Brevo or Mailchimp?

For small businesses in Europe, the UK, the US and the Gulf: real prices at three list sizes, the free plans as they are now, GDPR and data location, SMS and WhatsApp, and how to switch.

The short answer

For most small businesses with more than a few hundred contacts, Brevo costs less: it charges by emails sent, not by contacts, so 5,000 contacts with a monthly campaign cost €55 on Brevo Standard against about €89 on Mailchimp Standard. Brevo also keeps data in the EU and includes transactional email, SMS in 180+ countries and a simple sales pipeline. Mailchimp stays a fair choice if it already works for you or your list is under 500 contacts, and it bills every stored contact, unsubscribed ones included. We build on Brevo, so weigh that; every number below comes from both vendors' own pricing.

By Yannis Spanenburg, founder of Proof of Pixel. Facts checked on 1 October 2026.

Side by side

	Brevo	Mailchimp
Company and data	French company; servers in the EU (France, Germany, Belgium)	US company, owned by Intuit; servers in the US under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework
How you pay	By emails sent per month; the smallest tiers also cap stored contacts	By contacts, across all audiences, including unsubscribed contacts
Free plan	300 emails a day, up to 100,000 contacts, Brevo logo on emails	250 contacts and 500 emails a month, Mailchimp branding
Cheapest paid plan	Starter: €7, $9 or £6 a month for 5,000 emails	Essentials: $13 a month for 500 contacts (about €11.55)
1,000 contacts, one campaign a month	Standard €29 ($35); Starter €14 ($17)	Standard €39.99 ($45); Essentials €23.55 ($26.50)
5,000 contacts, one campaign a month	Standard €55 ($69); Starter €28 ($32)	Standard €88.86 ($100); Essentials €66.65 ($75)
25,000 contacts, one email a week	Standard €129 ($139)	Standard €275.47 ($310)
Automations	Free and Starter: up to 2,000 contacts in automations; Standard and up: unlimited	Essentials: flows of up to 4 steps; Standard and Premium: up to 200 flows
SMS	Every plan, prepaid credits that never expire, 180+ countries including the UAE	From Essentials after approval, 40 countries, not the UAE; monthly credits expire
WhatsApp	Built in, on Professional (€499 a month) and up	Not built in; only through a third-party integration
Transactional email	Included on every plan	Paid add-on on Standard and Premium, $20 per 25,000 emails
Sales pipeline	Free on every plan: 1 pipeline, 50 open deals	None on its pricing pages

Prices checked on 1 October 2026, monthly billing, before VAT. Brevo publishes separate euro, dollar and pound prices. Mailchimp bills on a dollar base, and its euro prices are its own estimates at the current exchange rate. Mailchimp's 15% promotion on 10,000+ contacts is left out. Neither vendor bills in dirhams.

Who should pick which

Pick Brevo if

Your list is over 1,000 contacts and you mail it a few times a month
You want your data held in the EU
You need transactional email, SMS or a simple pipeline in the same account
You have customers in the UAE and want to reach them by SMS

Pick Mailchimp if

It already runs well for you and switching would cost more than it saves
Your list is under 500 contacts and you want emails without the tool's logo at the lowest price
Your team knows its editor and reports and would rather not relearn

What each really costs

Mailchimp charges by contacts: everyone stored across your audiences, including unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts. Only cleaned, archived and deleted contacts stop counting. Brevo charges by the number of emails you send each month. Since October 2025 its smallest tiers also cap stored contacts, 500 at 5,000 emails, 1,500 at 10,000 and 2,500 at 15,000, and it moves you up a tier if you go over; from 20,000 emails a month you can store up to 500,000.

The result at three list sizes, monthly billing: 1,000 contacts with a monthly campaign cost €29 on Brevo Standard and €39.99 on Mailchimp Standard; 5,000 contacts, €55 against €88.86; 25,000 contacts mailed weekly, €129 against €275.47. Brevo's Starter plan is cheaper still, but it caps automations at 2,000 contacts and shows the Brevo logo unless you pay €9 a month to remove it, so Standard against Standard is the fair comparison.

Mailchimp's euro and pound prices are its own estimates: it bills on a dollar base, and the amount charged follows the exchange rate on the day.

The free plans, after the cuts

Mailchimp's free plan used to cover 500 contacts and 1,000 sends a month. Its own help page, in archived copies, shows that this fell to 250 contacts and 500 sends between October 2025 and March 2026, with a daily limit of 250 and automations as a preview only.

Brevo's free plan sends 300 emails a day and stores up to 100,000 contacts, with the Brevo logo on every email and automations for up to 2,000 contacts. Neither free plan suits a business that relies on email; both are fine for trying the tool.

Where your data lives

Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a French company. It stores all its databases in the EU, on OVH in France and Germany and Google Cloud in Belgium, and names the French regulator as its supervisory authority.

Mailchimp's servers are in the United States. Transfers of EU data rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, under which Mailchimp is certified, with standard contractual clauses as a fallback. The EU General Court upheld the framework in September 2025; an appeal to the Court of Justice was lodged in October 2025. Transfers are lawful today, on a framework that is still being challenged.

Deliverability

In the last inbox placement test by EmailTooltester, in January 2024, Brevo scored 88.3% and Mailchimp 89.5%, within about one point of each other. The tester has since stopped running those tests because seed results did not match real-world performance. One tester, one moment; we would not choose a tool on it.

What decides inbox placement now is your own setup. Since February 2024 Gmail and Yahoo require authentication, a working unsubscribe and a low spam rate from bulk senders, and Outlook.com followed in May 2025. Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC on either tool.

Moving from Mailchimp to Brevo

Brevo has a built-in Mailchimp importer that syncs contacts and maps fields, up to a million contacts. It does not import tags, addresses or dropdown fields, and it only accepts contacts who consented within the last two years. Email templates come across as HTML from Mailchimp's account export; automations do not move and have to be rebuilt; campaign reports stay behind as an archive.

Plan it in this order: authenticate your sending domain in Brevo, import the contacts with their consent, rebuild the two or three flows that earn money first, then warm up the sending, starting with your most engaged contacts. Run both for a few weeks rather than switching overnight.

Questions about Brevo vs Mailchimp

Is Brevo cheaper than Mailchimp?

At almost every list size above a few hundred contacts, yes. With a monthly campaign, 5,000 contacts cost €55 on Brevo Standard against €88.86 on Mailchimp Standard, and 25,000 contacts mailed weekly cost €129 against €275.47. Brevo charges by emails sent, Mailchimp by contacts stored.

Does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?

Yes. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts across all your audiences toward your plan. Archiving or deleting contacts you no longer need is how you lower the bill.

What do the free plans include now?

Mailchimp's free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, down from 500 and 1,000 before early 2026. Brevo's free plan sends 300 emails a day and stores up to 100,000 contacts, with its logo on every email.

Does Brevo still have unlimited contacts?

Not on its smallest paid tiers. Since October 2025, Starter and Standard cap stored contacts at 500, 1,500 and 2,500 on the 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 email tiers. From 20,000 emails a month you can store up to 500,000 contacts, and the free plan stores up to 100,000.

Which has better deliverability?

In EmailTooltester's last inbox test, in January 2024, Mailchimp scored 89.5% and Brevo 88.3%. That is too close and too old to choose on. Domain authentication, list quality and a steady sending pattern decide far more.

Is Mailchimp GDPR compliant? Where does it store data?

Mailchimp stores data in the United States and relies on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, with standard contractual clauses as backup. That is lawful today, though the framework is under appeal at the EU Court of Justice. Brevo stores all data in the EU.

Is there a European alternative to Mailchimp?

Brevo is one: a French company that keeps its databases in the EU, priced in euros. Whichever tool you use, you still need consent records, a data processing agreement and an authenticated sending domain.

Can Brevo and Mailchimp send SMS and WhatsApp?

Brevo sends SMS on every plan to 180+ countries with credits that never expire, and WhatsApp on its Professional plan. Mailchimp sends SMS in 40 countries, not including the UAE, with monthly credits that expire, and has no built-in WhatsApp.

How do I move from Mailchimp to Brevo?

Authenticate your domain in Brevo, then use Brevo's Mailchimp importer or a CSV export to bring your contacts across with their consent. Templates move as HTML. Rebuild your automations, then warm up sending gradually.

Will my Mailchimp automations move to Brevo?

No. Mailchimp's export includes contacts, template HTML and reports, but not automations, and Brevo's own guide says to rebuild the workflows you need. Most businesses only need two or three flows to start: welcome, follow-up and, for stores, cart recovery.

Which works better with Shopify?

Both have well-rated Shopify apps: Mailchimp's at 4.8 from 1,499 reviews, Brevo PushOwl at 4.8 from 2,278. For a store with real order history, also look at Klaviyo, which is built around Shopify data. We are a Brevo PushOwl partner; there is no partner link on this page.

Does either have a CRM?

Brevo includes a free sales pipeline on every plan, with one pipeline and 50 open deals, and paid sales tiers above that. Mailchimp's pricing pages show no sales pipeline; it is an email and marketing tool.