Mailchimp vs Brevo

Mailchimp and Brevo are both email marketing platforms with AI assistance and a built-in CRM, but they price differently: Mailchimp charges by contacts stored, while Brevo charges by emails sent and adds SMS alongside email.

Quick answer: Mailchimp is the better choice for small businesses, e-commerce stores, and creators who want an approachable email platform with AI help and predictable contact-based pricing for a smaller list.; Brevo is the better choice for small and growing businesses with large contact lists or multi-channel needs who want send-based pricing plus email and SMS in one platform..

Last updated June 21, 2026

The verdict

Pick Mailchimp if you want an approachable all-in-one for a smaller list. It is easy for beginners and uses AI to draft subject lines and copy, recommend send times, and personalize campaigns, paired with automation journeys, segmentation, and a lightweight CRM. The trade-offs: costs rise as your list grows because pricing scales by contacts, and more advanced automation sits behind higher tiers.

Pick Brevo if you have a large list or want SMS alongside email. Brevo prices by emails sent rather than contacts stored, which can be cheaper for businesses with big lists but moderate send volume, and it runs email and SMS from one platform with automation workflows, transactional email, and a built-in CRM. The catch: a daily send cap on the free plan, an interface that can feel dense at first, and AI features that are less mature than dedicated specialists. Both cover email, automation, and CRM for small teams, so the deciding factors are usually the pricing model and whether you need SMS.

Mailchimp

Freemium

Mailchimp is an email marketing and automation platform with AI features that help write campaigns, generate content, optimize send times and personalize messages. It's a popular all-in-one choice for small businesses.

Best for: Small businesses, e-commerce stores, and creators who want an approachable email platform with AI help and predictable contact-based pricing for a smaller list.

Try Mailchimp →

Brevo

Freemium

Brevo is a marketing platform for email, SMS and automation with AI features for writing campaigns and optimizing sends. Its generous free tier and pay-as-you-go sending make it popular with small businesses.

Best for: Small and growing businesses with large contact lists or multi-channel needs who want send-based pricing plus email and SMS in one platform.

Try Brevo →

Side-by-side comparison

	Mailchimp	Brevo
Pricing	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	USD 13.00	USD 9.00
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Rating	4.1	4.3

Pricing compared

Both are freemium with a free trial. Mailchimp has a free tier for small lists and paid plans from $13/mo, scaling by contacts, sends, and advanced automation, so costs climb as your list grows. Brevo has a free tier with a daily send limit and paid plans from $9/mo, priced by email volume rather than contacts stored, plus SMS and automation add-ons. Brevo's lower entry price and send-based model can be more cost-effective for large lists with moderate send volume, while Mailchimp's contact-based pricing is simpler to predict for smaller lists.

Features compared

Mailchimp focuses on AI content generation for subject lines, copy, and creative, send-time optimization, automation journeys, and segmentation with a lightweight built-in CRM, aimed at smaller teams. Brevo offers an AI email assistant that drafts and improves campaign copy and subject lines, multi-channel email and SMS, automation workflows including transactional flows, and a built-in CRM with a sales pipeline. The clearest difference is channel breadth: Brevo adds SMS, while Mailchimp keeps its AI and optimization focused on email.