Email marketing tools come in all shapes, styles, and pricing models—but few platforms dominate the beginner-to-growth category the way MailerLite, Mailchimp, and Brevo do. While they seem similar on the surface, each platform serves a different audience and solves a different problem. MailerLite is known for simplicity and beautiful design. Mailchimp is known for broader marketing features and branding tools. Brevo stands out with its automation power, CRM, multichannel messaging, and predictable pricing. This deep comparison goes beyond the usual highlights—you’ll learn which of these platforms truly supports your growth, your workflow, and your long-term marketing goals.
Why This Comparison Matters
Most businesses choose their first email tool based on a recommendation or a quick YouTube review. But the platform you pick early affects everything later—automation quality, customer communication, deliverability, workflow speed, and even your monthly budget as you scale. That's why comparing MailerLite, Mailchimp, and Brevo side-by-side matters.
MailerLite is best for brands that want clean designs, fast landing pages, and beautiful newsletters.
Mailchimp is suited for marketing-heavy teams who want ads, branding, multichannel campaigns, and broad features.
Brevo is ideal for automation-first, CRM-focused, and multi-channel businesses that want email, SMS, WhatsApp, and pipeline management in one place.
Feature Breakdown
1. Email Editor & Template Quality
- MailerLite: Best-in-class design and simplicity. Modern templates, drag-and-drop precision, and clean layout options.
- Mailchimp: Strong design library but often overloaded with unnecessary elements.
- Brevo: Practical templates optimized for clarity and deliverability, less visual but clean.
2. Automation Capabilities
- MailerLite: Good basic automation. Perfect for simple sequences, welcome flows, newsletter cycles.
- Mailchimp: Mid-tier automation; advanced triggers require expensive upgrades.
- Brevo: Strong automation engine with workflows that include email, SMS, CRM actions, WhatsApp, and behavior tracking.
3. CRM & Contact Management
- MailerLite: No CRM. Tag-based list control only.
- Mailchimp: Light CRM—good for lists but not for client lifecycle management.
- Brevo: Full built-in CRM with pipelines, tasks, follow-up notes, scoring, and multi-stage customer tracking.
4. Segmentation & Targeting
- MailerLite: Good basic segmentation; tag and group-based.
- Mailchimp: Broad segmentation options—but many locked behind pricey plans.
- Brevo: Advanced segmentation with behavior triggers, event tracking, predictive scoring, engagement level filters, and dynamic lists.
5. Landing Pages & Websites
- MailerLite: Best in its category. Clean, modern, conversion-ready pages.
- Mailchimp: Decent, but the editor can feel slow or bloated.
- Brevo: Functional but less advanced, suitable for basic lead capture.
6. Multichannel Messaging
- MailerLite: Email only unless third-party tools are connected.
- Mailchimp: Email + ads + postcards, but SMS requires integrations.
- Brevo: Email + SMS + WhatsApp + Transactional—all inside one dashboard.
7. AI Features
- MailerLite: Basic AI writing suggestions.
- Mailchimp: Strong AI for subject lines, recommendations, and audience behavior prediction.
- Brevo: AI send-time optimization, segmentation assistance, and smart workflow suggestions.
8. Deliverability & Performance
- MailerLite: Strong deliverability; ideal for visually clean templates.
- Mailchimp: Good deliverability due to global infrastructure, but shared IP groups vary.
- Brevo: Excellent deliverability driven by transactional infrastructure and stable routing.
Use Cases
Best for Beautiful Newsletters & Design Teams
MailerLite clearly wins—templates, editor quality, and landing page designs are unmatched.
Best for Budget Automation & CRM
Brevo wins because it offers automation, CRM, multichannel, and scalable pricing without forcing expensive upgrades.
Best for Broad Marketing & Brand-Focused Campaigns
Mailchimp works if you want ads, brand tools, and multi-team marketing features.
Best for Startup Teams Wanting Predictable Pricing
Brevo offers stable pricing that doesn’t increase aggressively with subscribers.
Best for Creators & Content-Focused Brands
While MailerLite and Brevo are strong, creators who prefer narrative emails often lean toward ConvertKit instead.
However, among these three—MailerLite wins for simplicity.
Pricing Table
| Plan | Brevo | MailerLite | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | $9/month (5,000 emails) | $10/month (1,000 subscribers) | $13/month (500 contacts) |
| Standard | $18/month | $21–$35/month | $26–$60/month |
| Advanced | $499/month | $100–$190/month | $350–$600+/month |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing | Custom Pricing | Custom Pricing |
Pros & Cons
Brevo Pros
- Automation + CRM + multichannel in one platform
- Strong segmentation for advanced users
- Budget-friendly predictable pricing
- Great deliverability
Brevo Cons
- Design templates simple
- Landing pages less flexible
MailerLite Pros
- Best design & landing pages
- Easy for beginners
- Clean, modern UI
MailerLite Cons
- Automation limited
- No CRM
Mailchimp Pros
- Strong brand & marketing tools
- Large template library
- Useful AI features
Mailchimp Cons
- Pricing increases very quickly
- Automation restricted on lower plans
- Interface can feel heavy for beginners
Final Verdict
Choose Brevo if automation, CRM, multichannel messaging, and predictable pricing matter most.
Choose MailerLite if your focus is design, brand visuals, newsletters, and simple workflows.
Choose Mailchimp if you want a broad marketing suite with branding tools and don’t mind the higher price.
Pick Brevo if you want the most balanced all-in-one platform at the best value. Pick MailerLite if design-first marketing is your primary strategy. Pick Mailchimp if you need branding + ads + broad marketing options in one place.
Explore more tool comparisons in our expert library to find the best platform for your business growth.