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Email marketing

Mailchimp vs Brevo vs Kit

Mailchimp, Brevo, Kit side by side: price, free tier, who each one fits and when to skip it.
Item
Mailchimp
Brevo
Kit
What it doesLong-running email marketing platform with campaigns, automations and a drag-and-drop editor.Email marketing, automations and transactional email in one account, plus SMS and WhatsApp.Email marketing for creators (formerly ConvertKit), with sequences, automations and digital product sales.
Best forBest for a marketing hire who already knows Mailchimp and needs ready-made templates, reports and integrations from day one.Best for a SaaS that wants receipts and newsletters in one tool, priced by emails sent rather than by contacts.Best for a founder who builds an audience with a newsletter before launching and wants up to 10,000 subscribers free.
Skip it ifSkip it if you are a founder on a budget: the free plan stops at 250 contacts and the price doubles after the first-year discount.Skip it if you want a developer-first API with typed SDKs and React templates: Resend is a smoother fit.Skip it if you need emails triggered by what users do inside your app: Kit is built for creators, not product events.
SetupNo code. An afternoon for the first newsletter; transactional email is a separate developer project.A little code. Newsletters in an afternoon with no code; transactional email waits for support to activate it, then an afternoon of code.No code. An hour for the first form and email; the domain records verify within a day.
PriceEssentials for 5k contacts: $56.91/month, half off for 12 monthsFree, then Starter from $9/month for 5k emailsCreator for 5k subscribers: $89/month ($75 billed yearly)
What it costs in practiceA business with 5,000 contacts (unsubscribed included) on Essentials: $56.91/month, about half that in the first 12 months, with up to 50,000 sends. Adding app receipts means Standard plus at least $20 per 25,000 transactional emails. Rough estimate.A SaaS with 2,000 contacts sending 4 newsletters a month (8,000 emails) can't use the 10,000-email tier, which holds 1,500 contacts. It needs the 15,000 tier: $9 + $16 = $25/month. Rough estimate, before logo removal.A founder with 3,000 subscribers who wants a welcome sequence: Creator at $59/month (or $39 at 1,000). Without automations, the same list stays free up to 10,000. Rough estimate.
Free planUp to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day).300 emails a day, with up to 100,000 contacts stored.Up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited broadcasts and landing pages.
Free tier250 contacts, 500 sends/month300 emails/day10,000 subscribers
Price for 5k contacts$56.91/month (Essentials)50k emails: $56/mo; 5k contacts: $32/mo$89/month (Creator)
Automations4 flow steps on Essentials; 200 flows on StandardYes, multi-step workflowsUnlimited visual automations from Creator
Open sourceNo: noNo: noNo: no
Before you build
  • Unsubscribed contacts still count toward your monthly contact limit, so the bill grows with people who no longer get your emails. Archive them to stop counting.
  • The free plan allows 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day). Past 250 contacts, live and test sends are put on hold until you upgrade.
  • Transactional email is only available as an add-on to Standard or Premium, sold in blocks of 25,000 emails at $20 each. Free and Essentials can't use it beyond a 500-email demo.
  • Paid plans bill overages automatically when you pass the contact or send limit, and the 50% discount only lasts the first 12 months.
  • Transactional email needs a separate activation: new accounts get an "SMTP account not yet activated" error until support turns it on.
  • Brevo tests each campaign on a sample first. Hard bounces over 2%, unsubscribes over 1% or complaints over 0.2% suspend the campaign and the account, and a repeat can mean permanent deactivation.
  • Paid plans are priced by emails, but each email tier also caps contacts: Starter with 5,000 emails holds only 500 contacts, and you need the 20,000-email tier to go past 2,500.
  • Starter keeps the Brevo logo in your emails unless you pay $12/month extra; it is included from Standard.
  • The free plan sends 300 emails a day, counting transactional and marketing together.
  • The free plan has no automations, no email sequences and no rules; they need Creator or Creator Pro. If you downgrade, your automations stop running.
  • Past 10,000 subscribers on the free plan, you must upgrade to keep sending.
  • Billing follows confirmed subscribers and moves you up a tier automatically when you cross it; going back down is manual.
  • Cold subscribers who stopped opening still count toward the bill until you remove them.
Price checked

Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing

Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing

Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing

Prices are read from each official pricing page on the date shown and can change. Always confirm before signing up.

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