Your email tool should not cost more than your email list earns.
Mailchimp raised prices again. Klaviyo bills you for contacts who never open a thing. We test the alternatives so you can switch with confidence, not guesswork.
If any of this sounds familiar
The renewal email you did not ask for
You opened a "your plan is changing" email from Mailchimp and your bill went up again, even though you only send basic campaigns. You want one simple answer: the cheapest reliable tool that will not surprise you next year, with a migration you can finish in an afternoon.
The invoice full of ghosts
You run a Shopify store and realized Klaviyo is charging you for thousands of profiles, including people who unsubscribed years ago. You need real cost math per 10,000 contacts and an honest answer on whether switching saves more than list cleaning.
The newsletter you never send
You do everything in your business and you know email should be working, but a weekly newsletter feels like a second job. You do not need a feature comparison. You need the two or three set-and-forget automations that do the work while you run the shop.
These are real problems, described in their own words by small business owners on Reddit. Every review we publish starts from a buyer like this. How we review.
Start here: what we are working on
TODO: These are the first five pieces from the content plan. Publish order is set; pages go live as testing completes. No fabricated results: nothing below is a review yet.
- Mailchimp alternatives that will not surprise you at renewal (roundup + YouTube walkthrough) — for the Mailchimp refugees.
- Cheaper Klaviyo alternatives for Shopify stores (comparison + YouTube walkthrough) — for the invoice full of ghosts.
- The 3 set-and-forget automations that replace your newsletter (tutorial + YouTube walkthrough) — for solo founders.
- Is Klaviyo worth $60/month for a small store? (comparison + YouTube walkthrough) — for first-time paid tool buyers.
- Mailchimp alternatives for 100K subscribers (roundup) — for scaling senders.
How we review
- Real accounts, real sending. We sign up, build automations, and send campaigns before we write a word.
- No fake ratings. You will never see a star rating on a tool we have not finished testing. Untested claims are marked as TODO, in public.
- Price math, not price lists. We calculate what you actually pay at 1K, 10K, and 100K contacts, because list-size pricing is where the surprises hide.
- Disclosure first. Every page with affiliate links says so near the top, in plain language. Full disclosure.
Get the Mailchimp switching checklist
A one-page checklist: what to export, what to rebuild, and what to test before you cancel. Free. One email a week after that, unsubscribe anytime.
TODO: checklist PDF does not exist yet. Wire the endpoint before promoting this form. See README for hookup steps.