How to downgrade or pause a Mailchimp plan (and what to fix first)

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On a paid Marketing plan, you can downgrade your plan type or pricing tier at any time (Change or Pause Your Marketing Plan). Mailchimp lists three ways to reduce monthly costs: lower your contact total by archiving inactive contacts or combining audiences and then change your pricing tier; buy Pay As You Go credits if you don't send every month; or downgrade your feature plan if you aren't using all its features (Pause or Cancel Your Account). Pausing your plan to stop monthly billing is another option if you won't send for a while (source).

Rules to know before you downgrade

It starts next cycle. If you downgrade mid-cycle, you keep your current plan for the rest of the billing cycle, and the downgrade takes effect at the start of the next one (source).
Conflicts pause sending. The review screen shows which features you'll keep or lose and any changes you need to make first, which could include deleting contacts, seats, or audiences. If conflicts remain after the downgrade, sending is paused until you make the changes (source).
Free is a one-time move. You can downgrade from any paid plan to the Free plan only once over the life of your account (source).
Your tier is about contacts. Subscribed, non-subscribed, and unsubscribed contacts all count toward your contact limit (About Mailchimp Pricing Tiers). Archived, cleaned, and deleted contacts don't (About Mailchimp Pricing Plans).

What each plan allows

Plan	Max contacts	Audiences	Seats
Free	250	1	1
Essentials	50,000	3	3
Standard	100,000	5	5
Premium	200,000	Unlimited	Unlimited

Source: About Mailchimp Pricing Plans, which also says Mailchimp will customize a Premium plan above 200,000 contacts. Compare your current audience and seat count with the plan you're moving to before you start.

Features to check when leaving Standard: advanced segmentation and pre-built segments are listed as Standard features (source), and the Mailchimp Transactional add-on is available only with the Standard plan or higher (Add or Remove Transactional Email).

How to downgrade

Click your profile icon and choose Account.
Click the Billing drop-down and choose Monthly plans or credits.
In the Marketing Plan section, click Change Plan.
Choose your plan and select your contact limit from the contact amount drop-down, then click Downgrade.
Review the changes, tick the confirmation checkbox, then click Downgrade in the Estimate for your future plan sidebar.

Source steps: Change or Pause Your Marketing Plan — Downgrade. To review or cancel a pending downgrade, go back to the Monthly plans or credits page (same source).

Or switch to Pay As You Go

If you buy Pay As You Go credits while on a paid plan, Mailchimp stops your monthly billing and moves you to Pay As You Go (About the Pay As You Go Plan). The change is immediate, so Mailchimp recommends switching toward the end of your billing period (source).
Each email sent to a contact costs one credit, credits expire after 12 months, and the plan has the same features as Essentials (source).
Credits are used for any attempted send, including test emails, automations, and emails that bounced (source).
It's not available for some currencies or regions (source), or if you have a paid Websites plan (source).

Or pause your plan

Pause for 3 or 6 months, up to 2 pauses every 12 months. Your data is kept, and you can still create and edit emails, view reports, and manage your audience (source).
To pause: profile icon → Account & billing (or Account) → Settings → Manage my plan → Pause my plan → choose 3 or 6 months → Pause Marketing plan (source).
The account unpauses and resumes billing automatically when the period ends. Reactivate your automations after restarting. If you gained enough contacts while paused, you may be asked to choose a new pricing tier (source).

Legacy plans

If you had a paid account before May 15, 2019, you're on a legacy plan. On a legacy monthly plan, Mailchimp automatically adjusts your billing tier as your contact count grows or shrinks. Switching to a new, Free, or Pay As You Go plan means you can't return to the legacy plan (Change or Pause Your Legacy Plan).

Lower your contact count first

Because the tier you can drop to depends on billable contacts, clean up before you pick a new contact limit: see lower your contact count before a tier change. Export each audience, then run AudienceTrim's free audit in your browser. It counts unsubscribed, non-subscribed and cross-audience duplicates (nothing is uploaded).

Run the free audit

FAQ

Can I cancel a pending Mailchimp downgrade? Yes. Go back to the Monthly plans or credits page in your account to review or cancel a pending downgrade.

How many times can I downgrade Mailchimp to the Free plan? Once. Mailchimp lets you downgrade from any paid plan to the Free plan only once over the life of your account.

How long can I pause a Mailchimp plan? For 3 or 6 months, with up to 2 pauses every 12 months. The account unpauses and resumes billing automatically at the end.

What happens if my account still has conflicts after a Mailchimp downgrade? Sending is paused until you make the required changes, which could include deleting contacts, seats, or audiences.

Related guides

AudienceTrim isn't affiliated with Mailchimp or Intuit. Steps and facts are from Mailchimp's help center, accessed October 2026; check your own Billing page, since plans differ. Privacy · Terms