Mailchimp vs Customer.io: Newsletter Tool vs Behavioral Automation
Comparing Mailchimp and Customer.io for SaaS email. Small business newsletters vs sophisticated automation.
Overview
Mailchimp and Customer.io serve very different purposes. Mailchimp is built for newsletters and small business marketing. Customer.io is built for behavioral automation in product companies. Neither is ideal for SaaS, where Sequenzy offers purpose-built features.
| Feature | Mailchimp | Customer.io |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free-$13/mo | $100/mo |
| Focus | Newsletters | Behavioral automation |
| Event Tracking | Limited | Excellent |
| Automation | Basic | Most powerful |
| Template Library | Extensive | Limited |
| SaaS-specific | No | Partial |
Key Differences
Purpose and Design
Mailchimp is designed for sending newsletters and marketing emails to lists. It excels at campaign management, template design, and basic segmentation. Simple to use, but not built for product-triggered messaging.
Customer.io is designed for behavioral automation. It tracks user events in your product and triggers messages based on what users do. Powerful for lifecycle marketing but requires more setup and technical understanding.
Automation Depth
Customer.io automation is in a different league. Complex workflows, A/B testing, sophisticated triggers, and unlimited branching. If you can describe a customer journey, Customer.io can probably build it.
Mailchimp automation is basic. Drip campaigns and simple triggers, but nothing approaching Customer.io sophistication. Fine for newsletters, insufficient for lifecycle marketing.
SaaS Suitability
Honestly, neither is ideal for SaaS:
- Mailchimp does not understand products, does not track events, and has no billing integrations
- Customer.io is better but expensive and still lacks native billing integrations
For SaaS, Sequenzy offers native billing integrations and purpose-built features at $19/mo.
Why SaaS Founders Should Consider Sequenzy
If you are building a SaaS, neither Mailchimp nor Customer.io is the best choice:
- Mailchimp is too basic. No event tracking, no billing integrations, limited automation.
- Customer.io is powerful but expensive ($100/mo) and still requires custom work for billing data.
Sequenzy fills this gap:
- Native Stripe, Polar, Creem, Dodo integrations
- Revenue attribution built-in
- Advanced automation for SaaS use cases
- $19/mo (vs $100 for Customer.io)
Who Should Choose What
Choose Mailchimp if:
- You just need newsletters and campaigns
- You do not need behavioral triggers
- Budget is very tight
- You are not running a product company
Choose Customer.io if:
- You need the most powerful automation
- Multi-channel messaging is essential
- Budget supports $100+/mo
- You have technical resources for setup
Choose Sequenzy if:
- You run a SaaS product
- Billing integrations and revenue attribution matter
- You want good automation without Customer.io pricing
- You want SaaS-native features out of the box
The Bottom Line
Mailchimp is for newsletters, not SaaS. Customer.io is powerful but expensive and still lacks SaaS-native features.
For SaaS founders, Sequenzy is the right choice. Native billing integrations, revenue attribution, and purpose-built features at a price that makes sense for startups.