Brevo vs Mailchimp: Which is Better in 2026?
Mailchimp and Brevo are both mainstream email marketing platforms, but they are built around fundamentally different pricing philosophies and product scopes. Mailchimp charges by contact count (including unsubscribed contacts until you manually delete them), while Brevo charges by monthly email volume and stores unlimited contacts on every plan, including the free tier. The practical result: Brevo is dramatically cheaper for large lists with moderate send frequency, and Mailchimp gets expensive fast as lists grow. If you need a polished template library, deep e-commerce automations, and a brand name your clients recognize, Mailchimp is the incumbent. If you need a full CRM, SMS, WhatsApp, and transactional email under one roof at a fraction of the cost, Brevo is the serious contender.
Short on time? Here's the quick answer
We've tested both tools. Here's who should pick what:
Brevo
All-in-one marketing platform for email, SMS, and customer engagement
Best for you if:
- • Formerly Sendinblue, now Brevo
- • 300 free emails/day forever
Mailchimp
Grow your business with email, SMS, and AI marketing
Best for you if:
- • Leading email marketing platform with AI-powered automation, used by millions of businesses worldwide
- • Free plan supports up to 250 contacts and 500 emails/month; paid plans start at $13/month for 500 contacts
| At a Glance |  Brevo |  Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
Starts at | FreeFree tier available | FreeFree tier available |
Best For | Email Marketing | Email Marketing |
Rating | 4.6/5 | 4.4/5 |
Free plan | Yes | Yes |
Choose Brevo or Mailchimp?
Choose Brevo if
All-in-one marketing platform for email, SMS, and customer engagement
- Very generous free tier (300 emails/day)
- Affordable paid plans
- All-in-one platform
Choose Mailchimp if
Grow your business with email, SMS, and AI marketing
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor accessible to non-technical users
- Comprehensive free plan to get started with basic email marketing
- Powerful automation workflows rivaling dedicated automation platforms
| Feature | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Freemium |
| User Rating | ★4.6/5 5,959 reviews | ★4.4/5 30,300 reviews |
| Categories | Email MarketingMarketing Automation | Email MarketingMarketing Automation |
In-Depth Analysis
Brevo
Strengths
- +Per-send pricing model with unlimited contacts on all plans (including free) means costs scale with campaign frequency, not list size, which is a structural advantage for large, infrequently-mailed lists
- +Free plan provides 300 emails per day (roughly 9,000 per month) with no contact limit, making it genuinely usable for early-stage senders
- +Built-in CRM with deal pipelines, contact scoring, and task management on every plan including free, with no upsell required
- +Native SMS in 200+ countries and full WhatsApp Business API integration, enabling true multichannel sequences from a single platform
- +Transactional email (SMTP and API) is included natively without a separate add-on, with dedicated IP options on Business and Enterprise tiers
Weaknesses
- -Template library is smaller and less polished than Mailchimp's; the drag-and-drop editor is functional but lacks the design sophistication of Mailchimp's Creative Assistant
- -Brevo branding appears on all outgoing emails on the free plan; removing it costs $9 per month as a Starter add-on
- -Advanced marketing automation (A/B testing on automations, send-time optimization) is locked to the Business plan ($65+/month for 20,000 sends), which is a meaningful jump from Starter
- -Brand recognition is lower than Mailchimp among clients and stakeholders who may ask agencies to use a tool they have heard of
Best For
Brevo is the right pick for growing businesses, agencies managing large contact databases with varied send cadences, and any team that needs SMS, WhatsApp, or transactional email alongside marketing campaigns without paying for multiple separate tools.
Brevo has quietly matured into a serious all-in-one alternative. For a list of 50,000 contacts sending twice a month (100,000 sends), Brevo Business runs around $65 per month versus Mailchimp Standard at roughly $270+ per month for the same contact count. That cost gap, combined with the built-in CRM and multichannel capabilities, makes Brevo the stronger default for cost-conscious teams. The trade-off is accepting a smaller template library and less-recognized branding.
Mailchimp
Strengths
- +Industry-leading template library with hundreds of professionally designed options and an AI-powered Creative Assistant for generating on-brand layouts quickly
- +Customer Journey builder (Standard and above) supports sophisticated multi-step behavioral automations with up to 200 workflow steps
- +Intuit Assist AI is bundled into Standard and Premium at no extra cost, offering send-time optimization and predictive subject-line scoring
- +Deep e-commerce integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce including revenue attribution and abandoned cart sequences
- +Extensive third-party integration catalog (300+ native integrations) and a mature API that most martech stacks already support out of the box
Weaknesses
- -Free plan was cut in January 2026 to 250 contacts and 500 sends per month, making it nearly useless for any real list
- -Per-contact billing counts unsubscribed contacts toward your tier until you manually purge them, causing unexpected cost creep
- -SMS is US-only, WhatsApp is absent entirely, and transactional email requires a separate Mandrill add-on at extra cost
- -Automation (Customer Journeys) is locked behind Standard ($20+/month); the Essentials plan caps workflows at 4 steps, which is limiting for e-commerce sequences
Best For
Mailchimp is the right pick for e-commerce brands and agencies that prioritize template polish, advanced behavioral automations, and deep Shopify integration, and whose list size stays manageable enough that per-contact billing does not balloon costs.
Mailchimp is the best-known name in email marketing for good reason: its template quality, Creative Assistant, and e-commerce analytics are genuinely best-in-class for mid-market teams. The catch is that every pricing advantage disappears as your list grows past a few thousand contacts, and the January 2026 free plan cut signals that Mailchimp is deliberately pushing users toward paid tiers rather than nurturing early-stage senders.
Head-to-Head Comparison
Pricing
Brevo winsBrevo's per-send model with unlimited contacts is structurally cheaper for any list above a few thousand contacts. Mailchimp's January 2026 free tier cut to 250 contacts further widens the gap at entry level. A 10,000-contact list on Mailchimp Standard costs around $100 per month; the equivalent Brevo Starter (scaled to match send volume) is under $35 per month.
Automation
Mailchimp winsMailchimp's Customer Journey builder supports up to 200 steps with sophisticated behavioral branching on the Standard plan. Brevo's visual workflow builder is capable but A/B testing within automations and send-time optimization require the Business tier. For complex e-commerce sequences, Mailchimp's depth and Shopify revenue attribution remain the stronger combination.
Multichannel
Brevo winsBrevo supports email, SMS (200+ countries), WhatsApp Business API, push notifications, and transactional email natively in a single platform. Mailchimp offers US-only SMS as an add-on and has no WhatsApp capability. For teams that want to run cross-channel journeys without stitching together separate vendors, Brevo wins clearly.
Templates and Design
Mailchimp winsMailchimp's template gallery is larger, more polished, and backed by an AI Creative Assistant that generates on-brand layouts from a brand kit. Brevo's drag-and-drop editor covers fundamentals well but has fewer starting templates and no comparable AI design tool. Teams with limited design resources benefit more from Mailchimp's starting point.
CRM and Contact Management
Brevo winsBrevo includes a full CRM with deal pipelines, contact scoring, and task management on every plan including free. Mailchimp provides basic list segmentation and audience management but no deal pipeline or scoring. For small teams that want email marketing and lightweight CRM in one tool, Brevo eliminates the need for a separate CRM subscription.
Deliverability
TieBoth platforms achieve strong inbox placement rates (90%+ in independent tests) when senders follow list hygiene and authentication best practices. Brevo includes an IP warmup assistant and dedicated IP on Business and Enterprise tiers; Mailchimp enforces strict anti-spam policies that help maintain shared IP reputation. Neither has a consistent, measurable edge in controlled deliverability benchmarks as of 2026.
Migration Considerations
Switching from Mailchimp to Brevo is relatively low-friction: Brevo's import wizard accepts CSV exports from Mailchimp including custom fields and segments, though automation workflows need to be rebuilt manually in Brevo's visual editor since there is no direct template converter.
Pricing: Brevo vs Mailchimp
| Plan | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | $0 Free | Free Free |
| Tier 2 | $9 Starter | $13 month Essentials |
| Tier 3 | $18 Business | $20 month Standard |
| Tier 4 | Custom Enterprise | $350 month Premium |
Pricing verified from each vendor's public pricing page. Compare in detail on Brevo pricing and Mailchimp pricing.
Who Should Use What?
On a budget?
Both are freemium. Compare plans on their websites.
Go with: Brevo
Want the highest-rated option?
Brevo: 4.6/5 (5,959 reviews). Mailchimp: 4.4/5 (30,300 reviews).
Go with: Brevo
Value user reviews?
Brevo: 5,959 reviews (4.6/5). Mailchimp: 30,300 reviews (4.4/5).
Go with: Mailchimp
3 Questions to Help You Decide
What's your budget?
Both are freemium. Pricing won't help you decide here.
What's your use case?
Both are email marketing tools. Compare their specific features to decide.
How important are ratings?
Brevo is rated higher: 4.6/5 vs 4.4/5.
Key Takeaways
Mailchimp
- Larger review base (30,300 reviews)
- Free tier available
- Our pick for this comparison
Brevo
- Higher user rating: 4.6/5 vs 4.4/5
The Bottom Line
For most small and mid-sized businesses, Brevo is the better default in 2026. Its per-send pricing model, unlimited contacts, built-in CRM, and native multichannel capabilities deliver more platform per dollar than Mailchimp at almost every list size above 1,000 contacts. Mailchimp is worth the premium for e-commerce teams that rely heavily on Shopify revenue attribution, complex multi-step Customer Journeys, or its AI-assisted template design, and for agencies whose clients specifically request it by name. If your primary concern is cost efficiency and you send to a large list at moderate frequency, the math strongly favors Brevo. If you are building sophisticated e-commerce lifecycle automations and template quality is a differentiator in your workflow, Mailchimp earns its higher price.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mailchimp's free plan limit in 2026?
Mailchimp's free plan was cut in January 2026 to 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month (with a 250-per-day cap), down from the previous 500 contacts and 1,000 sends. It is now largely a trial-level offering rather than a usable long-term plan for anyone actively growing a list.
Does Brevo really let you store unlimited contacts for free?
Yes. Brevo's free plan stores unlimited contacts with no cap, and all paid plans maintain the same unlimited-contact model. The constraint on the free tier is sending volume: 300 emails per day (roughly 9,000 per month), not list size.
How does Mailchimp's per-contact pricing compare to Brevo's per-send pricing at scale?
At 10,000 contacts, Mailchimp Standard runs roughly $100 per month; at 50,000 contacts it exceeds $270 per month. Brevo Business at 100,000 sends per month (enough for that 50,000-contact list with two campaigns) costs approximately $65 to $125 per month depending on volume tier, making it 50 to 75 percent cheaper for equivalent usage.
Which platform is better for transactional email?
Brevo is the clear winner. Transactional email via SMTP and API is built into every Brevo plan with no add-on required, and dedicated IPs are available on Business and Enterprise tiers. Mailchimp requires a separate Mandrill account (billed separately) for transactional email, which adds both cost and operational complexity.
Does Mailchimp support SMS marketing?
Mailchimp supports SMS only in the United States as an add-on on Standard and Premium plans; it has no WhatsApp integration. Brevo supports SMS in 200+ countries and includes the full WhatsApp Business API, making it the stronger option for any team with an international or multichannel audience.
Which tool has better email automation for e-commerce?
Mailchimp leads for e-commerce automation. Its Customer Journey builder on the Standard plan integrates directly with Shopify and WooCommerce for revenue attribution, abandoned cart sequences, and post-purchase flows with up to 200 workflow steps. Brevo's automations are capable but A/B testing within workflows and send-time optimization require the Business plan, and its e-commerce data connectors are less tightly integrated.