Comparing Brevo vs. Mailchimp

As Mailchimp prices go up, Brevo stays as affordable as ever. Don’t pay more to grow your business.

Award-winning email software

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Brevo vs. Mailchimp Free Plans: Get more features for $0


Both Brevo and Mailchimp are award-winning platforms that offer email marketing services to help businesses reach their audiences, drive sales, and grow. Brevo holds G2 awards for enterprise and small business solutions and is a top-rated email marketing service on TrustRadius in 2023.

If you’re on a budget or just starting out, both Brevo and Mailchimp offer free plans. The majority of Brevo’s email marketing features are available for free. However, in comparison, Mailchimp offers very limited features on its free plan. Here’s what to expect for $0.

Free Plan FeaturesBrevo Mailchimp
Contact storageUnlimited contacts500
Email send limits9,000/month (300/day)1,000/month (500/day)
Advanced segmentationOnly on Premium Plan ($350/month)
Marketing automation workflowsUp to 2,000 contactsBasic 1-step automations
Transactional emails
Email templates40+100+
Drag-and-drop-editor for intuitive email design
HTML editor for custom-coded templates
Integrations150+250+
Live chat
Customizable pop-up and signup forms
Landing pages
Facebook ads
Customer supportOnly by email in the first 30 days
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Mailchimp: the more contacts you have, the more you pay

Mailchimp’s free plan is limited to 500 contacts across all lists. If one contact is on two lists, it’ll count as 2 contacts. The moment you hit 501 subscribers you’ll need to upgrade. Sending is also very limited on Mailchimp’s free plan: 500 emails/day but limited to 1,000 emails a month.

Mailchimp’s base plans are cheap for anyone starting out — $13 for Essentials, $20 for Standard. But keep in mind, the price is recalculated according to the number of contacts as your business grows. An Essentials plan with 1,500 contacts is already $26.50/month.
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Brevo: only pay for what you send and enjoy unlimited contacts

With Brevo there’s no limit to the number of contacts per pricing plan. Brevo’s entire pricing structure is based on the number of emails sent, not the number of contacts stored. For businesses this means more control over costs and the opportunity to nurture all leads — even those that need time to convert.

Brevo gives you the flexibility to grow your contact list as large as you want. Once you’re ready to scale up your sending volume you can upgrade to the baseline plan, starting at $25 for 20,000 emails/month.

Brevo vs. Mailchimp: Up to 9 times cheaper for bulk emails!

If you’re looking for a high-volume email marketing platform, switching to Brevo will generate serious savings, especially after Mailchimp announced yet another price increase of up to 14.5% for existing users in November 2023 (after a previous increase in December 2022).

When it comes to sending bulk email campaigns, Brevo is the cheaper option. Vs Mailchimp, Brevo can work out up to 9 times cheaper per month in certain cases. Take a look at some of these email sending scenarios.

Price for a bulk campaignBrevo Mailchimp
1 email / month to 500 contactsFREEFREE
1 email / month to 1,500 contactsFREE$26.5
1 email / month to 2,500 contactsFREE$45
1 email / month to 5,000 contactsFREE$75
1 email / month to 10,000 contacts$25$110
1 email / month to 20,000 contacts$25$230
1 email / month to 50,000 contacts$49$385
1 email / month to 75,000 contacts$69$630
1 email / month to 100,000 contacts$69$800

Reviews from Brevo users who left Mailchimp

Switched from Mailchimp

"So far the transition from using another service (Mailchimp) has been seamless. I noticed that the Brevo platform is more user friendly and not as clunky as MC. We were looking for a platform that was a bit smarter/easier to use."

Great customer service

"Their subscription model (emails sent, not number of people in your database) makes it a perfect option for any size company. No need to worry about growing your database and seeing your costs explode. The only thing that matters is how many emails you sent per day (free plan) or month (paid plan)."

Good for small lists

"I switched from Mailchimp to Brevo because of their great service and all that they provide, even to people like me with small email lists. Now I am growing my list and better yet, bringing great value to my readers.
Thanks, Brevo."

Enjoy Brevo's built-in transactional email functionality at no extra cost

To send transactional emails with Mailchimp (e.g. personalized one-to-one emails like shipping notifications and password resets), this service is charged as a paid add-on on top of your monthly plan. If your small business relies on transactional emails, Mailchimp’s transactional email API will be an added expense to take into account. On top of that, transactional emails are only available in blocks of 25,000 for $20 each and expire after one month. 

In contrast to Mailchimp, Brevo lets you send transactional emails as part of your monthly marketing campaigns plan via our SMTP server. You can also buy a plan exclusively for transactional emails, starting at $15/20,000 emails a month. Because transactional emails often contain sensitive information, you don’t want them to wind up in Junk Mail or the Gmail “Promotions” tab. That’s why it’s best to separate promotional and transactional emails into separate streams using different domains/IP addresses.

Brevo has the complete transactional functionality available natively within its email marketing solution. You can also send transactional SMS messages.

Another important consideration when it comes to ecommerce and Mailchimp is the transaction fees. Users on the free Websites & Commerce plan can create a Mailchimp store online, but every transaction is hit with a fee in the 0.5%-2% range and Stripe processing fees on top. On the paid plans, Mailchimp applies slightly lower transaction fees, but still leaves you with the credit card fees.

Brevo, on the other hand, doesn’t have any transaction fees.

Features availableBrevo Mailchimp
Email marketing
Transactional emailsPaid add-on
SMS marketingText Marketer plugin
Transactional SMS
Marketing automation
Free unlimited contacts
Email client testing
Real-time statistics
Email support
Phone supportFrom $65From $350
Video tutorials

Brevo vs Mailchimp on Marketing Automation

Both solutions let you send personalized emails based on subscriber behavior but Brevo offers other automation possibilities, such as:

  • Setting up multichannel workflows for both email and SMS 
  • Triggering automation workflows based on webpage visits using the Brevo Tracker
  • Sending emails at the best time for each contact with Send Time Optimization
  • Generating ready subject lines with Brevo’s AI Assistant, free on any plan!

With Brevo’s Free Plan you can use our intuitive workflow editor to set up automation workflows (as simple or as complex as you need) for up to 2,000 contacts. Unlimited marketing automation starts at $65/month.

Mailchimp’s automation features start at $13 for 500 contacts for 1-step workflows. This price increases the more contacts you have, e.g. 5,000 contacts will cost $75.

FeaturesBrevo Mailchimp
Pre-made workflows
Custom workflows
Database automation
Webpage visit triggers
Send automated SMS
Send contact information to a webhook
Send Time Optimization
Video tutorials

Deliverability: Get your emails to the inbox with Brevo

At Brevo, we take email deliverability seriously. So you can rely on our shared IPs to get your campaigns to the inbox. Here are some ways we ensure our sender reputation:

  • Rigorous account validation process to keep spammers out
  • Dedicated team of deliverability experts to actively monitor our servers and support clients with any issues
  • Automatic removal of hard bounce contacts from your campaigns

Plus, you can take control of your email deliverability with dedicated IPs for high volume senders and the option to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication.

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Integrations: Connect Brevo to your favorite tools

Brevo connects seamlessly with 150+ leading digital tools. With our vast plugin library, it’s easy to sync our email marketing software with your website, knowledge base, or ecommerce store. Our integrations include:

  • CMS: WordPress, Wix
  • EcommerceShopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento
  • CRMSalesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive
  • Payment services: Stripe, PayPal
  • Automation toolsZapier, make
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Compliance: Collect consent easily with Brevo’s signup forms

Brevo helps you get consent from contacts and comply with data privacy laws like HIPAA, CAN-SPAM, and the GDPR. Thanks to Brevo’s signup forms and list management, subscribers only get the email content they want to receive. Simply select the list and send your campaign. And vs Mailchimp, we don’t charge per contact stored so having a contact on multiple lists incurs no extra cost with Brevo. Here are some other reasons to choose Brevo for compliance:

  • Easy to implement double opt-in confirmation to confirm subscriber consent
  • Proof of consent record in contact profiles
  • An unsubscribe link in all emails

Brevo vs Mailchimp for growth: CRM functionalities

Mailchimp provides marketing some basic CRM functionalities specific to marketing, such as a single view of your campaigns. Brevo in contrast is an all-in-one CRM. While Mailchimp’s CRM features are geared towards email marketing, Brevo’s CRM powers growth with a Marketing PlatformSales PlatformTransactional Email, and Conversations product that all work together.

Brevo’s CRM has powerful sales tools that Mailchimp doesn’t offer. Understand the customer journey with Brevo’s customizable deal pipelines and detailed sales reports. Brevo’s in depth CRM database provides real-time updates to contact profiles, giving you a 360-degree understanding of your customers. Make targeted customer segments and smarter marketing and sales decisions for each contact with Brevo.

Why choose Brevo to grow your business


Any business can grow with Brevo’s Marketing Platform. The generous free plan and unique pricing structure can suit both established companies and entrepreneurs who are just starting out.

No matter your business, Brevo gives you the flexibility to grow. If the free plan no longer fits your needs, upgrade for higher sending limits and advanced features such as A/B testing (subject lines, email content, etc.). Or, use Brevo to explore other marketing channels like WhatsApp and SMS.

Over 500,000 customers worldwide

Businesses across industries have built better customer relationships with Brevo.
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  • 4.5
    1,700+ reviews1,700+ reviews
  • 4.5
    1,800+ reviews1,800+ reviews
  • 4.4
    70+ reviews70+ reviews

Ready to grow your business?

Get started with Brevo for free with up to 300 emails/day and unlimited contact storage. If you're looking for more than just an email marketing tool, we've got you covered. Your free account also includes access to our Sales Platform, Conversations, and Transactional Email.