Brevo vs Mailchimp 2026: Why Brevo Wins on Price & Features
Detailed Brevo vs Mailchimp 2026 comparison. Pricing breakdown, features, automation, deliverability, and verdict on which email marketing tool wins.
Mailchimp built its empire on being the default beginner-friendly email marketing tool. For years, the freemium model and recognizable brand made it the obvious starting point for small businesses. But after Intuit's 2021 acquisition and several rounds of pricing hikes, Mailchimp has steadily lost ground to competitors offering better value — and Brevo has emerged as one of the clearest replacements.
This comparison goes deep on pricing, features, automation capabilities, deliverability, ease of use, and the specific scenarios where each platform makes sense. The short version: for most growing businesses in 2026, Brevo offers more features at a fraction of Mailchimp's cost. The longer version takes some nuance.
Pricing: Where Mailchimp Hurts Most
Mailchimp prices by contact count. Brevo prices by send volume. This distinction matters enormously as your list grows.
A business with 10,000 contacts sending 4 campaigns per month (40,000 emails total) pays:
| Plan | Mailchimp | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Entry tier | $75/month (Essentials, 10K contacts) | $9/month (Starter, 5K-20K emails) |
| Mid tier | $135/month (Standard, 10K contacts) | $18/month (Standard, 5K-20K emails) |
| Premium tier | $350/month (Premium, 10K contacts) | $499/month (Professional, 150K emails) |
For most businesses sending fewer than 100,000 emails per month, Brevo's Standard plan at $18/month delivers everything Mailchimp's Standard plan offers at $135/month. That's a 7.5x cost difference for comparable functionality.
The pricing gap widens as your contact list grows. A 50,000-contact business pays Mailchimp roughly $385/month but pays Brevo just $65/month for the same email volume.
Feature Comparison
Both platforms cover the email marketing fundamentals. The differences appear in what's included at each pricing tier.
Email creation: Both offer drag-and-drop editors with hundreds of templates. Mailchimp's editor is slightly more polished visually, while Brevo's is more flexible for custom HTML and dynamic content. Even matchup.
Automation: Mailchimp gates marketing automation behind their Standard plan ($20/month minimum). Brevo includes automation on the Free plan (up to 2,000 contacts in workflows) and unlimited automation on the Standard plan ($18/month). Brevo advantage.
A/B testing: Mailchimp restricts A/B testing to Standard plan and higher. Brevo includes it on Standard plan. Roughly equivalent at comparable price points, but Brevo's tier costs far less.
SMS marketing: Brevo includes native SMS marketing across all paid plans. Mailchimp added SMS via Twilio integration in 2024 but charges separately and requires additional setup. Brevo advantage.
WhatsApp marketing: Brevo supports WhatsApp on Professional plan and above. Mailchimp has no native WhatsApp support. Brevo advantage.
Landing pages: Both include landing page builders. Mailchimp allows unlimited landing pages on paid plans. Brevo includes 1 landing page on Standard, additional pages as add-on. Mailchimp slight advantage.
CRM features: Brevo includes a basic CRM (deal tracking, sales pipeline) free on every plan. Mailchimp has limited CRM features and historically pushed users toward separate tools. Brevo advantage.
Transactional email: Brevo includes transactional email (order confirmations, password resets) on every plan via API or SMTP. Mailchimp offers Mandrill for transactional but it's a separate paid product. Brevo advantage.
Reporting and analytics: Both offer detailed campaign reports. Mailchimp's reporting interface is slightly more polished; Brevo's covers the same metrics with more flexibility for custom segments. Roughly equivalent.
Integrations: Mailchimp has more native integrations (300+ apps) due to its longer market presence. Brevo has 150+ native integrations plus Zapier and a strong REST API. Mailchimp slight advantage for niche tools, but the gap closes when you factor in Zapier.
Deliverability
Both platforms maintain strong deliverability infrastructure. Independent testing from EmailToolTester places both in the top tier of email service providers, with inbox placement rates typically above 95% for properly authenticated senders.
Brevo's edge: SMS-first heritage means its multi-channel infrastructure is unified, and the platform has invested heavily in deliverability tooling (Postmaster Tools integration, bounce management, complaint tracking). Mailchimp's longer track record means it has solid relationships with mailbox providers, but its filtering rules can be aggressive — some users report unexplained throttling on the lower tiers.
Verdict: roughly equivalent, with both delivering strong results for properly configured accounts.
Ease of Use
Mailchimp's interface is famously polished — the platform invested heavily in UX over the past decade. New users typically get to a sent campaign within 15 minutes.
Brevo's interface is functional and clear but slightly less visually refined. The learning curve is similar — most users send their first campaign within 20 to 30 minutes. Brevo's interface has improved significantly since the Sendinblue rebrand in 2023.
Verdict: Mailchimp slight edge on first-impression UX. Functional equivalence for daily use.
Customer Support
Mailchimp:
- Free plan: limited self-service support
- Essentials and Standard: 24/7 email and chat
- Premium: phone support
Brevo:
- Free plan: email support (response within 48 hours)
- Starter and Standard: email and chat support
- Professional: phone support included
- Enterprise: dedicated account manager
Both platforms maintain extensive documentation and active community forums. Brevo's support quality has been noted as a strength in independent reviews, with response times typically faster than Mailchimp's lower tiers.
Verdict: roughly equivalent. Brevo includes phone support at a much lower tier than Mailchimp.
When to Choose Mailchimp
Mailchimp makes sense if:
- You're a hobbyist with under 500 contacts and budget isn't a factor
- You need very specific niche integrations only Mailchimp offers
- Your team is already trained on Mailchimp and switching costs outweigh savings
- You value Mailchimp's brand recognition (e.g., for client work)
When to Choose Brevo
Brevo makes sense if:
- You send under 100,000 emails per month
- You value SMS, WhatsApp, or multi-channel marketing
- You want transactional email + marketing in one tool
- You're cost-conscious as your list grows
- You want full marketing automation on the free or low-cost plans
- You need a basic CRM integrated with email
For roughly 80% of small-to-mid-size businesses, Brevo's value proposition wins decisively.
The Migration Question
If you're already on Mailchimp and considering switching, the migration is straightforward:
- Export your Mailchimp contact lists (Mailchimp's standard CSV export)
- Verify deliverability data (export bounce and complaint history)
- Import to Brevo (Brevo's contact importer handles Mailchimp exports natively)
- Set up domain authentication in Brevo (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Recreate critical automations in Brevo's workflow builder
- Test campaigns to a small segment before fully cutting over
- Cancel Mailchimp once Brevo is producing equivalent results
Most migrations complete in 2 to 4 weeks. The cost savings typically pay back the migration effort within a single billing cycle.
Honest Caveat
Brevo isn't strictly better at everything. Mailchimp has:
- More polished landing page templates
- Stronger native integrations with major SaaS platforms
- More refined analytics dashboards
- Better-known brand for client-facing work
For agencies presenting tool recommendations to enterprise clients who recognize the Mailchimp logo, that brand recognition has real value. For everyone else, the pricing math wins.
Final Verdict
For the majority of businesses sending under 100,000 emails per month, Brevo offers 80% to 90% of Mailchimp's value at 10% to 20% of the cost. The remaining gap (interface polish, brand recognition, specific integrations) rarely justifies paying 5x to 10x more.
If you're starting fresh, choose Brevo. If you're on Mailchimp's free plan and starting to feel the pricing pressure, switch to Brevo's Free or Starter plan — you'll get more features for less money. If you're on Mailchimp's higher tiers, the savings from switching often run into the thousands per year.
Pricing Comparison Table
| Feature | Mailchimp Standard ($135/mo) | Brevo Standard ($18/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts included | 10,000 | Unlimited (sends matter, not contacts) |
| Emails per month | ~120,000 | 5,000 (more available at higher tiers) |
| Marketing automation | ✓ Full | ✓ Full |
| A/B testing | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| SMS marketing | Via Twilio (extra cost) | ✓ Included |
| ✗ Not available | ✓ Professional plan | |
| Transactional email | Via Mandrill (extra cost) | ✓ Included |
| Landing pages | ✓ Unlimited | 1 included, more as add-on |
| CRM | Limited | ✓ Basic CRM included |
| Phone support | Premium plan only ($350+) | Professional plan ($499) |
Brevo Pricing 2026
| Plan | Monthly Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Testing & first campaigns (300 emails/day) |
| Starter | $9 | Solopreneurs (5K emails/month, no daily limit) |
| Standard | $18 | Growing teams (full automation + A/B testing) |
| Professional | $499 | Scale teams (150K emails, WhatsApp, AI) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Large orgs (SSO, dedicated IP, unlimited users) |