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The MailerLite vs Brevo decision is really a choice between two opposite pricing philosophies: MailerLite charges for how many people are on your list, while Brevo (formerly Sendinblue — same platform, rebranded in 2023) charges for how many emails you send. Which one costs less depends almost entirely on the shape of your audience, not on either feature list.
That structural difference is worth settling before you compare a single feature. A 40,000-contact list that gets one email a month is cheap on Brevo and expensive on MailerLite. A 900-contact list that gets three emails a week flips the math completely. Neither vendor is “overpriced” — they're just priced for different senders.
Two pricing models, verified
As of July 2026, the numbers look like this. MailerLite overhauled its plans around June 2026: the old tiers were renamed to Comfort (from $12/month) and Power (from $25/month), with price increases across the board, and the free plan was cut to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails per month — the old 1,000-subscriber, 12,000-email free tier is gone (MailerLite pricing, 2026). At 1,000 subscribers, the Power plan runs roughly $39/month (EmailToolTester, 2026).
Brevo prices by send volume instead: the free plan allows 300 emails per day with no meaningful contact cap, and the Starter tier runs $9/month for 5,000 emails, $19 at 20,000, and $69 at 100,000 emails per month (EmailToolTester, 2026). One honesty note on the “unlimited contacts” framing: Brevo's plans do include a 100,000-contact storage ceiling before storage add-ons kick in (Brevo Help Center, 2026). For most small senders that ceiling is theoretical, but it exists.
Where each platform actually wins
Brevo pulls ahead on automation sophistication. Its workflows can trigger on website behavior — page visits, not just email opens — and it ships a built-in CRM with deal management, so a small sales-plus-marketing team can skip a third-party tool entirely. If your funnel involves anything beyond newsletters, that's a real structural advantage rather than a checkbox.
MailerLite wins on the day-to-day experience: a cleaner editor, an easier learning curve, and — on the Power plan — built-in monetization for digital products and paid newsletters that Brevo doesn't try to match. The balanced caveat: MailerLite has documented complaints about strict account approval and occasional suspensions (Trustpilot, 2026), plus tag-sync gripes on its Shopify app (Shopify App Store reviews, 2026) — yet it still holds a 4.7 rating on Capterra across 2,266 reviews. Real friction points, not a broken product.
The honest verdict
If your list is large but you email it rarely — or you want CRM and behavior-triggered automation in the same tool — Brevo's volume-based pricing wins on cost and its automation wins on depth. If you send frequently to a smaller, engaged list, want the simplest interface in this price class, or plan to sell digital products, MailerLite is the better fit despite the 2026 price increases. Both free tiers are real; start with whichever matches your list shape and verify current numbers on the official pricing pages — both changed within the last year.
Comparing MailerLite against other tools too? See how it stacks up against Flodesk, Moosend, and GetResponse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo the same as Sendinblue?
Yes — Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in 2023. Any “MailerLite vs Sendinblue” comparison you've seen is the same comparison as MailerLite vs Brevo; the platform, pricing model, and feature set carried over under the new name.
Is MailerLite or Brevo cheaper?
It depends on your list shape. Brevo charges by send volume — $9/month covers 5,000 emails regardless of list size — so it's cheaper for large lists emailed infrequently. MailerLite charges per subscriber (Comfort from $12/month, Power from $25/month as of mid-2026), which works out cheaper for small lists emailed often, since sends are unlimited.
Does Brevo really offer unlimited contacts?
Mostly. You aren't charged per contact, which is the point of its model, but Brevo's plans include a 100,000-contact storage ceiling before storage add-ons apply. For small and mid-size senders the distinction rarely matters; for very large databases it's worth knowing the cap exists.