Mailchimp vs Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Messaging Reach and CRM
Mailchimp sets its marketing plans by contact count and adds SMS as a paid-plan add-on in select countries, with transactional email sold separately for Standard and Premium accounts. Its CRM is marketing-focused: contact profiles, tags, notes, predictive segments and lifetime value reporting. Brevo spreads one account across email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, a live chat widget, and a sales CRM that tracks deals through pipelines alongside companies and tasks. Its developer API sends transactional email, SMS and WhatsApp messages from the same messaging endpoints. The decision usually turns on whether you need WhatsApp and a sales pipeline.
Mailchimp
Best for: Small and growing businesses that want newsletters, automated sequences and audience segmentation from one email-first platform.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Best for: Small and midsize businesses that want marketing email, transactional messaging and a basic sales CRM from one vendor.
| At a glance | Mailchimp | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $13/mo (varies by contacts) | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Not verified |
| Market Signal | 81 / 100 | 68 / 100 |
| Built for | Freelancer, Small Business, Mid-Market | Freelancer, Small Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Founded | 2001 | 2012 |
Choose Mailchimp if...
your marketing depends on audience analysis, such as predictive segments and lifetime value reporting, and you want an app for building emails, landing pages and social posts from a phone.
Choose Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) if...
you need WhatsApp campaigns built on Meta-approved templates, a deal pipeline for salespeople, or one API that covers transactional email, SMS and WhatsApp.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Dimension | Mailchimp | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging channels | Stronger here | |
| Transactional messaging | Stronger here | |
| Sales pipeline | Stronger here | |
| Audience insights | Stronger here | |
| Pricing structure | Comparable | Comparable |
We name a winner for each dimension and never one overall winner. The right pick depends on which of these matters most for your use case.
Plans and Pricing Side by Side
Mailchimp
From $13/mo (varies by contacts) · Free plan · Free trial
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Essentials | $13 | Not listed |
| Standard | $20 | Not listed |
| Premium | $350 | Not listed |
Checked October 12, 2026 on Mailchimp's pricing page.
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
From $9/mo · Free plan
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (mo) | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | |
| Starter | Not listed | $9 |
|
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Checked October 13, 2026 on Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)'s pricing page.
Annual columns show the monthly cost when billed yearly. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their site before you buy.
Market Signal Compared
| Score (0 to 100) | Mailchimp | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) |
|---|---|---|
| Market Signal | 81 | 68 |
| Market strength | 90 | 75 |
| Momentum | 48 | 43 |
| Traffic strength | 90 | 76 |
| Search visibility | 90 | 71 |
| Authority | 91 | 75 |
| Brand and market presence | 89 | 77 |
| Data confidence | Medium | Medium |
Market Signal measures each product's online footprint and momentum from Ahrefs and Semrush data, scored against other tools in its category (Email Marketing (42 tracked)). It shows market presence, which is not the same as product quality. Data through September 2026. How the score works
Integrations and Support
Both connect with: Shopify, WordPress
| Mailchimp | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) | |
|---|---|---|
| Integrations only one lists | Canva, Salesforce, Meta | WooCommerce, Zapier |
| Support | Live chat, Email, Help center, Phone | Live chat, Email, Help center, Community forum |
| Languages | English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese | English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, GA | Paris, France |
From each vendor's integrations and support pages. Lists show notable integrations, not every connector.
Other Tools to Consider
If neither Mailchimp nor Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) fits, these are the closest alternatives we list, ordered by Overall Score.
HubSpot
Customer platform pairing a free CRM with marketing, sales, service, content and data hubs.
ActiveCampaign
Email marketing automation with branching workflows, site tracking and optional CRM add-ons.
Constant Contact
Small-business email marketing with event ticketing, SMS and Shopify automations.
Mailjet
Email platform combining campaign design, transactional sending and automation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Brevo need before I can send WhatsApp campaigns?⌄
You activate WhatsApp Campaigns in the Brevo dashboard, link a WhatsApp Business account, and create message templates that Meta has to approve before use. Campaigns can then be scheduled, aimed at lists or segments with exclusions, and reported by sent, delivered and read counts. Mailchimp's marketing plan page lists SMS as an add-on and makes no mention of WhatsApp.
How do the two handle transactional email?⌄
Mailchimp Transactional is an add-on to Standard, Premium or the legacy Monthly plan, sold in blocks of 25,000 emails that don't roll over, with API and SMTP sending and a demo of 500 sends to a verified domain. Brevo sends through a REST endpoint, uses drag-and-drop templates referenced by ID, and posts event webhooks to your server.
Which one suits a team that also sells by phone or meeting?⌄
Brevo's CRM tracks deals through pipelines with stages, owners and amounts, links them to contacts and companies, and manages tasks, all reachable through its API with SDKs for Node.js, Python and PHP. Mailchimp keeps sales data in a connected system instead, and its CRM page points to Mailchimp for Salesforce for that link.
Where does SMS fit in each product?⌄
Mailchimp sells SMS as an add-on to paid plans in select countries, and texts can only reach contacts in the country you choose. Brevo treats SMS as one of its core campaign channels next to email and WhatsApp, and its messaging API sends SMS the same way it sends transactional email.
Written by SEM Solutions Editorial Team
Last updated October 13, 2026
Related Comparisons
- Mailchimp vs Klaviyo: Shopify Data and Predictive Segmentation
- Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: Contact Journeys
- Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign: Audience Journeys
- Klaviyo vs Omnisend: Predicted Value and Checkout Recovery
- ActiveCampaign vs Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): Recognized Leads
- Mailchimp vs MailerLite: Journey Depth or Built-In Selling Tools
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit) vs Mailchimp: Monetizing a Newsletter