CouriervsMailchimp

Courier vs Mailchimp

Notification infrastructure vs email marketing platform

TL;DR

Courier and Mailchimp are fundamentally different tools. Mailchimp is an email marketing platform for campaigns, automation, and subscriber management. Courier is notification infrastructure for routing messages across channels. Mailchimp wins for email marketing. Courier wins for developer notification routing.

Key Differences

The main things that set these tools apart

Purpose

Mailchimp is for email marketing — building campaigns, growing lists, nurturing subscribers. Courier is for notification routing — sending individual messages to the right channel through the right provider. Completely different tools.

Email Marketing
Mailchimp wins

Mailchimp has 20+ years of email marketing features — templates, automation, landing pages, analytics, A/B testing. Courier has zero marketing features.

Notification Infrastructure
Courier wins

Courier routes push, SMS, email, Slack, and in-app notifications through 50+ providers. Mailchimp recently added SMS but has no push, no in-app, and no routing logic.

Audience

Mailchimp is for marketers. Courier is for developers. If you're a marketer wanting to send campaigns, Mailchimp. If you're a developer routing notifications, Courier.

Pricing Comparison

At 10,000 subscribers

Courier
$0-99+/month

Free up to 10k notifications/month. Business from $99/mo.

Visit Courier
Mailchimp
$100/month

Standard plan. Email campaigns, automation, reporting, landing pages.

Visit Mailchimp
Sequenzy

The SaaS alternative

$49/month

10k subscribers, unlimited emails, transactional + marketing, Stripe integration.

Feature Comparison

Side-by-side feature breakdown

Feature
Courier
Mailchimp
Sequenzy
Email Marketing
Email Campaigns
Full campaign builder
Built-in campaigns
Automation
No (routing only)
Visual journey builder
AI sequences
Landing Pages
Subscriber Management
Basic routing attributes
Full CRM-lite
Tag-based management
Multi-channel
Push Notifications
Yes (via providers)
SMS
Yes (via providers)
SMS add-on
In-app
Notification feed
Channel Routing
Intelligent fallback
Value
Free Tier
10k notifications/month
500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month
100 subscribers
Transactional Email
Via providers
Mandrill add-on ($20+/mo extra)
Built-in
Email Editor
Template designer
Full drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop
Reporting
Delivery metrics
Campaign analytics
Campaign analytics

Best For

When to choose each tool

Choose Courier if you...
  • Engineering teams building notification routing
  • Apps needing multi-channel notifications
  • Developer-focused notification infrastructure
Choose Mailchimp if you...
  • Businesses needing email marketing campaigns
  • Teams wanting visual email editors and templates
  • Companies growing subscriber lists
Choose Sequenzy if you...
  • SaaS founders needing transactional + marketing
  • Teams wanting Stripe-integrated email

When to Consider Sequenzy Instead

SaaS Email

Mailchimp is generic email marketing. Courier is notification routing. Sequenzy combines transactional + marketing email with Stripe integration specifically for SaaS.

Try Sequenzy Free

Overview

Courier and Mailchimp are fundamentally different products that occasionally get compared. Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing platform. Courier is developer notification infrastructure. For our take on each, see our Courier comparison and Mailchimp comparison.

Different Tools for Different People

Mailchimp is for marketers building campaigns, growing lists, and nurturing subscribers. Courier is for developers routing notifications through providers. A marketing team uses Mailchimp. An engineering team uses Courier. They rarely overlap.

Mailchimp's Marketing Depth

Twenty-plus years of email marketing features — templates, automation, landing pages, A/B testing, analytics, e-commerce integrations. Courier has none of these. For email marketing, there's no comparison.

The Sequenzy Alternative

For SaaS founders wanting transactional email and marketing campaigns with Stripe integration, Sequenzy offers unified SaaS email at $49/month — purpose-built for subscription businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Not sure which to pick?

If you're a SaaS founder who needs Stripe integration and unified email, try Sequenzy free. No credit card required.

Start Free TrialSee All Features

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Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

Sequenzy uses subscriber-based pricing. You only pay for subscribers active in sequences (automations). Inactive subscribers are free to store.

All Pricing Tiers

  • 0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 3k emails/month
  • 101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 15k emails/month
  • 1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 60k emails/month
  • 5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 120k emails/month
  • 10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 300k emails/month
  • 25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 600k emails/month
  • 50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 1.2M emails/month
  • 100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

Free Plan Features (2,500 emails/month)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy)
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

  • Visual automation builder
  • Transactional email API
  • Reply tracking & team inbox
  • Goal tracking & revenue attribution
  • Dynamic segments
  • Payment integrations
  • Full REST API access
  • Custom sending domain

Important Pricing Notes

  • You only pay for subscribers who are active in automations/sequences
  • Storing inactive subscribers is free
  • No hidden fees - all features included in the price
  • No credit card required for free tier

Contact

  • Pricing Page: https://sequenzy.com/pricing
  • Sales: hello@sequenzy.com