Intuit’s announcement this week that it will cut about 3,000 jobs – 17% of its global workforce – has struck a blow across the tech sector. But for the 11 million businesses that use Mailchimp for email marketing, the real question is simpler: should I stay or go?
The answer, based on Mailchimp product releases, Intuit’s earnings forecasts and the competitive landscape, is more nuanced than the headlines suggest. Mailchimp will not be closed. However, it is no longer treated as a growth asset by its parent company, and this change has consequences for marketers who rely on it.
When Intuit bought Mailchimp for $12 billion, it was at the center of the company’s small business strategy. Now it’s scaling the email marketing solution.
In a note to employees published on Intuitive blogIntuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi said the company is “reducing investments in areas including Mailchimp and streamlining our engineering and product organizations.”
“We’re keeping it because we can’t sell it right now.”
On a earnings call Last week, Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick pressed Goodarzi on how much the restructuring was attributable to Mailchimp’s right-sizing versus AI efficiency. The CEO declined to provide details, but clarified the strategic intent.
“We believe Mailchimp’s revised cash flow profile will generate more value for Intuit than a third party is likely to pay for that asset in the current software equity and debt environment.”
CFO Sandeep Aujla added: “The revenue terms that you can get from a third party are simply not there right now. That’s what we’re making sure we manage this operation for profitability.”
Translation: Intuit explored selling Mailchimp and was unable to find a buyer at an acceptable price. It is now using the product to maximize cash flow rather than increase it.
In a statement to MarTech, Intuit communications representative Kate Arora confirmed the direction: “As part of our company-wide reduction, we are reducing our enterprise investment in Mailchimp. The cost structure going forward will allow us to optimize the profitability of our business. We remain focused on delivering for our customers and building our momentum with small and medium-sized businesses in the marketplace.”
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The statement offers no specific reassurance about the Mailchimp product roadmap or feature investments.
From crown jewel to cost center
This marks a dramatic retreat from the position the company took just nine months ago. In August 2025, Aujla described Mailchimp as “a drag on near-term growth,” but said the company has “initiatives underway and expects to deliver good results by the end of the year.”
From the February 2026 Earnings Callmanagement has pushed back that projection even further, now expecting Mailchimp to return to double-digit growth “beyond fiscal 2026.” By May 2026, the language of growth had completely disappeared from the conversation.
To be clear: The 3,000 job cuts are all Intuit-wide and span TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma and Mailchimp. Intuit did not disclose how many of these cuts specifically affect Mailchimp. That said, the language of Goodarzi’s note – “reduce investment in areas including Mailchimp” – indicates where the company’s priorities are now.
The product is still shipping, for now
Here’s the counterintuitive part: Mailchimp just released a substantial version.
In February 2026, the company announced a suite of e-commerce-focused features, including multiple e-commerce triggers, a new site tracking pixel, SMS expansion to 34 European countries, an omnichannel dashboard, AI-powered predictive analytics, and ChatGPT integration. The company has also created specific migration tools to attract customers from competitors like Klaviyo.
Said Diana Williams, vice president of product at Intuit Mailchimp in an ad that “Mailchimp customers will benefit from 26% more e-commerce triggers, bringing advanced data, automation and analytics into a single platform.” Ciarán Quilty, SVP International at Intuit, went further: “Moving to Intuit Mailchimp is not just an easy choice today, it’s essential to their growth tomorrow.”
Email expertanalyzing Intuit’s Investor Day statements, he was blunt: “Users should not expect a wave of new features; incremental improvements and profitability optimization are more likely.”
The numbers behind the relegation
Mailchimp’s performance explains why Intuit is retreating. Across four consecutive earnings calls, the company’s revenue has grown significantly faster when excluding Mailchimp:
| Earnings call | Segment | With Mailchimp | excl. Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 FY2025 (August 2025) | Global business solutions | +18% | +21% |
| Q1 FY2026 (November 2025) | Global business solutions | +18% | +20% |
| Second quarter FY2026 (February 2026) | Online ecosystem | +21% | +25% |
| Q3 FY2026 (May 2026) | Online ecosystem | +19% | +22% |
Mailchimp’s revenue was “slightly decreased” in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and again in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. User growth has stalled. EmailToolTester January 2026 Market Analysis shows Mailchimp holding at 11 million users with 0% growth since mid-2024, while competitors have increased: MailerLite up 52%, Omnisend up 50%, HubSpot up 29%, Klaviyo up 28%, Brevo up 20%.
Robert Brandl, CEO of EmailToolTester, posted on LinkedIn: “Intuit Mailchimp is still in a league of its own with 11 million users, but it appears they have stopped growing and are losing market share.”
In August 2025, Reuters reported it that Aujla identified as the main problem: Small businesses – “Mailchimp’s bread and butter” – have found the platform “a little more difficult to use, which hurts retention and expansion.”
The case for staying
Mailchimp still has some real strengths that competitors recognize:
- The email builder. Venture Harbor 2026 Review calls it “the best email builder we’ve used. It’s intuitive, flexible, works seamlessly in the browser, and gives you all the WYSIWYG customization you need.”
- The ecosystem. With over 500 integrations, Mailchimp has the largest third-party ecosystem in email marketing. If your tech stack is already integrated with Mailchimp, the switch involves significant friction.
- The ladder. Eleven million users create platform effects – models, benchmarks, community knowledge – that smaller competitors can’t match.
- The history of e-commerce. The company’s reported 41x performance for Shopify-connected stores is a competitive figure, though, to reiterate, it comes from Mailchimp materials, not independent research.
If you send simple newsletters, have a small or stable list, and the drag-and-drop builder is your priority, Mailchimp remains a solid choice, at least until there’s hard evidence of product decay.
The reasons for evaluating alternatives
If Mailchimp is now run for profitability rather than growth, this has several implications for marketers:
- Innovation will slow down. When a product moves from growth investment to profitability harvesting, the feature cadence decreases. The February 2026 release may represent a peak rather than a baseline.
- The price is already a sore point. Mailchimp’s Essentials plan costs $230 per month for 20,000 contacts, compared to Brevo’s Starter plan at $29 and MailerLite’s at $10. Its free tier is capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails per month; Competitors like Brevo offer 9,000 emails per month with no limit on the number of contacts.
- Automation is Mailchimp’s weak point. The Venture Harbor review notes that Mailchimp can’t segment users based on complex behaviors (for example, “opened email A but didn’t click link B in email B”), lacks automated segmentation, and doesn’t have a drag-and-drop automation builder, all standard in ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo.
- Competitors directly target Mailchimp customers. Short, MailerLiteand others have published detailed migration guides. Brevo offers free concierge migration for larger lists. The competitive dynamic is only intensifying.
- Silence on the details. Intuit’s statement to MarTech confirms that it is “reducing business investment in Mailchimp” and optimizing profitability, but offers no details on which teams, features or product areas will be affected. For customers making multi-year decisions on the platform, such ambiguity is itself a risk factor.
A decision framework for current customers
| You should probably stay if… | You should start evaluating alternatives if… |
|---|---|
| Send simple newsletters or basic automations | You need complex behavioral segmentation |
| Your list is small and stable | Your list is growing (costs add up fast) |
| Rely on Mailchimp’s 500+ integrations | SMS or multi-channel are critical to your strategy |
| You are satisfied with your current e-commerce performance | You need a CRM integrated with your email |
| The drag-and-drop builder is your priority | Reach automation limits regularly |
Look at the next 90 days
If Intuit announced specific Mailchimp product shutdowns, if key product leaders left, or if the feature cadence visibly slowed from its February 2026 pace, these would be exit signals. If the next release maintains momentum and Intuit makes clear that rightsizing is limited to headcount and office consolidation – not product investments – Mailchimp still has a roadmap worth betting on.
