Brevo vs MailerLite: Which One’s Worth Your Money?
Finding the perfect email marketing platform can make a huge difference in how you connect with customers and grow your business. I’ve spent years helping clients choose between various options, and it’s amazing how the right tool can transform your marketing results.
Today I’m comparing Brevo and MailerLite — two platforms I regularly recommend to clients with different needs. Brevo (which used to be called Sendinblue) is a solid, affordable option with some nice features for both email and SMS campaigns, making it great for small businesses that want both options.
MailerLite, on the other hand, has carved out a reputation for being incredibly user-friendly and budget-friendly — perfect if you’re just starting out or have a small team that needs something straightforward.
Let’s dive into how these platforms really compare on pricing, features, usability, and performance so you can figure out which one makes the most sense for your specific situation.
Brevo vs MailerLite — The Quick Rundown
Feature-by-Feature Overview
Brevo
MailerLite
Best For
Small to mid-sized businesses, startups
Small businesses, beginners, marketers on a budget
Pricing
Free plan + paid plans from $25/month
Free plan + paid plans from $9/month
Ease of Use
User-friendly interface, easy onboarding
Very intuitive, especially for beginners
Value for Money
Affordable with SMS marketing features
Very affordable, especially at scale
Strengths & Weaknesses Overview
Overall Strengths
Overall Weaknesses
Brevo
- Affordable pricing, email and SMS marketing
- Easy to use, great for small businesses
- Includes automation features
- Basic reporting and segmentation tools
- Fewer advanced integrations at lower tiers
MailerLite
- Highly affordable, excellent for small businesses
- Great for beginners, easy to use
- Strong email features at an affordable price
- Limited advanced features like complex automation
- Basic reporting tools for scaling businesses
Brevo vs MailerLite — Feature Comparison
Brevo
MailerLite
Email Campaigns
- Drag-and-drop email editor
- Pre-designed email templates
- A/B testing
- Customizable designs
- Simple drag-and-drop editor
- Pre-designed templates
- Customizable blocks for emails
- A/B testing
Automation
- Basic email workflows
- Trigger-based automation (e.g., welcome emails)
- Simple customer journeys
- Multi-step automation
- Behavioral triggers
- Automation based on tags
- Goal-driven workflows
Landing Pages & Forms
- Built-in landing page builder
- Signup forms and pop-ups
- Mobile-responsive design
- Drag-and-drop landing page builder
- Signup forms and pop-ups
- A/B testing for forms
- GDPR-compliant forms
Segmentation & Personalization
- Tag-based segmentation
- Basic dynamic content for emails
- Personalization through custom fields
- Advanced segmentation by behavior
- Dynamic content for personalization
- Custom fields for email personalization
Reporting & Analytics
- Real-time performance reports
- Click/open tracking
- Campaign performance analytics
- In-depth engagement reports
- Conversion tracking
- Campaign insights and A/B test reporting
Integrations
- 50+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier
- API access- SMS integration
- 100+ integrations including Shopify, WordPress, Zapier
- API access for custom integrations
- SMS integration add-on
Brevo: Affordable Email + SMS Marketing
If you’re running a small business or startup and need both email and text message marketing, Brevo makes a lot of sense. What I like most about it is how they’ve managed to keep things simple while still offering features that actually matter.
Their interface is clean and straightforward, making it easy to create and launch campaigns without a huge learning curve.
The SMS marketing feature is a big plus — most platforms either don’t offer it or charge a fortune for it. That said, don’t expect super sophisticated segmentation or detailed reporting.
I’ve set up several clients on Brevo, and while they love the simplicity and price point, some eventually outgrow the basic analytics as their marketing gets more complex.
MailerLite: Simple, Affordable, and Powerful Enough
MailerLite is my go-to recommendation for clients who are just getting started with email marketing or need something incredibly straightforward. Their strongest selling point is how they’ve managed to create something that’s both easy to use AND powerful enough for most small businesses.
Their automation is surprisingly capable for such an affordable platform – you can create multi-step sequences triggered by subscriber behavior, which is perfect for nurturing leads or onboarding new customers.
The segmentation is also more advanced than you might expect, letting you target people based on their engagement and actions.
Where MailerLite falls short is with more sophisticated marketing needs — if you want advanced analytics or complex integrations with other marketing tools, you might eventually hit some limitations. But for the price point, it’s hard to find anything that offers better value.
Brevo vs MailerLite — Pricing Comparison
Subscriber Count
Brevo Pricing (Premium Plan)
MailerLite Pricing (Growing Business)
Key Differences
1,000
From $25/month
From $9/month
Brevo is more affordable with SMS; MailerLite offers more affordable base pricing.
2,500
From $39/month
From $15/month
Brevo includes SMS marketing; MailerLite is more cost-effective for small businesses.
5,000
From $59/month
From $25/month
Brevo includes transactional emails; MailerLite is cheaper at this scale.
10,000
From $79/month
From $35/month
Brevo offers SMS and email; MailerLite is still affordable for growing lists.
25,000
From $169/month
From $55/month
Brevo offers both email and SMS marketing; MailerLite remains more affordable overall.
What this Means for Your Budget
Brevo offers good value if you specifically need both email and SMS marketing in one platform. Their pricing is reasonable for what you get, especially for smaller lists. But as your subscriber count grows, the costs climb pretty significantly.
For businesses that regularly use text message marketing alongside email, the combined pricing can actually be more economical than piecing together separate tools.
MailerLite is simply hard to beat on price — it’s one of the most affordable options on the market at every tier. If you’re primarily focused on email marketing and don’t need SMS capabilities, you’re looking at substantial savings compared to almost any competitor.
Even as your list grows to 25,000 subscribers, the price remains remarkably affordable. I’ve had clients save hundreds of dollars monthly by switching to MailerLite from other platforms, with minimal sacrifice in functionality for their specific needs.
Brevo vs MailerLite — Free Plan Showdown
Brevo Free Plan
MailerLite Free Plan
Subscribers
Unlimited contacts
Up to 1,000 subscribers
Emails/Month
300 emails/day (9,000 emails/month)
12,000 emails/month
Automation
Basic automation available
Single-step automation only
Landing Pages/Forms
Signup forms only
Unlimited landing pages & signup forms
Branding
Brevo branding on emails
MailerLite branding on emails
Which Free Plan is Actually Better?
Brevo’s free option stands out for allowing unlimited contacts — a rare find in the email marketing world. The daily limit of 300 emails (about 9,000 monthly) gives you plenty of room to communicate with your audience without paying a cent.
The basic automation is enough to set up simple welcome sequences or follow-ups. If you’re building a large list but sending emails sparingly, this is an excellent option.
MailerLite caps you at 1,000 subscribers but allows a generous 12,000 emails monthly. Where it really shines is offering unlimited landing pages and signup forms even on the free plan — tools you’d typically have to pay for elsewhere.
For small businesses or solopreneurs just getting started, this gives you everything needed to build your email marketing from scratch. I’ve had several clients successfully use MailerLite’s free plan for months before needing to upgrade.
Brevo vs MailerLite — The Real Pros and Cons
Brevo
MailerLite
- Really affordable pricing across all tiers
- No subscriber limits even at lower levels
- Including both email and SMS is genuinely useful
- Clean interface that doesn’t intimidate beginners
- You can get campaigns up and running quickly
- Automation capabilities are better than expected
- Pricing that won’t break the bank even at scale
- Incredibly intuitive interface for beginners
- Excellent value proposition overall
- Segmentation tools are surprisingly robust
- Those unlimited landing pages on the free plan
- Clean, modern templates right out of the box
- Analytics feel pretty basic compared to competitors
- Integration options are somewhat limited
- Advanced features often hidden behind higher plans
- No landing page builder at the free level (a real miss!)
- Segmentation could be more sophisticated
- Support can be hit-or-miss on basic plans
- That 1,000 subscriber limit can feel restrictive
- Missing SMS marketing capabilities entirely
- Automation tools lack sophistication
- Reporting features are functional but basic
- Some key features locked behind paid tiers
- Can feel limiting as your marketing needs grow
Brevo vs MailerLite — Who Should Use Which Platform?
Consider Brevo if…
Brevo makes the most sense if you want to combine email and SMS marketing in one platform without breaking the bank. It’s particularly good for small businesses and startups that need both communication channels and prefer a straightforward, easy-to-use interface.
The unlimited contacts on lower-tier plans is a big advantage if you’re building a large list but don’t send emails very frequently. I’ve found it works well for retail businesses, restaurants, and service providers who want to reach customers through both email and text.
Consider MailerLite if…
MailerLite is perfect if you’re focused primarily on email marketing and want an incredibly affordable solution that’s easy to use. It’s ideal for beginners, small businesses, bloggers, and creators who need essential email marketing tools without the complexity or cost of bigger platforms.
The intuitive interface, strong automation capabilities, and rock-bottom pricing make it one of my most-recommended platforms for clients just starting their email marketing journey. It’s particularly good for content creators, small online businesses, and nonprofits working with limited marketing budgets.
Brevo vs MailerLite — What Real Users Think
Brevo gets solid marks for its clean interface and straightforward campaign creation. Most users find it easy enough to navigate, though some mention that advanced features like segmentation and detailed reporting could be more intuitive.
I’ve noticed that non-technical clients can usually figure out the basics without much handholding, which is always a good sign.
MailerLite consistently receives glowing reviews for its user-friendly design. The clean, minimal interface makes it incredibly approachable for beginners — I’ve had clients who were intimidated by other platforms pick up MailerLite in literally minutes.
The drag-and-drop editors for both emails and landing pages are particularly praised for being intuitive yet powerful enough for professional-looking results.
Most Brevo users report a moderate learning curve — you can create basic campaigns quickly, but mastering the platform’s full capabilities (especially around segmentation, automation, and SMS integration) takes a bit more time.
In my experience, it’s about average for email marketing platforms — not the easiest, but definitely not the most complicated either.
MailerLite stands out for its gentle learning curve. New users regularly mention how quickly they were able to set up their first campaign and start seeing results. The platform does an excellent job of making advanced features accessible without overwhelming users.
That said, some more experienced marketers note that as they try to implement more complex strategies, they sometimes hit the platform’s limitations.
Brevo users consistently praise the platform’s affordability, combined email and SMS features, and reliability in delivering campaigns. The main complaints tend to center around limitations in analytics, segmentation capabilities, and the need for more intuitive automation tools.
As one client told me, “It does everything we need right now, but I can see us outgrowing it in a year or two.”
MailerLite users rave about the platform’s simplicity, excellent value for money, and surprisingly powerful features given the price point. The most common criticisms involve the subscriber limits on the free plan, occasional deliverability issues, and the lack of more advanced features for complex marketing strategies.
Several of my clients have commented that it’s “the perfect starter platform” but acknowledge they might eventually need something more robust as their business grows.
In the end, both platforms offer solid options for different needs — Brevo excels for those wanting combined email and SMS marketing, while MailerLite is hard to beat for pure email marketing on a budget.
Your specific business needs and growth plans should guide your choice between these two capable platforms.
