Compare Mailchimp's Email Builders

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Mailchimp has 2 email builders to help you create and design your emails: the new builder and the legacy builder. Both share core features, though they differ slightly in appearance, use, and capability.

In this article, you’ll learn the differences between the new email builder and the legacy email builder, and find resources for both.

About the builders

When you create an email or email template with Mailchimp, design it with the new builder or the legacy builder. Create beautiful marketing emails for your audience, including drag-and-drop content blocks in custom or pre-built templates.

The new builder is our updated email designer with a refined interface. Use the Apps content block to pull in content from other platforms. Add a Survey content block to get feedback from your customers. You can also undo or redo edits to your email in your draft. To learn how to use the new builder for these features and more, check out Design an Email with the New Builder.

Use the legacy builder to custom-code an email template. To learn how to use the legacy builder, check out Design an Email with the Legacy Builder.

The legacy builder is available to Mailchimp customers with an account created before July 2023. The new builder is available to all Mailchimp customers, and it continues to expand with new features.

For more resources on both of the email builders, check out these articles.

Create a Regular Email Campaign Create an Email Template Save and Use an Email Template Replicate a Template Add or Remove Referral Badge

Legacy builder vs. new builder

While many features are available in both builders, there are some differences.

These are the features available in each email builder.

Feature Feature description Legacy builder New builder
Templates Create emails from pre-designed email layouts. The legacy builder has ~100 templates, and the new builder has 250+ templates. yes yes
Custom-coded templates Create your own email template with a custom code. yes no
Content blocks Use content blocks to add or edit text, images, products, discount codes, and more. yes yes
Text content blocks Use Text content blocks to add written information and links to your email. yes no
Paragraph content blocks Use Paragraph content blocks to add text and links to your email. no yes
Heading content blocks Use Heading content blocks to emphasize text and organize your emails. no yes
Button content blocks The Button content block creates a button in your email or page that links to a website or file to download. yes yes
Divider content blocks The Divider content block creates space between sections of content in your email. yes yes
Spacer content blocks Use Spacer content blocks to edit the amount of space between blocks in your email. no yes
Image content blocks Add visuals to your emails with Image content blocks. yes yes
Image Card content blocks Use an Image Card content block to add a single image with a caption to your email. yes no
Image Group content blocks Use an Image Group content block to add 2–5 images to your email. yes no
Video content blocks Use a Video content block to add a video link to your email. yes yes
Social content blocks Add the Social content block to your layout to make it easier for people to share your email on social media. yes yes
Survey content blocks Use Survey content blocks to add a button to your email that links to one of your Mailchimp surveys.* no yes
Code content blocks Use Code blocks to add custom HTML directly into your email. This block is useful if you want more control of your design than what our other content blocks provide. yes yes
Apps content blocks The Apps content block adds information from connected services, websites, or applications outside of your Mailchimp account to your email. no yes
E-commerce content blocks Use e-commerce content blocks to advertise new products, or remind customers when they leave a product in their store cart.You must connect a supported e-commerce store or custom API 3.0 integration to use this content block. yes yes
Product content blocks Add a Product content block to your email to promote up to 4 products. yes yes
Product Recommendations content blocks Use Product Recommendation content blocks in your email to send product suggestions from your online store to your contacts. yes yes
Review Product content blocks Use Review Product content blocks in your email to seek customer feedback on their most recent purchase. no yes
Discount Code content blocks Add a Discount Code content block to your email to promote special offers and increase orders in your online store. yes no
Editing options Undo/redo changes while you edit your email. no yes
Collaboration Add comments to a specific section of an email. yes yes
Anchor links Use anchor links to jump to a specific section in an email. yes yes
Mobile editing By default, mobile and desktop settings are linked. Make device-specific changes for content blocks like image, paragraph, and logo by un-linking the devices in block settings. yes yes
Desktop/mobile view Switch between desktop and mobile views to make sure your email looks great on all devices. no yes
Content block editing/controls Each content block in the new builder can be styled separately. no yes
Sections Set a header, body, and footer in an email. yes yes
Dynamic content Combine up to 5 logic rules to filter contacts. Use “or” logic between groups. Filter with birthday, SMS, and tags, and more. Search for specific contacts to make sure the right contacts see your content. yes yes
Optimization Pre-send optimization no yes
Fix an error, check links/merge tags no yes
Link checker yes yes
Intuit AI Generate content for email copy, subject line, or preview text. yes yes
Sending/preview Preview mode yes yes
Send a test email yes yes
Test different email clients via Litmus yes yes