While Mailchimp raises its prices, Sendinblue (now called Brevo) is as affordable as ever. Don’t pay more to grow your business.
If you’re on a budget or just starting out, both Sendinblue (now Brevo) and Mailchimp offer free plans. The majority of Sendinblue’s email marketing features are available for free. However, in comparison, Mailchimp offers very limited features on its free plan. Here’s what to expect for $0.
| Free Plan Features | Sendinblue (Brevo) | Mailchimp |
| Contact storage | Unlimited | 500 |
| Email send limits | 9,000/month (300/day) | 1,000/month (500/day) |
| Advanced segmentation |  |
Only on Premium Plan ($299/month) |
| Marketing automation workflows | Up to 2,000 contacts | Basic 1-step automations |
| Transactional emails | |
 |
| Email templates | 40+ | 100+ |
| Drag-and-drop-editor for intuitive email design | |
|
| HTML editor for custom-coded templates | |
|
| Integrations | 150+ | 250+ |
| CRM | Unlimited contacts | 500 contacts |
| Live chat | |
|
| Customizable pop-up and signup forms | |
|
| Landing pages | |
|
| Facebook ads | |
|
| Customer support | |
Only by email in the first 30 days |
If you’re looking for a high volume email marketing platform, switching to Sendinblue (Brevo) will generate serious savings, especially after Mailchimp announced yet another price increase of 16% on average for existing users from December 2022.
When it comes to sending bulk email campaigns, Sendinblue (now called Brevo) is the cheaper option. Vs Mailchimp, Sendinblue can work out up to 9 times cheaper per month in certain cases. Take a look at some of these email sending scenarios.
| Sendinblue | Mailchimp | |
| 1 email / month to 500 contacts | FREE | FREE |
| 1 email / month to 1,500 contacts | FREE | $26.5 |
| 1 email / month to 2,500 contacts | FREE | $39.5 |
| 1 email / month to 5,000 contacts | FREE | $69 |
| 1 email / month to 10,000 contacts | $25 | $100 |
| 1 email / month to 20,000 contacts | $25 | $220 |
| 1 email / month to 50,000 contacts | $49 | $350 |
| 1 email / month to 75,000 contacts | $69 | custom |
| 1 email / month to 100,000 contacts | $69 | custom |
Source: Mailchimp.com pricing calculator. Date: 12/03/2023.
Choosing Sendinblue over Mailchimp means big savings on your bulk email campaigns
Get started free
Mailchimp’s free plan is limited to 500 contacts across all lists. If one contact is on two lists, it’ll count as 2 contacts. The moment you hit 501 subscribers you’ll need to upgrade. Sending is also very limited on Mailchimp’s free plan now: 500 emails/day but 1,000 email a month tops.
Mailchimp’s base plans are cheap for anyone starting out — $13 for Essentials, $20 for Standard. But keep in mind, the price is recalculated according to the number of contacts as your business grows.
Don't pay more to grow your business
With Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) there’s no limit to the number of contacts per pricing plan. Brevo’s entire pricing structure is based on the number of emails sent, not the number of contacts stored. For most businesses this works out cheaper because you only pay for the amount of emails you plan to send.
Brevo gives you the flexibility to grow your contact list as large as you want. Once you’re ready to scale up your sending volume you can upgrade to the baseline plan, starting at $25 for 20,000 emails/month.
Sign up for Brevo now"So far the transition from using another service (Mailchimp) has been seamless. I noticed that the Sendinblue platform is more user friendly and not as clunky as MC. We were looking for a platform that was a bit smarter/easier to use."
Read Katherine's Sendinblue review"Their subscription model (emails sent, not number of people in your database) makes it a perfect option for any size company. No need to worry about growing your database and seeing your costs explode. The only thing that matters is how many emails you sent per day (free plan) or month (paid plan)."
Read MRB's Sendinblue review"I switched from Mailchimp to Sendinblue because of their great service and all that they provide, even to people like me with small email lists. Now I am growing my list and better yet, bringing great value to my readers.
Thanks, Sendinblue."
To send transactional emails with Mailchimp (e.g. personalized one-to-one emails like shipping notifications and password resets), this service is charged as a paid add-on on top of your monthly plan.
If your small business relies on transactional emails, Mailchimp’s transactional email API will be an added expense to take into account. On top of that, transactional emails are only available in blocks of 25,000 for $20 each and expire after one month.
In contrast to Mailchimp, Brevo lets you send transactional emails as part of your monthly marketing campaigns plan via our SMTP server. You can also buy a plan exclusively for transactional emails, starting at $15/20,000 emails a month.
Because transactional emails often contain sensitive information, you don’t want them to wind up in Junk Mail or the Gmail “Promotions” tab. That’s why it’s best to separate promotional and transactional emails into separate streams using different domains/IP addresses.
Brevo has the complete transactional functionality available natively within its email marketing solution. You can also send transactional SMS messages.
| Features available | Brevo | Mailchimp |
| Email marketing | |
|
| Transactional emails | |
Paid add-on |
| SMS Marketing | |
Text Marketer plugin |
| Transactional SMS | |
|
| Marketing automation | |
|
| Free unlimited contacts | |
|
| Email client testing | |
|
| Real-time statistics | |
|
| Email support | |
|
| Phone support | Higher plans | From $350 |
| Video tutorials | |
|
Another important consideration when it comes to ecommerce and Mailchimp is the transaction fees. Users on the free Websites & Commerce plan can create a Mailchimp store online, but every transaction is hit with a fee in the 0.5%-2% range and Stripe processing fees on top.
On the paid plans, Mailchimp applies slightly lower transaction fees, but still leaves you with the credit card fees.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), on the other hand, doesn’t have any transaction fees.
Get cheaper transactional emails with Brevo
Both solutions let you send personalized emails based on subscriber behavior but Brevo offers other automation possibilities, such as:
With Brevo’s Free Plan you can use our intuitive workflow editor to set up automation workflows (as simple or as complex as you need) for up to 2,000 contacts. Unlimited marketing automation starts at $65/month.
Mailchimp’s automation features start at $13 for 500 contacts for 1-step workflows. This price increases the more contacts you have, e.g. 5,000 contacts will cost $69.
| Feature | Brevo | Mailchimp |
| Pre-made workflows | |
|
| Custom Workflows | |
|
| Database automation | |
|
| Webpage visit triggers | |
|
| Send automated SMS | |
|
| Send contact information to a webhook | |
|
| Send Time Optimization | |
|
We switched from Mailchimp to Sendinblue for everything in camp CodeinWP more than 4 years ago. We found a lot more value with Sendinblue for the price because we pay for the volume of emails sent rather than the number of contacts we store. Additionally, the marketing automation features are much more robust, making Sendinblue undoubtedly one of the best Mailchimp alternatives available.
At Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), we take email deliverability seriously. So you can rely on our shared IPs to get your campaigns to the inbox. Here are some ways we ensure our sender reputation:
Plus, you can take control of your email deliverability with dedicated IPs for high volume senders and the option to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication.
Sign up for free to get started with Brevo and easily migrate your contacts
Get started freeBrevo connects seamlessly with 150+ leading digital tools. With our vast plugin library, it’s easy to sync our email marketing software with your website, knowledge base, or ecommerce store. Our integrations include:
Brevo helps you get consent from contacts and comply with data privacy laws like HIPAA, CAN-SPAM, and the GDPR. Thanks to Brevo’s signup forms and list management, subscribers only get the email content they want to receive. Simply select the list and send your campaign. And unlike Mailchimp, we don’t charge per contact stored so having a contact on multiple lists incurs no extra cost with Brevo.
Here are some other reasons to choose Brevo for compliance:
Any business can grow with Sendinblue (now called Brevo). The generous free plan and unique pricing structure can suit both established companies and entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
No matter your business, Brevo gives you the flexibility to grow. If the free plan no longer fits your needs, upgrade for higher sending limits and advanced features such as A/B testing (subject lines, email content, etc). Or, use Brevo to explore other marketing channels like WhatsApp and SMS.
You can also try Brevo’s other tools for no added cost. Our CRM suite includes Sales Platform, Conversations, and Transactional Email.
Get started with Brevo for free with up to 300 emails/day and unlimited contact storage. If you're looking for more than just an email marketing tool, we've got you covered. Your free account also includes access to our Sales Platform, Conversations, and Transactional Email.
Sign up free