The core difference comes down to billing model: Brevo charges by emails sent, Mailchimp by contacts stored. That single difference changes which one is actually cheaper for your list.
Brevo wins for large lists you email infrequently, and for teams that want SMS and transactional email unified with marketing email. Mailchimp wins for smaller, actively-engaged lists you email often, and teams that value a larger integration ecosystem. Do the actual math on your sending pattern before picking based on brand familiarity.
Formerly Sendinblue — Brevo built its pricing model around what you actually send, not just how many contacts you're storing.
The category's original accessible default, with the deepest integration ecosystem and largest community of any platform in this comparison set.
12 factors that actually drive the decision.
| Factor | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Emails sent per month | Contacts stored |
| Best for | Large lists, infrequent sending | Smaller lists, frequent sending |
| SMS included | Yes, native | Available, less integrated |
| Transactional email | Native, included | Separate product (Mandrill) |
| CRM features | Included natively | Basic, less developed |
| Free tier | Daily send limit, unlimited contacts | Limited contacts and sends |
| Automation depth | Solid, multi-condition workflows | Solid, slightly more mature |
| Landing pages | Included | Included, more template options |
| Integration ecosystem | Smaller, growing | Larger, more mature |
| Deliverability tools | Solid, improving | Mature, well-documented |
| Support | Solid, smaller community | Large community and documentation base |
| Best fit | Large, infrequently-emailed lists | Smaller, frequently-emailed lists |
The real process:
Contacts and engagement data pulled from the source platform.
Segment logic rebuilt in the new platform's structure.
Email templates recreated — direct import rarely works cleanly between platforms.
Workflows recreated, testing each trigger before going live.
New sending domain warmed up gradually before full-volume sending.
Brevo handles this whole sequence — transactional and marketing — in one platform. On Mailchimp, the transactional steps typically run through a separate product (Mandrill), meaning two systems to manage instead of one.
If your sending volume grows significantly (frequent campaigns, high-volume transactional email), send-based pricing can rise quickly — the model that saves money at low frequency works against you at high frequency.
Contact-based pricing means a large but low-engagement list costs the same as an actively-engaged one — regular list pruning is essential to keep costs under control.
Real scenarios, not hypotheticals.
Large 100K+ list emailed once or twice a month
→ BrevoWeekly newsletter to an engaged 5,000-person list
→ MailchimpBusiness needing SMS + transactional + marketing unified
→ BrevoTeam wanting the widest possible integration options
→ MailchimpYou send very frequently to a moderate list — the send-based model starts working against you rather than for you at high sending frequency.
You have a large list you rarely email, or need native SMS and transactional email unified with marketing — you'll be paying contact-based pricing for volume you're not sending.
Do the math on your actual sending pattern before picking based on brand familiarity. If you have a large list you email once or twice a month, Brevo's send-based pricing will likely cost meaningfully less. If you have a smaller, highly-engaged list you email weekly or more, Mailchimp's contact-based pricing may actually work out cheaper.
Also worth factoring in: if you need native SMS and transactional email alongside marketing campaigns, Brevo consolidates that into one platform where Mailchimp requires a separate product.
We'll run the actual numbers against your sending pattern and give you a straight answer — including whether our own deliverability-focused platform, Migomail, might be a better fit than either.
Get a Free RecommendationIt depends entirely on your list size and sending frequency. For large lists emailed infrequently, Brevo's send-based pricing is typically cheaper. For smaller, frequently-emailed lists, the two can be comparable or Mailchimp may win.
Yes, SMS is a native part of Brevo's platform alongside email, unlike Mailchimp where SMS and transactional email require separate products or integrations.
Yes, list migration is a standard implementation task. Subscriber engagement history and sender reputation typically don't transfer directly, which is worth planning around during the switch.
Yes, Brevo includes basic CRM functionality natively — contact and deal tracking alongside email marketing — which Mailchimp offers in a more limited form.
Yes, Mailchimp has been in the market longer and has a larger, more mature third-party app and agency ecosystem. Brevo's ecosystem is smaller but growing.
Costs will rise proportionally since Brevo bills by emails sent — worth modeling your expected growth in sending volume, not just contact count, when evaluating long-term cost.
Yes, through Mandrill, a separate product from the core Mailchimp marketing platform — meaning transactional and marketing email are managed in two different tools rather than one unified system.
Both offer solid deliverability tooling; Mailchimp's is more mature given its longer market presence, while Brevo has been actively improving its deliverability infrastructure.
Yes — Brevo's free tier offers a daily send allowance with unlimited contacts, which is more generous for list size than Mailchimp's free tier, which limits both contacts and sends.
Yes, this is one of Brevo's core advantages — order confirmations, shipping updates, and marketing campaigns all run through the same platform rather than requiring separate tools.
On Mailchimp (contact-based), removing inactive subscribers directly lowers your bill. On Brevo (send-based), pruning matters less for cost but still improves deliverability and engagement metrics.
Neither is purpose-built for ecommerce the way Klaviyo is — for ecommerce-specific automation depth, Klaviyo is usually the stronger choice; between Brevo and Mailchimp specifically, the pricing-model math still applies.
Typically 1-2 weeks depending on list size, number of templates and automations to rebuild, and sending domain warm-up requirements.
Migomail is Rackwave's own deliverability-focused platform and is a genuine alternative to both — worth discussing alongside Brevo and Mailchimp, particularly if deliverability has been a recurring problem.
Run your actual sending numbers against both pricing models with a partner who isn't trying to sell you a specific platform. Rackwave Technologies works with both — contact us for an honest comparison against your real usage.
“Rackwave Technologies has significantly improved our marketing performance while providing reliable cloud services. We’ve been using their solutions for a while now, and the experience has been seamless, scalable, and results-driven.”
David Larry
Founder & CEO