Personal care and beauty brand L’Oréal has used 3D printing many times in the last several years, for applications ranging from product design to bioprinting hair and skin. The company, which has an international portfolio of 35 diverse yet complementary brands, seems on the verge of upping its usage of the technology, as it has just chosen to use AMFG‘s Additive MES software to help streamline its AM workflow and optimize rapid prototyping at its 3D printing lab. This investment by L’Oréal in MES and workflow automation software for AM shows the faith that the brand puts in 3D printing to get the job done.

“We use 3D printing with the key focus on improving agility within the company to get products to market faster. The faster we can go from an idea to a prototype, the faster we can iterate and validate it. 3D printing helps us to speed up this process and get a better product at the end of the development cycle,” Matthew Forrester, Additive Technical Manager at L’Oréal, said in an AMFG case study. “In addition to prototyping, we’re using the technology to make parts for our plants and also to create ergonomic tools for operators, therefore improving their safety. The final area that we’re looking at is how we can apply additive manufacturing to bring added value to the customers, such as new geometries, new materials and localised production.”

Image courtesy of AMFG

The company makes thousands of prototypes each year at its 3DLab in Clichy, France, and managing this level of volume production has been tough. L’Oréal engineers had to send emails with their 3D design files and project requirements, or even bring USB drives to the lab to have their files 3D printed. 3DLab managers also had to calculate the cost and shipping of orders, which came with its own set of difficulties.

“The costing was fixed per part, which was sometimes dissuasive for smaller components,” Forrester said. “If a customer ordered several hundred parts, a special price would have to be created to reflect this. We knew that we could optimise our processes by using software for order submission and handling.”

With features such as a Supplier Integration Network, for AM supply chain coordination, and a Holistic Build Analysis Tool, for instant estimates of how full a machine build is without the use of nesting, AMFG’s MES software solution helps its clients scale their AM operations, manage their workflows, and achieve automated, streamlined processes. Specifically, L’Oréal is using the software to speed up the turnaround time for its prototypes and standardize internal order handling using data visualization tools and instant price calculation software. With AMFG’s ordering portal, L’Oréal designers and engineers will be able to track their order status, as well as order and re-order 3D printed parts with ease.

As Forrester explained in a press release, “Considering our 3D printing volumes of thousands of parts per year, investing in an additive MES has been a natural step for us. We chose AMFG for its vast functionality and the ability to customise it to our needs. ntegrating AMFG’s software allows us to automate previously manual and time-consuming processes, like 3D parts ordering. This, in turn, helps us to improve the efficiency of our 3DLabs and ensures that our engineers and designers get prototypes in the fastest way possible.”

Image courtesy of L’Oréal

In digitizing its workflow with AMFG’s MES software, L’Oréal engineers will be able to convert files into various other formats without the use of file conversion software, as well as analyze and repair common file errors automatically. In addition, the software’s backend system will allow the company’s 3DLab assistants to visualize and analyze 3D designs before placing an order, track incoming requests, and price parts with custom formulas.

“With the AMFG platform, we were able to implement a 3-tier part-size pricing strategy based on print time. Not only has the ability to customise the pricing of 3D parts allowed us to calculate 3D printing costs more accurately, but it also helped us to automate yet another low value-added task for the lab assistants,” Forrester said.

Image courtesy of AMFG

According to the case study, L’Oréal chose AMFG’s MES and workflow management software for its modular functionality, as well as its ability to provide custom development. The beauty brand has been using the software for nearly a year, and L’Oréal’s 3DLab team has made note of several improvements, such as better coordination of internal processes, more flexibility in the internal ordering process, increased turnaround of prototypes, enhanced operations visibility, and automation of steps that were previously manual.

“Rapid prototyping remains the most common 3D printing use case. RP departments at large companies, like L’Oréal, face a lot of challenges when it comes to submitting and managing 3D printing requests. Our workflow automation software helps to reduce the time spent on manual submission tasks and automates the process of analysing and pricing AM orders,” said Danny Winn, VP of Growth and Innovation at AMFG. “We’re honoured to partner with L’Oréal and provide our workflow automation solution that helps them streamline their rapid prototyping workflow.”

According to a recent report by SmarTech Analysis, “Additive Manufacturing in the Factory of the Future: Opportunities and Markets,” automation in both distributed AM networks and local AM processes is a “critical issue.” The report shows how 3D printing, post-processing, and automation can lead to lower fixed costs and smaller manufacturing footprints.

“AMFG’s MES software has simplified our 3D printing workflow and given our engineers and 3DLab managers access to powerful tools, which they didn’t have before,” Forrester concluded. “We can safely say that AMFG’s solutions have enabled us to produce prototypes faster, taking our lab to the next level of productivity and efficiency.”

Image courtesy of L’Oréal

(Source: AMFG)

Though BMW may have discontinued MINI’s mass customization program, it has applied 3D printing in a more unique and interesting way in its FIA Formula E Safety Car, the MINI Electric Pacesetter. The new pace vehicle features 3D printed components made from recycled carbon fiber.

As discussed in our series on carbon fiber 3D printing, the material is not the easiest to recycle, given the fact that the material is meant to be durable and chopped fibers have less utility than continuous fiber reinforcement. Fortunately, as a newer manufacturing segment that regularly uses chopped carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, there are many opportunities to recycle the material. And, here, it seems that BMW-owned MINI has found one.

The spoiler is 3D printed using recycled carbon fiber. Image courtesy of TuningBlog.EU.

The styling of the Pacesetter is based on the MINI JCW GP racer, including similar fender blades and wheels, along with the same roof spoiler, but with a light bar on top. What may draw the eyes of our readers, however, is the fact that the exterior components related to aerodynamics are all made from 3D printed, recycled carbon fiber, including the fender blades, spats, and rear wing. Inside the vehicle, you’ll find 3D printed parts. Specifically the removable cushions padding the racing buckets are 3D printed and could potentially be adapted to fit a rider’s shape, weight and taste.

Removable, 3D printed seat cushions. Image courtesy of TuningBlog.EU.

These features and more reduce the overall weight of the car, which is about 286 lbs (130 kgs) less than the MINI Cooper SE. In turn, this allows the Pacesetter to reach 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, compared to the 7.3 seconds of the Cooper SE, even though it features the same powertrain.

“With the MINI Electric, we have already shown how well driving fun and electromobility go together,” said Bernd Körber, Head of the MINI Brand. “The MINI Electric Pacesetter inspired by JCW goes at least one step further and combines the performance character of the John Cooper Works brand with electric mobility. Of course, this extreme form as a safety car for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship E racing series is not intended for road use. When you see the vehicle, you can see where we could go in terms of electrification of the JCW brand. For me it clearly shows: electrification and John Cooper Works go together.”

The MINI Electric Pacesetter will hit the track April 10, 2021 in Rome for the second Formula E event of the season. Like much of what we see in auto sports, this use of 3D printing is more of a test and demonstration than it is a fully fledged application of the technology. In this case, in particular, it isn’t actually being deployed for the race itself, unlike many of the other auto sports stories we cover. However, maybe MINI is foreshadowing some 3D printed features of the JCW GP car. Regardless, BMW is one of the heavier users of 3D printing in the automotive industry, so we’re sure to see the technology used more and more in end use parts.

As one of the top specialty chemicals companies, with activity in more than 100 different countries around the world, Evonik knows a thing or two when it comes to 3D printing materials. Last year, the company developed and introduced a PEEK, or polyether ether ketone, filament for FDM 3D printing of medical implants, and this week has announced its latest PEEK 3D printing material. The filament, launched under the brand name INFINAM® PEEK 9359 F, is meant for industrial 3D printing applications with the more common extrusion-based (FFF/FDM) technologies.

“Following the commercial success of the PEEK filament for medical technology, we are now expanding the product range to include an industrial material grade. We use our innovative strength in polymer chemistry to constantly develop and bring to the market new filaments, powders, or photopolymers to diversify the material landscape and thereby enable new infinite 3D applications,” Sylvia Monsheimer, who heads Additive Manufacturing & New 3D Technologies at Evonik, stated in a press release.

INFINAM® PEEK 9359 F high performance polymer as a metal replacement for additive manufacturing of demanding industrial plastic parts.

Evonik’s new high-performance, ready-to-use INFINAM® PEEK 9359 F material is a chemical- and high temperature-resistant polymer, and sounds like it would be a good choice for 3D printing industrial plastic parts, rather than using metal material. PEEK is a pretty fascinating material: in addition to medical applications, the thermoplastic’s high strength and continuous service temperatures, low flame smoke and toxicity, and excellent thermal stability and chemical inertia, mean that it’s often used to make highly demanding automotive and aerospace components.

“INFINAM^® PEEK 9359 F is a high-performance, industrial grade PEEK filament that is easy to process in FFF(FDM) printers. Its unique properties make it suitable for fields of aerospace, transportation, oil and gas, etc. to manufacture lightweight and high-performance parts,” the Evonik website states.

INFINAM® PEEK 9359 F comes in a natural color, with a diameter of 1.75 mm, and is wound onto 500 g spools that can be used in most standard FFF and FDM 3D printers for PEEK materials. The polymer has a lot of interesting properties: beyond what we’ve already listed, it has hydrolysis resistance, or inherent flame retardancy, as well as high mechanical strength, great wear and fatigue resistance, and low sliding friction. Parts 3D printed using this material are said to be capable of withstanding short-lasting temperature effects of over 300℃, or long-lasting temperature effects of 250℃. According to Evonik’s website, the material’s unique crystallization offers much better adhesion between vertical layers, and has a better wave transmission performance than metal.

Speaking of metal, Evonik says that parts 3D printed with its new INFINAM® PEEK 9359 F weigh about 80% less, and are 30% tougher, than equivalent parts made with stainless steel. With all of these combined properties, the material should work well for 3D printing lightweight, high-performance parts for demanding applications, like in the automotive, aerospace, and oil & gas industries, that would normally be made with metal.

Evonik’s Additive Manufacturing Innovation Growth Field is focused on creating and manufacturing new high-performance 3D printing materials. As such, the company has organized its range of ready-to-use AM materials here, under its new INFINAM® brand.

(Source/Images: Evonik)

The fact that you’re reading this article means that you’re currently using Mailchimp, but it doesn’t fit your needs.

You’re looking for something better, that’s more cost-effective and with more functionalities and features

Don’t get me wrong – Mailchimp is an excellent product. It’s one of the pioneers in the email marketing space. But over the years, it became a giant, old dinosaur who brings you more pain than pleasure.

Fortunately, you don’t need to spend dozens of hours and your energy on finding the perfect Mailchimp alternative.

We did the heavy-lifting for you. We went out, tried, and tested the four best Mailchimp alternatives on the market.

We used each tool for about a week and got to know the software in and out.

The alternatives we have tested are:

• GetResponse 
• MailerLite
• ConvertKit
• AWeber

In this article, we will share our in-depth feedback and thoughts on each of these Mailchimp alternatives.

We even went one step further, and unlike other review articles on the subject, we evaluated each product by specific criteria. This will help you to easily compare multiple alternatives and find the right fit for you.

The criteria we used are:

• Ease of use
• Email deliverability
• Customer Support
• Feature Score (How feature-rich some platform is compared to the others)
• Pricing

With no further delay, let’s find the best Mailchimp alternative for you!

If you don’t have time to read our in-depth feedback on all platforms, you can check our Overview section below.

Mailchimp alternatives: overview of the best email marketing platforms

Overall comparison

Mailchimp overview

To understand Mailchimp alternatives, we will quickly look into Mailchimp itself.

As we all know, Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing solutions on the market.

It allows you to build landing pages, get email subscribers and send different email campaigns to your users.

But since Mailchimp has been on the market for so long, it became a huge, robust, and complicated platform.

Therefore, Mailchimp isn’t the right fit for everyone.

The five biggest downsides of Mailchimp

Opinions about Mailchimp vary. A lot of people like the product overall, but a lot of others don’t.

Here are the common problems with Mailchimp reported by other users and confirmed by us (after we tested it):

• Affordable at the beginning but expensive once you grow – Mailchimp is often the go to tool when you’re just starting out. It’s integrated with multiple platforms and offers a free account. But if you want to have access to their support team or even schedule your newsletter ahead of time, you need to go for one of the paid plans – and these become expensive as your list grows.
• You can’t build excellent funnels with its landing page builder – Mailchimp’s landing page builder is a pretty basic one. Not many customisation options are offered, and putting all the pieces together within your campaign is pretty challenging.
• Strict email sending limit – Mailchimp limits the number of subscribers you can have in your lists, and that’s okay. However, it also limits the number of emails you can send per month. Within the basic plan, you can send only up to 10 emails per subscriber. For some this may be enough, but if you’re in a particularly dynamic business then this may not be enough.
• Slow customer service – We’ve got a response to our customer support issue in something over two days.
• Slightly outdated email designs – If you use free email designs and templates, you may find it hard to pick a template that’ll look modern and match your branding. And if you want to custom-code your templates, you’ll need to buy the Standard package.

These are the five primary and most frustrating shortcomings of Mailchimp. Of course, as with every product, many other things don’t work precisely the way we want them to, but let’s not get petty here.

On the other hand, let’s take a look at Mailchimp’s advantages. 

Mailchimp’s advantages

The purpose of this article is to give you the most honest feedback on all Mailchimp alternatives and the state of the email marketing software industry.

So let’s not be too critical towards Mailchimp. It also offers some great stuff and has certain advantages.

So, what are the things Mailchimp does well?

• 200+ integrations – With over 200 integrations, it’s easy to integrate your Mailchimp account into your existing workflows and start using it right away.
• Simple email design – Although the existing templates are pretty basic and outdated, it’s effortless to design your emails with its drag-and-drop editor.
• Great for small local businesses – Mailchimp’s free plan is great for small local businesses. It has everything you need to start with email marketing.
• Simple mailing list setup – Although many features are hard to use, it’s very easy to set up your mailing list and send your first email campaigns.

Mailchimp’s pricing

Mailchimp has a free plan that allows you to have 2000 users in your list and send up to 10,000 emails per month. Although the free plan is pretty basic, it’s great for people who are just starting and want a simple tool to send their campaigns immediately.

The minimal pricing plan starts at $9,99/mo for up to 500 contacts.

If you start with the free plan, have 2000 contacts, and subscribe to the basic plan, expect to start paying $30,99/mo.

The Standard plan, for up to 25,000 contacts, costs $230/mo.

Now that we understand Mailchimp, let’s analyse the best Mailchimp alternatives on the market.

Mailchimp’s score

GetResponse – all-in-one marketing solution

We’re well aware that this is our tool, and we don’t want to brag about it. The idea of this article is to present you with an objective view of the best Mailchimp alternatives.

GetResponse is one of them, but we will take an objective approach for all of the reviewed tools, including ours. We will cover GetResponse’s shortcomings and advantages as well.

Let’s get back to the topic.

GetResponse is the all-in-one marketing solution for small, medium, and enterprise businesses.

It has everything you can imagine to build frictionless sales funnels, grow your newsletter, and send different email campaigns.

So let’s dive into GetResponse.

Seven advantages of GetResponse over Mailchimp

Unlike Mailchimp, GetResponse is an all-in-one platform that offers you more functionalities.

With GetResponse, you can engage with your customers on various channels:

• Email
• Google & Facebook ads
• Landing pages/sales pages
• Web push notifications & popups
• Webinars
• Chats

and others.

Mailchimp offers some of these channels, but the difference is that GetResponse implemented all of this more intuitively.

In other words, with GetResponse, creating landing pages, getting subscribers, and making your autoresponders or email campaigns is way easier than with Mailchimp.

Here are the most significant advantages of GetResponse:

• Ease of use – GetResponse aims to deliver the best UX possible. We make sure that with our product, you become a marketer superhero.
• Robust platform – GetResponse has you covered through every step of your journey, from the essential email campaigns to creating complex sales funnels that bring immense conversions. 
• Excellent customer support – When we reached out to our customer support reps through live chat without them knowing it’s us, we got a response in less than 1 minute.
• Multi-language support – The platform’s available in 26 languages, so if English isn’t your native language you can still launch effective marketing campaigns with ease.
• Optimised for getting more sales – GetResponse has a unique feature we call Conversion Funnels. It allows you to create your entire sales funnel, from getting traffic through paid ads and getting subscribers to nurturing your subscribers with various autoresponders, transactional emails, or ordinary email campaigns.
• Unlimited emails – Unlike Mailchimp, with GetResponse, you can send an unlimited amount of emails to your subscribers, no matter the package you choose or the size of the list you have.
• Cost-effectiveness – GetResponse offers you more features than Mailchimp, and in addition to that, it’s also more cost-effective. Meaning you get more but pay less than for Mailchimp.

GetResponse’s shortcomings

• Somewhat hard to use for enterprise companies – Once GetResponse helps you grow your sales, and you have multiple lists, audiences, and funnels, sometimes the UI can get a little bit confusing. But on the brighter side, our customer success reps are always there for assistance and if you go for the MAX account you get your own dedicated account manager.
• Fewer integrations – even though GetResponse packs many features inside the tool, sometimes you’ll want to also integrate with external platforms. Compared to Mailchimp, it offers slightly fewer integrations out of the box (just over 120), however, you can still connect it with the main providers using API or integration connections like Zapier or Piesync.

GetResponse’s pricing

Although GetResponse doesn’t have a free plan, you can start using it with a 30-day trial with no credit card required.

Paid plans start at $15/mo for up to 1000 subscribers and go up to $99/mo for the professional package.

To put things in perspective, the plan with the same number of features as Mailchimp (or maybe even more) costs $179/mo for up to 25,000 people, while Mailchimp costs $230/mo.

GetResponse’s score

GetResponse’s overview as a Mailchimp alternative

Here are the main differences between GetResponse and Mailchimp:

• Unlike Mailchimp, GetResponse doesn’t have a free plan, but it comes with a 30-day free trial with no credit card required.
• GetResponse offers you more features for a more cost-effective price.
• GetResponse supports you throughout your entire journey. It helps you build your entire sales funnel with landing pages, ads, lead magnets, autoresponders, transactional emails, webinars, and email marketing campaigns. On the other side, Mailchimp (although it supports many of these features as well) does a decent job primarily in email marketing.
• GetResponse has a more frictionless and easy-to-use product. Customer support is quick, efficient, and helpful.
• It supports multiple languages, so if English isn’t your first language you can change the dashboard settings to what feels more familiar and gives you more confidence in running your campaigns.

Who should use GetResponse?

GetResponse is the right fit for you if you’re looking for an all-in-one and easy-to-use marketing toolkit that can help you build your entire sales/marketing funnel and grow your sales, whether you’re just starting out or you’re an established enterprise.

MailerLite – easy-to-use email marketing platform

MailerLite is another Mailchimp alternative that allows you to build great email marketing campaigns and engage with your users.

MailerLite’s advantages

• It’s simple to use – It’s called lite for a good reason. MailerLite is extremely easy to use, which makes it perfect for beginners.
• A ton of learning resources – MailerLite provides you with a lot of resources you can use to take your email marketing game to the next level.
• Plenty of integrations.

MailerLite’s shortcomings

• Sometimes, it can be a bit buggy – Pages sometimes take more than a minute to load; you may need to wait a couple of minutes for the campaigns to be successfully delivered. We also found the landing page builder somewhat slower as well.
• Customer support isn’t perfect – While we ourselves faced no issues, other users have reported that their questions and problems were not addressed at all by the support team at times.
• Email editor missing some key features – The editor looks modern and intuitive, but it’s lacking some key features that’d ensure your emails perform well. These include tools like Inbox Preview or Spam Check, both of which are available in GetResponse, for instance.

It doesn’t include a lot of templates – MailerLite is really a lite version of an email marketing tool. Hence, it doesn’t have a lot of pre-defined email or landing page templates you can use.

MailerLite’s pricing

MailerLite has fairly simple pricing. There are only two plans: free and premium.

The premium plan supports most of the things that other alternatives have (although it still lacks some of the features that GetResponse has, for example)

However, MailerLite is the most cost-effective Mailchimp alternative we’ve evaluated, probably because of its simplicity.

This makes it perfect for small companies on a tight budget for which email marketing is not the main channel for engaging with customers.

If you have 25,000 people on your list, expect to pay $120/mo.

MailerLite’s score

MailerLite’s overview as a Mailchimp alternative

The biggest advantage of MailerLite over Mailchimp is that it gives you way more features in the free plan than Mailchimp.

On the other hand, although Mailchimp is very slow, its features, such as landing pages, have better functionality than MailerLite’s.

Long story short, if you’re on a very tight budget and email marketing isn’t the most important channel for you, then MailerLite is the right choice.

Read more: GetResponse vs. MailerLite

ConvertKit – built for online creators

The third Mailchimp alternative we’ve tested is ConvertKit.

ConvertKit is a powerful email marketing software similar to Mailchimp and aimed mainly at creators. It mostly focuses on enabling everyday people to monetize their passion, start projects that they can market, grow their business and increase their email list.

Essentially, if you’re a blogger, YouTuber, podcaster, marketer, or anyone who wants to earn money online by monetizing their following rate, this might be a great fit for you.

Like other Mailchimp alternatives, with ConvertKit, you can:

• Build email lists.
• Create sign-up forms
• Send personalized emails (+ drip campaigns)
• Design landing pages

Let’s look into the details of its abilities.

ConvertKit’s advantages

• It’s simple to use (aside from occasionally having to alter your email template with an HTML code and not having a real drag-and-drop email editor), it’s easy to get started. The navigation doesn’t slow you down or make you unsure about whether or not you’re following the steps correctly. Everything is clearly laid out and intuitive to use.
• Excellent customer support – Although we didn’t really face any particular issue, we’ve tested ConvertKit’s support team and received a fast response from them with a comprehensive answer to our question! That’s a big plus in our book. That said, it’s a shame it’s only available via email.
• In-depth learning experience – As soon as you log in, the navigation bar allows you to access customer support, documentation, community, and even a free course that goes in-depth into how to use ConvertKit as a beginner.
• Personalised onboarding – From the moment you begin signing up, you’ll be asked a few questions which will later tailor your onboarding experience. In our test, we’ve set that our website is in WordPress, and when we were greeted with a welcome page, the “getting started” steps were tailored with WordPress integrations as well as other preferences we’ve stated when registering.
• 90+ integrations available (although some of them will require copy-pasting an HTML code) – integrations are not something you should worry about.

ConvertKit’s shortcomings

• More costly than its competitors – Starting at $29/per month, it’s hard to justify the price if you aren’t already earning money from your audience or your business isn’t producing revenue when there are alternatives that offer similar if not better functionality for a lower price. 
• Lack of A/B testing features – Currently, ConvertKit only enables users to A/B test email subjects. Nearly a percentage of your subscribers will be randomly selected from your list and given one subject line or another,  and later you can compare their efficiency and results. We would certainly like to see more advanced split-testing features. 
• ConvertKit ecommerce isn’t available in all regions – It also lacks certain functionalities since it’s still in the middle of its development process.
• Email templates are all text-based – They lack a visual builder; thus, it can hinder your results. Other alternatives on the list provide a visual builder that allows you to be as creative as you want.
• Poor reporting system. The available summaries include the average open rate, average click rate, number of new subscribers, and the number of people who have unsubscribed. In our opinion, this will hardly provide deeper insights into what the issue might be and how to resolve it.

ConvertKit’s pricing

As already mentioned, their plans are not the most affordable on this list. The Creator plan starts at $29/month, and it increases as you pass 1000 subscribers. The price increase can become quite steep as you begin climbing the popularity ladder.

Additionally, its Creator plan doesn’t offer:

1. Facebook custom audiences;
2. A Newsletter Referral system;
3. Advanced reporting.

To unlock these features, you’ll have to opt for the “Creator Pro” package, which is double the price. 

If you have 25,000 subscribers, expect to pay $199/mo for the basic plan and $279/mo for the Pro plan.

ConvertKit’s score

ConvertKit overview as a MailChimp alternative

It’s no surprise that ConvertKit works better than Mailchimp when considering many of the features we’ve tested. But that comes at a price.

While you can use Mailchimp for free, its standard plan offers only so much for $15 a month. In our experience, the website builder is slow, the UI can often be buggy and frustrating, and their customer support is not the best. With all that in mind, if you can afford to pay double the price for the basic Convert Kit plan, you will enjoy it more.

ConvertKit is best suited for digital creators, people who sell courses, ebooks, and other types of digital products.

Read more: GetResponse vs. ConvertKit

AWeber – perfect for small businesses

AWeber is another attractive Mailchimp alternative. It’s best for small businesses, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, and all other online content creators who want to scale their business.

AWeber’s advantages

• Easy to use – The interface is user-friendly, not quite like ConvertKit and GetResponse, but easy enough for beginners in email marketing. The signup process is frictionless, and getting started is effortless. Additionally, their drag-and-drop email builder is intuitive and straightforward.
• Excellent customer support – While testing, we communicated with a fast and responsive customer support team, which is a big plus for this type of software. If you’re stuck with an obstacle, this is something you will appreciate.
• Smooth learning experience – Learning the basics is, again, effortless. AWeber also made sure that training your team members doesn’t end up slowing you down.
• Neat blog broadcasting feature – This feature allows you to transform your blog posts into newsletters and automatically send them to users on your mailing list.
• Landing pages – AWeber has landing page templates that are customisable and responsive. A bonus here is that they are also suitable for SEO.
• Many available integrations – AWeber has a massive number of integrations, which is appreciated.
• Affordable pricing – Starting at $19/month, AWeber is excellent for small businesses just starting with email marketing.

AWeber’s shortcomings

• Fewer functionalities and options – This is precisely why AWeber is mainly suited for small businesses and entrepreneurs. If you are an experienced marketer and your company has high demands to communicate via various channels, this tool probably won’t satisfy your needs.
• A/B testing – At the moment, you can only do A/B testing for emails, but not for landing pages or marketing automation.
• Email optimization – The email editor works fine but it doesn’t give you additional insights into how your campaign will turn out in your users’ inbox. Because there are no features like Spam check or Inbox preview, you’re not always 100% sure your campaign will look the way you to want it to.
• Limited campaign interface – The campaign interface is somewhat limited, and it doesn’t allow you to use tags and triggers.
• Limited personalisation – This is something that might pose a bigger problem for experienced marketers who want to provide a personalised experience for every user. There isn’t much room for personalisation and diversity in AWeber.

AWeber’s pricing

As you can see, the default pricing plans allow up to 25,000 subscribers, and if you want to go beyond that, you will have to contact them and request a custom quote plan.

AWeber’s score

AWeber as a Mailchimp alternative

AWeber is an excellent alternative to Mailchimp since they offer similar functionalities. AWeber is also a little bit easier to use than Mailchimp.

AWeber might be more expensive, but sometimes it is better to pay a little extra money to gain additional options. For example, AWeber offers more templates. However, keep in mind that Mailchimp allows you to design your emails from scratch (in the paid plans). Mailchimp also has more detailed and advanced segmentation options.

In the end, it all comes down to what you prefer and need the most. AWeber is excellent for beginners who don’t possess any technical knowledge, while Mailchimp is the right choice for more experienced tech-savvy users.

Read more: GetResponse vs. AWeber

A final comparison of the four best Mailchimp alternatives in 2021

Here’s the final comparison table:

What’s the best Mailchimp alternative for you?

Based on our four-week long research and testing of four different Mailchimp alternatives, we’ve concluded that every product is a perfect fit for a specific group of people.

So:

• If you’re on a very tight budget and email marketing isn’t the most crucial channel for you, go with MailerLite.
• If you’re an online creator but you have a big budget, go with ConvertKit.
• If you’re a small business (mostly brick and mortar) looking to engage with your audience through email, then AWeber is the right choice for you.

And,

• If you’re a small or medium business, enterprise, or an online creator who’s looking for an all-in-one marketing toolkit that allows you to build converting sales funnels, get subscribers and create various auto-responding or ordinary email campaigns, then GetResponse is the right fit for you.

No credit card needed.

Author’s note: This comparison is accurate on March 30th, 2021. We do our best to keep it as accurate as possible, and we check it on a regular basis, however, if you want to acquaint yourself with the offer of our competitors, you should check it at their official website or contact their representatives.

A new partnership between Impossible Objects and Ricoh 3D will make new composite-enhanced parts available to European Ricoh 3D customers. The parts, created via Impossible Objects’ much-touted CBAM process, will be strong, light, and have high chemical resistance.

In May 2019, Impossible Objects commercialized its composite based additive manufacturing (CBAM) process , after years of research. Its CBAM2 printer deposits a binder onto sheets of reinforcement material, then floods it with thermoplastic powder. The powder sticks to the binder, then the printer vacuums off the extra powder, leaving a plastic matrix on a sheet of reinforcement fiber. Each of these sheets is stacked, compressed and put into an oven to melt the plastic matrix together.

Currently, the CBAM process can make parts up to 10 times quicker than traditional FDM printing, on sheets up to 12 x 12 inches. It uses high-performance polymers like Nylon and PEEK, and the company claims a wide range of reinforcement materials, from “standard” composite fillers like carbon fiber and fiberglass to more unconventional reinforcements like silk and cotton. According to Impossible Objects, CBAM is capable of printing with a higher variety of additives than other 3D printing processes because the powder isn’t melted when it’s initially deposited.

A bell crank created with Impossible Objects’ CBAM process (Image via Impossible Objects).

“Our CBAM process represents a significant leap forward in 3D printing, with faster speeds, better material properties and wider material selection,” said Robert Swartz, founder of Impossible Objects. “Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, and more have already put it to work to create everything from car and aircraft parts to athletic gear. By collaborating with the team at Ricoh 3D who recognizes the transformative potential of additive manufacturing, together we will bring these competitive advantages to more organizations across Europe.”

This is their first time working with Ricoh 3D, whose AM service bureau lets customers send in part designs for workshopping and printing. Composites like carbon fiber-PEEK and carbon fiber-PA12 are now available as print objects through Ricoh 3D’s AM service bureau, making it the first such provider of CBAM 3D printing services. 

“Composites are set to be an area of huge growth in additive manufacturing in the coming years. These new materials will change the game across a number of industries,” said Mark Dickin, Additive Manufacturing & Molding Engineering Manager at Ricoh 3D. “Impossible Objects’ CBAM process is nothing short of a revolution in the way composites are manufactured, so we are proud to be working with the company to be at the forefront of the European movement.”

Carbon fiber 3D printing is still a relatively small niche, with just a handful of companies selling their machines. While AREVO has demonstrated the ability to 3D print parts as large as a bicycle frame with continuous carbon fiber composites and Ingersoll, Thermwood and Cincinnati can printed massive parts with chopped carbon fiber reinforcement, there is no technology quite like Impossible Objects’.

Though this is just one partnership, it could be a significant one, given Ricoh’s status as a company with a $7.87 market cap. It demonstrates both the value of CBAM in a service bureau setting, which is a microcosm of large-scale manufacturing, and a broadening of Ricoh’s interest in new materials and technologies.