Brevo and MailerLite both have free plans, both build automations and both are cheap compared with the big names. The difference is how they limit you. Brevo lets you store a big list but caps how many emails you send each day. MailerLite caps the size of your list but gives you more room to send. We compared both on their official pricing pages in October 2026.
MailerLite is better for most coaches and small businesses with a small, active list: its free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, and Comfort starts at $12 a month. Brevo suits a big list you email now and then, or SMS and transactional email in one place.
Who this is for: Coaches, creators and small business owners choosing between Brevo and MailerLite for a free or low-cost email platform.
Choose Brevo if you have a large list you email once or twice a month, or you want email, SMS and transactional messages (receipts, password resets) in one account. Choose MailerLite if you have a smaller list you email every week, and you want a clean editor, landing pages and automations without paying much.
For most coaches and small businesses we work with, MailerLite is the easier pick. Its free plan gives you 2,500 emails a month, 3 automations and a landing page, and its paid plans stay cheap while your list is under a few thousand people. Brevo wins when the list is big and the sending is light, because its free plan lets you store up to 100,000 contacts and its paid plans are priced by how many emails you send, not how many people you hold.
If your current tool already works and your emails get opened, read the section on who should not switch before you move anything.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
The two tools charge in opposite ways, so the cheaper one depends on your list and how often you send. We checked Brevo's official pricing page, Brevo's full plan comparison and MailerLite's official pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). All prices are in US dollars, and both tools take 10% off if you pay yearly.
Brevo's Free plan needs no card. You can store up to 100,000 contacts and send up to 300 emails a day once Brevo approves your account. It includes the drag and drop editor, templates, forms, segmentation, email support and automation for up to 2,000 contacts. The Brevo logo stays on your emails, and there is no A/B testing or landing page builder.
Starter is $9 a month, or $97 for a year, for 5,000 emails a month, with up to 500 contacts at that tier. It removes the daily cap, but removing the Brevo logo is an add-on and automation stays limited to 2,000 contacts. Standard is $18 a month, or $194 for a year, and adds unlimited automation, A/B testing, send time optimisation, 1 landing page and no Brevo logo. Professional is $499 a month for 150,000 emails, with 10 seats, WhatsApp campaigns, phone support and 3 hours a year with a deliverability specialist. As you buy more emails a month, the price and your contact limit both rise. SMS credits are sold separately on every plan.
MailerLite's Free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 2 seats, 3 active automations, 1 landing page, 1 website and 3 forms. Support is the knowledge base only, and the MailerLite logo stays on your emails.
Comfort starts at $12 a month and lets you send 10 times your subscriber tier each month, with 3 seats, 50 automations, 10 landing pages, 10 forms and email support. Power starts at $25 a month and adds unlimited emails under a fair use policy, unlimited seats and pages, and 24/7 live chat. Enterprise is a custom price for lists of 200,000 or more and includes deliverability support. The price rises as your subscriber count grows, so use MailerLite's calculator at your real list size.
For a wider view of what lists of different sizes pay, read our guide to how much email marketing costs.
If you have 3,000 old customers and send one update a month, Brevo's Free plan can store all of them, and 300 emails a day gets that update out across ten days. On MailerLite the same list is far over the 250 free subscribers, so you would be on a paid plan straight away.
Brevo started life as Sendinblue and was built as more than a newsletter tool. Every plan can send SMS (you buy the credits), and transactional email through its API or SMTP relay is included, which matters if your booking system or shop needs to send receipts and reminders. WhatsApp campaigns arrive on Professional. MailerLite sends transactional email through a separate product, MailerSend, with its own account.
Because Brevo charges by the emails you send, a coach with a large but quiet list can stay on a low plan. Just check the contact limit for your email tier, because Starter and Standard at 5,000 emails a month allow up to 500 contacts.
Brevo also offers deals, pipelines and meetings tools alongside its email plans. If you want one account for your list, your enquiries and your follow-up, it is worth a look. Our comparison of Brevo vs Mailchimp covers how it stacks up against the best-known name.
If you send a weekly newsletter to 200 people, MailerLite's 2,500 free emails a month covers it with room to spare, and you never wait for a daily cap to reset. Once you pass 250 subscribers, Comfort from $12 a month gives you 10 times your tier in sends each month.
MailerLite's drag and drop editor, landing page builder and forms are easy to learn, and the templates look tidy without much fiddling. A coach can build a sign-up page for a free guide and a welcome series in an afternoon. Brevo does more, which also means more menus to find your way through.
MailerLite gives you a landing page and 3 automations on Free, and 10 landing pages and 50 automations on Comfort. Brevo has no landing pages until Standard at $18 a month, and that plan includes 1 page. If your plan is a free guide, a sign-up page and a five-email welcome series, MailerLite gets you there for less.
MailerLite includes 2 seats on Free and 3 on Comfort, so an assistant can log in with their own account. Brevo's Starter is a single user. If you are comparing MailerLite with other tools too, see MailerLite vs Mailchimp.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices are monthly, in US dollars, for the cheapest tier, before the 10% yearly discount.
| What you need | Brevo | MailerLite |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free, then $9 a month (Starter) | Free, then $12 a month (Comfort) |
| Free plan | Up to 100,000 contacts, 300 emails a day | Up to 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month |
| Contacts on the cheapest paid plan | Up to 500 at 5,000 emails a month | Priced by subscriber tier, sends of 10 times your tier |
| How price grows | With emails sent each month | With subscriber count |
| Automation | Up to 2,000 contacts on Free and Starter, unlimited from Standard | 3 automations on Free, 50 on Comfort, unlimited on Power |
| Landing pages and forms | Forms on every plan, 1 landing page from Standard | 1 page and 3 forms on Free, 10 of each on Comfort |
| SMS and transactional email | SMS on every plan (credits extra), transactional email included | Transactional email through MailerSend, a separate product |
| Deliverability help | Deliverability specialist on Professional, dedicated IP as an add-on | Deliverability support on Enterprise |
| Support | Email on every plan, phone from Professional | Knowledge base on Free, email on Comfort, live chat on Power |
| Best for | Large, quiet lists and businesses that want SMS | Small, active lists and coaches who want simple pages |
Weighing up more options? Our list of Mailchimp alternatives covers both tools against the wider field.
Do not move just to save a few dollars a month. If your current tool sends on time, your list grows and people reply, the cost of moving (rebuilding forms, rewriting automations, testing every link) can outweigh the saving. Never switch in the middle of a launch.
Neither tool will fix inbox placement on its own. Both send from shared sending servers on their lower plans, so your results depend on your own domain set-up, how clean your list is and whether people open what you send. Set up your records with our SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide, and check them with our free email deliverability checker. If you are wondering whether a dedicated IP would help, our guide to dedicated vs shared IP explains when it does and when it makes things worse.
Neither tool will write a lead magnet people want or a follow-up that reaches a new lead quickly. A daily cap on Brevo or a subscriber cap on MailerLite matters much less than whether the people on your list want to hear from you. Fix the leakiest step first.
1. How big is your list? Under 250 people and sending weekly: MailerLite Free. Thousands of contacts that you rarely email: Brevo Free, as long as 300 emails a day is enough.
2. How often do you send? Weekly or more to a small list: MailerLite, because its price follows subscribers, not sends. Monthly to a big list: Brevo, because its price follows sends.
3. Do you need more than email? If you want SMS reminders, transactional email or a simple sales pipeline in the same account, Brevo. If you want the simplest way to run a newsletter, sign-up pages and a welcome series, MailerLite.
A done-for-you studio fits when you know email should be bringing in clients but you do not have the time to write the sequences, build the automations and watch the numbers each week. That is what we do at Unbury: we find where your marketing loses people, build the fix on the tool that suits you, Brevo or MailerLite, and run it week to week. You can start with a free marketing audit.
It depends on your list. Brevo is better for a large list you email occasionally, and for businesses that want SMS and transactional email in one account. MailerLite is better for a smaller list you email often, and its landing pages and automations are easier to reach on cheap plans.
Brevo's free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts but sends up to 300 emails a day, with the Brevo logo on every email. MailerLite's free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 3 automations and a landing page. A small, active list fits MailerLite better; a big, quiet list fits Brevo better.
Up to 250 subscribers, with 2,500 emails a month. Once you go past 250, you move to a paid plan. Comfort starts at $12 a month and Power at $25 a month, with 10% off if you pay yearly.
Yes, on the Free plan. You can send up to 300 emails a day once Brevo approves your account. Paid plans swap the daily cap for a monthly email allowance, starting at 5,000 emails a month on Starter for $9 a month.
Yes. Both import contacts from a CSV file. Your automations, segments and templates usually need to be rebuilt by hand, so plan a few hours and test every sign-up form before you close the old account.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.