Brevo vs Mailchimp

Mail a 25,000-person list twice a month and Mailchimp Standard charges $310 to store it. Brevo Standard charges $97 for the 50,000 emails you send. Count your sends, not your contacts: if your list is big and you mail it a few times a month, Brevo is my pick. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.)

• Brevo bills by monthly email volume, from $9 a month on Starter for 5,000 emails. Mailchimp bills by contacts, from $13 a month on Essentials at 500 (as of October 2026).
• Brevo’s free plan sends 300 emails a day and stores up to 100,000 contacts. Mailchimp’s stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
• Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts toward your bill. Brevo’s tiers cap stored contacts, up to 500,000 from 20,000 emails a month.
• Transactional email is included on every Brevo plan. On Mailchimp it’s an add-on for Standard and up, from $20 per 25,000 emails.
• Mailchimp is the more polished editor, and costs less for a small list you mail weekly or more.

Prices as of October 2026. Brevo's pricing model is different: it charges by emails sent, with a contact cap on each tier (500 contacts at 5,000 emails a month, up to 500,000 from 20,000 emails). 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, that is $213 a month less. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.)

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. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.)

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 wins ease of use: its interface is friendlier and more polished, and its drag-and-drop editor and templates are built for beginners.

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.

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. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.)

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.

BestSends doesn’t run inbox-placement tests, so I don’t rank these two on deliverability. The latest published independent round I can find, EmailToolTester’s January 2024 seed test, put Mailchimp at 89.5% overall and Brevo at 88.3%, both at 100% for Gmail: too close, and too old, to pick a winner. Brevo’s domain setup uses a Brevo verification code, DKIM and DMARC, and a dedicated IP is an add-on on Professional. 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; Brevo’s covers email, SMS and WhatsApp in one place.

Pick Brevo if you have a large list you mail a few times a month, or you want marketing and transactional email, a free CRM and SMS in one account. Pick Mailchimp if your list is small and mailed often, you want the easiest editor, or you rely on its Shopify and WooCommerce integrations. (Disclosure: I’ve done a paid partnership with Brevo.) Price your own list in the Brevo price table and Mailchimp pricing.

Pay for the emails you send, not for the people who stopped reading.