Sylvestri Systems
systems·April 15, 2026·2 min read

Why I stopped using Mailchimp (and what I run instead)

Mailchimp billed me for a list I wasn't using. I replaced it with Resend + n8n + a Claude summarizer for under $20/mo. Here's the swap, end-to-end.

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For five years I paid Mailchimp for a list I was barely emailing. The pricing kept climbing with list size, not engagement. That's backwards for how I actually operate.

$83/mo → $18/mo
Mailchimp → Resend + n8n
Same list size. 4x the flexibility.

What I replaced it with

A four-part stack, all owned by me:

  1. Resend — transactional + broadcast email. Cheap, clean API, no bloat.
  2. n8n on VPS2 — scheduler, list manager, webhook hub.
  3. Claude Sonnet 4.6 — weekly digest summarizer for the newsletter.
  4. Supabase — list of record. One table, two views, done.
Diagram: Supabase → n8n → Claude → Resend with GitHub and Plausible as inputs.
End-to-end: inputs (blog, metrics, FUB) → n8n orchestrator → Claude → Resend.

The four flows that matter

Minimum viable email stack

    The Claude prompt I use for the digest

    The whole thing runs Mondays at 7:00 AM America/New_York via an n8n cron trigger. I review, tweak if needed, and hit send.

    What I'd still pay Mailchimp for

    Not much. If you're running complex automations with visual journey builders and 10+ team members, Mailchimp still earns its keep. For a one-operator shop with a newsletter and a product list, it's over-priced.

    Install my stack

    Tomorrow: the exact n8n workflow JSON.