Mailchimp alternatives for service businesses: send campaigns from your CRM
Short answer: Mailchimp is a well known email marketing platform built for stores and marketers. If you are comparing Mailchimp alternatives because your customer list lives in one tool and your newsletter in another, Alori is the all-in-one app for service businesses. Your customers, jobs and invoices are already in Alori, so a campaign goes to people you already know, from lists that update themselves as you tag customers.
Who Mailchimp fits well
Mailchimp is a strong tool. It fits well when:
- You run an online store and want emails tied to carts, orders and product recommendations.
- Email marketing is a job of its own, with automated journeys that send a series of emails on their own.
- A marketer builds signup forms, landing pages and detailed reports every week.
As of October 2026, Mailchimp's pricing page lists a Free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, then Essentials, Standard and Premium plans priced by the number of contacts.
Why service owners look at Mailchimp alternatives
A service business sends a few campaigns a year: the spring tune-up, the fall furnace check, holiday hours. The trouble is rarely the email itself:
- The list is always out of date. Every new customer has to be exported from the CRM and imported into Mailchimp, so the list lags behind.
- Tags live in two places. "Maintenance plan" or "Furnace installed 2019" is in your CRM, and has to be rebuilt as a Mailchimp segment.
- Replies and results sit apart. Who opened the promo is in Mailchimp. Who called to book is in your phone and your schedule.
Mailchimp vs Alori, side by side
| Mailchimp | Alori | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Email marketing platform | The all-in-one app for a service business |
| Who gets it | Audiences and segments you import and keep up to date | Everyone, a list, or people you pick; lists by tags, fields, kind or language update themselves |
| Writing the email | Drag and drop builder and templates | Templates, Write it with Alori, your own HTML, personal fields like first name |
| A/B test | Yes | A second subject; the one more people open goes to everyone else |
| Results | Detailed reports | Delivered, opened, clicked, unsubscribed, per person |
| Automated journeys | Yes | No: each campaign is sent once |
| Sending domain | Yes | Send from your own domain, optional |
| Customers, quotes, jobs, invoices | Through integrations | In the same app |
What Alori replaces, and what it does not
Here is what a service business gets with email campaigns in Alori:
- Lists that keep themselves. Make a list by tags, custom fields, customer kind (active, past, prospects) or language. A new customer who matches joins it for the next campaign.
- Templates for the trades. Start from Spring AC tune-up, Fall furnace check, Maintenance plan offer, Ask for a review or Holiday hours, or type a few words and click Write it.
- Personal touches. Add a customer's first name, company or one of your own fields. Add a button, pictures, a second language or your own HTML.
- Test, schedule, send. Click Send me a test, schedule a day and time, or send now. Replies go to your email, or to up to 10 addresses you pick.
- Results you can act on. See who opened, clicked or unsubscribed. Make a list of people who clicked, or resend to people who didn't open with a new subject.
- The law handled. Every email ends with your business name, mailing address and an Unsubscribe link, as CASL and CAN-SPAM require. People who unsubscribe, bounce or mark it as spam are left out of every campaign after.
What Alori does not replace: automated email journeys and drip sequences, online store emails tied to carts and orders, and the depth of Mailchimp's marketing reports. If email marketing is your main sales channel, Mailchimp is built for that.
How to switch from Mailchimp
- Describe your business. Alori builds your app with Customers and Campaigns.
- Bring your subscribers. Paste your customer list into Ask Alori with "Add these customers:", or paste emails straight into a campaign under Chosen people. Only add people who agreed to get your emails, and leave out anyone who unsubscribed in Mailchimp.
- Rebuild your segments as lists. Tag customers, then make a list by tags in Lists.
- Send from your domain. Click Change next to From, then Send from my own domain, and add the records Alori shows.
Start on the free plan, no card needed. Each campaign email uses credits; see pricing.
FAQ
Is Alori a good Mailchimp alternative? Yes, for service businesses that send seasonal reminders, promos and news to their own customers and want the list to come straight from their CRM. If you run an online store or rely on automated email journeys, Mailchimp is a better fit.
Do my lists update on their own? Yes. A list by tags, fields, kind or language updates itself. Who gets a campaign is read from the list when it goes out.
What happens when someone unsubscribes? They are left out of every campaign after, and their customer record shows Unsubscribed. Your one-to-one emails still reach them.
Can Alori send an email when something happens? Yes, with an automation. Ask your bot something like "When an invoice is overdue, remind the customer by email". Messages to customers wait for your yes first.