Mailchimp

Mailchimp is Intuit's email tool. It is not a host. You still publish the episode where the files live. Then you write a letter, pick the list, and send. Forms, tags, and simple automations live here. Free covers a tiny list. Paid adds scheduling, testing, extra seats, and takes the Mailchimp stamp off the letter. Text messages are a paid extra in some countries.

It fits a weekly host who already has a show on a real host and just needs a list they can tag and email after each episode. Shop people who also sell merch stay because the automations talk to stores. It does not fit a writer who wants a public site and paid members in one login. That is Ghost or Substack. It does not fit a sales team that needs proof an ad sold something.

What people keep using it for is the familiar editor and the pile of connections. Hosts have pointed listeners here for years. Intuit owns it now. The free plan is a trial of the brand, not a forever home for a growing list. Official help is also clear that free support is email, and only for the first 30 days.

The bill follows every stored person, not just the people who still want the letter. Official help is blunt: unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count until you archive them. Hit 251 people on free and sending pauses until you pay or cut the list. Paid plans auto-bill extra if you blow the send cap. That is how a quiet list still gets expensive.

Start free if the list is under 250. Import only people who asked. Archive the rest so they do not inflate the count. Connect a form on your show site. Write one welcome letter. If you already live in QuickBooks, the Intuit family is the point. If you wanted a writing room with comments, leave.

Mailchimp is a marketing desk that happens to send episode letters. The contact math is the deal. If you will archive the dead addresses and live with a tool built for shops, it holds. If you wanted the letter to be the product, people already pick a newsletter home.