Choose Brevo if you have a large list you email a few times a month, or want email, SMS, WhatsApp and a CRM in one tool: it charges by emails sent, not contacts. Choose Mailchimp if you run an online store that needs advanced segmentation. For 50,000 contacts emailed twice a month, Brevo costs about $82 a month against $385 on Mailchimp.
The difference comes down to how each one bills. Mailchimp charges by contacts, including unsubscribed ones until you archive them. Brevo charges by emails sent, with contact caps only on its three smallest tiers. That single difference decides which is cheaper for you.
This Brevo vs Mailchimp guide (and, if you still know Brevo by its old name, Sendinblue vs Mailchimp) compares real costs for four common situations, plus free plans, automation, AI, SMS, data location, support and how to switch.
How we evaluated
- Prices and limits were checked between October 20 and November 2, 2026. We couldn’t load Brevo’s and Mailchimp’s live pricing calculators for this check, so the figures come from dated independent breakdowns of those pages, cross-checked against each other. Each section names its sources and links the vendor’s pricing page so you can confirm.
- We compared seven things: cost in four realistic scenarios, free plans, automation, AI, channels beyond email, data location and support.
- This is a research-based comparison, not a hands-on test. We describe how each tool works rather than rating which feels nicer to use. Neither company sponsored this article, and there are no affiliate links.
Brevo vs Mailchimp at a Glance
| Feature | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| How you’re billed | Emails sent per month | Contacts in your audience, including unsubscribed |
| Free plan | 300 emails/day, up to 100,000 contacts | 250 contacts, 500 sends/month |
| Paid from | $9/month (Starter, 5,000 emails) | $13/month (Essentials, 500 contacts) |
| Full automation | Standard plan and above | Standard plan and above (up to 200 flows) |
| Channels | Email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, CRM, transactional email | Email, SMS, social posting; transactional is a paid add-on |
| AI | Aura assistant and agents | Intuit Assist |
| Data location | EU (France, Germany, Belgium) | United States |
| Best for | Big lists, infrequent sends, multichannel on a budget | Online stores, advanced segmentation and analytics |
Pros and Cons
Brevo pros
- Far cheaper for big lists you email occasionally
- The most generous free plan of the two
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM and transactional email in one account
- Data hosted in the EU
Brevo cons
- Starter keeps the Brevo logo unless you pay extra
- Small tiers cap stored contacts, creating a price jump at 2,500 contacts
- Fewer integrations and fewer users on cheap plans
Mailchimp pros
- Deep e-commerce integrations and purchase-based segments
- Advanced automation and predictive analytics on Standard
- More users and live chat support on cheaper plans
Mailchimp cons
- Expensive as your contact list grows
- Unsubscribed contacts count toward your bill
- Free plan is now too small for most businesses
How Each One Charges
Brevo: Pay for Emails Sent
Brevo added new plans on March 28, 2026, replacing the old Business plan with Standard and adding Professional.
| Emails per month | Contacts you can store | Starter | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 500 | $9 | $18 |
| 10,000 | 1,500 | $17 | $35 |
| 15,000 | 2,500 | $25 | $49 |
| 20,000 | 500,000 | $32 | $69 |
| 50,000 | 500,000 | $56 | $97 |
| 100,000 | 500,000 | $82 | $139 |
Monthly billing; yearly billing is about 10% cheaper. Professional starts at $499 a month for 150,000 emails, and Enterprise is custom. Prices and contact caps from an October 2026 Brevo pricing breakdown, matching the entry prices in June 2026 data; confirm on Brevo’s pricing page.
The 2,500-contact jump: you pay for whichever limit you hit first, emails or contacts. Once your list passes 2,500 contacts, you need at least the 20,000-email tier, even if you send far fewer emails. A Standard account with 2,600 contacts pays $69 a month instead of $49.
- Starter keeps the Brevo logo on your emails; removing it is an add-on of about $12 a month.
- Standard removes the logo and adds A/B testing, a landing page, full automation for unlimited contacts and up to 3 users.
Mailchimp: Pay for Contacts
| Contacts | Essentials | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $13 | $20 | – |
| 2,500 | $45 | $60 | – |
| 5,000 | $75 | $100 | – |
| 10,000 | $110 | $135 | $350 |
| 25,000 | $270 | $310 | $620 |
| 50,000 | $385 | $450 | $815 |
Monthly prices from a July 2026 Mailchimp pricing breakdown; the same figures appear in breakdowns published by two competing email platforms (Moosend and SendX). Confirm on Mailchimp’s pricing page.
- Each plan lets you send a multiple of your contact count: 10× on Essentials, 12× on Standard, 15× on Premium.
- Unsubscribed contacts count toward your bill until you archive or delete them.
- On both tools, if your list or sending outgrows your tier, you move to the next tier; check the overage rules before a large import.
What You’d Actually Pay: 4 Real Scenarios
Monthly prices on the entry plans (Brevo Starter vs Mailchimp Essentials), with the next plan up in brackets.
| Your situation | Emails/month | Brevo tier needed | Brevo | Mailchimp | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 contacts, weekly newsletter | ~2,000 | 5,000 emails (fits 500 contacts) | $9 ($18) | $13 ($20) | Brevo, slightly |
| 5,000 contacts, 4 emails a month | 20,000 | 20,000 emails | $32 ($69) | $75 ($100) | Brevo, by $43 |
| 50,000 contacts, 2 emails a month | 100,000 | 100,000 emails | $82 ($139) | $385 ($450) | Brevo, by $303 |
| 2,500 contacts, 8 emails a month | 20,000 | 20,000 emails | $32 ($69) | $45 ($60) | Brevo on Starter; Mailchimp on the next plan up |
Is Brevo Cheaper Than Mailchimp?
Usually, yes. Because Brevo bills by emails sent, it costs far less for large lists you email occasionally: about $3,600 a year less at 50,000 contacts emailed twice a month. Mailchimp only gets close when you email a small list very often, and on the higher plans it can even be cheaper, as the last row shows.
Free Plans Compared
| Free plan | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Sending limit | 300 emails a day (~9,000/month) | 500 a month, 250 a day |
| Contacts | Up to 100,000 | 250 |
| Users | 1 | 1 |
| Automation | Up to 2,000 contacts | Single-step automations only |
| Transactional email | Included | Not included |
| Branding | Brevo logo | Mailchimp logo |
Verdict on free plans: Brevo’s is far more generous, with about 18 times more emails a month and room for 100,000 contacts. Mailchimp cut its free plan on February 17, 2026 from 500 contacts and 1,000 sends to 250 contacts and 500 sends, so it now works only for testing.
Automation
Mailchimp is stronger for complex journeys. Its Customer Journey Builder on Standard allows up to 200 automation flows, with branching, predictive segments and many e-commerce triggers, especially with a connected Shopify or WooCommerce store.
Brevo is strong for practical, multichannel automation. Welcome series, abandoned cart, follow-ups and transactional emails work well, and one workflow can mix email, SMS and WhatsApp. The limit is the plan: Free and Starter automate for up to 2,000 contacts, and Standard removes that cap.
Both connect to Zapier and Make for linking forms, CRMs and spreadsheets. Our Make.com alternatives guide compares the automation platforms.
AI Features
Brevo’s AI is called Aura. According to Brevo’s help center, it works as an assistant across the app plus a set of agents: a marketing agent that drafts email content and helps with segments, a sales agent that creates deals, enriches contacts and summarizes sales calls, a conversations agent for customer replies, and a data management agent. Brevo can also connect to outside AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT through an MCP API key.
Mailchimp’s AI is Intuit Assist, named after its owner, Intuit. On Standard and above it helps write emails and subject lines, suggests content and powers predictive features such as likely-to-buy segments and send-time optimization.
Both are useful for first drafts. Check facts and tone yourself before you send; our ChatGPT vs Claude test for cold emails shows how differently AI tools write the same email.
Beyond Email: SMS, WhatsApp, CRM and Transactional
This is where Brevo stands out.
- Brevo includes a free sales CRM, live chat for your website, SMS and, on higher plans, WhatsApp campaigns and mobile push. Transactional email (receipts and password resets) is included and sent over API or SMTP. SMS and WhatsApp are paid by message credits.
- Mailchimp offers SMS and social posting. Transactional email is a separate paid add-on called Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill). Mailchimp stores customer data but has no built-in sales pipeline like Brevo’s CRM.
Data Location and GDPR
This matters most for businesses in Europe or with European customers.
- Brevo is a French company, and its help center states that all customer data is hosted in the European Union, on OVH servers in France and Germany and on Google Cloud in Belgium.
- Mailchimp is a US company owned by Intuit and stores data in the United States.
Both support double opt-in, consent fields on signup forms and unsubscribe handling. If your clients ask where their customer data lives, Brevo’s EU hosting is an easy answer.
Email Sender Requirements (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook)
Big inbox providers now enforce rules for anyone sending in bulk:
- Gmail and Yahoo, since February 2024: authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe and keep spam complaints below 0.3%. See Google’s sender guidelines.
- Microsoft Outlook, since May 5, 2025: senders of 5,000+ emails a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses must pass SPF, DKIM and DMARC, include one-click unsubscribe headers and use From addresses that accept replies. Failing mail can be rejected.
Brevo and Mailchimp both support all of these and walk you through domain authentication. Brevo also offers a dedicated IP address for high-volume senders. We haven’t run our own inbox-placement test, so we don’t rank one above the other on deliverability; a clean, permission-based list matters more than the tool.
Support, Seats and Integrations
| Plan level | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 user, email support | 1 user, email support for the first 30 days |
| Entry plan | Starter: 1 user, email support | Essentials: 3 users, 24/7 email and chat |
| Middle plan | Standard: up to 3 users, priority email | Standard: 5 users, 24/7 email and chat |
| Top plans | Professional: 10 users, phone support | Premium: unlimited users, phone and priority |
| Integrations | WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, Make and more | 300+, with the deepest e-commerce connections |
Sources: Brevo plan details (September 2026), and Mailchimp seats and support from breakdowns by SendX and Moosend, two competing platforms whose figures match each other.
What this means: Mailchimp gives you more users and live chat on its cheaper plans. On Brevo Standard, extra seats cost about $12 a month each.
Ease of Use
The two are organized differently rather than one being simply easier.
- Mailchimp is built around campaigns: the editor, templates and audience tools come first, with SMS, social posting and the Customer Journey Builder added around them.
- Brevo is built around channels. Email campaigns, automation, the CRM and transactional email each have their own section, which suits teams that use more than email.
Both include drag-and-drop editors, ready-made templates, signup forms and landing pages on paid plans. Try both free plans with a real campaign before you decide.
Which One Should You Choose?
| If you… | Choose |
|---|---|
| Have a large list you email once or twice a month | Brevo |
| Want email, SMS, WhatsApp and a CRM in one tool | Brevo |
| Need transactional emails (receipts, password resets) included | Brevo |
| Need customer data hosted in the EU | Brevo |
| Are starting with no budget and want the best free plan | Brevo |
| Run a Shopify or WooCommerce store with many products | Mailchimp |
| Need predictive segments and advanced analytics | Mailchimp |
| Email a small list very often and want more users on a cheap plan | Mailchimp |
Our pick for most small businesses: Brevo, because its pay-per-email model and generous free plan cost less for typical newsletter habits. In the Mailchimp vs Brevo choice, pick Mailchimp when your business runs on an online store or advanced segmentation.
Other Tools to Consider
- MailerLite: cheap and simple, priced by subscribers, with landing pages and paid newsletters. See our MailerLite vs Mailchimp comparison.
- Klaviyo: built for e-commerce stores that want deep Shopify data and SMS.
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit): built for creators selling courses and digital products.
- ActiveCampaign: advanced automation and CRM for businesses with complex customer journeys.
How to Move From Mailchimp to Brevo
- Clean your Mailchimp audience. Remove bounced and long-inactive contacts; there’s no point moving them.
- Check your Brevo tier. Count your subscribed contacts and monthly sends, and pick the tier that covers both.
- Export subscribed contacts from Mailchimp as a CSV and import them into Brevo.
- Map tags to Brevo attributes or lists so your segments survive.
- Authenticate your sending domain in Brevo before your first send.
- Rebuild forms and automations, starting with your welcome series, then send first to your most engaged subscribers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo better than Mailchimp?
Brevo is better for businesses with large lists they email a few times a month, and for anyone who wants email, SMS, WhatsApp, a CRM and transactional email in one tool, because it charges by emails sent rather than contacts. Mailchimp is better for online stores that need deep e-commerce integrations, advanced segmentation and predictive analytics.
Is Brevo cheaper than Mailchimp?
Usually, yes. Brevo prices by emails sent, so a 50,000-contact list emailed twice a month costs about $82 a month on Brevo Starter against $385 on Mailchimp Essentials. The gap shrinks when you email a small list very often, and once you pass 2,500 contacts Brevo requires at least its 20,000-email tier, so check its calculator for your numbers.
What is the difference between Brevo and Mailchimp pricing?
Brevo charges mainly by the number of emails you send each month; its three smallest tiers also cap stored contacts at 500, 1,500 and 2,500, and tiers from 20,000 emails allow up to 500,000 contacts. Mailchimp charges by the number of contacts in your audience, including unsubscribed contacts until you archive them, and then limits how many emails you can send per contact.
Is Brevo free?
Yes. Brevo’s free plan lets you send 300 emails a day, about 9,000 a month, and store up to 100,000 contacts, with one user, basic automation for up to 2,000 contacts and the Brevo logo on your emails. Mailchimp’s free plan, cut on February 17, 2026, allows only 500 sends a month to 250 contacts.
Is Brevo the same as Sendinblue?
Yes. Sendinblue renamed itself Brevo in 2023 when it expanded beyond email into SMS, WhatsApp, chat and a sales CRM. The product, accounts and data carried over, so older Sendinblue vs Mailchimp comparisons refer to the same tool.
Which has better automation, Brevo or Mailchimp?
Mailchimp’s Customer Journey Builder on Standard is more advanced, with up to 200 flows, predictive segments and deep e-commerce triggers. Brevo’s automation handles welcome series, follow-ups and transactional flows well and can mix email, SMS and WhatsApp, but full automation for unlimited contacts starts on its Standard plan.
Can I switch from Mailchimp to Brevo?
Yes. Export your subscribed Mailchimp contacts as a CSV, import them into Brevo with their tags as list attributes, authenticate your sending domain, then rebuild your forms and automations. Check which Brevo tier your contact count needs before you import.
Final Verdict
If your list is big and you email it a few times a month, Brevo will cost a fraction of Mailchimp; if you run an online store that lives on segmentation, Mailchimp is worth the premium. Put your real contact count and monthly sends into both pricing calculators before you decide. For more marketing tools with AI built in, see our list of the best AI tools for marketing.
