Buttondown vs Mailchimp
Pricing
Buttondown: Free up to 100 subs, from $9/mo
Mailchimp: Free tier (250 contacts), Standard from $20/mo
Description
Buttondown: Minimal newsletter tool for people who just want to write in markdown and hit send
Mailchimp: Email marketing platform with campaigns, automation flows, landing pages and sign-up forms, owned by Intuit
Pros
- Markdown-based editor, no dragging boxes around
- $9/month for up to 1,000 subscribers is the cheapest paid newsletter tool
- No bloated features: it does newsletters and that is it
- Landing pages, pop-up forms and social posting are included on every plan, Free too
- Automation flows on Standard can run up to 200 steps with branching
- 14-day free trial of the Standard plan
Cons
- Very basic automation: no complex email sequences
- Only 100 subscribers on free tier; Substack and Beehiiv offer more
- Minimal templates: your emails look plain (which some people prefer)
- The Free plan is small: 250 contacts, 500 sends a month (250 a day), one user and Mailchimp branding
- Going over your contact or send limit adds overage charges automatically
- Automations on Free are a preview only, and Essentials caps each flow at 4 steps
Details
Buttondown is the newsletter tool for people who think Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has too many features. Write in markdown, send to your list, done. No drag-and-drop editors, no complex automation flows, no features you will never use.
Built and run solo by Justin Duke. The $9/month starting price is the cheapest in the newsletter space. The tradeoff is obvious: if you want referral programs, A/B testing, or complex automation, you need a different tool. If you just want to write and send a newsletter without the tooling getting in the way, Buttondown is refreshingly simple.
Mailchimp covers newsletters, automated email flows, landing pages, sign-up forms and basic social posting, with 100+ email templates. It is owned by Intuit, which also makes QuickBooks.
It suits founders who want one marketing tool for email, forms and simple landing pages, and who expect to use automations.
Pricing grows with your contact list. Free stops at 250 contacts. Standard starts at $20/month for 500 contacts and lets you send 12 emails per contact a month. Outside the US the site shows prices as estimates based on exchange rates, and taxes come on top.
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