Is AWEBER worth the money? Mail Chimp Better?

Well, Aweber is worth it if you earn enough to cover the cost (and most WF posters I've seen discuss it do-- and much more). However, a beginner needs to take the expense into consideration, I believe. While they offer a 1 month free trial, most startups are not going to earn anything from their list the first month. Depending on your product and other factors, it might take 3 months to start making more than the $20/mo. And allowing for some screwups on your part, I'd give it 6 months to be sure. Thus, conservatively, you'd need to have $160 ready to invest before the Aweber subscription begins paying for itself. That's something to consider when starting out.

One thing you want to do before subscribing to Aweber, though, is to have ready products (or affiliate arrangements) and email series ready for immediate use. It's a good idea to have a full 50 week's worth of emails prepared when starting an email marketing campaign.

However, once you have one email series paying for your autoresponder, you can add additional lists/series to your account at no extra cost. Added cost only comes with increased subscriber counts.

Like everything else in life, pareto principle or 80/20 rule applies, and the more you use the better you will become. I have used others before aweber, to me aweber wins hand down. ... it is so easy to use.

It's a lot easier to just start out with Aweber than to try to move your list to them later when you get sick of other email marketing providers.