If you’re shopping around for an email marketing tool, one of your first questions is probably: “What’s this going to cost me?” In this post, we’ll break down how Email Blaster’s pricing stacks up against Mailchimp’s—so you can see which gives you more value, flexibility, and peace of mind.
The Basics: What Each Platform Charges
Before digging into the details, here’s a quick high-level snapshot.
Email Blaster
- Monthly subscription plans starting from about £12.99 for 1,000 sends per month.
- Tiered options: e.g. 2,000 sends £16.99, 5,000 sends £32.99, 10,000 sends £59.99.
- Pay-As-You-Go option: you purchase credits (e.g. 500 sends for £8.99, 1,000 sends for £14.99, etc.).
- All features (templates, analytics, automation, GDPR sign-up forms, UK servers) come included in your plan.
- Data stored in the UK; your data “never leaves the UK” is a selling point.
Mailchimp
- Several pricing tiers: Free, Essentials, Standard, Premium.
- Free plan: Up to 500 contacts and 1,000 email sends per month (with limitations).
- Paying plans (UK prices) start at about £9.71/month for Essentials (for modest contact counts) and scale upward as your contact list grows.
- Mailchimp also offers a “Pay As You Go” (credit-based) option where you purchase sending credits.
- Pricing depends heavily on number of contacts (not just email volume) and add-ons/features.
- Credits in Mailchimp’s Pay As You Go plan expire after 12 months.
Head-to-Head: Cost, Value, and Flexibility
Let’s compare key dimensions that matter to users:
| Dimension | Where Email Blaster’s pricing shines | Potential trade-offs / things to check |
|---|---|---|
| Simplicity / Transparency | Email Blaster shows a clear price per send or per month. You don’t have to guess which features are “locked” behind tiers. | As your needs grow (more sends, advanced features), make sure you understand at which tier you’ll cross thresholds. |
| All features included | You don’t have to pay extra for things like templates, analytics, automation, GDPR forms—these are baked in. | If you only use basic emailing, some higher-end features might go unused (but you still pay for them). |
| Pay As You Go flexibility | For occasional senders or seasonal campaigns, you can buy credits instead of committing monthly. This is ideal for irregular usage. | You’ll need to manage your credit balance carefully. If your campaign is big, you may need to top up or switch to a monthly plan. |
| Scaling with your list | Because your charges are tied more directly to “sends” rather than contacts, you may avoid paying for unused or unsubscribed contacts. | If your list grows very large or you need enterprise features, make sure Email Blaster scales or offers custom enterprise pricing. |
| Data sovereignty / compliance | Because your data is stored and processed in the UK, you may gain legal or regulatory advantages (especially for UK/EU clients). | Some global platforms might have wider infrastructure or integrations; check if Email Blaster has the integrations you need. |
| Hidden or extra costs | With Email Blaster, there are no “hidden costs”—your plan includes the features. | Be sure to check for overage fees (if you exceed sends), or whether certain premium features might be extra. |
| Credit expiry (for pay-as-you-go) | Email Blaster’s pay-as-you-go credits don’t seem to expire (or at least there’s no indication of expiration in the publicly shown pricing). | If plans change, or in long gaps between campaigns, confirm whether credit expiry is introduced. |
| Mailchimp’s price “leakage” | With Mailchimp, you may be forced to pay for unsubscribed or inactive contacts, or cross thresholds suddenly as your contact count increases. | The added control and predictability of Email Blaster’s model may become a competitive advantage. |
Example Scenarios
Here are a few hypothetical use-cases to illustrate how costs might compare in practice (note: approximate figures based on public pricing; actual costs may vary depending on usage, currency, and add-ons).
Scenario A: A small business sending ~5,000 emails a month
- With Email Blaster, the 5,000-sends tier costs £32.99/month.
- With Mailchimp, depending on how many contacts you have, you might end up needing the Essentials or Standard plan, which could cost in the ballpark of £15–30+ per month for that scale of emails (and paying for contacts) depending on the contact count. (Mailchimp’s pricing increases as your contact list grows.)
In this case, Email Blaster may be competitive or cheaper (especially if Mailchimp forces you into a higher tier due to contact count) — and you may get more features included.
Scenario B: Infrequent campaigns or seasonal sends
- With Email Blaster’s Pay As You Go, you buy only what you need—e.g. 10,000 sends for £69.99.
- With Mailchimp, you’d rely on their credit system for occasional senders (their Pay As You Go model). But your credits expire after 12 months, which requires planning.
Here, Email Blaster may offer more predictability without the pressure of expiry (as presented in their public pricing).
Scenario C: Growing list and advanced features
- With Mailchimp, as your audience size grows, your costs may scale nonlinearly—not only because you send more, but also because the platform charges by contact, and features are tiered.
- If Email Blaster continues to offer features bundled in and charges based on sends, the scaling may feel more transparent—but only if Email Blaster’s infrastructure, deliverability, and support hold up at scale.
Risks, Considerations & What to Watch Out For
To make a fair comparison, beyond just sticker price, here are things you should investigate:
- Deliverability & reputation
A cheaper cost is useless if your emails land in spam. Ensure the platform you choose has a strong sender reputation and support for deliverability best practices. - Support, infrastructure, and reliability
As your volume scales, uptime, support responsiveness, and infrastructure matter. Bigger providers often have more redundancy, but smaller ones can offer more personal support. - Feature completeness
Are all automation, segmentation, A/B testing, API or integrations included, or are some locked behind “premium” tiers? Make sure you know what’s in each platform’s “included features” before you commit. - Credit expiration or overage rules
Even with “pay as you go” models, check whether credits expire or what happens when you exceed limits. - Currency, VAT, and billing quirks
If you’re in the UK, make sure the prices you see are net of VAT, check how currency conversions are handled (if the provider is international). For example, Mailchimp shows pricing in your local currency but may convert behind the scenes. - Data location & compliance
If your business operates in the UK or EU, having data stored locally (as with Email Blaster) can simplify GDPR-related compliance and reduce legal risk or complexity. - Lock-in & migration costs
If you ever want to switch, how hard is it to migrate your contact lists, histories, tags, and automation flows? Always good to think ahead.
Conclusion: Which Platform “Wins”?
There’s no universal winner—each business’s needs differ. But based on public figures and feature comparisons:
- For small to medium senders, Email Blaster offers a compelling value: clear pricing, all features included, and pay-as-you-go flexibility.
- For occasional senders or seasonal users, Email Blaster’s model may be simpler and more cost-efficient given fewer constraints on credit expiry.
- For large scale senders or enterprise setups, your decision may come down less on per-send cost and more on infrastructure, deliverability, integrations, and global reliability. In those cases, both platforms will need to be evaluated carefully for performance rather than just pricing.
