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🗓️ Prices checked on October 27, 2026
Written by Léo · Reviewed by Inès on 10/27/2026 (prices, links and availability checked) — our editorial pen names
The short answer: for most freelancers and small creators, Brevo is the better buy: its Starter plan costs $9/month and it bills mainly on emails sent, not contacts. Mailing 10,000 subscribers twice a month costs $32/month on Brevo Starter versus $110/month on Mailchimp Essentials (checked October 27, 2026).
In plain English: what is Brevo for?
The problem: you want to send a newsletter to your customers, but some email tools charge by the number of people on your list, so your bill climbs as your audience grows, even in months when you send nothing.
The solution: Brevo sends your newsletters and automated emails, and can text your customers too. It mostly counts the emails you send, so a bigger list does not automatically mean a bigger bill, and the free plan already lets you send 300 emails a day.
🤖 The bottom line
Brevo is our pick ✅ for the vast majority of freelancers, solopreneurs and small creators. The reason is simple: Brevo bills you mainly by the emails you send, while Mailchimp bills you by the number of contacts you store. That difference changes everything once your list grows. Add a free plan with 300 emails a day and a Starter plan at $9/month, and Brevo checks almost every box.
Mailchimp is the pick for a different profile: teams that want the most polished marketing automation and a huge integration catalog, and do not mind paying per contact. Its free plan is now capped at 250 contacts and 500 emails a month (checked October 27, 2026). More email and sales guides live in our Sell Online section.
Brevo vs Mailchimp at a glance
The table sums up what really decides the choice. Prices and limits checked on both official pricing pages on October 27, 2026, in US dollars; they change with your sending volume.
| What matters | Brevo | Mailchimp | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you are billed | By emails sent per month (contact allowance grows with volume) | By number of contacts | Brevo |
| Free plan | 300 emails/day, Brevo branding on emails | 250 contacts, 500 emails/month, 1 audience | Brevo |
| Cheapest paid plan | Starter: $9/month (5,000 emails, 500 contacts) | Essentials: from $13/month | Brevo |
| 10,000 subscribers, 2 sends a month | $32/month (Starter, 20,000 emails) | $110/month (Essentials) or $135/month (Standard) | Brevo |
| Marketing automation | Unlimited workflows from Standard ($18/month) | Up to 4 flow steps on Essentials, 200 on Standard (from $20/month) | Brevo on price |
| Extras | SMS (credits sold separately), free sales CRM tier | SMS add-on, hundreds of integrations | Tie |
| ⭐ Our pick | Brevo: best value for freelancers and small creators | Mailchimp: for advanced automation and integrations | Brevo |
The real difference: billed per email or per contact?
This is the point that separates Brevo from Mailchimp, and it often gets buried in feature lists. Brevo prices its plans by the number of emails you send each month, and the contact allowance comes with it: on Starter and Standard, the official calculator pairs 5,000 emails with 500 contacts, 10,000 emails with 1,500 contacts, 15,000 with 2,500, and jumps to 500,000 contacts from 20,000 emails a month. Mailchimp prices by the number of contacts in your account, whether you email them or not.
In practice: with 10,000 subscribers who get a newsletter twice a month, Brevo counts 20,000 emails, while Mailchimp counts 10,000 contacts and bills you for them every month, even when you take a break. For a creator who is growing a list, that model changes the yearly total dramatically.
Free plans: which is more generous in 2026?
No contest here. Brevo’s free plan lets you send 300 emails a day, which adds up to about 9,000 a month, plenty to start a real newsletter. The trade-offs: a “Sent with Brevo” footer on your emails, and a daily cap (one big blast at once may have to be split over a few days).
Mailchimp’s free plan has tightened a lot: 250 contacts and 500 emails a month (250 a day), one audience and one seat, and sending pauses as soon as you go over. Handy for a test drive, too small for a real list. For a project that is just getting started, Brevo gives you far more room before you reach for your credit card.
What it really costs as your list grows
Take a realistic case: 10,000 contacts, two newsletters a month (20,000 emails). On Brevo, the Starter plan at that volume costs $32/month billed monthly ($28.75/month billed yearly), or $69/month on Standard if you want automation and A/B testing. On Mailchimp, 10,000 contacts cost $110/month on Essentials and $135/month on Standard, with a 15% discount for the first 12 months if you have 10,000+ contacts.
The entry prices look close (Brevo Starter at $9/month, Mailchimp Essentials from $13/month), but the gap widens as you scale: over a year at 10,000 contacts, Brevo Starter costs $384 versus $1,320 for Mailchimp Essentials at the full price. Figures checked October 27, 2026; confirm them for your exact volume when you sign up.
Features: where each one wins
Brevo plays the accessible all-in-one card: email marketing, transactional emails (receipts, password resets) on every plan, SMS campaigns with prepaid credits, a free sales CRM tier and unlimited automated workflows from the Standard plan. For a freelancer who wants to run customer communication without stacking subscriptions, that is a real asset.
Mailchimp stays ahead on the depth of its marketing automation, complex customer journeys, detailed reporting and a gigantic integration catalog. Its editor is still one of the most pleasant on the market. If your business lives inside a big marketing stack and you want the most advanced automation engine, it delivers.
Who should skip Brevo
Skip it if you send one huge blast at a time on the free plan (the cap is daily), if you need the Brevo footer gone without paying (that starts with a paid plan), or if your team already depends on a Mailchimp integration that Brevo does not offer. On small paid plans the sending IP is shared, so keep your list clean to protect deliverability.
Curious how both compare with an all-in-one platform that includes unlimited email sends? Our Systeme.io review covers an option that bundles email with sales pages and courses, and our Systeme.io pricing breakdown shows what it costs over two years. Want your new subscribers to land in your spreadsheet or CRM automatically? See Zapier vs Make vs n8n free plans.
FAQ: Brevo vs Mailchimp
Is Brevo really free?
Yes. Brevo has a free-forever plan with no credit card required, capped at 300 emails a day. The Brevo footer appears on your emails until you move to a paid plan.
Does Mailchimp still have a free plan in 2026?
Yes, but it is much smaller than it used to be: 250 contacts and 500 emails a month at most, with one audience. It is mainly for trying the tool, not for running a real newsletter.
Which is cheaper for 10,000 subscribers?
Brevo. Sending two newsletters a month to 10,000 subscribers (20,000 emails) costs $32/month on Brevo Starter, versus $110/month on Mailchimp Essentials and $135/month on Mailchimp Standard (prices checked October 27, 2026, billed monthly).
Can I move from Mailchimp to Brevo easily?
Yes. Export your Mailchimp contacts as a CSV file and import them into Brevo in a few minutes. Plan to rebuild your automations and templates, which do not transfer automatically from one tool to the other.
Which plan should a freelancer start with?
Start on Brevo’s free plan, then move to Starter at $9/month when you need more than 300 emails a day. Pick Standard at $18/month once you want automated email sequences and A/B tests.
Our verdict: Brevo or Mailchimp, for whom?
Mailchimp is for you if you work inside a large marketing stack, need the most advanced automation and a huge integration catalog, and paying per contact does not worry you.
Brevo is for you if you are a freelancer, solopreneur or creator growing a subscriber list and you want email, SMS and a light CRM in one place on a controlled budget. Start free, move to Starter at $9/month when your list takes off, and keep the savings as you grow: at 10,000 subscribers you pay about a third of Mailchimp’s price. That is our default recommendation for 2026.
See every tool we stand behind on our recommended tools page.
Sources (checked October 27, 2026, prices in USD): Brevo official pricing and plan calculator (brevo.com/pricing); Mailchimp official marketing pricing, including the 10,000-contact tier (mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing).