HubSpot and Mailchimp are two of the most widely used marketing platforms for UK small businesses — but they serve different needs and suit different types of businesses. This comparison cuts through the marketing and gives you a clear answer on which is right for your situation.
Quick verdict
Choose HubSpot if: You need a full CRM alongside your email marketing — managing contacts, tracking deals, and handling customer relationships as well as sending campaigns.
Choose Mailchimp if: You primarily need email marketing and want the simplest, most established platform at the lowest cost.
Consider neither if: You need powerful email automation at an affordable price — in that case GetResponse or ActiveCampaign may serve you better.
What is HubSpot?
HubSpot is an all-in-one business platform covering CRM, email marketing, sales pipeline management, customer service, and website tools. It started as a marketing platform but has evolved into a comprehensive business operating system used by businesses of all sizes.
For small businesses, the key appeal is the free CRM — genuinely functional contact management, deal tracking, and basic email marketing at zero cost.
Plans:
- Free — CRM, basic email marketing, live chat, forms
- Starter — from £15/month, removes HubSpot branding, adds simple automation
- Professional — from £702/month, full marketing automation (enterprise pricing)
What is Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is the most widely recognised email marketing platform in the world. It started as a simple email newsletter tool and has expanded to include landing pages, basic automation, social media posting, and a website builder.
For small businesses, Mailchimp’s appeal is simplicity and brand recognition — it’s the platform most people think of first when they think of email marketing.
Plans:
- Free — up to 500 contacts, 1,000 sends per month, basic templates
- Essentials — from around £9/month, removes Mailchimp branding, A/B testing
- Standard — from around £13/month, adds automation and retargeting
- Premium — from around £270/month, advanced segmentation and multivariate testing
Head to head comparison
Email marketing features
Both platforms handle core email marketing well — campaign creation, templates, scheduling, and basic reporting. Mailchimp has a slight edge on email design flexibility and its template library is more extensive. HubSpot’s email tool is capable but feels secondary to its CRM focus.
For businesses whose primary need is sending polished email newsletters, Mailchimp’s email builder is marginally better.
Winner: Mailchimp — marginally
CRM and contact management
This is where HubSpot pulls significantly ahead. HubSpot’s CRM is a genuine contact management system — tracking every interaction with each contact, managing sales pipelines, logging calls and emails, and providing a complete picture of each customer relationship.
Mailchimp’s contact management is basic — it stores contacts and their email engagement data, but it’s not a CRM in any meaningful sense.
Winner: HubSpot — significantly
Marketing automation
HubSpot’s automation on paid plans is powerful — behaviour-triggered workflows, lead scoring, and sophisticated segmentation. However, meaningful automation requires the Professional plan at £702/month — far beyond most small businesses.
Mailchimp’s Standard plan includes automation at around £13/month — welcome sequences, abandoned cart emails, and basic behavioural triggers. Much more accessible for small businesses.
For small businesses that need automation without enterprise pricing, neither platform is ideal — GetResponse and ActiveCampaign both offer stronger automation at more accessible price points.
Winner: Mailchimp — on price. HubSpot — on capability (at enterprise pricing)
Free plan
HubSpot’s free plan is more generous — you get a full CRM, up to 2,000 email sends per month, live chat, forms, and meeting scheduling. It’s one of the most capable free business tools available.
Mailchimp’s free plan covers 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month — adequate for very small lists but limited.
Winner: HubSpot — significantly
Ease of use
Mailchimp is simpler and easier to get started with — particularly for businesses whose only need is sending email newsletters. The interface is clean and the learning curve is shallow.
HubSpot has more features and therefore more complexity. Getting the most from it requires more setup time — particularly configuring the CRM, pipelines, and properties correctly.
Winner: Mailchimp
Integrations
Both platforms integrate with hundreds of tools. HubSpot has a particularly strong ecosystem — it connects with Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce, Zapier, and most major business tools. Mailchimp also integrates widely but HubSpot’s integrations tend to be deeper.
Winner: HubSpot — marginally
Reporting and analytics
HubSpot’s reporting on paid plans is comprehensive — revenue attribution, funnel analysis, and custom dashboards. The free plan reporting is more limited.
Mailchimp’s reporting covers the email marketing essentials — open rates, click rates, and audience growth — but lacks the depth of HubSpot’s paid analytics.
Winner: HubSpot — on paid plans
Pricing transparency
Mailchimp’s pricing is straightforward — clear tiers based on contact count, easy to understand what you’re paying.
HubSpot’s pricing is more complex — different Hubs priced separately, significant jumps between tiers, and the Professional plan’s £702/month price is jarring for small businesses expecting to pay £15-50/month.
Winner: Mailchimp
Pricing comparison
| Feature | HubSpot Free | HubSpot Starter | Mailchimp Free | Mailchimp Essentials |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Unlimited | Unlimited | 500 | 500 |
| Email sends/month | 2,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| CRM | Full | Full | Basic | Basic |
| Automation | None | Basic | None | Basic |
| Branding removed | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Price | Free | £15/month | Free | £9/month |
Which is better for specific business types?
Service businesses and consultants HubSpot is the stronger choice. The CRM gives you a proper system for managing client relationships, tracking proposals, and following up on leads — something Mailchimp simply doesn’t offer.
eCommerce businesses Mailchimp has strong eCommerce integrations and its abandoned cart and product recommendation features work well. However Klaviyo is the better choice for serious eCommerce email marketing — both HubSpot and Mailchimp are outclassed in this specific use case.
Sole traders and freelancers Mailchimp’s simplicity makes it the easier starting point if you just want to send a monthly newsletter. HubSpot’s free CRM is worth considering if you manage multiple client relationships simultaneously.
Growing businesses HubSpot scales better — its CRM grows with you and the platform covers sales, marketing, and customer service in one place. Mailchimp is primarily an email tool and you’ll likely outgrow it.
Nonprofits and charities Mailchimp offers a 15% nonprofit discount. HubSpot offers discounted pricing for eligible nonprofits — worth checking both before deciding.
The honest verdict
HubSpot wins overall — particularly on the free plan, which is one of the most generous in the industry. For any business that manages ongoing customer relationships, the CRM alone justifies choosing HubSpot over Mailchimp.
Mailchimp wins on simplicity — if you genuinely only need to send email newsletters and don’t want a CRM, Mailchimp’s cleaner interface and lower cost make it the more straightforward choice.
Neither wins on automation for small businesses — if email automation is your primary need, look at GetResponse (from £11/month) or ActiveCampaign before committing to either platform.
Our recommendation
Start with HubSpot free — it costs nothing, gives you a full CRM alongside email marketing, and you can always add Mailchimp later if you find HubSpot’s email builder limiting.
The only reason to start with Mailchimp instead is if you’ve used it before and are comfortable with it, or if you genuinely only need a simple newsletter tool with no CRM requirement.
HubSpot free: hubspot.com — no credit card required
Mailchimp free: mailchimp.com — no credit card required
Final thoughts
HubSpot and Mailchimp are both solid platforms — but they’re not really competing for the same customer. HubSpot is a business platform that includes email marketing. Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that includes some business tools.
If you’re a UK small business managing customer relationships and wanting to grow through email marketing, HubSpot’s free CRM is the more powerful foundation to build on. If you just want to send a newsletter, Mailchimp gets you there faster.