Brevo vs Mailchimp
Side-by-side total cost of ownership: subscription fees, labor, hidden costs, and AI alternatives.
Published pricing
The subscription is only part of the cost.
| Brevo | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Published rate | $18/seat/mo | $13/mo |
| Team size modeled | 5 | 5 |
| Annual subscription | $1,080/yr | $780/yr |
What the invoice doesn't show
Brevo
Brevo's free plan sends only 300 emails per day with Brevo branding on every email. The Starter plan ($9/mo for 5,000 emails) still includes Brevo branding — removing it costs an additional $9/month. You pay twice to look professional.
SMS and WhatsApp credits are purchased separately from email plans. SMS costs $0.014-0.06 per message depending on country. A campaign to 10,000 US contacts costs $140 in SMS credits alone — not included in any email plan.
The Business plan ($18/mo) is required for marketing automation, A/B testing, send-time optimization, and advanced stats. As of October 2025, landing page builder was also moved to Business — a feature previously available at the Starter tier now requires upgrading.
Brevo's CRM is functional but basic. Users report that deal pipeline management, contact scoring, and reporting lack the depth of dedicated CRMs, creating pressure to add a separate CRM tool and manage data across systems.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp counts ALL contacts toward your billing tier — subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-opted-in. Unsubscribed contacts remain billable unless you manually archive them. A company with 10,000 'contacts' might have 3,000 active subscribers but pays the 10,000-tier rate.
Mailchimp deprecated the Classic Automation Builder in June 2025, pushing multi-step automations exclusively into the Standard plan ($20/mo minimum). Organizations running basic welcome sequences on Free or Essentials were forced to upgrade overnight.
When you exceed your contact or send limit, Mailchimp automatically adds extra email blocks and charges your next invoice — without an upgrade prompt or warning. The exact overage pricing isn't publicly listed, making costs impossible to predict.
Since Intuit acquired Mailchimp for $12B in 2021, pricing has increased 20-30% across paid tiers (Essentials from $9 to $13, Standard from $14 to $20), the free plan was gutted from 2,000 contacts to 250 — an 87.5% reduction — and an additional 11-13% increase was implemented in April 2026, pushing Premium's base to $375+/mo.
What teams are switching to
Replacing Brevo
MailerLite
Free (1K subs), $10/mo (Growing), $20/mo (Advanced)
AI writing assistant, smart sending, and full automation included at $10/mo. No branding removal fees. 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails free. Cleaner interface with faster email builder.
Loops
Free (1K contacts), from $49/mo
AI-native email platform built for SaaS. Automated user segmentation based on product events. Clean API-first architecture that replaces Brevo's transactional + marketing split with a unified approach.
Resend
Free (100 emails/day), $20/mo (50K emails)
Developer-first email API with React Email for templating. Replaces Brevo's transactional email product with modern DX. Better deliverability and simpler pricing without cross-selling marketing tools.
Replacing Mailchimp
Brevo
Free (300 emails/day), Starter $9/mo, Business $18/mo
Charges by emails sent, not contacts stored. Unlimited contacts on all plans including free. Includes transactional email, SMS, and WhatsApp in one platform. A 50,000-contact list sending 50K emails/mo costs ~$35/mo vs Mailchimp's $450+.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Free (10K subscribers), Creator $39/mo
Creator-focused with visual automation builder on all paid plans. Free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers — 40x Mailchimp's free tier. No charge for unsubscribed contacts.
Loops
Free (1K contacts), $49/mo (5K contacts, unlimited sends)
Built for SaaS companies. One flat tier with all features — no feature gating at all. Includes marketing, transactional, and product emails in one platform. Unlimited sends on all paid plans.
StackCut doesn't sell or recommend any of these tools. We show them for context. The decision is yours.
Total Cost of Ownership
Subscription fees plus labor and error costs, modeled at $50/hr loaded rate (BLS ECEC).
| Cost Component | Brevo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Annual subscription | $1,080 | $780 |
| Labor cost | $9,000 | $9,000 |
| Error & rework cost | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| Total Cost of Ownership | $11,280/yr | $10,980/yr |
| Est. AI alternative | $5,088/yr | $5,088/yr |
Labor rate based on BLS ECEC June 2025 ($45.65/hr private industry total compensation, rounded to $50). Team sizes differ because each vendor targets different market segments. Your actual numbers depend on team size, role mix, and usage. Run it with your own data.
Which one fits your team?
Both Brevo and Mailchimpcost more than their published pricing suggests. The right choice depends on your team size and how you weigh each tool's trade-offs.
Brevo starts at $18/seat/mo , but watch for Brevo's free plan sends only 300 emails per day with Brevo branding on every email. The Starter plan ($9/mo for 5,000 emails) still includes Brevo branding — removing it costs an additional $9/month. You pay twice to look professional.
Mailchimp starts at $13/mo , but watch for Mailchimp counts ALL contacts toward your billing tier — subscribed, unsubscribed, and non-opted-in. Unsubscribed contacts remain billable unless you manually archive them. A company with 10,000 'contacts' might have 3,000 active subscribers but pays the 10,000-tier rate.
An AI-native alternative may replace the workflow at a fraction of the TCO.
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