Honest comparison · prices checked July 2026
They sound like the same category. They aren't. Mailchimp is a megaphone — marketing campaigns broadcast to a list you own. BLAM8 is a worker — an agent that reads each customer email that arrives, replies in your voice, and books the job behind it. The honest version of this page is short: if you want to send email, use Mailchimp. If you want your email answered, that's BLAM8.
That's what Mailchimp is built for, and BLAM8 doesn't do any of it. No hard feelings — different job.
Mailchimp cannot do any of this, at any tier — it has no inbox. An inbound email is invisible to it.
Mailchimp prices from mailchimp.com/pricing (UK, introductory rates at 500 contacts) — checked July 2026. Mailchimp charges per stored contact; BLAM8 charges per handled email.
| Mailchimp | BLAM8 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Marketing platform — campaigns & journeys sent to a list | AI agent — answers inbound email and books the work |
| Replies to inbound customer email | No — no inbox exists in the product | Yes — drafted in your voice from your own knowledge, approval-first |
| Books appointments / jobs | No — own feature discontinued 29 Feb 2024; third-party booking links only | Yes — books into the live diary with holds that can't double-book, on every plan |
| Pricing model | Per stored contact — Free capped at 250 contacts (cut from 500) & 500 sends/mo · Essentials from ~£9.83/mo · Standard from ~£13/mo (£15 after the 12-month intro rate) · Premium from ~£225/mo intro (£264 after) · sends capped at 10–15× contacts | Per handled email — £39/mo (Starter, 300 emails) or £99/mo (Pro, 750 emails) |
| Marketing campaigns & newsletters | Yes — its whole purpose | No |
| Grows into | Bigger lists, more sends | More volume, extra mailboxes and priority support on Pro — plus SMS + missed-call text-back, rolling out now |
Worth knowing: Mailchimp's free tier now caps at 250 contacts — half what it used to include — and sends at most 500 emails a month, and the headline paid prices are introductory rates for the first 12 months. BLAM8 isn't metered on contacts at all: the £39/mo plan reads every inbound email, drafts the reply and books the job.
A customer writes: "Hi, any chance someone could come out Thursday to take a look? Mornings are best for us."
Nothing happens. The email sits in your inbox — Mailchimp never sees it. The customer might later receive your monthly newsletter.
A reply is drafted in your voice within moments, the Thursday-morning slot is held so you can't double-book, and the booking details are pinned to the thread. You approve; it's sent and in the diary. If you're on full-auto, you just see the booking.
No. Mailchimp is marketing software: it sends campaigns and automated journeys to a contact list you own. It has no inbox — an inbound customer email is invisible to it at every price tier. If you need customer emails answered, you need an agent that reads inbound mail: that's BLAM8's job.
Not any more. Mailchimp discontinued its Appointment Scheduling feature on 29 February 2024, describing it as underused, and now points customers at third-party booking-link tools. None of them read your email or book from the conversation. BLAM8 books jobs directly from the email thread against your live diary.
Only for the wrong reason to buy Mailchimp. If you want to send newsletters and campaigns to a list, use Mailchimp — BLAM8 doesn't do that. If you bought Mailchimp hoping your customer emails would get handled, that's the job BLAM8 does: every inbound email answered in your voice, booking details gathered, and the job booked into your diary in the same thread. And the gap is widening — Mailchimp has cut its free tier from 500 to 250 contacts and moved its headline prices to 12-month introductory rates, while still never reading a single email you receive.
Yes, and plenty of businesses should: Mailchimp for the outbound marketing you choose to send, BLAM8 for the inbound email you already receive. They don't overlap — which is the whole point of this page.
Free 14-day pilot, no card. Connect a mailbox in the morning and watch it draft on your real mail the same day.
Mailchimp is a trademark of The Rocket Science Group LLC (an Intuit company). BLAM8 is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mailchimp. Competitor details and prices were checked against public sources in July 2026 and may have changed — see Mailchimp's pricing page for current rates.
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