Mailchimp is where most retailers start, and for a small list it is hard to beat on price. The trouble begins when the list grows: per-contact pricing means the platform charges rent on every profile you store. Here is the difference, stated fairly.
Based on Mailchimp's published pricing and features as at July 2026, converted at approximate FX. Check their current pricing before you decide; it changes.
| Dimension | Mailchimp | Reachable |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per contact, per month. Archived and unsubscribed handling has caught many stores out; stored contacts push you up the tiers. | Flat bands: $750, $1,500 or $2,500 per month ex GST AUD. Your bill is set by plan, not by database size. |
| Contact caps | Every plan has a contact limit, and overage or forced upgrades apply when you cross it. Growth is a billing event. | Unlimited profiles on every plan. Bands are simple: Launch to 100,000 contacts, Growth to 195,000, Scale unlimited. |
| SMS | Credit-based SMS add-on, priced well above Australian wholesale rates, and not available on all plans. | At cost. Routed through Australian aggregators and passed through at honest rates, no credit markup. |
| Attribution | Self-claimed. Platform-reported revenue counts sales it recently touched, which flatters the numbers. | Store order truth. Revenue is reconciled against your store's actual orders through the 121 Insights layer. |
| Consent | Solid opt-out handling, but audience-level configuration and multiple audiences make consent state easy to fragment. | Enforced at the database layer. Marketing can only ever reach subscribed, non-suppressed contacts, Spam Act native. |
| Hosting & support | US company (Intuit), US-centric hosting, tiered support with the best of it reserved for premium plans. | Australian. Built, hosted and supported in Australia by the 121 Group team in Melbourne, priced in AUD. |
Mailchimp's published per-contact pricing at approximate FX vs Reachable's flat bands, AUD ex GST.
| Contacts stored | Mailchimp (approx) | Reachable |
|---|---|---|
| 25,000 | ~$500 | $750 flat, Launch |
| 100,000 | ~$1,700 | $750 flat, Launch |
| 250,000 | ~$2,900 | $2,500 flat, Scale |
At 25,000 contacts Mailchimp is cheaper on the sticker, and below a few thousand contacts it is cheaper still. The crossover comes as the list grows: at 100,000 contacts the difference is roughly $950 a month before SMS.
A comparison that never concedes anything is an ad. These are real advantages, and if they matter more to you than the pricing model, Mailchimp is a fine choice.
Our position: Reachable is built for retailers who have outgrown that stage, hold tens of thousands of contacts, and are tired of paying rent on every one of them.