Counter Club is made by the Not a Chain team, so this comparison is our own. Every fact about another product links to that product's own page.
The verdict
These are different tools that meet at one job: sending a message to the people who come back to your shop. Mailchimp is an email marketing platform with templates, automation flows, scheduling and an SMS add-on, and it has no stamp card. Counter Club is a stamp card that can send one message to the club, by email on Regulars and by text on Local Favourite. If you already hold a list of people who agreed to hear from you and you want designed newsletters and automated flows, Mailchimp does far more with email. If you want a card at the counter and a simple way to text the people who joined it, Counter Club does that in one price, and its texting price is published, where Mailchimp's pricing page lists no price for SMS credits.
This page compares the messaging side only. Mailchimp is not a loyalty card, so the card rows show what each tool has rather than ranking them.
The facts side by side
| Counter Club | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A stamp card with email and text campaigns to members | Email marketing, with SMS as an add-on |
| Cheapest paid plan | Regulars, A$24 a month, No GST. 500 members, 500 campaign messages a month, email | Essentials, "Starting at $13/month" for up to 500 contacts. No currency is named on the page; Mailchimp calls its local prices indicative and based on the USD exchange rate. GST not mentioned |
| Free plan | Free for up to 50 members, on the condition that you accept marketing emails and calls from us and our partners. Free sends no campaigns | Free for 250 contacts and 500 emails a month (250 a day), one seat. No SMS on Free |
| Texting in Australia | Local Favourite, A$69 a month, No GST. Texts from the shop's own number, counted inside 2,000 campaign messages a month, no charge per text | Add-on on Essentials or above, after an application is approved. Each Australian SMS uses 4 credits; credits expire at the end of each billing cycle. Credit prices are not listed on the pricing page |
| Who can be messaged | Only members who joined themselves and confirmed their mobile. Email goes to members who also gave and confirmed an address | The contacts you bring. Mailchimp says SMS consent is separate from email consent and that getting consent is your job; Australian SMS goes to +61 numbers only |
| Email tools | One message to the club: a subject and up to 5,000 characters. No scheduling, segments, personalisation or automation | Essentials: pre-built templates, email scheduling, automation flows of up to 4 steps, Mailchimp branding removed, 3 seats |
| Stamp card | Yes: 2 to 50 stamps, one reward, codes at the counter | No |
| Support | Email, answered within one business day | Essentials: 24/7 email and chat support |
What texting costs
Mailchimp counts SMS in credits, and an Australian text uses 4 of them. A shop that texts 400 regulars once a month needs 1,600 credits for that one send, on top of an Essentials plan. Mailchimp's pricing page says SMS pricing varies and gives no credit price, and unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, so we cannot put a dollar figure on it here. Its help page says the monthly credit subscription is set up as part of the SMS application.
On Counter Club, the same 400 texts use 400 of Local Favourite's 2,000 campaign messages, inside A$69 a month with no GST. The number they come from is set up for your shop and included in the plan. A text can run to 300 characters of your words, and each member reached counts once, however long it is.
What email costs
Email alone is a closer contest, and Mailchimp can come out ahead. A shop with 400 email addresses fits Mailchimp's Essentials tier for up to 500 contacts, starting at $13 a month, and gets templates, scheduling and automation flows that Counter Club does not have. Counter Club's Regulars plan is A$24 a month for email.
Two things narrow that gap. Counter Club's A$24 also runs the stamp card, so a shop that would pay for a card tool anyway is comparing A$24 against a card tool plus Mailchimp. And Counter Club only emails members who typed an address when they joined and confirmed it from a link, so its email list is usually a share of the club, not all of it. Every member, though, has a confirmed mobile, which is why the text plan reaches the whole club.
Where the list comes from
This is the deepest difference. Mailchimp works with the contacts you bring, and its SMS help page says you are responsible for getting consent under the laws that apply. Counter Club never lets an owner add a number. Every member joined from your QR or link and proved the mobile was theirs with a code, so the club is a list of people who asked to hear from you, with a record of when each one confirmed. The Spam Act expects a sender to be able to show that consent. The rule is also slower: a shop that already holds a consented email list of 1,000 regulars cannot load it into Counter Club, and has to ask those people to scan.
Where Mailchimp is the better choice
- You already have a list of people who agreed to hear from you, and you want to use it now rather than rebuild it at the counter.
- You want designed newsletters from templates, emails scheduled for later, or automated flows such as a welcome series. Counter Club sends one message, now.
- You send mostly email to a few hundred people, where Essentials starts below Counter Club's A$24.
- You want more than one person working on campaigns. Essentials has 3 seats; Counter Club has one login per shop.
- You want support around the clock by chat. Counter Club answers email within one business day.
- You need no stamp card, or you already run a card elsewhere and only want the messaging.
Questions
Can I use Mailchimp and Counter Club together?
Not linked. Counter Club has no export and no connection to other tools, so its members stay in Counter Club. You can run the card and texts in Counter Club and a newsletter in Mailchimp to a list you built separately; the two lists simply never meet.
Can Mailchimp text Australian customers?
Yes, as an add-on on Essentials or above, once an SMS application is approved. Its help pages say an Australian text uses 4 credits and that credits do not roll over. Its pricing page says Australian messaging is available only for contacts with a +61 number.
Does Counter Club have automations?
No. There is no scheduling, no segments, no personalisation fields and no automatic birthday or win-back message. Each campaign is one message you write and send to every member who has not opted out. The campaign ideas page has examples written for that shape.
Is Mailchimp priced in Australian dollars?
Its Australian pricing page offers an AUD view but says local prices are indicative only, based on the current USD exchange rate, and the Essentials page shows "$13" with no currency code. Counter Club's prices are set in Australian dollars, with no GST charged.
How we checked
Mailchimp's plans, SMS credit rules and Australian conditions were read on its Australian pricing pages and its help centre in October 2026. Mailchimp calls its local prices indicative, so confirm the figure when you sign up. Our side of the table comes from Counter Club's pricing page and help articles.