Mailchimp vs Brevo (Sendinblue): Choosing Your Email Marketing Platform
Mailchimp and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) are two of the most popular email marketing platforms in India. Mailchimp dominates the global market with its brand recognition and sophisticated features. Brevo has gained significant traction in India with its affordable pricing, SMS marketing integration, and strong deliverability to Indian email providers.
This comparison helps Indian businesses choose the right email marketing platform.
Pricing Comparison
| Plan | Mailchimp | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1,000 contacts, 1,000 emails/month | Unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day |
| Starter | ₹2,500/month (5,000 emails) | ₹1,000/month (20,000 emails) |
| Growing business | ₹8,000/month (50,000 emails) | ₹2,500/month (100,000 emails) |
| Pro | Custom pricing | ₹5,500/month (unlimited) |
| Transactional emails | Extra cost (per 1,000) | Included in paid plans |
| SMS credits | Not available | Included (250-1000 SMS/month) |
| Overages | Expensive | Affordable |
Winner for pricing: Brevo — significantly cheaper, especially for Indian businesses with large contact lists.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Mailchimp | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Email campaigns | Yes | Yes |
| Drag-and-drop editor | Excellent | Good |
| Templates | 100+ | 70+ |
| Automation | Advanced (customer journey builder) | Good (visual workflow) |
| Segmentation | Advanced (multi-condition) | Good (basic + custom) |
| A/B testing | Built-in (subject, content, time) | Built-in (subject) |
| Landing pages | Built-in | Built-in |
| Signup forms | Built-in (popup, embedded, hosted) | Built-in |
| CRM | Basic (included) | Built-in CRM |
| SMS marketing | Not available | Built-in |
| Chat/WhatsApp | Not available | Built-in (conversations) |
| Transactional email | Separate product | Included |
| API | RESTful (comprehensive) | RESTful (good) |
| Reporting | Advanced | Good |
Ease of Use
Mailchimp has a modern, polished interface but the navigation can be confusing due to the sheer number of features. The campaign builder is intuitive, and the template editor is one of the best in the industry.
Brevo has a cleaner, simpler interface that is easier to navigate. The learning curve is gentler, making it a good choice for small business owners who are not marketing specialists.
Winner for ease of use: Brevo — simpler interface, faster to learn.
Deliverability
Both platforms maintain good deliverability rates, but there are differences:
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Mailchimp has excellent deliverability for North American and European ISPs. For Indian email providers, deliverability is good but not exceptional. Mailchimp enforces strict compliance policies that sometimes cause false positives for legitimate Indian businesses.
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Brevo has optimised deliverability for Indian email providers including Gmail India, Rediff, Yahoo India, and corporate email servers. Brevo’s India-based infrastructure provides better sending speeds to Indian recipients.
Winner for India deliverability: Brevo — better performance for Indian email providers.
Automation Capabilities
Mailchimp’s automation is more sophisticated. The Customer Journey Builder allows complex, multi-branch automation workflows with advanced triggers, conditions, and actions. Predictive analytics, send-time optimisation, and AI-powered content personalisation are exclusive to Mailchimp’s higher-tier plans.
Brevo’s automation is simpler but capable. Visual workflow builder supports basic triggers (signup, purchase, abandoned cart), conditions, and actions. For most small to medium businesses, Brevo’s automation covers 90% of use cases at a fraction of the cost.
Winner for automation: Mailchimp — more sophisticated features for complex workflows.
Integration Ecosystem
| Integration | Mailchimp | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Official plugin | Official plugin |
| Shopify | Deep integration | Good integration |
| WooCommerce | Official plugin | Official plugin |
| Wix | Integration | Integration |
| Zapier | Yes | Yes |
| CRM platforms | Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho | Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho |
| Social media | Facebook, Instagram ads | Basic |
| Google Analytics | Integration | Integration |
Mailchimp vs Brevo — Which Should You Choose?
| Your Situation | Recommended Platform | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Small business on tight budget | Brevo | Cheaper, free SMS, better for India |
| Large email volume (100k+/month) | Brevo | More affordable, no per-contact pricing |
| Advanced automation | Mailchimp | Customer journey builder, predictive analytics |
| SMS + Email combined | Brevo | Built-in SMS and WhatsApp integration |
| International audience focus | Mailchimp | Better for NA/EU deliverability |
| Indian audience focus | Brevo | Better India ISP performance |
| Transactional emails | Brevo | Included in paid plans |
| E-commerce store | Both | Both offer good e-commerce integrations |
The Verdict
Choose Mailchimp if: You need the most advanced marketing features, predictive analytics, sophisticated automation, and your primary audience is outside India. Mailchimp’s brand recognition and feature depth justify its higher cost for businesses that use its full capabilities.
Choose Brevo if: You are an Indian business looking for the best value email marketing solution. Brevo’s affordable pricing, built-in SMS and WhatsApp marketing, stronger India deliverability, and simpler interface make it the better choice for most Indian businesses.
The practical choice: For the majority of Indian small and medium businesses, Brevo offers 90% of Mailchimp’s functionality at 30-50% of the cost, plus SMS and WhatsApp features that Mailchimp does not provide.
Need Email Marketing Setup?
At DigiHaryana, we set up and manage email marketing campaigns on both Mailchimp and Brevo. Our team handles campaign strategy, design, automation workflows, deliverability optimisation, and performance analytics. Contact us to discuss your email marketing needs.
WhatsApp: +91 98961 62989 Email: info@digiharyana.com
