Free, five-year-old personal newsletter from freelance journalist Nicole Pajer . worth following if you pitch journalists or track her beats, pointless if you're shopping for software.
Paste one snippet. Keep the link as it is. A nofollow tag stops search engines from following it.
Nicole's Newsletter | Substack versus Mailchimp
Compare
Nicole's Newsletter | Substack
Mailchimp
Verdict
Depends
Depends
Best for
PR pros tracking what journalists need
Small businesses starting email marketing free
Who it's not for
Teams evaluating email or newsletter software . wrong page
Large or fast-growing lists . pricing punishes growth
Privacy
No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁵
Three breaches in 12 months (2022-23); brand actively abused in phishing.14
Support quality
No evidence
Insufficient direct evidence in reviewed sources
Public sentiment
No independent user reviews found; only the publication's own pages and a third-party directory listing.¹
Long-time users increasingly complain about complexity, pricing, and post-Intuit decline, while professional reviewers still rate the core email and AI tools highly.⁷
Biggest gotcha
Substack writers can add paid tiers anytime; nothing shown today.¹
Premium tier starts at $350/month; costs jump steeply between tiers10
Pick Nicole's Newsletter | Substack when
PR pros tracking what journalists need
Editors scouting freelance writers
Fans of Nicole Pajer's reporting
When Nicole's Newsletter | Substack is not a fit
Teams evaluating email or newsletter software . wrong page
Anyone expecting a product with support, SLAs, or contracts
Buyers wanting reviews, ratings, or vendor accountability
Readers outside PR, journalism, or her beats
Pick Mailchimp when
Small businesses starting email marketing free
Teams wanting AI-assisted campaigns
Senders who want a polished, mature platform
When Mailchimp is not a fit
Large or fast-growing lists . pricing punishes growth
Anyone wanting simple, predictable billing
Advanced senders needing deep features (users call it limited)
