Brevo vs. Mailchimp: Which email marketing tool is better?

Looking for an ideal way to manage customer relationships via SMS and email? Learn how one of these tools can help in this Brevo vs. Mailchimp comparison.

Do you still struggle to convert more customers with your email marketing strategies? Try using email marketing software. Brevo and Mailchimp excel at it. 

Brevo focuses on sales pipelines, while Mailchimp provides an all-rounded solution. However, which offers the best value for money?

Let’s find out in this Brevo vs. Mailchimp comparison.

Brevo vs Mailchimp: At a Glance

Criteria	Brevo	Mailchimp	Winner
SMB Guide’s Rating	9/10	8/10	Brevo
Marketing Automation Capabilities	Cross-channel automation	Basic automation	Brevo
Email Builder	Basic customization	Intuitive, easy-to-use	Mailchimp
Personalization & Customization	Array of segmentation options	Basic personalization	Brevo
Campaign Performance Tracking	Lacks granularity	Standard metrics	Mailchimp
Email Deliverability	✅	✅	Mailchimp
List Management	In-depth audience segments	Simple lists	Brevo
A/B Testing	✅	✅	Mailchimp
Advanced Reporting & Insights	Lacks advanced attribution	Basic reports	Mailchimp
Compliance & Security	✅	✅	Brevo
User Experience and User Interface	Simple interface	User-friendly interface	Mailchimp
Integrations and Compatibility	150+ integrations	300+ integrations	Mailchimp
Customer Support	Email and tickets	Limited support	Mailchimp
Pricing	Free – $669/mo	Free – $1,600/mo	Brevo
Scalability	✅	✅	Brevo

Brevo: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Brevo is an email marketing software that delivers enhanced automation, a stellar CRM, and an extensive library of templates.

Brevo primarily focuses on marketing, messaging, sales, and transactional email products. It is suitable for small businesses looking to fix their sales pipelines at an affordable cost.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Brevo offers four scalable plans, including a forever-free package. The freemium offers decent features like SMS/WhatsApp campaigns, an email editor, and 300 emails sent daily.

The platform also has a custom enterprise package for larger businesses with unique needs. The billing cycle is monthly, and pricing depends on the volume of emails sent.

Here are the plans:

• Free: $0
• Starter: $9 monthly
• Business: $18 monthly
• Enterprise: Custom

Mailchimp: Key Features, Pros, Cons, & Pricing

Mailchimp is an all-inclusive marketing software offering a broader range of tools. These include CRM, customer journey builder, and extensive email templates.

One of its stand-out features is automation, which allows users to create, send, and accurately track their campaigns. It suits a broader range of businesses, including non-profits and SMBs.

Pros & Cons

Pricing

Mailchimp’s pricing plan is straightforward, offering four plans, including a freemium. The free plan has feature limitations compared to competitors, but paid plans provide better tools.

Currently, Mailchimp has a promo of 50% off on all annual subscriptions.

Here are the plans:

• Free: $0
• Essentials: $13 monthly ($78 yearly)
• Standard: $20 monthly ($120 annually)
• Premium: $350 monthly ($2100 yearly)

Marketing Automation Capabilities

Brevo shines here, offering a visual workflow builder with a broader range of options. It allows marketers to create complex automation through branching logic and conditional actions.

Mailchimp also offers a drag-and-drop builder but has flexibility limitations when creating complex workflow automation. It requires more effort during creation than Brevo.  

Both platforms offer a broad range of triggers for initiating automation. These include time-based, user behavior, and external events.

However, Brevo edges Mailchimp here by offering better granular control for tracking user behavior.

n cross-channel automation, Brevo outshines Mailchimp. It supports more options, including SMS, email, social media, and push notifications.

It also allows the creation of all-rounded customer journeys across multiple channels. 

Mailchimp, on the other hand, focuses mainly on SMS, social media, and email but lacks the depth of Brevo.

Regarding dynamic content personalization, Brevo offers more advanced options than Mailchimp, extending to SMS campaigns.

✅ Winner: Brevo

Email Builder

Mailchimp excels here, providing a more extensive library of 100+ pre-made templates than Brevo.

The software categorizes the templates to fit different industries and purposes. Like Brevo, Mailchimp’s templates are modern, professional, and easily customizable.

Both also offer an email editor with a drag-and-drop function. However, Mailchimp’s builder offers more customization options, such as adding surveys and products for intricate designs.

Brevo and Mailchimp also optimize their templates for mobile. The optimization is in the template design, requiring little user tweaking. 

Marketers looking for more granular editing control of their templates can use the HTML editing function found on both software.

After creating the templates, marketers can preview the emails and test them for deliverability.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Personalization & Customization

Brevo shines here, offering advanced tools for creating dynamic content. Marketers can create content blocks that change based on the subscriber profile. 

While Mailchimps also supports dynamic content, the function isn’t as advanced as on Brevo. It only allows basic conditional content based on recipient segments.

Both software provide an extensive library of merge tags that are easy to insert into the email content.

It allows marketers to personalize recipient info, greetings, and custom fields. However, implementation on Mailchimp is complex.

In segmentation, Brevo edges Mailchimp. It offers a broad array of options for creating highly targeted groups. Marketers can segment based on custom attributes, behavior, demographics, and more. 

MailChimp allows segmentation based on standard criteria. While sufficient, it falls short for businesses looking for more advanced targeting.

Regarding the use of personalization tokens, both offer intuitive interfaces, allowing the insertion of dynamic content into the emails.

However, Mailchimp has usability challenges, especially when dealing with complex personalization scenarios.

✅ Winner: Brevo

Campaign Performance Tracking

Mailchimp excels here, providing powerful tracking capabilities for key marketing metrics. It provides marketers with in-depth reports that include audience demographic predictions based on data.

It allows tracking specific goals and monitoring them in real-time dashboards. Brevo also offers powerful tracking of common marketing metrics.

It also provides in-depth analytics like geo and device tracking. However, it lacks the granularity found on Mailchimp.

Both also offer an A/B testing function to test various email elements. However, Mailchimp allows multivariate tests on CTAs, subject lines, content, and more.

Unlike Brevo, it offers in-depth analytics on the results.

Regarding integration with other analytics tools, both software integrate with Google Analytics.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Email Deliverability

Mailchimp provides a powerful built-in spam testing feature for checking deliverability. The tool analyzes the content for spam triggers and provides suggestions on ways to improve.

Brevo lacks a built-in spam filter and relies on third-party tools to check deliverability. However, it includes guides on how to avoid emails ending in spam folders.

Both software also provide tools that monitor the sender’s reputation. Marketers get in-depth reports on spam complaints, bounce rates, and other metrics that affect deliverability.

In emergency access management, both software allow owners to revoke or modify access in case of emergencies.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

List Management

Brevo excels here, offering powerful segmentation capabilities. Marketers can create in-depth audience segments based on broad custom criteria.

Mailchimp also provides solid segmentation options; while not extensive, they are sufficient for most businesses.

Regarding list cleaning, both software provide tools for removing duplicates, inactive, and invalid addresses. However, Brevo offers advanced cleaning services at an extra cost.

On subscriber management and preference, both platforms allow users to manage subscriber opt-in/out options.

They also include subscription confirmation processes.

✅ Winner: Brevo

A/B Testing

MailChimp excels here, offering marketers advanced a/b and multivariate testing functionality. With this, marketers can test a broader range of email elements, such as send times, CTAs, subject lines, and content. 

Brevo’s A/B testing tool lacks multivariate capability. However, users can test various email elements, such as body copy and subject lines.

When setting up the tests, Mailchimp provides guides on the process, making it more manageable compared to Brevo. 

Regarding reporting on the test results, Mailchimp edges Brevo. It offers granular analytics and insights on each test variation.

Brevo lacks granularity on the results, limiting insights on optimization options.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Advanced Reporting & Insights

Brevo provides in-depth reports on segmented campaigns similar to Mailchimp. These include CTR, open rates, and conversions for each segment.

However, Mailchimp goes beyond to provide visual representations of the performance metrics. It allows it to offer granular analytics of subscriber behavior within segments.

In conversion tracking and attribution, Brevo relies on Google Analytics to track traffic and other key metrics. While it offers standard tracking capability, it still lacks advanced attribution. 

Mailchimp excels in conversion tracking and attribution, including e-commerce integrations and CRMs. It offers a clearer understanding of campaign impact and opportunities for optimization.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Compliance and Security

Brevo and Mailchimp emphasize their GDPR compliance. They offer features like consent management tools, double opt-in, and data export options. 

Brevo goes beyond providing documentation to help users understand better. However, Mailchimp has complexities in navigating compliance settings.

Both software also use standard SSL/TLS for encryption. However, Brevo goes beyond to offer 2FA and whitelisting for added security.

Both platforms allow users to manage subscriber lists, including unsubscribe options and double opt-ins. They also provide clear guidelines on permission-based marketing practices.

✅ Winner: Brevo

User Interface and User Experience

Brevo has a user-friendly interface with well-organized menus, making it easy to navigate. Mailchimp’s interface is feature-rich and has improved over time, but it can be overwhelming.

On email creation, Mailchimp edges Brevo. It offers more pre-made templates and an email editor with advanced customization options.

Both platforms also provide preview and spam testing functions for testing appearance across devices and deliverability.

However, Brevo relies on third-party email testing tools. Regarding dashboard customization and shortcuts, Mailchimp edges Brevo.

Unlike Brevo, Mailchimp allows marketers to create personalized views of their campaign performance.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Integrations and Compatibility

Brevo and Mailchimp boast strong integrations with popular CRMs such as Zoho and HubSpot. It allows marketers to sync contact data, automate workflows, and track platform interactions.

Setting up the integrations is straightforward on both platforms, often requiring one click to connect. 

Both platforms also provide powerful APIs for custom integrations. However, Mailchimp’s API is well-documented and offers more flexibility when creating custom solutions.

On e-commerce integration, Mailchimp edges Brevo.  It offers a broader network of integrations than Brevo. Syncing is more manageable, helping marketers create more targeted email campaigns.

Both software support most systems when integrating social media and analytics tools. Not only that, but both platforms also provide a dedicated mobile app.

Mailchimp’s app is highly rated for its functionality and superior design.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Customer Support

Brevo offers email and tickets as the primary support options, while the phone is available for the higher tier plans. Mailchimp offers live chat, email, and phone(premium plan) as support channels.

However, unlike Brevo, Mailchimp’s free plan only provides 30-day email support.

Mailchimps’ response times are quick, with live chat replying in under 3 minutes. Brevo support takes longer, with tickets getting feedback within 24 hours.

Mailchimp’s resource center is more extensive, with tutorials, guides, and webinars. The content is comprehensive, covering a broad range of topics.

✅ Winner: Mailchimp

Pricing

Brevo provides a free plan with limited features and tiered pricing based on the volume of emails sent. The pricing is affordable, especially for businesses with more extensive email lists.

MailChimp also has a free plan with limited features. The paid plans are based on the number of contacts. While user-friendly, the pricing can rise rapidly for businesses with larger contact lists.

✅ Winner: Brevo

Scalability

Brevo accommodates businesses of all sizes. Its plans and features support growth without significant price changes. The software also adapts easily to changes in use needs and email volume.

Mailchimp provides businesses with scalability, but only to an extent. Its plan’s pricing depends on the number of contacts and can become restrictive to fast-growing firms.

Upgrading to higher plans comes with significant cost increases.

✅ Winner: Brevo

Standout Features of Brevo

Brevo stands out in helping build customer relationships through SMS, email, and social media.

During our evaluation, a few features stood out.

WhatsApp marketing

Brevo allows businesses to use WhatsApp as part of their omnichannel in their marketing campaigns. With over 2 billion people using it, it can open new avenues for scaling a business.

Standout Features of Mailchimp

MailChimp is still the OG of email marketing and continues trailblazing even in modern times.

During our evaluation, one feature stood out and made it unique.

Surveys

Mailchimp provides a free survey tool for SMBs to integrate with the CRM, customer journey builder, and email.

It allows marketers to send questions to the right prospects and turn the replies into successful marketing strategies.

Brevo vs. Mailchimp: SMB Guide’s Verdict

Mailchimp wins with a slight margin in this comparison.

It offers a solid foundation for email marketing. Its feature set, intuitive design, powerful analytics, and extensive integration stack are why it won this duel. 

Brevo is an excellent alternative, offering strong cross-channel automation and affordable plans. However, customization limitations and a limited integration stack make it lose.

Choose Brevo If:

You need a tool that excels in complex sales pipelines and has a CRM.

Choose Mailchimp If:

You need an all-in-one marketing solution.