Brevo vs Mailchimp

Updated October 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Brevo

Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing with a CRM, priced by emails sent rather than contacts.

Free plan + paid

Visit Brevo Brevo profile

Mailchimp

The best-known email marketing platform for small businesses, now owned by Intuit.

Free plan + paid

Visit Mailchimp Mailchimp profile

The short answer

Pick Brevo if you have a large contact list that you email occasionally, since it charges by emails sent rather than contacts stored, and want email, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email together. Pick Mailchimp if you value a polished editor, templates and a huge integration list for a smaller list. The biggest difference is the pricing model: sends against contacts.

Brevo or Mailchimp: our take

Both cover the core of small-business email marketing: campaigns, automation, segmentation, landing pages and sign-up forms. Mailchimp adds a drag-and-drop editor with templates, automated customer journeys, SMS, basic websites, reporting and a separate transactional email product, plus integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Stripe, Zapier and hundreds more. Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a French platform that combines email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, marketing automation, a sales CRM, transactional email through SMTP and API, and a loyalty programme module.

The pricing models are the main reason people compare them. Mailchimp charges by contacts, so costs rise quickly as your list grows, and unsubscribed or inactive contacts can count toward the bill unless archived. Its free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, and Standard has a 14-day trial. Brevo charges by emails sent per month, so a big list mailed infrequently costs much less. Its free plan is free forever with no card needed and allows up to 300 emails per day with Brevo branding, and Starter begins at 5,000 emails per month. SMS credits are bought separately.

There are trade-offs in quality and onboarding. Mailchimp's editor and templates are more polished, and it is a familiar choice for newcomers, though its automation is less flexible than specialist tools. Brevo's editor and templates feel less refined, its automation is solid but not the deepest, and new accounts go through an approval step before sending. Both have web apps and mobile apps.

For businesses with large lists, a need for transactional messages, or SMS and WhatsApp alongside email, Brevo usually costs less and covers more. For smaller lists where design and integrations matter most, Mailchimp remains an easy, safe pick.

Choose Brevo if…

Businesses with large contact lists that want email, SMS and a CRM in one place
Priced by emails sent, not contacts stored
Email, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email together

Choose Mailchimp if…

Small businesses that want a familiar, all-round tool with lots of integrations
Easy editor, templates and a huge integration list
Covers email, SMS, landing pages and simple automations

What is Brevo?

Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a French marketing platform that combines email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, marketing automation, a sales CRM, transactional email through SMTP and API, and a loyalty programme module. Its biggest difference from Mailchimp is pricing: plans are based on how many emails you send each month, not how many contacts you store, so businesses with large but infrequently mailed lists pay much less. A free plan lets you store contacts and send a limited number of emails per day with Brevo branding. Paid Starter, Standard and Professional tiers add higher volumes, A/B testing, automation, removal of branding and more seats; SMS credits are bought separately. The trade-offs: the editor and templates feel less polished than some rivals, automation is solid but not as deep as ActiveCampaign, and new accounts go through an approval step before they can send. It runs in the browser with mobile apps for monitoring.

What is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is the email marketing service most small businesses try first. It covers newsletters and campaigns with a drag-and-drop editor and templates, audience management with tags and segments, automated customer journeys, landing pages, sign-up forms, SMS, basic websites and reporting, plus a separate transactional email product. Its integration list is long, with Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Stripe and Zapier among hundreds of others. Intuit bought the company in 2021, and it now leans on AI-assisted content and QuickBooks ties. Pricing is based on contacts, with a small free plan and Essentials, Standard and Premium tiers; costs rise quickly as your list grows, and unsubscribed or inactive contacts can still count toward your bill unless you archive them. Automation is capable but less flexible than ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo at the higher end. It is a safe, familiar choice for a small list, and many people move away once their contact count makes the price hard to justify.

Side by side

Attribute	Brevo	Mailchimp
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Best for	Businesses with large contact lists that want email, SMS and a CRM in one place	Small businesses that want a familiar, all-round tool with lots of integrations
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Brevo	Mailchimp
Free plan	Up to 300 emails per day	250 contacts, 500 sends/month