Mailchimp vs ConvertKit vs Brevo: which one is actually worth using?

Email platforms all claim the same thing: better automation, better deliverability, better growth.

The reality is, most of them are selling slightly different versions of the same dream.

But Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Brevo are not interchangeable. They look similar on a pricing page. They are very different once you’re inside them, building forms, cleaning lists, setting up automations, and trying not to overpay for contacts you barely email.

If you're stuck on Mailchimp vs ConvertKit vs Brevo, the question isn’t “which has more features?” It’s which one fits how you actually work.

That’s the part people miss.

Quick answer

If you want the shortest version:

• Choose Mailchimp if you want a polished, mainstream platform with solid templates, decent reporting, and broad small-business appeal.
• Choose ConvertKit if you’re a creator, solo business, coach, newsletter operator, or online educator who cares more about simple automations and audience relationships than fancy design.
• Choose Brevo if you want the most practical value, especially for businesses that send both email and transactional messages, or teams that don’t want to pay mainly by contact count.

If you want my honest opinion:

• Best for creators: ConvertKit
• Best for traditional small businesses: Mailchimp
• Best for budget-conscious teams and hybrid email/SMS/CRM use: Brevo

And if you're asking which should you choose with no special context: Brevo is often the smartest value, ConvertKit is the easiest to live with for creators, and Mailchimp is the safest “default” choice—but not always the best one.

What actually matters

Most comparison articles just list features. That’s not very helpful because all three tools technically do a lot of the same things.

What actually matters is this:

1. How they charge you

This is one of the biggest key differences.

Mailchimp and ConvertKit can get expensive as your list grows. That may be fine if every subscriber is valuable and active. It gets annoying fast if you have a large list with lots of inactive contacts.

Brevo is different because its pricing leans more on email volume than pure contact count. In practice, that can save a lot of money for companies with big databases but moderate send frequency.

That one thing alone can decide the whole comparison.

2. How easy it is to build automations you’ll actually use

All three have automation. But there’s a big gap between “has automation” and “I can build this in 10 minutes without swearing.”

ConvertKit feels the most natural for creators. Tag people, trigger sequences, move them based on clicks or forms—it’s straightforward.

Mailchimp has improved here, but it still feels a bit more like a traditional marketing platform trying to serve many types of businesses at once.

Brevo’s automation is decent and more capable than some people expect, but it’s not always as smooth or creator-friendly as ConvertKit.

3. Whether you care about design or plain emails

Mailchimp is stronger if you want polished newsletters with drag-and-drop design.

ConvertKit intentionally leans simpler. That’s not a weakness for everyone. A lot of creator emails perform better when they look like actual emails, not mini websites.

Brevo sits somewhere in the middle. Good enough design tools, not the best in class, but practical.

4. Whether your business is “newsletter-first” or not

This is where people choose wrong.

ConvertKit is built around audience-building and email relationships. It makes sense if email is central to your business model.

Mailchimp is more of a general small-business marketing platform.

Brevo feels more operational. Better fit for companies that need marketing email, transactional email, maybe SMS, maybe CRM-ish functions, all in one place.

5. How much friction you can tolerate

This matters more than people admit.

Some tools look great in demos and become irritating at scale. Others look plain but are easier to use every week.

I’ve found:

• ConvertKit is often the least mentally tiring
• Mailchimp is polished but can become expensive and occasionally restrictive
• Brevo is practical, but the interface can feel less refined in places

That’s a real trade-off. Not a dealbreaker, just real life.

Comparison table

Here’s the simple version.

Category	Mailchimp	ConvertKit	Brevo
Best for	Small businesses, ecommerce-lite, polished newsletters	Creators, coaches, bloggers, paid newsletters, digital products	Startups, SaaS, agencies, budget-conscious teams, transactional email
Pricing model	Mainly based on contacts/features	Mainly based on subscribers/features	Mostly based on email volume; contact-friendly
Ease of use	Easy at first, can get clunky as needs grow	Very easy for creator workflows	Fairly easy, more utilitarian
Automation	Solid, improving	Strong and intuitive	Good, practical, less elegant
Email design	Very good	Basic to decent	Good enough
Segmentation	Good	Good, tag-based and creator-friendly	Good
Landing pages/forms	Decent	Strong for creators	Decent
Transactional email	Limited compared with Brevo	Not a main strength	Strong
CRM/Sales tools	Some marketing CRM elements	Minimal	Better built-in business tools
Best value	Not usually	Sometimes, for creators	Often yes
Biggest weakness	Pricing can climb fast	Less ideal for traditional ecommerce/design-heavy needs	Interface isn’t as polished
My quick take	Safe choice, rarely exciting	Best creator experience	Best practical value

Detailed comparison

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is still the platform a lot of people start with because it feels familiar. Even people who haven’t used it know the name.

That matters. There’s a reason it became the default for years.

Where Mailchimp is strong

The interface is polished.

If you’re a small business owner who wants to build nice-looking campaigns, use templates, run basic automations, and see understandable reports, Mailchimp makes sense. It feels like a product built for broad adoption, not just email nerds.

Its design tools are better than ConvertKit’s. If your emails are visual—retail promos, restaurant updates, event announcements, product showcases—Mailchimp usually gives you a better starting point.

It also works fine for businesses that need more than a simple newsletter but don’t want to stitch together five tools yet.

Where Mailchimp gets frustrating

Pricing.

That’s the thing people complain about for a reason.

As your contact list grows, Mailchimp can go from “reasonable” to “wait, why am I paying this much?” especially if your list isn’t perfectly clean or if you keep a lot of contacts around for occasional sends.

And this is a slightly contrarian point: Mailchimp is often recommended to beginners, but it’s not always beginner-friendly long term.

At the start, yes, it’s accessible. Later, once you care about segments, costs, audiences, exclusions, and plan limits, it can become more annoying than people expect.

Another issue: it’s broad, not deep. It does many things fairly well, but if you’re a creator building email funnels or a startup needing transactional email plus marketing under one roof, another tool may fit better.

Best for Mailchimp

Mailchimp is best for traditional small businesses that want:

• attractive newsletters
• mainstream usability
• decent automation
• easy stakeholder buy-in
• a familiar brand with lots of documentation

It’s less compelling if your top priority is either advanced creator workflows or cost efficiency.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit feels very different from Mailchimp as soon as you use it.

It was clearly designed by people thinking about creators first: writers, educators, coaches, YouTubers, podcasters, indie founders, paid newsletter operators. That focus shows.

Where ConvertKit is strong

The automation flow is just easier.

That’s really the headline.

You can tag subscribers, send them into sequences, branch based on behavior, and build funnels without feeling like you need a certification course. It’s not the most advanced automation platform in the world, but it handles the stuff most creators actually need.

It also encourages a cleaner way of thinking about your audience. Instead of juggling a bunch of separate lists, you’re usually working from one subscriber base with tags and segments. In practice, that reduces duplication and confusion.

Forms and landing pages are also good enough to get moving fast. Not amazing design-wise, but quick and practical.

And importantly, ConvertKit is good at plain email that feels personal. That matters more than many businesses realize. Some of the highest-performing emails I’ve seen were basically text with one link.

Where ConvertKit is weaker

Email design is the obvious trade-off.

If you want highly branded, visually rich campaigns, ConvertKit can feel limited. You can make nice emails, just not Mailchimp-style polished ones without more compromise.

It’s also not the strongest fit for businesses that are not fundamentally creator-led. If you run a local business, a multi-location service business, or a product catalog-heavy brand, ConvertKit can feel a little too narrow.

And pricing can still rise as your list grows. Not necessarily unfairly, but enough that some people outgrow it financially before they outgrow it functionally.

Here’s another contrarian point: ConvertKit is not automatically the best choice for every newsletter.

People hear “best for creators” and assume that means “best for anyone sending content.” Not quite. If your newsletter is heavily designed, ad-sponsored with multiple blocks, or managed by a marketing team with broader needs, ConvertKit may feel too simple.

Best for ConvertKit

ConvertKit is best for:

• creators
• personal brands
• coaches and consultants
• course sellers
• membership businesses
• newsletter-first startups
• anyone who wants simple but capable automation

If email is part of your relationship with an audience—not just a marketing channel—ConvertKit is hard to beat.

Brevo

Brevo is the one people often underestimate.

A lot of buyers start with Mailchimp and ConvertKit because those brands are more top-of-mind. Then they look at Brevo and realize it quietly solves a bunch of practical problems.

Where Brevo is strong

Value.

That’s the first thing.

Brevo’s pricing model is often more forgiving, especially if you have a large contact database but don’t email everyone constantly. If your list is big and unevenly active, Brevo can be dramatically cheaper.

That makes it attractive for startups, SaaS companies, agencies, and operational teams.

It’s also stronger if you care about more than newsletters. Brevo can cover marketing email, transactional email, SMS, and some CRM/sales workflows in one ecosystem. That’s not glamorous, but it’s useful.

For a business sending onboarding emails, password resets, promotional campaigns, and maybe sales follow-ups, Brevo has a practical edge.

Where Brevo is weaker

The product experience is fine, not delightful.

That sounds harsh, but I think it’s fair.

Brevo is capable, but it doesn’t always feel as smooth as ConvertKit or as polished as Mailchimp. The interface is more functional than elegant.

If your team values aesthetics, intuitive campaign building, or that “this just feels easy” quality, Brevo may not be your favorite. It’s not bad. It just feels more like a business tool than a creator tool.

Its templates and editor are decent, but not the reason to choose it.

Best for Brevo

Brevo is best for:

• startups
• SaaS products
• ecommerce brands with operational email needs
• agencies managing client communication
• businesses with large contact lists
• teams that want email + SMS + transactional + light CRM in one platform
• companies watching budget closely

If you’re asking purely on value, Brevo wins more often than people expect.

Real example

Let’s make this real.

Scenario 1: a solo creator selling courses

Say you run a small education business. You have:

• a weekly newsletter
• two free lead magnets
• a paid course
• an evergreen welcome sequence
• occasional launches
• a small team of one or two people

You care about:

• easy forms
• clean automation
• tagging subscribers by interest
• sending plain emails that feel personal
• not wasting time in a complicated dashboard

In that case, I’d pick ConvertKit almost immediately.

Why? Because your workflow is audience-first. You’re not trying to build fancy campaign designs. You’re trying to move people from subscriber to customer without making your setup messy.

Mailchimp would work, but it would feel less natural.

Brevo would probably save some money, but unless budget is the main issue, it’s not the smoothest fit for this type of business.

Scenario 2: a 12-person SaaS startup

Now imagine a startup with:

• a product with 20,000 users
• onboarding and transactional emails
• lifecycle campaigns
• occasional newsletters
• maybe SMS later
• a growth lead and a developer involved

Here I’d lean Brevo.

Why? Because now the problem is not “how do I nurture my audience like a creator?” It’s “how do we run communication across multiple touchpoints without paying too much or stitching too many tools together?”

Mailchimp starts to look expensive.

ConvertKit starts to look too creator-centric.

Brevo becomes the practical answer.

Scenario 3: a local retail brand or lifestyle business

Let’s say you run a home decor store or a small chain of fitness studios. You want:

• attractive email campaigns
• promos and announcements
• coupon sends
• seasonal campaigns
• moderate segmentation
• something your marketing assistant can use easily

This is where Mailchimp still makes a lot of sense.

It’s visual, well-known, and easy to hand off to a non-technical team member. You may pay more over time, yes. But if the workflow fits and the team likes using it, that matters.

Software people sometimes underestimate that point.

Common mistakes

Here’s what people get wrong when comparing these three.

1. Choosing based on brand familiarity

Mailchimp is often chosen because it’s the one people know.

That’s not a good enough reason.

It may still be the right choice, but not because it’s famous.

2. Overvaluing features you won’t use

A long feature list is nice on paper. In practice, most teams use:

• forms
• segmentation
• 2–5 automations
• broadcasts
• basic reporting

That’s it.

Don’t buy for edge cases unless those edge cases are actually central to your business.

3. Ignoring pricing structure

This is one of the biggest mistakes.

A platform that looks cheap today may become expensive with list growth. A platform that seems pricier upfront may save money depending on how often you send and how your contacts are stored.

Always model your likely costs at:

• your current size
• 12 months from now
• 24 months from now

4. Assuming prettier emails perform better

Not always.

Sometimes yes. Often no.

ConvertKit users know this well: plain, personal-looking emails can outperform highly designed campaigns. Especially for creators, consultants, and education businesses.

5. Thinking migration is easy enough to ignore

It’s not impossible, but it’s annoying.

Moving forms, sequences, tags, automations, templates, and integrations takes time. Pick carefully enough that you won’t want to switch six months later.

Who should choose what

If you want the clearest guidance, here it is.

Choose Mailchimp if...

• you run a traditional small business
• you want polished templates
• your emails are visually branded
• your team wants a familiar platform
• you don’t need the cheapest option
• you value a broad all-rounder

Mailchimp is the safe pick for businesses that want mainstream email marketing with low initial friction.

Choose ConvertKit if...

• you’re a creator or personal brand
• you sell courses, coaching, memberships, or digital products
• your emails are content-driven
• you care about simple automations
• you think in tags, funnels, and subscriber intent
• you want a platform that feels built for audience relationships

ConvertKit is the cleanest fit for creator-led businesses. It’s not trying to be everything, and that’s exactly why it works.

Choose Brevo if...

• cost matters a lot
• you have many contacts but moderate sending volume
• you need transactional email too
• you want email plus SMS or CRM-like tools
• you’re a startup, SaaS team, or agency
• you care more about practical capability than a polished interface

Brevo is the pragmatic choice. Sometimes boring wins.

Final opinion

If I had to summarize the whole Mailchimp vs ConvertKit vs Brevo decision in one sentence:

Mailchimp is the familiar all-rounder, ConvertKit is the best creator tool, and Brevo is the smartest value for many growing businesses.

My stronger opinion?

If you’re a creator, I’d choose ConvertKit without much hesitation.

If you’re a startup or business team trying to keep costs sensible while covering more communication use cases, I’d probably choose Brevo.

And while Mailchimp is still solid, I think it’s increasingly chosen out of habit more than fit. That doesn’t make it bad. It just means it’s no longer the obvious winner it used to be.

So which should you choose?

• Choose ConvertKit if your business runs on audience trust and email sequences.
• Choose Brevo if your business runs on operational efficiency and cost control.
• Choose Mailchimp if your team wants a polished, familiar tool and is willing to pay for that comfort.

If you want my plain answer: For most creators, ConvertKit. For most budget-aware businesses, Brevo. For most traditional small-business marketing teams, Mailchimp.

FAQ

Is Mailchimp better than ConvertKit?

Depends on what you mean by “better.”

Mailchimp is better for visual campaigns and general small-business marketing. ConvertKit is better for creators, simple automation, and audience-based workflows. If you’re a writer, coach, or course seller, I’d usually take ConvertKit.

Is Brevo cheaper than Mailchimp?

Often, yes.

Especially if you have a large number of contacts but don’t email them constantly. That’s one of the biggest key differences in this comparison.

Which is best for beginners?

For a general small business, probably Mailchimp.

For a creator or solo operator, ConvertKit is often easier in practice because the workflow is simpler and more focused.

Which one is best for ecommerce?

For lightweight ecommerce email needs, Mailchimp can work well. If you also need transactional email and better cost control, Brevo may be the stronger option.

Neither would automatically be my first pick for very advanced ecommerce lifecycle marketing, though.

Can you switch later if you choose the wrong one?

Yes, but it’s annoying enough that you should try not to.

Migrating subscribers is easy. Rebuilding forms, automations, tags, templates, integrations, and reporting habits is the painful part. Pick based on your likely next 1–2 years, not just today.