What are some alternatives to Mailchimp? What are your experiences with them?

Large free account, fast tech support, SMS and Webpush as well

Check https://emailoctopus.com/ - they do use Amazon infrastructure (SES) to send emails, hence they are way cheaper. If you prefer standard cloud solution, check https://www.campaignmonitor.com

Been using Sendgrid since a while and I have its API installed as well to deliver both transactional and marketing emails. As with everything else, it might take a while to get used to their interface and features but does everything. They have a good knowledge base with step-by-step resources. Segmentation, contact management and analytics are a part. They also have deliverability/reputation reporting and scoring.

I've never used ConvertKit, but I've heard really great things about it from my blogger friends (and people who have their business built around that business model). The main reason I was looking at it was that you can set up different email forms with a different opt-in bonus for each one - so if you had a post about email marketing apps, the opt-in prompt would be a download about email marketing, with a different download/bonus for a post about PR outreach, etc. (I use MailMunch on my blog & they just added this feature for MailChimp opt-in forms, so I'll probably be sticking with MailChimp for now.)

I used MailChimp for years, and was constantly annoyed. I come up with some non-conventional automation ideas, and MailChimp felt like trying to climb a ladder with handcuffs. I ended up switching to ActiveCampaign, and I've been extremely happy with them. They allow a ton of control in their automation builder. The downside is the email editing experience on AC is terrible. MailChimp on the other hand has a great email editing experience. If you just want to send a nice-looking email once in awhile, MailChimp is the clear choice. If you want sophisticated automations, I recommend ActiveCampaign. (Here's a long comparison I did between the two services: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/mai... )

Love Active Campaign. Cheap and really powerful!

@getSendy will save you $$ - companies keep bragging about this single advantage over other email services.. You'll need to configure your server to continually send.. read more about Sendy [ see link below ] @getSendy founder speaks up: https://cards.producthunt.com/ca...

MailChimp's main advantage is its transactional email service, Mandrill. But otherwise it often makes sense to use an email campaign product that is part of a larger marketing offering. That way email, blog hosting, social sharing and landing pages are all in one place and everything can be measured. That's why we use HubSpot.

I was hopeful for Pepo (also ses) but integration has been less of a slam dunk than I thought. Still worth checking out

If you're going to do big campaigns, Emma is the right option, everything in the UI/UX is prettiest than mailchimp and it have more integrations but is more corporative

You can try Bullmailer - it has 3 different packages like listbased/bulk/smtp or amazon ses . In every pacakge it has competitive prices with great features like email automation, lading pages, trigger, workflows etc.