Sendinblue is usually the better value for growing contact lists, while Mailchimp is stronger for polished templates, reporting, and broad app integrations. A small retailer with 12,000 subscribers may pay far less with Sendinblue because pricing is tied more closely to email volume, not just contact count. Mailchimp suits teams that want an easy interface and classic newsletter tools, but costs can climb quickly as the list grows.
TLDR: Mailchimp is best for brands that want slick email design, ready-made templates, and a familiar marketing platform. Sendinblue, now known as Brevo, is usually better for cost control, transactional email, SMS, and unlimited contact storage on many plans. For example, a shop sending 40,000 emails per month to 20,000 contacts may find Sendinblue cheaper because it is priced around email volume, while Mailchimp pricing rises with subscriber count. If the team needs simple newsletters, Mailchimp feels easier; if it needs affordable automation and multichannel messaging, Sendinblue makes more sense.
Quick Comparison
- Best for beginners: Mailchimp
- Best for larger contact databases: Sendinblue
- Best email templates: Mailchimp
- Best built-in SMS tools: Sendinblue
- Best for transactional email: Sendinblue
- Best app ecosystem: Mailchimp
- Best budget control: Sendinblue
Ease of Use
Mailchimp feels more polished from the first login. Its dashboard is clean, visual, and built for non-technical users. A marketer can create a newsletter, pick a template, add products, and schedule a send without much training.
Sendinblue is also simple, but its interface feels more functional than glossy. It gives users email campaigns, automations, conversations, SMS, CRM tools, and transactional email in one place. That is useful, but it can make the first few sessions feel slightly busy.
The catch is that Mailchimp’s neat interface hides some pricing and list management friction. Separate audiences can create messy contact handling. It drives some teams crazy that a basic list setup can become more complicated once campaigns, tags, and segments start piling up.
Email Design and Templates
Mailchimp wins on templates and visual editing. It has a large template library with layouts for newsletters, product launches, abandoned cart emails, event updates, and seasonal promotions. The drag-and-drop builder is smooth. It also offers brand tools that help keep colors, logos, and fonts consistent.
Sendinblue has a solid drag-and-drop editor as well. Its templates are clean and practical. Emails can be built with blocks for text, images, buttons, products, and footers. Still, Mailchimp has the edge for teams that care about a more refined design experience.
For a small ecommerce brand, this matters. A weekly promo email may take less time to prepare in Mailchimp. A more technical team may not care and may prefer Sendinblue’s broader messaging tools.
Automation Features
Both platforms support automation, but they feel different. Mailchimp offers customer journeys for welcome emails, product recommendations, abandoned cart flows, re-engagement campaigns, and birthday emails. These work well for common marketing tasks.
Sendinblue offers automation workflows based on contact behavior, email activity, website actions, and CRM stages. It is well suited for lead nurturing and transactional follow-ups. A SaaS company, for example, can send a welcome email, wait two days, check if the user clicked a setup link, and then send a different message based on that action.
Mailchimp’s automation builder is easier for simple use cases. Sendinblue gives strong control at a lower cost, especially for teams that send both marketing and transactional messages.
Contact Management and Segmentation
Sendinblue has a major pricing advantage because many plans allow unlimited contacts. This is useful for businesses with big lists but modest sending needs. A nonprofit with 50,000 contacts that emails only twice per month may benefit from this model.
Mailchimp charges based on contacts and plan level. That makes sense for smaller lists, but it becomes expensive as databases grow. Segmentation is strong, though. Users can filter by signup source, email activity, purchase behavior, tags, predicted demographics, and engagement.
Sendinblue also supports segmentation by contact attributes and activity. It may not feel as slick, but it does the job. For practical list management, it is more forgiving when a business has many stored contacts.
SMS, CRM, and Extra Channels
Sendinblue is stronger for multichannel communication. It includes SMS campaigns, WhatsApp campaigns in supported regions, live chat, CRM features, and transactional email. This makes it useful for companies that want more than newsletters.
Mailchimp has expanded beyond email with landing pages, social posting, postcards, websites, and ecommerce tools. Yet its core strength is still email marketing. SMS is available in some regions and plan setups, but Sendinblue has a more natural fit for SMS and transactional sending.
For ecommerce, both tools can connect with popular platforms. Mailchimp often has broader third-party integrations. Sendinblue is strong when the business wants order confirmations, password resets, delivery alerts, and promo messages under one roof.
Analytics and Reporting
Mailchimp has better campaign reporting for most marketers. Reports are easy to read and include opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, revenue, ecommerce performance, and audience trends. Its visual reports help managers understand what happened without digging through too many settings.
Sendinblue covers the essentials. It tracks delivery, opens, clicks, heat maps, bounce rates, unsubscribes, and conversions. It also provides transactional email logs, which are valuable for technical teams.
Open rates are less reliable than before because of privacy changes from major email clients. Click rates and conversions matter more. Both platforms track those, but Mailchimp presents the data in a more marketing-friendly way.
Pricing Comparison
Pricing is the biggest difference between Mailchimp and Sendinblue. Mailchimp usually prices plans by contact count and feature tier. Its free plan is limited and best for very small lists. Paid plans such as Essentials, Standard, and Premium rise as contacts grow.
Sendinblue uses an email-volume model on many plans. Its free plan has a daily sending limit, often around 300 emails per day. Paid plans commonly start at a lower entry price than Mailchimp for businesses with larger databases. Exact prices change often, so buyers should check current plan pages before signing up.
A simple example shows the gap. A brand with 2,000 contacts may find Mailchimp affordable and easier to use. A brand with 25,000 contacts that sends only four campaigns per month may see much better value from Sendinblue. That difference can be hundreds of dollars per year.
Deliverability
Both platforms have solid deliverability when lists are clean. Neither can rescue a poor sender reputation, spammy subject lines, or purchased lists. Mailchimp has strict compliance rules, which can protect sender quality but may frustrate users in higher-risk industries.
Sendinblue also enforces anti-spam rules and supports dedicated IP options on higher plans or add-ons. Its transactional email tools make it attractive for businesses that care about reliable system emails.
Which Platform Should a Business Choose?
Mailchimp is the better pick for small teams that want attractive campaigns with less setup time. It fits creators, small shops, local services, and marketers who value templates and simple reporting.
Sendinblue is the better pick for price-sensitive teams with larger lists or multiple messaging needs. It suits ecommerce stores, SaaS companies, nonprofits, agencies, and B2B teams that want email, SMS, CRM, and transactional messaging together.
Honestly, it feels like Mailchimp is easier until the bill grows. Sendinblue can feel less polished, but it often gives more room to scale without punishing every new contact added to the database.
FAQ
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Is Sendinblue the same as Brevo?
Yes. Sendinblue rebranded as Brevo. Many users still search for the older name, but the platform is now marketed as Brevo. -
Is Mailchimp better than Sendinblue?
Mailchimp is better for templates, ease of use, and visual reporting. Sendinblue is better for larger contact lists, SMS, transactional email, and cost control. -
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or Sendinblue?
Sendinblue is often cheaper for businesses with many contacts. Mailchimp can be affordable for small lists, but costs rise as subscriber counts increase. -
Which tool is better for ecommerce?
Both work for ecommerce. Mailchimp is strong for campaign design and store integrations. Sendinblue is strong for order updates, abandoned cart messages, SMS, and transactional email. -
Can both platforms handle automation?
Yes. Mailchimp is easier for common journeys. Sendinblue offers flexible workflows and works well when email, SMS, and transactional messages are part of the same strategy.
