# AcelleMail vs Mailchimp

> Canonical HTML: https://acellemail.com/vs/mailchimp
> Content-Type: text/markdown

Mailchimp is the canonical SaaS email-marketing platform — easy to start, expensive at scale. AcelleMail is a one-time-license alternative with no contact tiers.

## Headline difference

| | **AcelleMail** | **Mailchimp** |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time USD 74 (or 199 SaaS) | Recurring monthly, contact-tier capped |
| Hosting | Self-hosted on your server | Mailchimp's cloud |
| Subscriber cap | None | Tier-capped — overages force tier upgrade |
| Email-send cap | None | Tier-capped |
| Data residency | Your server, your jurisdiction | US-based, subject to Intuit's policies |
| Source code | Full PHP/Laravel ships | Closed-source SaaS |
| Underlying SMTP cost | Vendor of your choice (e.g. SES USD 0.10/1k) | Bundled in tier price |

## Cost at common tiers

For 50,000 contacts with ~4 sends/month:

| Tier | Mailchimp | AcelleMail (Regular) + Amazon SES |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | ~USD 4,200 (USD 350/mo Standard) | USD 74 + (200k emails × USD 0.10/1k) = USD 94 |
| Year 5 | ~USD 21,000 | USD 74 (paid once) + USD 400 in SES = USD 474 |

(Mailchimp pricing varies; check live tier page for current rates. Calculation is illustrative.)

## What Mailchimp does better

- **Onboarding** — no install step, sign up and you're in
- **Brand integrations** — Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce native connectors out of the box
- **Predictive analytics** — built-in send-time and engagement scoring (Mailchimp has paid features for this)
- **Customer support tier** — paid Premium tier has dedicated support
- **Hosted compliance** — Mailchimp manages the SMTP relationship + deliverability

## What AcelleMail does better

- **Cost at scale** — break-even within weeks of switching from any paid Mailchimp tier
- **Data ownership** — subscriber records never leave your server
- **Unlimited everything** — no list cap, no send cap, no per-feature gates
- **Customization** — full source code; modify any screen, behavior, or integration
- **SaaS mode** (Extended License) — resell email-marketing as your own product, with Stripe/PayPal/Braintree billing built in

## Migration path

1. Export subscribers + lists from Mailchimp as CSV
2. Install AcelleMail on your server (KB has 1-day setup guides for Ubuntu, cPanel, Docker)
3. Configure Amazon SES (or any SMTP) inside AcelleMail
4. Import the CSV → segment + tag mirroring your Mailchimp groups
5. Rebuild key automations (typically 1-2 days for a 5-workflow estate)
6. Update DNS — SPF + DKIM for the new SMTP transport
7. Run a soft-launch warm-up week to maintain reputation

## Try it

- [Live demo](https://acellemail.com/demo)
- [Buy on CodeCanyon](https://codecanyon.net/cart/add_items?item_ids=17796082)
- [Pricing](https://acellemail.com/pricing.md)