25,000 Contacts | $144/month | $270/month |
Mailchimp and Benchmark offer some of the best free email marketing plans on the market. Their free plans are similar and include basic features, but with Benchmark, you get 2,500 more monthly emails for the same rate. Benchmark also has a pricing edge on the higher tiers, as shown in the table.
Both services’ free plans allow you to access templates, easy drag-and-drop editors, contact importers, and basic reporting features.
What are the major differences? Benchmark includes basic segmentation and automation in its free plan; Mailchimp does not. Benchmark’s free plan also offers a 24/7 live chat, while Mailchimp provides 30 days of free email support.
Winner: Pricing
Video Of Email Marketing Features And How They Work
Although Mailchimp has a slight edge over Benchmark for overall features, Benchmark created a video that gives you a good, quick overview of standard email marketing features that most providers offer, so you can get some additional ideas on how to use these services.
Overall Winner
Who wins in Benchmark vs. Mailchimp? These services have a lot of things in common, so this battle was a close call. We do recommend Benchmark for email marketing newbies over Mailchimp. Benchmark’s customer support access and reputation are better than Mailchimp, which could make all the difference if you’re new to email marketing programs.
Mailchimp gets our vote for more seasoned email marketers, but Benchmark takes the cake by just a smidge because its plans offer more competitive pricing. Mailchimp’s pricing used to be much less but has increased significantly over the past few years.
Overall Winner: Benchmark
Mailchimp has a lot to love regarding design tools and other unique features. Still, Benchmark wins overall for its advanced automation, customer support, and pricing.
In-Depth Reviews
Want to find out more about each company? Check out our in-depth reviews of Benchmark and Mailchimp.
How Do Benchmark And Mailchimp Compare To The Competition?
How do Benchmark and Mailchimp stack up against their competitors? Check out our email marketing provider showdown, where we review more than 20 companies. There you’ll find key features, pros and cons, pricing, and even our “best of” picks for different business types and needs. We also include a large comparison table to help you easily see the differences side by side.
Which provider are you leaning towards? Let us know in the comments!
Tagged With: Email Marketing, VS
