Mailchimp vs Brevo: Which One Replaces the Other?
- Priced on
- Contacts stored
- Free plan
- 250 contacts · 500 sends/mo
- Servers
- United States
- Priced on
- Emails sent per month
- Free plan
- 100,000 contacts · 300 emails/day
- Servers
- European Union
The short answer
Leaving Mailchimp for Brevo
- Yes, if
- The list is mailed about four times a month: at 25,000 contacts (100,000 emails), Brevo Standard is $139/mo against $310/mo for Mailchimp Standard.
- Transactional email has to come from the same account: Brevo includes API and SMTP sending on every plan, Mailchimp sells it as an add-on to Standard and Premium.
- Contact data has to stay on servers in the European Union.
- The list has to be stored at no cost: Brevo Free holds 100,000 contacts, Mailchimp Free stops at 250.
- No, if
- Each contact receives around 12 emails a month: 300,000 emails fall in the 350,000-email tier of Brevo Standard at $309/mo, against $310/mo for 25,000 contacts on Mailchimp Standard.
- Landing pages are needed on an entry plan: Brevo has none on Free or Starter and one on Standard.
- A/B testing is needed below $18/mo: Brevo starts it on Standard, Mailchimp on Essentials at $13/mo.
- The audience is organised with Mailchimp tags: Brevo's Mailchimp integration does not import them.
Leaving Brevo for Mailchimp
- Yes, if
- Landing pages are part of the workflow: Mailchimp includes them on every plan, Free included.
- Several people work in the account: Mailchimp includes 3 seats on Essentials and 5 on Standard, Brevo Starter is single user.
- Support by chat matters: Mailchimp lists 24/7 email and chat support on Essentials and Standard, Brevo lists email support up to Standard.
- A/B testing is needed from the first paid tier: it is included in Essentials at $13/mo.
- No, if
- The list holds more than 250 contacts and the budget is zero: Mailchimp Free stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
- The application sends transactional email: on Mailchimp it requires a Standard or Premium plan plus blocks at $20 per block of 25,000 emails.
- The list exceeds 100,000 contacts: Mailchimp Standard stops there and Premium starts at $1,150/mo for the next tier, while Brevo Standard stores up to 500,000 contacts.
- Servers in the European Union are a requirement: Mailchimp states that its servers are located in the United States.
Mailchimp vs Brevo side by side
Plan limits read on each vendor's pricing and help pages on 2026-11-12. A dot marks the stronger side only where a published limit makes it measurable.
| Mailchimp | Brevo | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price, billed monthly | $13/mo · Essentials, 500 contacts, 5,000 sends/mo | $9/mo · Starter, 5,000 emails/mo, 500 contacts (logo removal: $12/mo add-on) |
| Free plan | 250 contacts · 500 sends/mo · 250/day | 100,000 contacts · 300 emails/day |
| Price indexed on | Contacts stored; the tier sets the send limit | Emails sent per month; the tier sets the contact cap |
| Monthly send limit on paid plans | 10× contacts on Essentials, 12× on Standard, 15× on Premium | Up to 100,000 on Starter, 500,000 on Standard, 10 million on Professional |
| Automation | Not on Free; flows of up to 4 steps on Essentials; up to 200 flows on Standard and Premium | Limited to 2,000 contacts on Free and Starter; unlimited from Standard |
| A/B testing | From Essentials ($13/mo); multivariate testing from Standard | From Standard ($18/mo); not on Free or Starter |
| Landing pages | Included on every plan, Free included | Not on Free or Starter; 1 page on Standard; 10 on Professional |
| Transactional email | Paid add-on for Standard and Premium: $20 per block of 25,000 emails | API and SMTP on every plan, counted in the plan's monthly volume |
| SMS | Add-on from Essentials, with MMS on Standard and Premium, after an application; select countries | Prepaid credits on every plan, Free included; 180+ countries |
| Not verified on the vendor's site as of 2026-11-12 | Campaigns on Professional and Enterprise, with prepaid credits | |
| CRM | Marketing CRM: audience dashboard, segments, tags | Sales tools on every plan: 50 open deals and 1 pipeline at no cost |
| Seats | 1 on Free, 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium | 1 on Free and Starter; up to 3 on Standard at $12/mo per added seat; 10 on Professional; unlimited on Enterprise |
| Support | Free: email for the first 30 days. Essentials and Standard: 24/7 email and chat. Premium: phone | Free, Starter, Standard: email. Professional: phone |
| Headquarters and data hosting | Atlanta, United States; servers in the United States | Paris, France; servers in the European Union |
Prices in USD, billed monthly.
Switching from Mailchimp to Brevo: what you gain and lose
The switch changes the billing unit: Mailchimp charges for contacts stored, Brevo for emails sent, with a contact cap attached to each tier. Prices below are billed monthly, in USD.
What you gain
- A lower bill at four emails per contact per month: −$31/mo at 5,000 contacts and −$171/mo at 25,000 contacts, Standard plan against Standard plan.
- A free plan that stores 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day, against 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
- Transactional email by API and SMTP on every plan, drawn from the same monthly volume as campaigns.
- Servers located in the European Union: OVH in France and Germany, Google Cloud in Belgium.
- A sales pipeline on every plan, limited to 50 open deals and 1 pipeline without the paid sales package.
- SMS credits on every plan, Free included, against an add-on from Essentials on Mailchimp.
What you lose
- Landing pages on the entry plans: none on Brevo Free or Starter, 1 page on Standard.
- A/B testing on the first paid tier: Brevo Starter does not include it.
- Included seats: Brevo Starter is single user and Standard adds up to 2 more at $12/mo each, against 3 seats on Mailchimp Essentials and 5 on Standard.
- Logo removal in the entry price: it is a $12/mo add-on on Brevo Starter, which brings the plan to $21/mo against $13/mo for Mailchimp Essentials.
- Mailchimp tags, postal address fields and dropdown fields, which Brevo's Mailchimp integration does not import.
- Chat support on the lower paid plans: Brevo lists email support on Starter and Standard and phone support from Professional.
Switching from Brevo to Mailchimp: what you gain and lose
Moving in this direction replaces a volume-based bill with a contact-based one: every subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contact counts toward the Mailchimp tier. Brevo is not among the six services Mailchimp's import tool connects to, so contacts travel by CSV file.
What you gain
- Landing pages on every plan, the Free plan included.
- A/B testing from Essentials at $13/mo and multivariate testing from Standard.
- Included seats: 3 on Essentials, 5 on Standard, unlimited on Premium.
- 24/7 email and chat support on Essentials and Standard, phone support on Premium.
- A larger declared integration catalogue: 300+ integrations listed by Mailchimp against 150+ by Brevo.
- Logo removal included in every paid plan.
What you lose
- The price at volume: +$31/mo at 5,000 contacts and +$171/mo at 25,000 contacts on the Standard plans, at four emails per contact per month.
- Free storage for a large list: Mailchimp Free holds 250 contacts, and sending is held above that number until the account upgrades or shrinks.
- Transactional email inside the plan: Mailchimp Transactional is a separate add-on at $20 per block of 25,000 emails, open to Standard and Premium only.
- Hosting in the European Union: Mailchimp's servers are in the United States.
- The deal pipeline included with every Brevo plan; Mailchimp describes its CRM as audience segments and tags.
- Room above 100,000 contacts on a mid-range plan: Mailchimp Standard stops at 100,000 contacts.
Price at your list size
Both pricing calculators were read on 2026-11-12, monthly billing, USD, without add-ons. Mailchimp is priced on the contact tier. Brevo is priced on monthly emails, so one assumption is needed: four emails per contact per month, which means 20,000, 100,000 and 400,000 emails. Brevo has no 400,000 tier; the figures at 100,000 contacts are those of the 500,000-email tier. Four emails per contact stays inside every Mailchimp allowance (10×, 12× and 15× contacts).
| Plan | 5,000 contacts | 25,000 contacts | 100,000 contacts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Essentials | $75/mo | $270/mo | Not offered · plan stops at 50,000 contacts |
| Mailchimp Standard | $100/mo | $310/mo | $800/mo |
| Mailchimp Premium | $350/mo | $620/mo | $1,025/mo |
| Brevo Starter | $32/mo | $82/mo | Not offered · plan stops at 100,000 emails/mo |
| Brevo Standard | $69/mo | $139/mo | $429/mo |
| Brevo Professional | $499/mo | $499/mo | $699/mo |
| Brevo Enterprise | On quote | On quote | On quote |
Mailchimp figures are the list prices shown after the promotional period; the page advertises 15% off for 12 months on its larger contact tiers. Mailchimp Premium includes 10,000 contacts in its base price, and Brevo Professional starts at 150,000 emails a month, which is why their first two columns do not move with the list. Brevo's pricing page shows Enterprise as starting from $2,499/mo with a sales contact, and its help centre states that the plan has a custom price. On Brevo, a list of 5,000 contacts cannot sit below the 20,000-email tier: the 15,000-email tier is capped at 2,500 contacts. Brevo applies a 10% discount to yearly billing.
Deliverability and sending
Authentication
Both tools ask for the sending domain to be authenticated through DNS. Mailchimp requires 2 CNAME records for DKIM and 1 TXT record for DMARC. Brevo requires three record types: a Brevo code, DKIM and DMARC. Neither authenticates a free address such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com, so a custom domain is needed on both sides.
Brevo's help centre restates the sender requirements of Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft: a custom domain, DKIM and DMARC, and a spam complaint rate under 0.3%. These rules come from the mailbox providers and apply whichever tool sends the email.
Shared and dedicated IP addresses
Brevo sends from shared IP addresses by default. A dedicated IP is an add-on reserved for the Professional and Enterprise plans, with one included in Enterprise. Brevo recommends it from three campaigns a week to 3,000 or more contacts, or above 100,000 emails a month.
On the Mailchimp side, a dedicated IP is listed on the Transactional pricing page at $29.95/mo. A dedicated IP for Mailchimp marketing plans is not documented on the pricing and help pages read as of 2026-11-12. Mailchimp states that each campaign is scanned at send time by Omnivore, its automated abuse-prevention system.
Sending limits
Mailchimp Free allows 500 sends a month and 250 a day; paid plans allow 10, 12 or 15 times the contact limit each month. Going over a paid limit does not stop sending: Mailchimp adds a charge to the monthly bill. Brevo Free allows 300 emails a day with no rollover, and Brevo's paid plans carry no daily limit, only the monthly volume of the tier.
How to move from Mailchimp to Brevo
The steps follow Mailchimp's export documentation and Brevo's import documentation, both read on 2026-11-12.
Open the Brevo account and authenticate the domain
Brevo's Mailchimp integration works on a free or a paid plan, and the Free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts, so the import can run before any payment. The sending domain is added under Settings, then Senders, Domains, IPs, and authenticated with the Brevo code, DKIM and DMARC records.
Clean the Mailchimp audience
Brevo only accepts contacts who consented to receive updates within the last two years. Contacts outside that rule are removed in Mailchimp before the transfer, since Brevo may suspend campaigns sent to contacts who did not consent.
Transfer the contacts
Two documented paths exist. The Mailchimp integration, found under Integrations in Brevo, logs in to Mailchimp, maps each field to a Brevo attribute and syncs up to 1 million contacts into a chosen list. The manual path is a CSV export from Mailchimp (Audience, Export audience, Export CSV) uploaded to Brevo's import tool. The integration leaves out Mailchimp tags, postal addresses and dropdown fields; a CSV keeps them as columns to map by hand.
Import unsubscribed and cleaned contacts as blocklisted
The integration subscribes every synced contact and does not carry later status changes, so opt-outs need their own import. Mailchimp's export delivers a ZIP file with separate CSV files for subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed and cleaned contacts. The unsubscribed and cleaned files go into Brevo through the blocklisted contacts import, a step Brevo describes as required when migrating from another app.
Move the templates
Mailchimp's account export produces a folder of HTML files for all email templates, limited to one export per 24 hours. The single-template HTML export covers custom-coded templates only; Mailchimp states that drag-and-drop templates cannot be exported that way. In Brevo, the HTML custom code editor accepts pasted HTML.
Rebuild automations, forms and landing pages
An import of Mailchimp automation flows, forms or landing pages is not documented on Brevo's help centre as of 2026-11-12, so no import path could be verified and they have to be planned as a rebuild. Automations on Brevo Free and Starter accept up to 2,000 contacts; the limit disappears on Standard. Landing pages start on Standard, with 1 page included.
Choose the Brevo tier, then pause Mailchimp
The Brevo tier is chosen on monthly emails, then checked against its contact cap: tiers of 20,000 emails and above store up to 500,000 contacts. Mailchimp plans can be paused or changed at any time from the billing page, and contact exports stay downloadable for 30 days.
Other alternatives to both
Three other email marketing tools, each with the fact that sets its pricing apart.
MailerLite
Free plan for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month; paid plans priced on subscribers and sending, with the full feature set on each.
Klaviyo
Priced on active profiles: free up to 250 profiles and 500 emails a month, then from $20/mo for 500 profiles and 5,000 emails.
ActiveCampaign
Priced on contacts: the Starter plan at 1,000 contacts includes 10,000 email sends a month, 1 user seat and multi-step marketing automation.
FAQ
Is Brevo cheaper than Mailchimp?
At the entry tier the gap is −$4/mo: Brevo Starter is $9/mo and Mailchimp Essentials $13/mo, both for 500 contacts and 5,000 emails, billed monthly. With the $12/mo logo removal add-on, Starter reaches $21/mo, above Essentials. At 25,000 contacts and four emails per contact per month, Brevo Standard is $139/mo and Mailchimp Standard $310/mo, a gap of −$171/mo. At 12 emails per contact (300,000 emails, priced on Brevo's 350,000-email tier) the two Standard plans cost about the same: $309/mo and $310/mo.
Does Brevo charge by contacts or by emails?
By emails sent per month. Each tier also sets a contact cap on Starter and Standard: 500 contacts at 5,000 emails, 1,500 at 10,000, 2,500 at 15,000 and 500,000 from 20,000 emails. Mailchimp works the other way: the contact tier sets the price and the send limit.
Can Mailchimp contacts be imported into Brevo automatically?
Yes. Brevo publishes a Mailchimp integration that imports contacts and keeps them synchronised, up to 1 million contacts. It does not import Mailchimp tags, postal addresses or dropdown fields, and it subscribes every synced contact, so unsubscribed contacts are imported separately as blocklisted.
Which free plan is larger, Mailchimp or Brevo?
Brevo Free stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day, with no time limit and the Brevo logo on every email. Mailchimp Free includes 250 contacts, 500 sends a month and 250 a day, with email support during the first 30 days.
Which one includes transactional email?
Brevo: API and SMTP sending are part of every plan and use the same monthly volume as campaigns. Mailchimp Transactional is a paid add-on for Standard and Premium, sold at $20 per block of 25,000 emails for the first 20 blocks.
Where is the data hosted?
Mailchimp, headquartered in Atlanta, states that its servers are located in the United States. Brevo, headquartered in Paris, states that its hosting servers are all located within the European Union.