Our Pick: Mailchimp for most Australian businesses — the free plan, larger integration ecosystem, and all-in-one marketing features make it hard to beat for small businesses. Choose Campaign Monitor if you prioritise email design quality, need Australian data residency, or want the best-looking emails in every inbox.
This is a comparison with a uniquely Australian angle: Campaign Monitor was born in Sydney in 2004, making it one of Australia's most successful tech exports. Mailchimp is the American juggernaut that dominates globally. Both are excellent email marketing platforms, but they serve different needs.
Pricing Comparison (AUD, February 2026)
| Feature | Mailchimp | Campaign Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (500 contacts, 1,000 sends/mo) | No (pay-per-campaign from $7) |
| Entry paid plan | ~$17/mo (Essentials, 500 contacts) | ~$12/mo (Lite, 500 contacts) |
| Mid plan (5,000 contacts) | ~$85/mo (Standard) | ~$79/mo (Essentials) |
| Premium/high volume | ~$430/mo (Premium, 10k contacts) | ~$179/mo (Premier, 5k contacts) |
| Pay-per-campaign | No | Yes (from $7/campaign) |
| Automation | All paid plans | Essentials plan and above |
Bottom line on price: Mailchimp's free plan is unbeatable for getting started. Campaign Monitor's pay-per-campaign model is clever for businesses that only send occasionally (e.g., monthly newsletters). At scale, pricing is similar — the choice should be based on features, not cost.
Email Design & Templates
Campaign Monitor wins on design. This has always been their competitive advantage. The email builder is elegant, the templates are beautiful, and every email just looks professional. Campaign Monitor emails render consistently across all email clients — they're obsessive about it.
Mailchimp's email builder is perfectly functional and has improved significantly. There are more templates to choose from, and the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive. But Campaign Monitor's emails have a design polish that Mailchimp doesn't quite match.
If your brand relies on visual presentation — think architecture firms, boutique hotels, fashion, food — Campaign Monitor's design superiority is worth paying for.
Automation
Mailchimp has more automation features, including customer journey mapping, predictive analytics, send-time optimisation, and conditional logic. The "Customer Journey Builder" lets you create complex multi-step automations with branching paths.
Campaign Monitor's automation is simpler but covers the essentials: welcome series, abandoned cart (with ecommerce integration), date-based triggers, and segment-based automations. For most small businesses, this is plenty.
If you're building sophisticated automated email sequences with dozens of triggers and conditions, Mailchimp gives you more to work with. If you need a solid welcome series and regular campaigns, Campaign Monitor does the job.
The Australian Angle
This matters more than you might think:
Campaign Monitor has data centres in Sydney, meaning your subscriber data stays in Australia. For businesses bound by the Australian Privacy Act — or those who simply prefer Australian data sovereignty — this is a genuine advantage. Campaign Monitor also understands AEST time zones natively and prices in AUD by default.
Mailchimp stores data in the US. For most Australian businesses this is fine (subject to their Privacy Policy), but some industries and government clients require Australian data residency. Mailchimp does support AUD billing and Australian time zones, but it's clearly a US-first platform.
Integrations
Mailchimp has vastly more integrations — over 300 compared to Campaign Monitor's ~100. Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Salesforce, Slack, Xero, and practically every tool you can think of connects to Mailchimp. This is a significant advantage for businesses using multiple software tools.
Campaign Monitor integrates with the major platforms (Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce, Zapier) but the selection is smaller. If a specific integration is important to your workflow, check Campaign Monitor's integrations page before committing.
Analytics & Reporting
Both platforms provide open rates, click rates, bounce rates, unsubscribes, and revenue attribution. Mailchimp offers slightly more — comparative reporting across campaigns, audience insights, and predictive demographics. Campaign Monitor's reports are clean and easy to understand, with a focus on the metrics that matter most.
Deliverability
Both have excellent deliverability. Campaign Monitor historically scores marginally better in independent deliverability tests, partly because they're stricter about list quality and sending practices. Mailchimp's massive user base means more variability in sender reputation across shared IPs.
For both platforms, deliverability mostly comes down to your practices: clean lists, engaged subscribers, proper authentication (SPF, DKIM), and relevant content.
Who Should Choose Mailchimp?
- Small businesses and startups (the free plan is excellent)
- Businesses wanting all-in-one marketing (email + social + ads + landing pages)
- Those who need advanced automation and journey mapping
- Anyone relying on a large third-party integration ecosystem
- Ecommerce stores (stronger Shopify/WooCommerce integration)
Who Should Choose Campaign Monitor?
- Brands where email design quality is paramount
- Businesses requiring Australian data residency
- Agencies managing multiple client accounts
- Occasional senders (pay-per-campaign pricing)
- Anyone who values simplicity over feature breadth
- Those who prefer supporting Australian-founded tech
Our Verdict
Mailchimp is the default for a reason — it's feature-rich, has a great free tier, and integrates with everything. For most Australian small businesses, it's the practical choice.
But Campaign Monitor is the more refined product. If you care about how your emails look, where your data lives, and want a platform that feels designed rather than assembled, Campaign Monitor delivers. It's also worth considering that you're supporting an Australian-born company — and in a market dominated by US tech giants, that counts for something.