Brevo vs Mailchimp: Billing, DKIM, Outreach

Brevo vs Mailchimp: which properties decide the choice?

Most Brevo vs Mailchimp comparisons focus on templates and editors. If you're a B2B sender running your own domain, other things decide it: what you're billed for, whether your own domain signs the mail, which extra channels you'd really use, and whether the platform's policies allow the kind of sending you do. The table compares both tools on those points. The figures come from Google's AI overview for this search, which cites brevo.com and mailchimp.com. Check them against each vendor's pricing page before you decide.

Property	Brevo	Mailchimp
Billing unit	Emails sent per month (per Google AI overview citing brevo.com)	Contacts stored, with duplicates across audiences counted (per Google AI overview citing mailchimp.com)
Contact storage	Not what drives the bill on most tiers	Every stored profile counts toward the plan
Built-in extras	CRM, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, transactional email	Marketing automation, landing pages, website builder
Transactional email	Included (SMTP relay and API)	Separate add-on, Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill), per Mailchimp's documentation
Native integrations	150+ (per Google AI overview)	300+ (per Google AI overview)
Own-domain DKIM	Yes, through DNS records Brevo generates	Yes, through DNS records Mailchimp generates

In short, Mailchimp is strongest at campaign marketing and has a large integration catalogue. Brevo puts multichannel messaging and transactional mail on one account. Neither is better across the board. The right pick depends on which of these jobs you actually have.

How does Brevo vs Mailchimp pricing work?

You won't find amounts here. Prices change often, and this site doesn't quote other vendors' prices. What you can compare is the unit each vendor bills on. Mailchimp bills by audience size. A contact counts whether you email it once a year or every day, and Google's AI overview notes that a duplicate in two audiences counts twice. Brevo bills by the number of emails you send, so stored contacts mostly don't affect the bill.

• Large list, few sends: per-send billing (Brevo) usually comes out lower, because idle contacts cost nothing.
• Small list, frequent sends: per-contact billing (Mailchimp) can come out the same or lower, because extra sends don't add cost.
• Why Brevo looks cheap: per-send billing doesn't charge for dormant contacts. That comes from the billing unit. It isn't a discount.
• What's cheaper than Mailchimp: multiply your contacts by your sends per month, then price that same number on each vendor's pricing page. A tool that bills on a different unit can come out cheaper or more expensive, depending on that number.

One comparison that doesn't work is lining up entry-tier prices. Each entry tier limits something different, so two plans that look alike can cover very different workloads.

How do you set up DKIM in Brevo?

DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each message, and the d= tag in that signature names the signing domain. DMARC passes on DKIM only when that domain aligns with your From domain. If Brevo signs with its own domain, DKIM can't carry DMARC for you. Setting up DKIM in Brevo means letting Brevo sign as your domain:

1. 1 In Brevo's sender settings, open the domains section and add the domain you send from.
2. 2 Brevo shows the DNS records for that domain, including the DKIM record. Copy them exactly as shown instead of retyping them.
3. 3 Publish the records at your DNS host and save. Some hosts automatically append your domain to the record name, so make sure it isn't doubled.
4. 4 Go back to Brevo and run the domain authentication check. DNS propagation can delay a pass.
5. 5 Send a test to an inbox you control and read the Authentication-Results header. You're looking for dkim=pass with header.d set to your domain.

The usual failures are a doubled domain in the record name, a TXT value that was split or cut off, and an old DKIM record clashing with the new one. For host-specific steps, see our guide to GoDaddy DKIM setup for Brevo senders. For how the three records work together, see DKIM, DMARC and SPF for cold email senders. To check what you've published, use the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker.

How does DKIM work in Mailchimp, and what changes with SPF?

Mailchimp's domain authentication works the same way. Mailchimp generates DNS records, you publish them at your DNS host, and once they verify, Mailchimp signs your campaigns with your domain instead of its own. The bigger difference is in SPF. If you send through Mailchimp, Brevo and a mailbox provider at the same time, each service you add to your SPF record costs DNS lookups. The SPF specification caps how many lookups a single check may trigger. Go over that cap and receiving servers return a permerror, which means SPF fails for everything you send. Before adding a second sending platform, count the include: mechanisms already in your record. Remove any for services you no longer use.

Can you use a Gmail address with Mailchimp or Brevo?

You can enter a gmail.com address as the sender, but you can't authenticate it. DKIM and DMARC are published in the DNS of the From domain, and only Google controls gmail.com's DNS. Since you can't publish a DKIM record there, your mail can't align with DMARC for gmail.com. Both platforms push you toward a domain you own for authenticated sending. If all you have is a Gmail address, register a domain first. For a business sender, that's where you'd start anyway. Importing contacts from a Gmail account is a separate question, and both tools offer ways to do it.

Which one works for cold B2B outreach?

Brevo and Mailchimp are both built for marketing to people who opted in. Both vendors publish acceptable-use and anti-spam policies that restrict sending to contacts who haven't given permission. Read Mailchimp's Acceptable Use Policy and Brevo's anti-spam policy before you import a cold list. If your account is suspended, you lose your sending with it. In the EU, consent rules apply on top of that. The ePrivacy Directive governs unsolicited email marketing, and Germany's Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG) requires prior express consent for email advertising, with no exception for B2B. Whether a particular send is lawful depends on how you run it, not on the tool.

Two more things. First, standard plans send over shared IPs, so other senders' behaviour affects that IP's reputation. Your domain reputation is still your own, and our guide to sender reputation shows how to check both. Second, Google's email sender guidelines require bulk senders to Gmail accounts to support one-click unsubscribe. Both platforms add unsubscribe handling to campaign mail.

Where EmailFlow OS fits: a EmailFlow OS product built on your Brevo account

EmailFlow OS isn't part of the comparison above, and it doesn't replace either tool. It sends personalised video email for B2B outreach through a Brevo account you already control. You record one video and upload it to EmailFlow OS. Then you connect your Brevo account and your sending domain, and import your prospect list into EmailFlow OS, where it's stored. EmailFlow OS turns that single recording into a separate version for each recipient, not one per company. Each version goes out from your own inbox, through your Brevo account and your sending domain. No shared platform sender is involved.

In practice, your mail is still signed by the DKIM setup you made in Brevo, and the reputation it builds stays with your domain. If you use Brevo for this and Mailchimp for newsletters, keep an eye on your SPF lookup count. The EmailFlow OS personalised video email page explains how the setup fits together. The decisions behind running outreach on your own domain are covered in cold email marketing: choosing your setup.

Questions people ask

? Is Mailchimp free or paid?

Both. Mailchimp's pricing page lists a free plan next to paid tiers, starting with Essentials. Paid tiers are billed by the number of contacts stored, not by sends, and Google's AI overview notes that duplicates across audiences count toward that number. The free plan limits both contacts and sends, so check the current limits on Mailchimp's pricing page.

? Why is Brevo so cheap?

Brevo bills by emails sent rather than contacts stored, according to Google's AI overview citing brevo.com. If you have a large list and send only a few campaigns a month, idle contacts cost you nothing, so the bill looks low next to contact-based pricing. If you email a small list very often, that advantage goes away, because volume is what Brevo charges for.

? What's cheaper than Mailchimp?

That depends on your numbers, not the brand. Mailchimp bills by contacts and Brevo bills by emails sent. Multiply your list size by your sends per month, then price that same number on each vendor's pricing page. A large list you send to rarely usually comes out lower with per-send billing. A small list you send to often may not.

? Does Brevo or Mailchimp include transactional email?

Brevo includes transactional email through its SMTP relay and API, on the same account you use for campaigns. Mailchimp offers transactional email as a separate add-on, Mailchimp Transactional (formerly Mandrill), according to Mailchimp's documentation. If you send receipts or password resets as well as campaigns, this decides how many accounts and DNS records you'll have to manage.