Sendinblue vs. MailerLite: Which is better?

Sendinblue vs. MailerLite: Pricing

Both Sendinblue and MailerLite offer free plans and attractive starting prices for their paid packages.

However, with MailerLite you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan once you pass 1,000 subscribers. From there the price will quickly increase as your contact list grows.

Sendinblue instead charges based on the number of emails you plan to send each month and all plans — including Free — let you store unlimited contacts. The Free plan lets you send up to 300 emails a day, while the Starter plan includes 20,000 monthly emails for just $25.

So, although MailerLite is an inexpensive option when you’re starting out, Sendinblue works out to be a cheaper MailerLite alternative as you grow.

Send a monthly campaign to:	Sendinblue	MailerLite
300 contacts	Free	Free
1,500 contacts	$25	$17
3,000 contacts	$25	$32
5,000 contacts	$25	$32
10,000 contacts	$25	$54
25,000 contacts	$25	$139
35,000 contacts	$25	$179
50,000 contacts	$35	$239
100,000 contacts	$69	$425
Based on MailerLite monthly pricing 05/09/22.

Sendinblue vs. MailerLite for email marketing

Sendinblue and MailerLite are both user-friendly email marketing platforms, ideal for beginners. They offer all the features you need to create and send your email campaigns.

However, some of these features are missing from MailerLite’s Free plan. For example, you don’t get access to email templates to help you design email newsletters. And if you’re a more experienced designer wanting to code your own, you can’t use the HTML editor.

Another key difference is that, unlike MailerLite, Sendinblue lets you send transactional emails for password resets and order updates over their SMTP server. For this MailerLite recommends using another service, MailerSend. This means switching between platforms and potentially paying for an additional monthly plan, depending on your sending volume.

Meanwhile Sendinblue is a complete email marketing service on its own and lets you manage transactional emails as part of the Marketing Platform plan. You can also just sign up for the Transactional Email plan. That way, you only pay for the features you need, when you need them. Ideal for small businesses while still providing great deliverability!

Email features	Sendinblue	MailerLite
Email marketing campaigns
Transactional emails (SMTP server)
Drag and drop email builder
Email templates		Not included on Free plan
HTML editor		Not included on Free plan
Email client preview
Advanced segmentation
Real-time reporting
RSS campaigns
A/B testing	Business plan
Send time optimization	Business plan
Custom signup forms

 

Get more marketing automation functionality with Sendinblue

Both MailerLite and Sendinblue let you use automation to send subscribers the right message at the right time, with triggers like signups, email link clicks, and dates. You can also add conditions within your workflow to personalize the journey even more.

Aside from sending emails, you can use automation to manage your database by adding or removing contacts from lists or updating their information. However, Sendinblue offers SMS marketing in addition.

If you’re just starting out, Sendinblue has handy workflow templates for common automation scenarios that you can customize to your needs. These include a template for sending abandoned cart emails via seamless integrations with all major ecommerce platforms. This is missing from MailerLite’s platform where you have to create your workflows from scratch. Plus, abandoned cart emails are only possible if you’re using Shopify or WooCommerce.

Sendinblue is a MailerLite alternative that offers more advanced options for those already experienced in automation. For example, unlike with MailerLite, you can track users’ activity on your website and use this to trigger workflow actions.

Automation Features	Sendinblue	MailerLite
Autoresponder (e.g. welcome emails)
Pre-made workflow templates
Custom automation workflows
Database automation
Abandoned cart emails		Shopify & WooCommerce only
Email link click triggers
Website tracking to trigger workflows
SMS automation

Sendinblue offers more than just email

Sendinblue is not just a MailerLite alternative, it’s an all-in-one marketing platform with built-in multichannel marketing tools to reach customers wherever they are and grow your business. So, you’ll get more for your money than with MailerLite.

For example, you can drive online traffic with Facebook ads and a landing page builder, connect with your visitors using live chat, and send time-sensitive messages via SMS, WhatsApp, and customizable push notifications.

By centralizing your marketing efforts in one place, you’ll save time switching between tools and reduce the cost of your marketing tech stack.

Available features	Sendinblue	MailerLite
Landing page builder
Sales CRM		Third-party add-on
Facebook ads		Third-party add-on
Live chat
SMS marketing