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Constant Contact to Mailchimp migration: steps, unsubscribes and cost

Last verified 3 Nov 2026 against official pricing pages · published 4 Nov 2026

Prices change often. Each price was checked on the platform's official pricing page on the date shown; plans, promos and taxes vary. Confirm on the official site before you buy. Not financial advice.

Mailchimp has no direct Constant Contact importer. Its own guide uses CSV files: export each Constant Contact list, import them all into one Mailchimp audience, and import your unsubscribes separately as a suppression list. Templates, segments and automations you rebuild. On cost, 5,000 contacts with automations run $80/mo on Constant Contact (Lite) and $75/mo on Mailchimp (Essentials).

Prices from Constant Contact and Mailchimp (checked 2026-11-03), monthly billing. Steps from Mailchimp's Constant Contact migration guide, Mailchimp's help center and Constant Contact's knowledge base (checked 2026-11-04). Neither company has an affiliate deal with us.

Cost: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp

Contacts	Constant Contact	Mailchimp	Mailchimp minus Constant Contact	Mailchimp Standard (custom HTML)
500	$12 (Lite)	$13 (Essentials)	+$1	$20
1,000	$30 (Lite)	$26.50 (Essentials)	−$3.50	$45
2,500	$50 (Lite)	$45 (Essentials)	−$5	$60
5,000	$80 (Lite)	$75 (Essentials)	−$5	$100
10,000	$120 (Lite)	$110 (Essentials)	−$10	$135
25,000	$280 (Lite)	$270 (Essentials)	−$10	$310

Per month, monthly billing, cheapest plan with automations that covers the list at 4 emails per contact a month. Constant Contact Lite and Standard and Mailchimp Essentials only include limited automations. The last column is Mailchimp Standard, the lowest Mailchimp plan that can import custom HTML templates (Mailchimp help). Mailchimp Free covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month but has no automation flows, so it isn't used here. Constant Contact has no free plan.

What each one counts. Constant Contact bills your contact tier: the highest number of active email contacts in the billing period (Constant Contact billing). Mailchimp bills the contacts you store, and that includes unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts; only cleaned (bounced) and archived contacts don't count (Mailchimp: About your contacts). The suppression list you import below therefore counts on Mailchimp: 5,000 subscribers plus 1,000 unsubscribes are billed as 6,000 contacts, $110/mo instead of $75/mo. More in every Mailchimp tier.

How often you send

Mailchimp includes 10× contacts in sends a month on Essentials, 12× on Standard and 15× on Premium. Constant Contact includes 10× your contact tier on Lite, 12× on Standard and 24× on Premium, and charges $2 per 1,000 emails above that. Same 5,000 contacts, different schedules:

You send	Emails /month	Constant Contact	Mailchimp
Monthly	5,000	$80 (Lite)	$75 (Essentials)
Weekly	20,000	$80 (Lite)	$75 (Essentials)
Twice a week	40,000	$80 (Lite)	$75 (Essentials)
3 times a week	60,000	$100 (Lite)	$100 (Standard)
Daily	150,000	$180 (Lite)	$180 (Essentials)

Each platform's cheapest plan with automations that covers the volume. For Constant Contact we add the published per-email overage when that's cheaper than moving up a tier or plan; Mailchimp's overage prices aren't published, so we price the Mailchimp tier or plan whose send limit covers the volume. Method: send limits.

Calculate your exact Constant Contact → Mailchimp switching cost → · Constant Contact vs Mailchimp compared · every Constant Contact tier

Before you start

Write down what you have. Mailchimp's guide asks you to record your contact count (to pick a plan), every list, custom fields, segments with their conditions, templates, automations with their triggers, and connected integrations (Mailchimp help).
Turn on Advanced Email Permissions in Constant Contact (account settings → Advanced settings) if you need each contact's implied or express permission in the export. Without it, the export doesn't include the permission status (Constant Contact KB 33121, KB 33114).
Check permission. Subscribed contacts you import into Mailchimp don't go through its sign-up process, so Mailchimp asks you to confirm you have permission to email them (Mailchimp help). Constant Contact says imported contacts typically have implied permission (an existing business relationship) rather than express opt-in; if you have CASL or GDPR obligations, check those before you import them as subscribed (KB 33121).
Plan one audience. Mailchimp recommends a single audience even if you had several Constant Contact lists, using tags, groups and segments instead. Audiences are separate in Mailchimp, so duplicates and unsubscribes aren't detected across them.

Step by step: CSV export and import

Remove bounces in Constant Contact. Mailchimp's guide says to remove bounced addresses before you import. Its steps: Reporting → open a recent campaign sent to most of your list → Bounced → Display: Recommended for Removal → select all → Remove Emails, which moves them to your unsubscribed contacts (Mailchimp help). Constant Contact's own menus may be labelled differently.
Export each list. In Constant Contact, open Contacts, filter to one list (you can also export a segment or a tag), select all, click Actions → Export selection, tick the fields you want, click Export, then download the CSV from your import/export activity (Constant Contact KB 33114). Keep each list in its own file, as Mailchimp suggests.
Export unsubscribes the same way, filtering contacts by email status = unsubscribed.
Create one Mailchimp audience and import each subscribed file: Audience → Add contacts → Import contacts → Upload a file. Pick groups or tags (a tag per old list keeps that list), match each column to a field (date data to a Date field; unmatched columns aren't imported), and set the email marketing status to Subscribed (Mailchimp help).
Import the suppression list: the unsubscribed file with the status set to Unsubscribed (Mailchimp help). Do this before your first send.
Check the data, including custom field types, then rebuild segments and automations (classic automation or flow) and test each one.

CSV tips from Mailchimp's format guidelines: European spreadsheet programs that separate with semicolons need commas instead; one email address per contact; text fields are cut at 255 bytes; for tags, use a single Tags column with comma-separated tags (each up to 100 characters); dates import best as YYYY-MM-DD.

Don't skip: unsubscribes

Mailchimp only knows who opted out if you tell it. Import your Constant Contact unsubscribes as Unsubscribed, per audience (a suppression list isn't global across audiences). Mailchimp notes that this import can't change contacts already in the audience; to unsubscribe existing contacts, it points to its bulk unsubscribe tool. If someone signs up again later, Mailchimp changes them back to Subscribed.

Cost trade-off: these unsubscribes count toward your Mailchimp contact limit. Mailchimp says archived contacts don't count, can't be emailed, and that someone who unsubscribed before you archived them can't be imported as subscribed again; they would be unarchived only if they sign up again through your form (Mailchimp: Archive contacts). Under the GDPR, archiving isn't a substitute for deleting when an EU contact asks to be removed.

What moves and what doesn't

Moves (by CSV): email addresses, names and the other fields you export, list membership (as tags or groups you assign during import), and unsubscribes (as a suppression list). Permission status is in the file only with Advanced Email Permissions on.
Doesn't move: automations, segments, sign-up forms and integrations; Mailchimp's guide has you rebuild them (its integrations directory lists replacements). The guide also has no step for campaign history or reports, so export any reports you want to keep before you cancel.
Templates: rebuild them, or bring HTML into Mailchimp Standard or higher. Mailchimp's guide says to export each Constant Contact template's HTML, but Constant Contact's community manager says there's no native template export: copy the code from the Custom Code editor, or send the email to yourself and use View Page Source, which may include tracking code (Constant Contact Community).

Sunsetting Constant Contact

Forms: replace Constant Contact sign-up forms on your site with Mailchimp forms. Watch Constant Contact for a few days: new sign-ups there mean a form was missed.
Automations: turn on the Mailchimp versions, then stop the Constant Contact ones so nobody gets emailed twice.
Test a sign-up and a send to yourself, and check that an unsubscribed address is suppressed.
Cancel before your next billing date. Constant Contact cancels by phone through Billing Support (US/Canada 855-229-5506, UK 0808 234 0945, elsewhere +1 781-472-8120). Prepayments are non-refundable and the plan renews automatically; pausing the account for a monthly fee is the alternative (Constant Contact KB 41585). Keep your export files before you close the account.

Sources

Mailchimp help: Migrate your Constant Contact account to Mailchimp and Prepare a Constant Contact list for import (checked 2026-11-04)
Mailchimp help: Import contacts, Import suppression lists, Format guidelines for your import file, About your contacts, Archive or unarchive contacts, Import a custom HTML template (checked 2026-11-04)
Constant Contact KB 33114: Export your email or SMS contacts into a spreadsheet (updated Aug 31, 2026), KB 33121: Advanced email permissions, KB 41585: Cancel your account (updated Oct 28, 2026), Community manager answer on exporting email templates (checked 2026-11-04)
Constant Contact pricing, How you're billed and Mailchimp pricing (checked 2026-11-03)

See Constant Contact plans See Mailchimp plans

Tip: before you import, leave out unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Most platforms bill by list size, so a cleaner list can keep you on a lower tier. How to clean your list before switching

FAQ

Can Mailchimp import directly from Constant Contact?

No. Mailchimp's import tool connects to six apps (Zapier, Salesforce, WooCommerce, QuickBooks Online, Squarespace Commerce and Shopify), and Constant Contact isn't one of them. Mailchimp's own Constant Contact migration guide uses CSV files: export each Constant Contact list, then import each file into one Mailchimp audience.

How do I export contacts from Constant Contact?

On the Contacts page, select the contacts (or a list, segment or tag), click Actions > Export selection, pick the fields, and click Export. Download the CSV or Excel file from your import/export activity. Turn on Advanced Email Permissions first if you need the permission status in the file; without it the export doesn't include it.

Do unsubscribes transfer from Constant Contact to Mailchimp?

Not on their own. Export your unsubscribed contacts from Constant Contact as a CSV and import that file into your Mailchimp audience with the email marketing status set to Unsubscribed. Mailchimp calls this a suppression list. Mailchimp imports one status at a time, so subscribed and unsubscribed contacts are separate imports.

Do unsubscribed contacts count toward my Mailchimp bill?

Yes. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts toward your plan's contact limit; cleaned and archived contacts don't count. Constant Contact only bills active email contacts. So 5,000 subscribers plus 1,000 imported unsubscribes are billed on Mailchimp as 6,000 contacts: $110/mo instead of $75/mo. Mailchimp says archived contacts don't count, and that someone who unsubscribed before you archived them can't be imported as subscribed again.

Is Mailchimp cheaper than Constant Contact?

At 5,000 contacts with automations, Mailchimp costs $75/mo (Essentials) and Constant Contact $80/mo (Lite), monthly billing, so less on Mailchimp. At 1,000 it is $26.50 vs $30, and at 10,000 $110 vs $120. Mailchimp Free covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month; Constant Contact has no free plan.

Can I move my Constant Contact email templates to Mailchimp?

Only as HTML, and only on Mailchimp Standard or higher, which is the plan level Mailchimp requires for custom HTML templates. Mailchimp's guide says to export each template's HTML from Constant Contact, but Constant Contact's community manager says there is no native template export: copy the code from the Custom Code editor, or send the email to yourself, open it in a browser and use View Page Source. That copy can contain tracking code, so many people rebuild their templates in Mailchimp's builder instead.

How do I cancel Constant Contact after switching?

Per Constant Contact's knowledge base, you cancel by calling Billing Support (US/Canada 855-229-5506, UK 0808 234 0945, elsewhere +1 781-472-8120) before your next billing date. Prepayments are non-refundable, and the subscription renews automatically. Pausing the account for a monthly fee is an alternative if you might come back.

Comparisons: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp · Cheapest for 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000 subscribers

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