Mailchimp vs Brevo: Which Email Platform Works Best for Small Business
Brevo edges out Mailchimp for most small businesses under 5,000 contacts because it includes SMS and CRM features in every plan, while Mailchimp's advanced tools live behind premium paywalls. The choice ultimately depends on whether you need automation depth or a simpler, bundled solution.
Pricing and What You Actually Get
Mailchimp's free tier is generous—up to 500 contacts and basic automation—but the moment you want to send SMS, use advanced segmentation, or access their CRM, you're paying $20-$350/month depending on your plan.
Brevo's free plan includes 300 emails per day, unlimited contacts, and their SMS tool. A paid plan starts at $20/month and gives you everything: SMS, landing pages, and full CRM access. If you're running lean, Brevo's feature parity across tiers saves you real money. For a business sending 50,000 emails monthly, Mailchimp costs roughly $300-$500/month; Brevo runs $40-$80.
Automation and Ease of Use
Mailchimp's automation workflows are robust. You can build complex customer journeys with conditional logic, tags, and behavioral triggers. The interface is intuitive—most founders can set up a welcome sequence in 10 minutes.
Brevo's automation is equally capable but feels more scattered across different sections of the dashboard. Setting up the same welcome sequence takes slightly longer because you're clicking through more menus. However, once you're in, the workflows execute identically well. New users often need 15-20 minutes to orient themselves.
Neither platform matches dedicated tools like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot in sophistication, but both are functional for small business funnels.
SMS and Multi-Channel Messaging
This is where Brevo pulls ahead. SMS is built in at every plan level. You can design campaigns that combine email and text messages without signing up for a separate platform. If SMS response rates matter to your business—and they should (45% open rate vs. 20% for email)—this integration saves setup time and money.
Mailchimp treats SMS as an add-on. You'll pay extra per message, and you're managing two separate tools. For a small business sending 10,000 SMS per month, that's an additional $200-$400.
Reporting and List Management
Mailchimp wins here. Their reporting dashboard is cleaner, and they segment contacts more intuitively with their tagging system. If analytics matter to your decision-making, you'll spend less time hunting for data in Mailchimp.
Brevo's reporting is functional but requires more clicks to extract actionable insights. You won't get wrong information—just slower access to it.
When to Choose Each
Pick Mailchimp if you send email as your primary channel, need sophisticated automation workflows, or prefer a polished reporting interface. It's the safer choice for founders who've used Mailchimp before.
Pick Brevo if you're multimodal (email + SMS), want unified contact management, or operate on a tight budget. You'll save money on platform sprawl.
One note: if your bottleneck isn't email marketing but hiring—finding someone to manage campaigns, segment lists, or monitor performance—platforms like these are still labor-intensive. Some teams outsource those roles entirely. Others, like fast-growing founders renting AI workers through Relvexa, automate the work instead. The math is worth checking: hiring a part-time email manager costs $2,000-$4,000/month. A tool subscription is cheaper, but only if you have bandwidth to run it yourself.
Start with a free tier from either platform. Your actual workflow will reveal which interface matches your brain faster. That's the real differentiator.