Editor's verdict on Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the default entry point for Irish small businesses dipping into email marketing, and the free tier is genuinely useful for lists under 500 contacts. The main Irish-specific concern is data residency: Mailchimp stores and processes subscriber data in the US, so Irish senders must rely on Standard Contractual Clauses and should document this in their GDPR records of processing. Under the Irish ePrivacy Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018, you must also ensure you have a valid consent basis before adding contacts - Mailchimp's double opt-in feature is the safest way to demonstrate this. For businesses whose lists have grown beyond a few thousand contacts, Brevo or MailerLite offer EU-hosted alternatives at a comparable price point.