Brevo vs Mailchimp: Cheaper Multi-Channel or Easier Email?
Choose Brevo if you want email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional messaging, and light CRM in one lower-cost platform. Choose Mailchimp if you mainly need an easy email marketing tool with polished templates, a familiar editor, and a large integration ecosystem. Brevo is usually the better value once multi-channel messaging matters; Mailchimp is usually faster for simple newsletters and campaigns.
TL;DR
It depends on your needs.
Brevo wins on multi-channel value, contact storage, SMS/WhatsApp flexibility, and lightweight CRM. Mailchimp wins on beginner-friendly email creation, templates, brand familiarity, and small-business integrations. The right choice depends on whether your next bottleneck is multi-channel customer communication or simply getting better emails out faster.
Brevo vs Mailchimp: At a Glance
| Feature | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $9/mo | $13/mo |
| Free plan | ||
| G2 rating | 4.5/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Primary purpose | Multi-channel marketing + light CRM | Email marketing |
| Free plan sending | 300 emails/day | 500 emails/month |
| Contact model | Large contact storage; email-volume tiers | Contact-based tiers |
| SMS marketing | Paid add-on | |
| WhatsApp marketing | Professional+ add-on | |
| Landing pages | Standard+ | |
| Best for | Budget multi-channel marketing | Simple small-business email |
Which is better for pricing?
Brevo
Brevo is usually cheaper for teams with larger lists that do not email every contact constantly. Its free plan stores a large contact database and limits daily sending, while paid plans start around monthly email volume. That makes Brevo attractive for businesses that care about keeping contacts, sending campaigns, and adding SMS without jumping into expensive contact tiers immediately.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp prices around contacts and plan tier. It starts affordably, but cost rises as the audience grows, and inactive or unsubscribed contacts can still create billing pressure. Mailchimp can still be a good value for small lists that use the editor, templates, and integrations heavily.
Winner: Brevo. Brevo is usually cheaper for teams with larger lists that do not email every contact constantly.
Which is better for email campaigns?
Brevo
Brevo's editor is practical and covers newsletters, templates, segmentation, and automated sends. It is strong enough for most SMB campaigns, but some polish sits behind higher tiers and add-ons.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp remains one of the easiest email campaign builders for non-technical teams. Templates, design helpers, audience tools, and campaign setup are more approachable if the job is to send newsletters, announcements, and simple promotional emails quickly.
Winner: Mailchimp. Mailchimp remains one of the easiest email campaign builders for non-technical teams.
Which has better automation?
Brevo
Brevo supports marketing automation on the free plan with limits and unlocks broader automation on Standard and above. It can also connect email, SMS, WhatsApp, forms, transactional messages, and sales workflows in ways Mailchimp does not cover natively.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp's customer journey builder is easier to understand for email-only automation such as welcome series, abandoned carts, and re-engagement. But lower plans limit journey depth, and automation is less useful when the workflow needs CRM actions or multiple channels.
Winner: Brevo. Brevo supports marketing automation on the free plan with limits and unlocks broader automation on Standard and above.
Which has better CRM and contact management?
Brevo
Brevo has lightweight CRM and sales features, including deals, pipelines, tasks, meetings, live chat, and reporting. It will not replace HubSpot for a sales-led team, but it is more useful than a basic email audience database.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp has audience management, tags, segments, and basic customer profiles. It is useful for email targeting, but it is not a real sales CRM with pipelines, tasks, forecasting, or sales automation.
Winner: Brevo. Brevo has lightweight CRM and sales features, including deals, pipelines, tasks, meetings, live chat, and reporting.
Which is better for SMS and multi-channel marketing?
Brevo
Brevo is stronger for multi-channel messaging. Email, SMS, transactional email, transactional SMS, WhatsApp add-ons, chat, and web push fit the same product family, which helps teams that want to coordinate customer communication without buying several separate tools.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp offers SMS as a paid add-on and works well for businesses that already use Mailchimp heavily. But SMS is not as central to the product as it is in Brevo's broader messaging platform.
Winner: Brevo. Brevo is stronger for multi-channel messaging.
Which is easier to use?
Brevo
Brevo is approachable, but its broader product surface means there are more pricing choices, add-ons, and channel settings to understand. It takes more planning if you want email, SMS, CRM, and transactional messaging together.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is easier for first-time email marketers. The product is opinionated, the editor is familiar, and the setup path is shorter. If the team only needs to send email campaigns and basic automations, Mailchimp gets to value faster.
Winner: Mailchimp. Mailchimp is easier for first-time email marketers.
Pricing Comparison
Brevo
Free plan available
Free
$0
Starter
$9/mo
Standard
$18/mo
Professional
$499/mo
Enterprise
Custom
Mailchimp
Free plan available
Free
$0
Essentials
$13/mo
Standard
$20/mo
Premium
$350/mo
Final Verdict
Choose Brevo if you want email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional messaging, and light CRM in one lower-cost platform. Choose Mailchimp if you mainly need an easy email marketing tool with polished templates, a familiar editor, and a large integration ecosystem. Brevo is usually the better value once multi-channel messaging matters; Mailchimp is usually faster for simple newsletters and campaigns.
Choose Brevo if you...
- ✓Want email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional messaging, and light CRM together
- ✓Have a large contact database but moderate monthly email volume
- ✓Need better multi-channel value than Mailchimp's add-on model
- ✓Want basic sales tools without paying for a full CRM suite
- ✓Care more about practical automation than template polish
Choose Mailchimp if you...
- ✓Mainly send newsletters, announcements, and basic campaign emails
- ✓Want the simplest editor and campaign workflow
- ✓Rely on Mailchimp's templates, brand familiarity, or integrations
- ✓Have a small list where contact-based pricing is still affordable
- ✓Do not need WhatsApp, transactional messaging, or a sales pipeline
Frequently Asked Questions
Often, yes, especially when you have many contacts but do not send to all of them constantly. Brevo's pricing is more email-volume oriented, while Mailchimp's paid tiers are more contact-based. For a very small newsletter list, Mailchimp can still be affordable.
Brevo is usually the better fit for SMS and multi-channel messaging because SMS, transactional SMS, WhatsApp add-ons, and email sit closer to the core platform. Mailchimp offers SMS as an add-on, but it is less central to the product.
Yes, if you need email campaigns, forms, segmentation, automation, and multi-channel messaging. The trade-off is that Mailchimp is still easier for simple email creation and has a more familiar small-business template workflow.
Mailchimp is easier for simple store campaigns, but neither is the strongest ecommerce specialist. Klaviyo and Omnisend are usually better for ecommerce brands that rely on purchase data, abandoned cart flows, and email plus SMS revenue attribution.
Consider switching if Mailchimp pricing is climbing, you need SMS or WhatsApp, or you want light CRM features in the same system. Stay with Mailchimp if your main priority is simple email design and your list size still fits the budget.
Read the Full Reviews
If one of these tools is still on your shortlist, read the full review before you decide. The review pages go deeper on pricing pressure, best-fit teams, and the trade-offs that do not fit neatly inside a side-by-side table.
Compare the Pricing in More Detail
If cost is the real sticking point, these pricing guides break down the entry tiers, upgrade pressure, and the budget traps that are harder to show in a simple comparison table.