Limit 1
Free plan shrunk repeatedly: 2,000 contacts (2022) -> 500 (2023) -> 250 contacts / 500 sends (Feb 2026), and automation was stripped from Free entirely by mid-2025
For people using Mailchimp
A Mailchimp alternative, with the costs written down
Mailchimp's Essentials plan is $13/mo. Here is what Mailchimp's published pricing and its users' reports say, and how Connections answers the same job.
- What Mailchimp costs
- Where users hit limits
- How Connections answers it
- Questions answered
What to weigh before you stay on Mailchimp.
Limit 2
Three price increases in three years (2022, 2023, 2024) totaling roughly 40% higher cost for the same functionality, plus an additional 11-13% hike on legacy pre-2019 plans in April 2026
Limit 3
Contact-based pricing counts subscribed, unsubscribed, AND non-subscribed contacts against your plan limit
Comment ça marche
The Mailchimp details come from our competitor research, with its pricing read from https://mailchimp.com/pricing/ on 2026-08-16. Plans and fees change; check Mailchimp's own site before you decide.
Foire aux questions
What is a personal CRM?
It is a place to keep the people you already know, rather than sales leads. Connections stores how you met someone, what you talked about, and who else you both know, so the relationship has a memory instead of living in your head.
How is this different from my phone's contacts app?
A contacts app stores a name and a number. Connections also keeps notes, your event and calendar history together, follow-up reminders, and the map of who connects you to whom.
Can I import the contacts I already have?
Yes. You can import contacts from a CSV or vCard file, and everything you import keeps its own history from then on.
How does it remind me to follow up?
Connections surfaces people you have not spoken to in a while, so you stay in touch before the relationship quietly goes cold rather than having to set a reminder yourself.
Can I search my network in plain English?
Yes. You can ask for people, places, conversations, or who needs follow-up, and search runs across the contacts, notes, and events you have saved.
Is Connections free?
Yes, and it needs no card. An email costs 1 credit a send, paid from your weekly credits; paid plans come with more.