Brevo vs Mailchimp in 2026: which fits your team?

Short answer. Brevo is usually easier to model when monthly send volume, transactional email, CRM, SMS, WhatsApp, and automation live in one operating plan. Mailchimp is often a better evaluation candidate for teams already invested in its audience, creative, integration, and Intuit ecosystem. Neither is universally cheaper or more capable. Price the exact contact count, monthly sends, required automation depth, users, add-ons, and transactional volume on the live calculators.

This comparison was reviewed on July 16, 2026. Plans and limits change, so use the linked official pages before buying.

At-a-glance comparison

Sources: Brevo plan documentation and Mailchimp marketing pricing.

The billing models differ

Brevo's current paid tiers combine a monthly send selection with a contact-storage allowance. Its Free plan supports 300 daily sends and up to 100,000 stored contacts, with marketing automation capped at 2,000 contacts. Starter begins at $9 per month and Standard at $18 per month in the US documentation. Standard includes unlimited-contact marketing automation, A/B testing, send-time optimization, and advanced reporting, subject to the selected overall contact and send tier.

Mailchimp prices marketing plans by contact tier and plan. Its official page currently lists monthly send multiples of the selected contact tier: Premium 15 times contacts, Standard 12 times, and Essentials 10 times. The basic Free plan is limited to 250 contacts and a maximum of 500 sends per month or 250 per day.

The practical lesson is not Brevo charges by sends and Mailchimp charges by contacts. In 2026, both have several variables. Build a scenario with:

• Total stored contacts.
• Marketable contacts.
• Monthly campaign sends.
• Expected automation sends.
• Transactional sends.
• SMS or WhatsApp volume.
• Required users and support.
• Seasonal peak volume.

Then price the scenario in both calculators. A small list sent very frequently can produce a different result from a large list sent once a month.

Free plans

Brevo Free

Brevo documents 300 daily sends, up to 100,000 stored contacts, one user, campaign and transactional email, basic reporting, and multichannel automation for up to 2,000 contacts.

The daily cap matters. A 2,000-person newsletter cannot be delivered as one same-day campaign on the free plan. The Brevo footer also remains unless the applicable paid plan or add-on removes it.

Mailchimp Free

Mailchimp's current page says the free plan is for fewer than 250 contacts and allows up to 500 sends per month, with a 250-per-day maximum. Marketing automation flows are more limited than paid tiers.

Both free plans are useful for product evaluation. Neither represents the cost or operating model of a growing list.

Campaign creation and templates

Both products provide visual email creation and reusable content features. Evaluate the actual production workflow:

1. Import the same brand assets.
2. Build one responsive campaign.
3. Create reusable header, product, and footer sections.
4. Test personalization fallback.
5. Send to Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook.
6. Duplicate and localize the message.
7. Record the time and manual fixes.

Do not choose based on template-gallery size. Choose based on whether the team can reliably create, approve, test, and update the messages it sends every week.

Automation depth

Brevo's new automation editor uses triggers, actions, rules, events, contact attributes, and channel steps. Plan limits affect automation reach and advanced capabilities. Brevo Standard currently documents unlimited-contact marketing automation.

Mailchimp's official pricing table currently lists up to 4 flow steps on Essentials and up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium. Exact features and step limits should be checked against the selected contact tier and plan.

Test the same lifecycle case in both tools:

• Subscriber joins list.
• Existing buyer branches away from first-purchase offer.
• Product or category data personalizes content.
• Purchase stops promotional reminders.
• A wait and conditional branch change the next message.
• Reporting shows message and journey results.

The tool that supports a flow on a feature list may still require awkward data preparation in your stack.

Ecommerce and behavioral data

Brevo supports ecommerce events through compatible plugins, the ecommerce dashboard, Tracker, API, and webhooks. Its current standard event documentation includes cart and order behavior, with exact names depending on setup.

Mailchimp offers ecommerce integrations and customer-journey automation. Evaluate the storefront you actually use, including Shopify markets, product variants, consent sync, refunds, and custom events.

For each platform, verify:

• Contact and customer identity.
• Product catalog sync.
• Cart and order event latency.
• Variant and currency fields.
• Consent and unsubscribe sync.
• Refund and cancellation data.
• Ability to inspect event logs.
• Flow exit after purchase.

Our Brevo Shopify integration guide provides the full QA matrix for Brevo.

Transactional email

Brevo includes marketing and transactional email capabilities in the same broader platform and states that email credits can cover both. This can simplify ownership for teams that want one sender and contact view, but transactional and promotional streams still need separate templates, consent logic, monitoring, and potentially routing.

Mailchimp Transactional, formerly Mandrill, follows a separate product and billing path connected to a paid Mailchimp account. Confirm exact requirements, blocks, and support before including it in total cost.

Do not migrate order confirmations solely to consolidate invoices. Transactional reliability and fallback deserve their own acceptance test.

CRM and multichannel use

Brevo positions the product as a customer platform spanning marketing, sales tools, meetings, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and push, with availability varying by plan and market. This can fit a small team seeking fewer vendors.

Mailchimp combines email marketing, audience tools, automation, content, analytics, integrations, and SMS availability in selected markets. It may fit teams whose process and connected applications are already organized around Mailchimp.

One platform containing more modules is not automatically an advantage. Score each required module on data quality, operator workflow, permissions, reporting, and total cost.

Deliverability

Neither brand can guarantee inbox placement. Sender reputation, consent, authentication, complaint rate, list quality, volume, and recipient behavior matter more than a platform logo.

In both tools:

• Authenticate the domain.
• Use a reply-capable From address.
• Import unsubscribes and suppressions correctly.
• Increase new-domain or new-IP volume gradually.
• Monitor bounces and complaints by provider.
• Use easy unsubscribe.
• Segment from customer-generated engagement, not opens alone.

See the Brevo deliverability checklist and the general email deliverability guide.

Who should shortlist Brevo?

Brevo deserves a serious trial when the team wants:

• Campaign and transactional email in one broader account.
• Send-volume-led planning with explicit contact-storage tiers.
• SMS, WhatsApp, push, chat, or sales tools in the same vendor evaluation.
• A low entry price with a clear upgrade to Standard automation.
• Direct event, API, or webhook implementation options.

It may be less suitable when a critical integration, reporting workflow, or creative process works materially better in Mailchimp. Test that requirement first.

Who should shortlist Mailchimp?

Mailchimp deserves a serious trial when the team wants:

• Its existing integration and audience ecosystem.
• A familiar campaign and creative workflow already used by the team.
• Contact-tier plans with defined send multiples.
• Advanced plan options for multivariate testing, predictive segmentation, and larger teams.
• A migration that preserves established Mailchimp processes and connected tools.

It may be less suitable when contact-based scaling, overages, transactional add-ons, or the required automation tier makes the modeled cost unattractive.

A fair proof-of-concept

Run both platforms for a controlled test period without sending the same promotional message twice.

Score:

Adjust weights before the test. Do not change them after a favorite emerges.

Migration considerations

Whichever direction you move:

1. Export active contacts, consent evidence, unsubscribes, bounces, and complaints separately.
2. Map tags, groups, attributes, segments, and custom events.
3. Rebuild automations instead of copying screenshots.
4. Recreate templates and dynamic variables.
5. Validate authentication and tracking.
6. Run seed, event, and purchase tests.
7. Cut over by message owner to avoid duplicates.
8. Keep the old account read-only for the agreed retention period.

FAQ

Is Brevo cheaper than Mailchimp?

It can be, but not for every contact and send pattern. Price the exact database, monthly campaigns, automation volume, users, transactional sends, channels, and add-ons on both live calculators.

Which has the better free plan?

Brevo currently allows more stored contacts and 300 daily sends, while Mailchimp Free is capped at 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends. The better test plan depends on whether daily volume or a very small audience matches your trial.

Is Brevo better for transactional email?

Brevo combines transactional and marketing capabilities in its platform and credits model. Mailchimp Transactional follows a separate product path. Evaluate reliability, API, monitoring, templates, and total cost, not packaging alone.

Which is better for ecommerce automation?

The answer depends on the store integration, event payload, consent sync, segmentation needs, and selected plan. Build the same welcome, cart, and post-purchase proof-of-concept in both.

Can I migrate without losing unsubscribes?

Yes, if suppression and consent data are exported, mapped, and imported before marketing sends. Never import the entire old database as subscribed.

Choose from the operating model

Brevo and Mailchimp can both send ecommerce email. The better fit is the one that makes your data, permission, production, automation, and economics easier to operate. Deliver helps teams run that evaluation and migration. Book an email and CRM diagnostic.