Email marketing remains one of the most effective digital strategies for businesses of all sizes. With the right platform, companies can nurture leads, engage customers, and build brand loyalty. Two of the most popular tools in this field are Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) and Mailchimp. Both platforms have evolved significantly, offering advanced automation, analytics, and personalization features. However, when it comes to choosing the best email marketing platform in 2025, small differences in functionality, pricing, and usability can make a major impact.
This detailed comparison will walk you through the step-by-step evaluation of Brevo and Mailchimp to help you decide which platform best fits your needs.
Step 1: Understand What Each Platform Offers
Brevo (Sendinblue) was designed as an all-in-one marketing and communication platform. It offers email marketing, SMS campaigns, chat, CRM features, and marketing automation under one roof. It focuses heavily on simplicity and affordability, making it suitable for startups and small to medium-sized businesses.
Mailchimp, on the other hand, started as a simple email marketing service but has expanded into a comprehensive marketing suite. It offers landing pages, social media ads, e-commerce integrations, and robust analytics. Mailchimp is known for its intuitive design and extensive library of templates, appealing to businesses that prioritize creativity and design flexibility.
Step 2: Compare Ease of Use
When it comes to user experience, both Brevo and Mailchimp provide clean dashboards and drag-and-drop email builders.
- Brevo: Designed for simplicity, its interface is easy to navigate even for beginners. Campaign creation, automation setup, and contact segmentation are straightforward. The workflow is smooth, and tutorials are available for most features.
- Mailchimp: Known for its polished interface, Mailchimp offers a more visual and creative approach. However, due to the variety of tools integrated into the platform, new users might find it slightly overwhelming at first.
Winner: Brevo is slightly easier for beginners, while Mailchimp appeals to advanced users who want creative control.
Step 3: Examine Email Templates and Design Tools
The design of your email plays a critical role in engagement.
- Brevo: Offers a wide selection of customizable templates. It allows users to modify colors, fonts, and layouts easily. Although the template library is smaller than Mailchimp’s, Brevo focuses on functional designs that ensure high deliverability.
- Mailchimp: Known for its extensive library of professionally designed templates, Mailchimp provides greater flexibility for brands wanting unique and visually rich emails. Its Creative Assistant uses AI to generate designs based on your brand assets.
Winner: Mailchimp leads in design options and creative tools, while Brevo emphasizes simplicity and deliverability. The comparison of brevo vs mailchimp helps readers choose the best email marketing platform for their business.
Step 4: Evaluate Automation and Workflow Capabilities
Automation is where both platforms truly shine, but with different strengths.
- Brevo: Provides automation workflows for welcome emails, abandoned carts, lead nurturing, and re-engagement campaigns. The visual workflow editor is easy to understand, even for users without technical knowledge. Brevo also includes CRM integration to help businesses track customer journeys more effectively.
- Mailchimp: Offers powerful automation features, including behavior-based triggers, predictive segmentation, and product recommendations. Its system can automatically adjust messaging based on audience engagement levels.
Winner: Mailchimp provides more advanced automation features for businesses seeking personalized and predictive marketing strategies, but Brevo is ideal for small businesses wanting simple, efficient automation.
Step 5: Assess Pricing and Value
Pricing is one of the most important considerations for small businesses.
- Brevo: Uses a pay-per-email model, meaning users are charged based on the number of emails sent rather than the number of contacts. It also offers a generous free plan that includes 300 emails per day and essential automation features. Paid plans start affordably, making it ideal for startups and growing businesses.
- Mailchimp: Charges based on the number of contacts in your list. While it offers a free plan, it’s limited in features and capped at a small contact number. As your list grows, costs can rise significantly.
Winner: Brevo provides better value for money, especially for businesses that send frequent campaigns but have smaller contact lists.
Step 6: Analyze Deliverability and Performance
Email deliverability determines whether your emails actually reach the inbox or land in the spam folder.
- Brevo: Has strong deliverability rates thanks to optimized servers and built-in authentication systems (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Its transactional email capabilities are particularly reliable for order confirmations and password resets.
- Mailchimp: Also maintains excellent deliverability but can occasionally be stricter with compliance policies, which may result in suspended accounts for users who unintentionally violate rules.
Winner: Brevo offers slightly better deliverability reliability and transactional email performance.
Step 7: Compare Integration Options
Modern businesses rely on multiple tools, so integration flexibility is vital.
- Brevo: Integrates seamlessly with WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, and popular CRMs. Its API also allows developers to connect custom systems easily.
- Mailchimp: Offers a much wider range of integrations, including advanced connections with e-commerce platforms, analytics tools, and advertising systems like Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Winner: Mailchimp takes the lead in integration capabilities and advanced marketing ecosystem connections.
Step 8: Consider Analytics and Reporting
Both platforms provide analytics dashboards that track open rates, click-through rates, and engagement metrics.
- Brevo: Provides clear, easy-to-read reports with real-time data. It focuses on key metrics without overwhelming the user.
- Mailchimp: Delivers more advanced insights, including customer lifetime value predictions, purchase likelihood, and campaign benchmarking against industry averages.
Winner: Mailchimp offers more in-depth data analysis, while Brevo provides essential insights suitable for small to mid-sized businesses.
Step 9: Review Customer Support and Reliability
- Brevo: Offers email and chat support on all paid plans, along with a knowledge base and tutorials. Support response times are generally quick and user-friendly.
- Mailchimp: Provides email support on lower plans and adds chat and phone support for premium users. While helpful, users on the free plan have limited access to live assistance.
Winner: Brevo offers better support access for lower-tier users, while Mailchimp provides strong service for higher-paying customers.
Step 10: Decide Which Platform Wins in 2025
The final decision depends on your business size, budget, and goals:
- Choose Brevo if: You are a small or medium-sized business looking for affordable pricing, simple automation, reliable deliverability, and built-in CRM tools.
- Choose Mailchimp if: You need advanced analytics, superior design capabilities, and extensive integrations for large-scale or creative campaigns.
Overall Winner:
For 2025, Brevo edges out as the better choice for small and growing businesses in the UK and globally due to its affordability, simplicity, and strong deliverability. However, Mailchimp remains a powerful contender for enterprises seeking advanced marketing automation and analytics.
Conclusion
Both Brevo and Mailchimp continue to lead the email marketing landscape, offering robust solutions that help businesses connect with their audiences more effectively. The best choice ultimately depends on your needs: Brevo’s affordability and simplicity make it ideal for small businesses, while Mailchimp’s advanced features and design flexibility cater to marketing professionals who need deep customization.
By following this step-by-step comparison, you can make a well-informed decision and ensure your email marketing strategy in 2025 delivers maximum impact.
