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Mailchimp vs Omnisend

A side-by-side comparison for teams choosing between Mailchimp and Omnisend.

Last updated: December 17, 2025

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Quick Overview

General marketing platform vs ecommerce-first omnichannel automation

The biggest difference between Mailchimp and Omnisend is what they optimize around: Mailchimp is built as a broad, all-in-one marketing platform that starts with audience management and a marketing CRM mindset, while Omnisend prioritizes ecommerce marketing automation where messaging is tightly connected to shopping behavior and can run across channels like email, SMS, and web push. If you need one centralized hub for campaigns and contact data across many marketing motions, the orientation is different than if your primary goal is revenue-driving lifecycle messaging from store activity.

That tradeoff exists because Mailchimp’s product bets emphasize keeping audience data in one place and turning those insights into campaigns through segmentation, contact profiles, and journey building, whereas Omnisend evolved from an ecommerce-focused email tool (founded in 2014 as Soundest, rebranded in 2017) into an omnichannel automation suite with deep integrations into ecommerce platforms and real-time syncing. In practice, Mailchimp’s “audience-first” model pushes breadth and centralized marketing workflows, while Omnisend’s “store-data-first” model pushes tighter commerce context and channel orchestration.

What hinges on this difference is how your lifecycle engine is designed: whether you treat email as one part of a broader marketing hub, or as an extension of your commerce stack where automation depth, behavioral segmentation, and omnichannel reach are core. The rest of this comparison unpacks the stakes in automation logic, cross-channel coordination, how much operational overhead comes from integrations, and how directly each platform turns customer and purchase signals into messaging decisions.

Quick Comparison

At a Glance

Category Mailchimp Omnisend
Best for Small businesses, multichannel marketing Ecommerce merchants, omnichannel marketing
Core strength All-in-one marketing platform Ecommerce email, SMS, push
Automation depth Customer Journey Builder workflows Multichannel workflows, conditional splits
Pricing model Tiered plans, contact-based billing Contact-based tiers, custom enterprise
Learning curve Personalized onboarding, migration services No-code automation builder

Vendor Snapshot

Company Snapshot

Background data gathered from our market research (founding year, HQ, team size, specialties, etc.).

Mailchimp

Visit website
M
24+ years operating Team 1001-5000
Founded
2001
HQ
Atlanta, GA, USA
Team
1001-5000
Industry
Software Development

Mailchimp is an email and marketing automations platform for growing businesses. It helps customers find and engage audiences across email, social media, landing pages, and advertising with data-backed recommendations and AI.

Specialties

Marketing Automation E-commerce Email Marketing CRM Analytics Marketing Platform Small Business Marketing E-commerce
O
11+ years operating Team 201-500
Founded
2014
Team
201-500
Industry
Technology, Information And Internet

Omnisend is an all-in-one marketing platform tailored for ecommerce businesses, enabling merchants to build personalized connections with their audience. It supports creating email campaigns, sending SMS, and automating repetitive marketing tasks with direct integrations to ecommerce platforms.

Why These Platforms Feel So Different

Mailchimp began in 2001 as a side project inside the Rocket Science Group, a web design agency in Atlanta. It was built as an alternative to oversized, expensive email software common in the early 2000s. Omnisend started much later, in 2014, as Soundest, and it set out to serve ecommerce marketers from day one.

Because Mailchimp grew from an agency-built email service, it prioritizes broad coverage and a large, flexible surface area. This leads to a product that keeps expanding outward as needs change over time. One example is how it evolved beyond email into a wider set of marketing tools as the company matured.

Because Omnisend was built around ecommerce workflows, it prioritizes tight alignment with how online stores operate. This leads to more opinionated choices about what information matters and where it should flow. One example is its emphasis on deep integrations into ecommerce platforms as a core part of the product direction.

Those starting assumptions shaped what each platform optimized for, and what it de-emphasized. The next sections unpack how these early tradeoffs show up when you evaluate the details.

Key Takeaways

Key Differences

Mailchimp and Omnisend differ across several core dimensions that impact fit, setup, and day-to-day execution.

Market focus

Broad marketing vs ecommerce-first

Mailchimp serves many business types, while Omnisend is designed primarily for ecommerce marketing workflows.

Automation model

General automations vs lifecycle flows

Mailchimp supports flexible marketing automations, while Omnisend emphasizes prebuilt customer lifecycle and shopping-based automation triggers.

Channels

Email-first vs multi-channel messaging

Mailchimp centers on email campaigns, while Omnisend is built for coordinated email, SMS, and on-site messaging from one workflow.

Integrations

Marketplace breadth vs store integrations

Mailchimp offers broad integrations across tools, while Omnisend prioritizes deep connections with ecommerce platforms and store data.

Data model

Audience lists vs customer events

Mailchimp organizes marketing around audiences and segments, while Omnisend structures targeting around customer behavior and ecommerce events.

Reporting

Campaign analytics vs revenue attribution

Mailchimp focuses on campaign performance metrics, while Omnisend highlights ecommerce revenue attribution tied to messages and automations.

Feature Comparison

Feature-by-feature comparison

Email, automation, omnichannel messaging, audience, acquisition, reporting, and integration capabilities.

Email campaigns

Email creation, templates, and sending.

Mailchimp

Drag-and-drop builder with templates and dynamic content.

Omnisend

Drag-and-drop builder with ecommerce blocks and prebuilt templates.

Marketing automation flows

Visual workflows with triggers and branching.

Mailchimp

Customer Journey Builder with pre-built journeys, branching, and multiple starting points.

Omnisend

Prebuilt workflows with conditional splits and multi-channel sequences.

SMS marketing

Text messaging campaigns and automation.

Mailchimp

SMS and MMS marketing add-on with pre-built SMS automation.

Omnisend

Global SMS integrated with workflows and campaigns.

Web push notifications

Browser push messaging and automation.

Mailchimp

Omnisend

Automated web push for cart recovery, restocks, and new arrivals.

Landing pages

No-code landing page building tools.

Mailchimp

Landing pages included in marketing plans.

Omnisend

Landing pages included with forms and popups tools.

Forms and popups

On-site signup capture and targeting.

Mailchimp

Pop-up forms for email and SMS list growth.

Omnisend

Popups, embedded forms, flyouts, and landing pages.

Segmentation

Audience targeting and dynamic segments.

Mailchimp

Advanced segmentation with behavioral and predictive tools.

Omnisend

Behavior-based segmentation using purchase history and engagement data.

A/B testing

Experimentation for optimization.

Mailchimp

A/B and multivariate testing for campaigns.

Omnisend

A/B testing for subject lines, content, and timing.

Reporting and analytics

Performance dashboards and insights.

Mailchimp

Real-time reports with comparative reporting and dashboards.

Omnisend

Campaign, automation, and revenue dashboards with cross-channel reporting.

Ecommerce integrations

Store platform connections and data sync.

Mailchimp

Integrations including Shopify and WooCommerce with purchase data sync.

Omnisend

Native ecommerce integrations including Shopify and WooCommerce.

AI assistance

AI tools for creation and targeting.

Mailchimp

AI & analytics tools for content suggestions.

Omnisend

AI subject lines, product recommendations, and copy suggestions.

Feature Analysis

Feature Explanation: How These Capabilities Differ in Practice

You’ve already seen what each platform includes. This section explains how those capabilities behave day-to-day when you build, target, and measure campaigns.

#1 Automation & Flows

Mailchimp builds automations in Customer Journey Builder using starting points, rules, branching, and delays. Automation complexity can be constrained by flow-step limits depending on plan.

Omnisend uses a drag-and-drop automation builder with multi-step journeys, split paths, and conditional logic. It also supports real-time triggers like product views and orders.

#2 Customer Segmentation

Mailchimp segments using audience filters, tags, and behavioral targeting across website, campaign, app, and purchase activity. It also offers predicted demographics and predictive segments like lifetime value and purchase likelihood.

Omnisend segments are dynamic and update in real time as store data changes. Segments are built around purchase and engagement behavior, with support for tags and custom properties.

#3 Multichannel Messaging

Mailchimp supports email and SMS, and can use the same customer data for both inside automation flows. It also supports additional channels like social posting and retargeting ads through its broader marketing toolkit.

Omnisend is built around email, SMS, and web push, including the ability to place multiple channels inside one automation. It also supports syncing segments to ad platforms like Facebook and Google.

#4 Analytics & Revenue Attribution

Mailchimp reporting tracks performance across email and SMS and supports customizable reports focused on revenue and engagement metrics. It also provides dashboards that highlight audience behavior and conversion-related insights.

Omnisend reporting is oriented around ecommerce outcomes, with sales reports that break revenue down by email, SMS, and push. It also supports configurable attribution windows and workflow step-level performance views.

#5 Ecommerce Data & Store Sync

Mailchimp’s store integrations sync customers, products, and purchase data (for example with Shopify). That synced commerce data can feed purchase-based automations like abandoned cart sequences.

Omnisend’s ecommerce integrations emphasize real-time syncing of customer, order, and product data to keep segments and automations current. It also supports platform-synced features like unique discount codes with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

#6 Experimentation / Testing

Mailchimp supports A/B testing for campaigns, and also supports multivariate testing for comparing multiple variations. Testing is aimed at optimizing email content and timing decisions.

Omnisend supports A/B testing for campaigns and also supports A/B split testing inside automations. This lets you compare workflow message variants and channel choices within the same flow.

Pricing

Pricing & Plans

Compare tiers, caps, and upgrade paths at a glance.

MailChimp

Tiered Free tier Volume pricing

Tiered, contact-count pricing with monthly email send limits and SMS offered as a paid add-on (availability varies by location and approval).

Free contacts
500
Free monthly emails
1,000

Omnisend

Tiered Free tier Volume pricing

Tiered, contact-based pricing with defined monthly email allowances at lower tiers and custom pricing at high volumes; SMS is available with credits/add-ons depending on plan.

Free contacts
250
Free monthly emails
500
1,000 contacts

PLAN

$26.50

per month

What's included

  • Includes 15,000 emails
  • Email campaigns and templates
  • Automation flows (customer journeys)
  • Segmentation (tags, groups, segments)

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped; exceeding contact or email send limits can trigger overage charges.

PLAN

$20

per month

What's included

  • Includes 12,000 emails
  • Email campaigns
  • Marketing automation workflows
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped at 12,000 emails for this tier.
10,000 contacts

PLAN

$110

per month

What's included

  • Includes 100,000 emails
  • Email campaigns and templates
  • Automation flows (customer journeys)
  • Advanced segmentation options on higher plans

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped; exceeding contact or email send limits can trigger overage charges.

PLAN

$132

per month

What's included

  • Includes 120,000 emails
  • Email campaigns at higher volume
  • Automation workflows
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped at 120,000 emails for this tier.
50,000 contacts

PLAN

$385

per month

What's included

  • Includes 500,000 emails
  • Email campaigns at higher volume
  • Automation flows (customer journeys)
  • Segmentation and targeting tools

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped; exceeding contact or email send limits can trigger overage charges.

PLAN

$413

per month

What's included

  • Includes 600,000 emails
  • Email campaigns at high volume
  • Automation workflows
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped at 600,000 emails for this tier.
100,000 contacts

PLAN

$800

per month

What's included

  • Includes 1,200,000 emails
  • Email campaigns at high volume
  • Automation flows (customer journeys)
  • Advanced segmentation options on higher plans

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped; exceeding contact or email send limits can trigger overage charges.

PLAN

$900

per month

What's included

  • Includes 1,200,000 emails
  • Email campaigns at high volume
  • Automation workflows
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Monthly email sending is capped at 1,200,000 emails for this tier.
500,000 contacts

PLAN

Contact sales

What's included

  • Includes custom emails
  • Higher-volume sending configuration
  • Advanced automation and segmentation (plan/contract dependent)
  • Reporting and performance insights

Limitations

  • Custom pricing requires sales involvement and a contract (pricing not publicly listed).

PLAN

Contact sales

What's included

  • Includes custom emails
  • Higher-volume sending configuration
  • Automation workflows (plan/contract dependent)
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Custom pricing requires contacting sales (pricing not publicly listed).
1,000,000 contacts

PLAN

Contact sales

What's included

  • Includes custom emails
  • Higher-volume sending configuration
  • Advanced automation and segmentation (plan/contract dependent)
  • Reporting and performance insights

Limitations

  • Custom pricing requires sales involvement and a contract (pricing not publicly listed).

PLAN

Contact sales

What's included

  • Includes custom emails
  • Higher-volume sending configuration
  • Automation workflows (plan/contract dependent)
  • Web push notifications

Limitations

  • Custom pricing requires contacting sales (pricing not publicly listed).

Customer Voices

Reviews & Ratings

See how Mailchimp vs Omnisend compare based on verified customer reviews (pros, cons, sentiment).

Mailchimp

4.5 / 5.0

Based on 17,490 reviews

Positive sentiment
Top Pros
  • Easy for beginners with drag-and-drop builder
  • Lots of templates for quick newsletters
  • Helpful engagement metrics and analytics
  • Scheduling emails is simple and reliable
Top Cons
  • Gets expensive as contact list grows
  • Advanced automation locked to higher tiers
  • Editor feels restrictive for formatting and images
  • Deliverability issues: emails land in spam

Omnisend

4.7 / 5.0

Based on 834 reviews

Positive sentiment
Top Pros
  • Easy-to-use email builder and automation
  • Strong Shopify integration and ecommerce workflows
  • Customer support is fast and helpful
  • Clear reporting and performance tracking
Top Cons
  • Editor can feel restrictive for design changes
  • UI can be cluttered and hard to navigate
  • Some want more premade templates
  • Pricing tightens as contacts and SMS grow

Real-World Scenarios

How key workflows play out in practice

A feature matrix shows what’s available, but day-to-day teams feel differences in cadence, handoffs, and how quickly workflows adjust. These scenarios translate capabilities into real operating behavior.

#1 Campaign production cadence

Mailchimp: Teams often plan weekly sends in batches, with approvals and edits happening in bursts before launch, then light adjustments afterward.

Omnisend: Teams run ongoing ecommerce pushes, refreshing promos more frequently and coordinating recurring sends with store rhythms and seasonal bursts.

#2 Audience changes and targeting rhythm

Mailchimp: Segments tend to be reviewed on a weekly or monthly rhythm, with list cleanups and targeting tweaks handled as separate work blocks.

Omnisend: Targeting updates feel more continuous, with audiences shifting alongside shopping behavior and marketers making quick adjustments during active sales periods.

#3 Cross-channel coordination in launches

Mailchimp: Launches are often managed as email-first workflows, with other touchpoints handled through separate handoffs and scheduled around the main send cadence.

Omnisend: Launches are coordinated as multichannel sequences, keeping messages aligned across touchpoints with ongoing timing adjustments during the promotion window.

#4 Lifecycle messaging upkeep

Mailchimp: Lifecycle messaging is typically checked periodically, with teams pausing to revise flows during quarterly reviews or when performance dips.

Omnisend: Lifecycle messaging runs as an always-on engine, with frequent small updates tied to product drops, inventory changes, and recurring sales cycles.

#5 Performance visibility and iteration loops

Mailchimp: Reporting often drives weekly readouts, where teams review results, then queue the next round of edits and experiments.

Omnisend: Performance checks happen more often during active campaigns, enabling quick mid-promo tweaks and tighter iteration loops across recurring sends.

#6 Ecommerce data handling in daily operations

Mailchimp: Commerce-related work is commonly handled as periodic imports and updates, with teams reconciling data during planned maintenance windows.

Omnisend: Store activity informs ongoing workflows, with teams reacting more quickly to purchasing signals and adjusting messaging cadence around real-time demand shifts.

Decision Guide

Which Platform Should You Choose?

Use these cues to quickly see which platform fits how you work.

Mailchimp

Best for

Small teams and solo operators running consistent outbound communications on a predictable schedule with lightweight process.

This platform is a good fit if:

  • You plan a weekly or monthly send calendar and execute it with minimal handoffs.
  • One person typically owns list hygiene, content, and sends end-to-end.
  • Your team mainly reviews high-level engagement results and makes incremental tweaks between sends.
  • Contacts come from a mix of places and you spend time organizing audiences before you publish anything.

Omnisend

Best for

Commerce teams operating around purchase behavior where marketing runs as an always-on system that gets tuned continuously.

This platform is a good fit if:

  • Your week is driven by storefront activity, and messaging changes when inventory, promotions, or sales patterns change.
  • You track customer actions closely and coordinate marketing work around those moments rather than a fixed send calendar.
  • Your team reviews performance frequently and makes small adjustments in response to what shoppers do.
  • Workflows depend on up-to-date customer and order data, and you notice quickly when those inputs drift or break.

Need-to-know

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about comparing these platforms.

How much work is it to migrate, and what data might not transfer cleanly from Mailchimp to Omnisend (or vice versa)?

Expect to move core items like contacts, segments/tags (as available), and campaign templates, but not every platform-specific setting maps 1:1. Automations/journeys typically need to be rebuilt because triggers, event schemas, and conditional logic differ between Mailchimp and Omnisend.

Plan time to re-verify sending domains and authentication (SPF/DKIM) after the move, and to re-create signup forms/popups and any embedded code placements. Historical engagement data may import only in limited forms (e.g., as fields) rather than as native reporting history, depending on what each platform’s import tools support.

What happens if we switch and then decide to switch back—can we reverse the decision without losing continuity?

You can move lists/contacts back, but continuity for automation history and reporting is not fully reversible because Mailchimp and Omnisend store events, attribution, and workflow states differently. If you run both in parallel for a transition period, you’ll need strict rules to prevent double-sending and conflicting unsubscribe status.

When reverting, you’ll also need to reconfigure integrations (ecommerce, forms, web tracking) and re-warm sending if your sending domain or IP context changes. Keep an internal archive of key templates and automation logic so rebuilding in Mailchimp or Omnisend is operational rather than investigative.

Do we truly own our subscriber data, and will we still be able to export it if our account is paused or closed?

In both Mailchimp and Omnisend, your contact records can be exported (typically CSV) while you have account access, but export of certain derived or proprietary data (like platform-calculated analytics or some event histories) may be limited to what the UI/API exposes. Unsubscribe and suppression statuses should be treated as critical compliance data—export them and preserve them before making changes.

If an account is suspended or access is restricted, exports may not be possible until access is restored, so schedule exports before any planned cancellation. Maintain your own backup process for lists, custom fields, and consent metadata regardless of whether you use Mailchimp or Omnisend.

How do Mailchimp and Omnisend handle GDPR and consent rules, especially if we collect subscribers from multiple sources?

Both Mailchimp and Omnisend support consent-based list growth (e.g., double opt-in options) and storing signup metadata, but you are responsible for configuring forms, proof-of-consent capture, and lawful basis documentation to match your region and use case. If you import contacts, you should import consent fields and timestamps (when available) so you can demonstrate how permission was obtained.

For GDPR requests (access/deletion), each platform provides mechanisms to delete or anonymize contacts, but deletion may also remove historical engagement reporting tied to that contact. If you operate in multiple regions, ensure your signup forms and preference centers in Mailchimp or Omnisend align with local requirements (e.g., explicit marketing consent where required).

We run multiple storefronts/brands—can we keep them separate without mixing audiences or sending from the wrong brand?

Multi-brand setups can be done, but the cleanest approach depends on whether you need shared subscribers or strict separation. In Mailchimp, separation is often managed via distinct audiences and permissions; in Omnisend, it’s commonly handled via separate stores/accounts or segmentation controls tied to ecommerce data.

Edge cases appear when one email address subscribes to multiple brands: you’ll need clear rules for subscription status, frequency caps, and branding so an unsubscribe from one brand doesn’t unintentionally suppress another. Document naming conventions for tags/fields and enforce them consistently in Mailchimp or Omnisend to avoid cross-brand leakage.

Are there API limits or integration constraints that could break our workflows when traffic spikes or we add custom integrations?

Both Mailchimp and Omnisend expose APIs and app integrations, but rate limits, payload constraints, and event schema requirements can affect real-time syncing—especially during spikes (sales, product drops, batch imports). If you rely on custom events, validate exactly how each platform expects identifiers (email vs customer ID), deduplication behavior, and timestamp handling.

Plan for retry logic and queueing on your side, and monitor failed calls so you don’t silently lose events that trigger automations. Before switching between Mailchimp and Omnisend, inventory every integration (ecommerce, reviews, loyalty, helpdesk) and confirm equivalent data is available via native apps or API.

Can we send SMS everywhere we operate, and what happens with country-specific rules or carrier restrictions?

SMS availability and permissible content vary by country, and both Mailchimp (where SMS is available) and Omnisend require compliance with local consent, opt-out language, and sender identity rules. Some regions require specific registration (e.g., dedicated sender IDs or local numbers), and carriers may filter or block messages that don’t meet format or content policies.

Expect limitations on message types (marketing vs transactional), quiet hours, and prohibited content categories depending on destination. Before committing, confirm Omnisend or Mailchimp supports your target countries and that you can capture and store the required SMS consent fields per region.

How do we protect deliverability if we have a big send, a new domain, or we’re worried about spam complaints?

Deliverability protection is a combination of authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), list hygiene, and sending discipline, and both Mailchimp and Omnisend provide tools/settings to support these basics. If you change sending domains or move platforms, you should ramp volume gradually rather than blasting immediately, because engagement signals and complaint rates heavily influence inbox placement.

Use suppression/unsubscribe lists, avoid repeatedly emailing unengaged contacts, and monitor complaint/bounce metrics closely in Mailchimp or Omnisend. If you import older lists, verify consent and remove risky segments first to prevent account-level sending restrictions.

If something breaks during a launch, what support access and response expectations should we plan for?

Support availability depends on your plan level and region, and response times can vary during peak periods; neither Mailchimp nor Omnisend should be treated as guaranteed real-time incident response unless your plan explicitly includes that. For time-sensitive sends, build internal runbooks (rollback steps, template backups, segmentation checks) so you’re not blocked waiting for support.

Keep a checklist of escalation details (account ID, campaign IDs, error screenshots, affected segments) to speed troubleshooting with Mailchimp or Omnisend. If you rely on agency or partner support, confirm what access they can have and how quickly they can intervene.

What are the scaling ceilings—will anything fail when our list, event volume, or message frequency grows fast?

At scale, the friction points are less about creating emails and more about data volume, segmentation complexity, and automation concurrency. Both Mailchimp and Omnisend can handle large lists, but extremely high event throughput (ecommerce events, browsing events, custom triggers) can surface latency, queueing, or limitations in how far back data is retained for reporting and segmentation.

Operationally, scaling also requires stricter governance: naming conventions, field limits, deduplication rules, and a disciplined approach to sunsetting stale automations. If you’re approaching very high send frequency, expect more aggressive deliverability monitoring and the need to actively manage suppression and engagement in Mailchimp or Omnisend.

Final Thoughts

Our Recommendation

This choice is about how your team runs marketing day to day: centralized coordination and evolving processes versus a tighter, repeatable workflow with clear boundaries.

Choose Mailchimp when your organization operates on multiple cadences across teams and needs a system that can absorb changing handoffs and growing coordination. It fits environments where more stakeholders touch campaigns and operational overhead is accepted to keep work aligned.

Choose Omnisend when you want a straightforward motion with predictable execution and minimal process maintenance. It works best for lean teams that prefer consistent workflows, fewer moving parts, and faster turnaround without extra coordination.

Map the decision to your operating rhythm and the answer becomes clear: pick Mailchimp for cross-team complexity and shifting schedules, or Omnisend for simple execution and tight resourcing. Commit to the one that matches how work actually moves in your team.