Brevo vs Mailchimp

Brevo's pricing model is fundamentally different — it charges by emails sent, not contacts stored. Each volume tier also caps stored contacts: the free plan stores up to 100,000, Starter and Standard store 500 contacts at 5,000 emails and up to 500,000 from 20,000 emails a month. Brevo Starter is $9/month for 5,000 emails. Mailchimp Essentials is $13/month at 500 contacts and scales by contact count.

At 25,000 contacts, Mailchimp Standard is $310/month. Mailing that list twice a month (50,000 emails) costs $97/month on Brevo Standard, which stores up to 500,000 contacts at that tier. For businesses with large lists who don't email daily, Brevo saves hundreds per month.

Brevo prices by volume, with worked examples: Brevo review.

Brevo bundles more channels in one account: email, transactional email through SMTP and API, SMS on prepaid credits, a free CRM with live chat, and WhatsApp on Professional and Enterprise. Transactional email is included on every plan and draws from the same monthly allowance, while Mailchimp sells it as an add-on for Standard and Premium.

Mailchimp focuses on marketing: a polished editor and templates, predictive segments and send-time optimization on Standard, and Mailchimp-built Shopify and WooCommerce integrations. If you mostly send designed campaigns and newsletters, Mailchimp is the smoother tool.

Mailchimp has the friendlier, more polished interface. Its drag-and-drop email editor is one of the most intuitive in the industry, and the overall user experience is refined and beginner-friendly.

Brevo's interface is functional but less polished. The email editor works well but doesn't feel as smooth as Mailchimp's, and navigating between tools (email, SMS, CRM, chat) can feel fragmented. That said, Brevo has improved significantly and most users adapt quickly.

Brevo's workflows can mix email and SMS (and WhatsApp on Professional) and trigger on email activity, website visits with the Brevo tracker, cart events and contact changes. The limit to know: Free and Starter allow 2,000 contacts in active automations. Standard removes that cap.

Mailchimp's Marketing Automation Flows are limited to 4 steps on Essentials. Standard opens up to 200 branching flows, including abandoned cart with a connected store. If you need branching automation for a large list, compare Brevo Standard against Mailchimp Standard.

We haven't published a like-for-like inbox-placement test of these two, so we don't rank them on deliverability. Brevo's domain setup uses a Brevo verification code, DKIM and DMARC, and a dedicated IP is available on Professional ($251/year). Transactional email runs on the same platform through SMTP and API.

Mailchimp authenticates your domain with DKIM and DMARC records and requires DMARC for senders of more than 5,000 emails a day to Gmail or Yahoo. Both have adequate reporting, but Brevo's multi-channel analytics (email + SMS + WhatsApp) provide a broader view of customer engagement.

Choose Brevo if you have a large list you mail a few times a month, want transactional and marketing email in one account, or want a free CRM and SMS without a separate vendor.

Choose Mailchimp if your list is small and mailed often, you want the easiest editor and templates, or you rely on Mailchimp's Shopify and WooCommerce integrations.

Brevo is the better value when your list is large and your sending is occasional: a 25,000-contact list mailed twice a month costs $97/month on Brevo Standard vs $310 on Mailchimp Standard. Mailchimp is the easier tool and holds up better for small lists mailed weekly or more.

Price your own list size and sending frequency before you choose. See the Brevo price table and Mailchimp pricing.