MailCheap and Shipmail both charge for the emails you send, never for subscribers. Shipmail costs less at every MailCheap plan: $9 (Pro) against $19 for 20,000 emails a month, $24 (Solo with 100,000 more sends) against $39 for 75,000. The same plan includes mailboxes on your domain, calendars and transactional email. Pick MailCheap to host the newsletter yourself: it is open source.
By Julien Coulaud · Published October 27, 2026 · 2 min read
20,000 emails a month (weekly to about 4,600 readers)
Shipmail
$9/mo
Pro
MailCheap
$19/mo
20,000 emails
Shipmail costs $10 less a month here.
20,000 emails a month (weekly to about 4,600 readers)
Shipmail: $9/month (Pro) (cheaper)
MailCheap: $19/month (20,000 emails)
75,000 emails a month (weekly to about 17,300 readers)
Shipmail: $24/month (Solo with 100,000 more sends) (cheaper)
MailCheap: $39/month (75,000 emails)
200,000 emails a month (weekly to about 46,200 readers)
Shipmail: $44/month (Solo with 200,000 more sends) (cheaper)
MailCheap: $79/month (200,000 emails)
Compare the buying factors first, then use the sourced pricing scenarios and workflow evidence below to test the fit for your team.
| Factor | Shipmail | MailCheap |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | ShipmailEmails sent, with business email included. Every plan has unlimited subscribers and is priced by newsletter sends: Solo includes 10,000 a month, Pro 25,000 and Team 100,000 | MailCheapEmails sent. Newsletters only, no mailboxesSources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Monthly sends | Shipmail10,000 on Solo, 25,000 on Pro, 100,000 on Team; more sends cost $20 a month per 100,000 or $149 per 1,000,000 | MailCheap20,000 on Starter up to 5,000,000 on the largest planSources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Subscribers | ShipmailNo limit on any paid plan | MailCheapUp to 10,000 on StarterSources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Mailboxes | Shipmail2 on Solo, 4 on Pro, 12 on Team | MailCheapNoneSources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Transactional email | ShipmailIncluded. Your app sends receipts and password resets through the API from its own subdomain, within the plan's 20,000 (Solo), 40,000 (Pro) or 120,000 (Team) emails a month | MailCheapNot on its feature listSources[1]Shipmail pricing[14]Shipmail transactional email documentation[10]MailCheap pricing |
| AI agents | ShipmailAPI, SDKs and an MCP server | MailCheapAPI and an MCP serverSources[1]Shipmail pricing[13]Shipmail MCP server docs[11]MailCheap home page |
| Open source | ShipmailThe service is not; the SDKs, CLI and MCP server are MIT | MailCheapYes, AGPL-3.0. You can also host it yourself, sending through Amazon SES or PostShibaSources[1]Shipmail pricing[15]Shipmail MCP server source[12]MailCheap source code |
| Website | ShipmailOne website per newsletter: send to several audiences and each gets its own site, on your own domain. Each has your colors, a searchable archive, topic pages with RSS feeds, and visit stats without cookies | MailCheapA website for the newsletter, on your own domainSources[1]Shipmail pricing[4]Shipmail newsletter websites documentation[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Calendar and booking | ShipmailCalendars and booking pages in every paid plan | MailCheapNot on its feature listSources[1]Shipmail pricing[16]Shipmail calendar documentation[7]Shipmail booking pages documentation[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Team inbox and AI assistant | ShipmailA shared team inbox, and an AI assistant in beta that drafts replies | MailCheapNot on its feature listSources[1]Shipmail pricing[8]Shipmail shared inbox documentation[9]Shipmail Assistant documentation[10]MailCheap pricing |
| Free option | ShipmailNo free plan. A 14-day trial with 500 newsletter sends and 100 subscribers | MailCheapNo free plan and no trialSources[1]Shipmail pricing[3]Shipmail audiences documentation[10]MailCheap pricing |
Don't take our word for it. Ask an AI.
Last verified October 27, 2026
MailCheap prices are US list prices by emails sent a month, billed monthly; yearly billing gives 2 months free. Shipmail prices are the cheapest plan plus send add-ons for the volume, billed monthly.Sources[10]MailCheap pricing[11]MailCheap home page[12]MailCheap source code
20,000 emails a month (weekly to about 4,600 readers)
Shipmail$9/mo
Pro
MailCheap$19/mo
20,000 emails
Shipmail's cheapest option for 20,000 emails, with mailboxes included; MailCheap's plan for the same volume.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing
75,000 emails a month (weekly to about 17,300 readers)
Shipmail$24/mo
Solo with 100,000 more sends
MailCheap$39/mo
75,000 emails
Shipmail's cheapest option for 75,000 emails, with mailboxes included; MailCheap's plan for the same volume.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing
200,000 emails a month (weekly to about 46,200 readers)
Shipmail$44/mo
Solo with 200,000 more sends
MailCheap$79/mo
200,000 emails
Shipmail's cheapest option for 200,000 emails, with mailboxes included; MailCheap's plan for the same volume.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing
500,000 emails a month (weekly to about 115,500 readers)
Shipmail$104/mo
Solo with 500,000 more sends
MailCheap$149/mo
500,000 emails
Shipmail's cheapest option for 500,000 emails, with mailboxes included; MailCheap's plan for the same volume.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[10]MailCheap pricing
Newsletters are part of the Shipmail email plan. The same subscription runs the mailboxes that receive the replies.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[3]Shipmail audiences documentation[2]Shipmail newsletter editor documentation[4]Shipmail newsletter websites documentation[5]Shipmail welcome sequences documentation[6]Shipmail newsletter migrations documentation
Unlimited
No subscriber limit on any paid plan. You pay for newsletter sends: 10,000 a month on Solo, 25,000 on Pro and 100,000 on Team.
Your subdomain
Newsletters go out from a subdomain such as news.yourcompany.com, with its own DKIM, SPF and DMARC records.
Four modes
Text-first writing, design blocks, pasted HTML or plain text, with test sends.
One per audience
A signup form, a page per newsletter, an archive, RSS and a sitemap.
A sequence per audience
New readers get a series of emails, with a wait you set before each one.
Mailchimp, Substack, beehiiv
Past newsletters and contacts import; unsubscribes and bounces carry over and stay excluded.
Shipmail is business email, and newsletters come with every paid plan. Every plan has unlimited subscribers and is priced by newsletter sends: Solo includes 10,000 a month, Pro 25,000 and Team 100,000. Newsletters go out from a subdomain such as news.yourcompany.com, and replies reach the mailboxes on the same plan.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[2]Shipmail newsletter editor documentation[3]Shipmail audiences documentation
Download your contacts from MailCheap as a CSV file.
Upload your subscribers as one file. Upload unsubscribes and bounces as separate files, marked Unsubscribed contacts or Hard bounces, so Shipmail never emails them. The import sends nothing.
Add the DNS records Shipmail shows for a subdomain such as news.yourcompany.com.
Embed the signup form, publish the audience's website, then send a test.
MailCheap is the better choice if you want to run the newsletter software yourself: it is open source under AGPL-3.0 and sends through Amazon SES or PostShiba.Sources[10]MailCheap pricing[11]MailCheap home page[12]MailCheap source code
Shipmail is the better choice for almost everyone else. It costs less at every MailCheap volume, from $9 (Pro) against $19 for 20,000 emails, and the same plan includes mailboxes, calendars, a team inbox and your app's transactional email.Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[3]Shipmail audiences documentation[2]Shipmail newsletter editor documentation[4]Shipmail newsletter websites documentation[5]Shipmail welcome sequences documentation[6]Shipmail newsletter migrations documentation
Check these before buying
Upload your export. Past newsletters and contacts come in, unsubscribes and bounces stay excluded, and nothing goes out until you send it.
What people ask when they compare MailCheap with Shipmail.
Shipmail plan prices, mailbox limits, team access, and send limits.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Newsletters written in Shipmail with a rich text editor, design blocks, custom HTML or plain text, preview, test sends and pre-send review checks.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Audiences, CSV import (each file marked as subscribers, unsubscribed contacts, hard bounces, spam complaints, a suppression list or transactional-only contacts, so opt-outs from another platform stay excluded), segments, double opt-in, one-click unsubscribe, scheduling and a web archive. During the trial, newsletters work with lower limits: 500 newsletter sends a month and 100 active subscribers. Paid plans have no subscriber limit.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-27
Each audience can publish a website with a signup form, a page per public newsletter, an archive with search, an author page, RSS and a sitemap. The site can answer on the sending subdomain or any address you own, such as www.example.com, through a CNAME record. Design settings set its colors and look. Issues take topics, each with its own page and RSS feed, and one issue can be pinned first on the home page. Visit stats show views, visitors, signups and where visitors came from, counted without cookies unless you add an analytics provider.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-27
A series of emails a new reader gets after subscribing through a signup form, the newsletter website or the API, with a wait before each one. Welcome emails count toward the monthly newsletter sends.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-19
Upload a newsletter export up to 500 MB. Mailchimp, Substack, beehiiv and Ghost content and contacts import; Brevo, Kit, MailerLite, Constant Contact and Campaign Monitor contact exports import. Unsubscribes, bounces and complaints take precedence, imports never start a send, and an import can be undone for seven days.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Public booking links that offer slots from a mailbox calendar's real availability, with buffers, minimum notice, and a Zoom or Google Meet link on each booking.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Shared mailboxes in Shipmail: conversation assignment, internal notes that are never included in replies to the customer, and @mentions in notes that alert a teammate by email and in the app.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
The AI assistant answers what needs a reply, finds conversations, files messages, sets up inbox rules for future mail and drafts replies. Its replies are normal drafts in the Drafts folder, Writing Style drafts from pasted examples, and organization admins can turn AI off for everyone.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Priced per email sent, not per subscriber: $19 a month for 20,000 emails (Starter, up to 10,000 subscribers, $0.95 per 1,000 emails), $39 for 75,000, $79 for 200,000, $149 for 500,000, $349 for 2,000,000 and $799 for 5,000,000. Every plan has every feature: campaigns, scheduling, a website, your own domain, signup forms, welcome emails, imports, stats, AI agents and API, and chat support. No mailboxes. Yearly billing gives 2 months free. No free plan and no free trial. Prices in US dollars.
mailcheap.ai · 2026-10-27
MailCheap is a newsletter tool. ChatGPT, Claude and Grok connect to its MCP server with a MailCheap sign-in; Claude Code, Cursor and Codex use an API key. Lists come in as a CSV import on the Contacts page. The code is open source on GitHub.
mailcheap.ai · 2026-10-27
The MailCheap app is open source under AGPL-3.0 and can be self-hosted with Amazon SES or PostShiba as the sending provider. Contacts can be exported as a CSV file.
github.com · 2026-10-27
Official Shipmail MCP server tools, resources, prompts, and install steps.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-14
Shipmail transactional email: an app sends from its own sending subdomain, and replies go to a Shipmail mailbox. Sends count toward the plan's monthly quota, a sender costs nothing extra, Activity shows delivery status, and a retry with the same Idempotency-Key returns the first message. Every email from a sender carries its mailbox's address as Reply-To, so replies arrive in that mailbox's Transactional folder; the sending address itself cannot receive email.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
Public source repository for the official Shipmail MCP server, MIT-licensed like the TypeScript SDK and the CLI.
github.com · 2026-07-17
Shipmail's calendar feature documentation: events, sharing, and availability.
shipmail.to · 2026-08-04
More on Shipmail pricing, use cases, and how it handles shared inboxes.
Email, newsletters and booking pages on your own domain, in one plan.
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