Flodesk vs. Mailchimp: Which app should you use? [2025]

I've always been curious about the economics of email marketing. For years, the industry has operated on a peculiar premise: the more successful you become, the more you pay. Mailchimp lets you send a thousand emails per month for free, but wants nearly $600 when you reach 100,000 subscribers. Oof.

The "send more, pay more" model certainly benefits email providers. It's an elegant way to charge bigger customers more, despite the fact that the actual server cost of sending another thousand emails amounts to mere pennies. But it causes serious frustration among customers, who feel like they're being penalized for growing their lists.

Flodesk takes a different approach. For a flat fee, you get unlimited subscribers and can send an unlimited number of emails. This pricing model is genuinely refreshing in an industry where costs can quickly spiral out of control. As you grow your list by thousands of subscribers, you'll pay a consistent, predictable fee each month.

But there's a trade-off. Flodesk has significantly fewer features and integrations than Mailchimp, which offers virtually any email marketing capability you can imagine—from advanced automations and AI-powered tools to deep analytics and extensive third-party connections.

I've used Mailchimp for years, and I recently spent time in Flodesk to compare the strengths and limitations of each app. In this article, I'll share what I found so you can decide which makes sense for you.

Table of contents:

• Flodesk vs. Mailchimp at a glance

• Both are simple to use, but Flodesk has a quicker learning curve

• Flodesk makes it easier to send beautiful emails

• Mailchimp offers powerful automation and segmentation features

• Flodesk prioritizes features that solopreneurs actually need

• Mailchimp is better for serious eCommerce efforts

• Flodesk's flat-fee pricing is refreshingly straightforward

• Mailchimp has more integrations, but both connect to Zapier

• Flodesk vs. Mailchimp: Which should you use?

Flodesk vs. Mailchimp at a glance

Here's a breakdown of the key differences between these two email marketing tools.

• Flodesk is best for solopreneurs and small business owners. It's beautifully designed with an intuitive interface, making it easy to create stunning emails without a design background. With its flat-fee pricing model and solopreneur-friendly features like digital product sales and link in bio pages, Flodesk offers a uniquely attractive deal that includes everything small businesses need.

• Mailchimp is best for growing businesses and eCommerce brands. Its comprehensive toolkit includes sophisticated automation sequences, behavioral targeting, and detailed performance analytics. With powerful eCommerce features and integrations with virtually every business tool imaginable, Mailchimp is ideal for companies that need flexibility and scalability.

Both are simple to use, but Flodesk has a quicker learning curve

Flodesk is impressively minimalist. It has just six sections to navigate: Emails, Forms, Workflows, Checkouts, Audience, and Analytics. When you log on to the platform, you don't even get an overview dashboard showing the recent emails you've sent and their performance, which is a universal feature on every other email tool I've used. Instead, you're dropped unceremoniously into Flodesk's Emails section.

I was a bit thrown off by this level of minimalism, but after using Flodesk for a while, I get it. The no-frills approach works: it makes the platform easier to learn and navigate. Every tool has a simple interface that just makes sense. Creating a new form is a perfect example: pick a template, swap out images, change text, adjust a few settings, and it's ready to embed on your site.

Creating a form in Mailchimp, by contrast, is a pretty barebones process by comparison. There are no templates to choose from. While you have plenty of customization options, you're pretty much on your own.

Mailchimp's newer popup form builder does offer professional templates. But after you pick one, Mailchimp sends you to an editing screen that feels immediately overwhelming with too many options squeezed onto one screen.

To be fair, Mailchimp's more complex interface makes sense given its larger feature set. And while it feels busier than Flodesk, it's still much simpler than heavyweight competitors like ActiveCampaign. Plus—in a rarity for high-volume software businesses—Mailchimp offers a free 1:1 consulting call after you sign up to help you figure everything out.

Mailchimp also includes several AI features to make life easier, including send-time optimization to determine when subscribers are most likely to open emails, AI-generated email copy, and content assistance for building email sections. Most of these are "nice to have" options that don't actually save much time, though the AI automation builder—which I'll explore in more detail later—is an actual productivity-booster.

Flodesk makes it easier to send beautiful emails

Email templates from major providers often feel stuck in a time warp. Open Mailchimp, and you'll find yourself scrolling through 280+ templates, many of which look like digital relics from the mid-2010s that somehow survived multiple platform updates.

Flodesk offers a refreshing alternative. Their template collection is smaller—just a few dozen options—but they're crafted with serious professionalism and attention to detail. If you want your business's emails to look like a campaign you'd get from big brands like Sephora or Anthropologie, Flodesk makes it easy.

To be fair, Mailchimp has been stepping up its game recently. You can spot a clear difference between their newer templates and the legacy ones they inexplicably keep around. Mailchimp's new popup templates, for instance, actually look pretty slick.

Mailchimp and Flodesk take different approaches when it comes time to edit your email template. Mailchimp is the most flexible, with a classic drag-and-drop interface that lets you add any widget anywhere in the email.

Flodesk's approach reminds me of Kit's: instead of bombarding you with a sidebar full of widgets, it introduces thoughtful constraints that guide you toward good design decisions. This limits your creative freedom somewhat, but it gives you a better shot at professional-looking results that display consistently across your audience's various email platforms.

Mailchimp offers powerful automation and segmentation features

Flodesk takes a minimalist approach to subscriber segmentation. Its capabilities are basic: you can manually add people to segments or create simple filters, but that's nearly the extent of what's possible.

Fortunately, there's one exception: Flodesk's new Link action feature. Now you can automatically segment contacts, assign custom values, or add subscribers to specific workflows when they click links in your emails. It's a step in the right direction, though it still leaves Flodesk trailing behind more advanced platforms.

Mailchimp's segment builder offers much more. There are seemingly limitless options for filters, from signup source to "predicted geography." And your segments update automatically based on your filters and on subscriber behavior—which means your marketing stays relevant even if you forget to maintain your segments.

Mailchimp also includes a selection of prebuilt segments, cutting down your setup time and getting you to the good part—actually sending targeted emails—much faster.

Mailchimp has a big edge when it comes to automation, too. Mailchimp's automation suite handles an impressive array of tasks: sending SMS messages, running A/B tests, delivering product-specific shipping confirmations, and much more.

While these can be time-intensive to set up manually, Mailchimp has plenty of automation templates to get you started quickly, including some personalized customer journeys that are created by AI. Mailchimp's AI not only creates a custom automation for you but also creates personalized emails for each step according to your brand kit.

Flodesk's automation offerings are user-friendly but limited. Solopreneurs and coaches will appreciate the thoughtfully-designed prebuilt templates for common sequences like nurture campaigns and lead magnet delivery. Unfortunately, there are only nine templates available, which means if you have unique needs, you'll probably be hacking something together on your own.

Recent Flodesk updates have introduced the ability to trigger workflows directly from opt-in forms and exclude specific segments from workflows. Still, it's missing essential features like A/B testing and multi-path journeys, meaning it may be too limiting for data-driven marketers who like to experiment.

Flodesk prioritizes features that solopreneurs actually need

Flodesk isn't chock full of features like Mailchimp is, but what it does have is especially relevant to solopreneurs, creators, and online service providers.

Flodesk's built-in link in bio tool is a great example: for business owners who get the majority of their leads from social media, a link in bio page is often your audience's first real encounter with your brand. While you can spin up a link in bio page elsewhere—often for free—it's a nice bonus to be able to create one that integrates directly with your email marketing software.

There are other perks, too. Once you get up and running on Flodesk, you can benefit from your hard work by sharing your email designs as templates, which also gives you an affiliate payment when someone uses one to sign up.

For solopreneurs whose business revolves around digital products and services, Flodesk works surprisingly well as an all-in-one solution. Flodesk lets you build sales pages and checkout pages, configure upsells and discounts, and automatically deliver digital products—all without the technical gymnastics normally required. (These features do require the Advanced plan at $64/month, but considering the multiple tools they replace, the math often works out in your favor.)

The process is straightforward. First, select a checkout template that includes a pre-designed sales page, checkout page, and delivery page.

From there, you can customize each section to your liking. For example, you can add direct download links on the delivery page or set up custom upsell options at checkout. Flodesk is also currently working on adding subscription payments and payment plans into their checkout system.

There are serious benefits to Flodesk's all-in-one digital products approach. Setting up something like this on Mailchimp would require multiple integrations and take more time—and even then, it probably wouldn't be as customizable or work as smoothly.

That said, Flodesk does have its limitations. It doesn't support standard eCommerce workflows like abandoned cart automations that larger merchants might consider essential. Flodesk's eCommerce integrations are sparse: a direct connection with Shopify is available, but other popular platforms are missing. And although Flodesk recently added Apple Pay and Google Pay along with Stripe for payment processing, there isn't the diversity of payment options you'd normally expect from an app like this.

Mailchimp is better for serious eCommerce efforts

Mailchimp is definitely less convenient as an all-in-one solution for digital products. But if you're looking for a serious email marketing tool to integrate with your eCommerce shop, you'll find a lot to like. Mailchimp integrates with pretty much any eCommerce provider you can think of, and it has all sorts of prebuilt automations to boost your store's conversion rates, like Engage customers who have not made a purchase in X months.

Mailchimp is better equipped to handle transactional messages, too, and—unlike Flodesk—it can also manage SMS messages so you can bring customers back to your store or send them updates about their shipments. (You do have to pay extra for SMS, though.)

When it comes to seeing how your email campaigns are affecting sales, Mailchimp is a stronger option. While Flodesk gives you access to data on how customers interact with your checkout pages, and lets you track top performing products and checkout trends, it doesn't offer the deep-dive analytics and custom reporting that Mailchimp provides.

Flodesk's flat-fee pricing is refreshingly straightforward

Flodesk's pricing model represents something of a minor revolution in the email marketing space. Rather than forcing you to upgrade based on subscriber count or email volume—essentially penalizing you for growing your business—Flodesk presents a simple choice: do you need just email marketing, or do you also need eCommerce features?

Flodesk's Professional plan, at $38/month, gives you everything you need to run email marketing campaigns. By upgrading to the $64/month Advanced plan, you get Flodesk's integrated checkout features, multi-step sales funnels, digital product fulfillment, and commerce analytics.

While Flodesk's entry price is higher than some competitors, there's something deeply satisfying about knowing your monthly bill won't suddenly spike because your latest lead magnet was too successful. With Flodesk, you pay the same amount whether you're managing 500 subscribers or 50,000—a predictability that makes budgeting significantly easier.

Flodesk also offers a 14-day free trial that includes unrestricted access to all features. If you decide not to buy after the trial, you can still grow your list on Flodesk's free plan, but you won't be able to send emails until you upgrade.

Mailchimp is cheaper to get started with, but it gets infinitely more expensive as you add more contacts and send more emails. Mailchimp's Standard plan starts at $17.61/month for 500 contacts and 6,000 monthly email sends. But if you have 5,000 subscribers, you'll pay $88.07, and if you have 50,000 subscribers, your monthly bill will be $347.38. And you'll need to pay extra for add-ons like transactional emails and SMS.

Mailchimp has more integrations, but both connect to thousands of apps via Zapier

Mailchimp has far more integrations than Flodesk. There are an impressive 330+ integrations covering everything from website building (Squarespace, Shopify, WordPress) to customer service (Zendesk, Help Scout, LiveChat). Flodesk has just 11 integrations, including Canva, Shopify, Instagram, and a handful of others.

Fortunately, you can connect both Mailchimp and Flodesk with thousands of apps via Zapier. Learn more about how to automate Mailchimp or how to automate Flodesk, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

Flodesk vs. Mailchimp: Which should you use?

If you're not quite sure which option makes sense for you, here are some parting thoughts.

Go with Flodesk if you're looking for a beautifully designed platform with a focus on simplicity and visual appeal. If you're a creator, coach, or service provider who wants to create stunning emails and sell digital products without wrestling with complex features, Flodesk delivers exactly what you need at a predictable monthly cost—regardless of your list size.

Go with Mailchimp if you're building a scalable marketing operation that requires powerful automation, segmentation, and integration capabilities. Its robust eCommerce features, extensive analytics, and AI-powered tools make it well-suited for established businesses and online stores that need to create sophisticated, personalized customer journeys. While its pricing increases with subscriber count, the depth of functionality justifies the cost for businesses with complex marketing needs.

Related reading:

• The best free email marketing software

• The best Mailchimp alternatives

• The best email drip campaign software

• MailerLite vs. Mailchimp: Which email marketing app is best?

This article was originally published in April 2023 by David Hartshorne. The most recent update was in April 2025.