Brevo vs Mailchimp: Which Free Plan Fits Your Send Calendar?
Verdict: choose Brevo for recurring small batches; choose Mailchimp Free only when both your audience and monthly schedule fit its caps. Both have a $0 plan, but Brevo permits 300 sends per day, while Mailchimp allows 500 per month and 250 per day. The strongest reason against Brevo is a time-sensitive campaign: a large stored list does not mean everyone can receive the message today. Our methodology treats dispatch feasibility as the deciding criterion.
| Dispatch constraint | Brevo Free | Mailchimp Free |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring platform charge | $0/month | $0/month |
| Audience limit | 100,000 stored contacts | Confirm in the account; official contact-cap descriptions conflict |
| Sending budget | 300 emails/day; unused allowance expires daily | 500 emails/month; 250/day |
| When the audience is too large | Manually requeue the remaining campaign recipients | Sending held above the contact ceiling |
| Account access | Not scored for this decision | 1 user seat |
Prices checked: September 20, 2026. USD, recurring Free plans, with the audience and sending basis shown above. Paid promotional prices are excluded because the captured Mailchimp table did not expose a complete post-promotion price.
Mailchimp's plan help and the Free table on its pricing page agree, but that pricing page's smaller-business paragraph describes a different contact boundary. We omit the numeric contact cap until this inconsistency is resolved. Confirm the account's allowance before import.
How did we compare the send calendars?
We read official pricing, free-plan help and list policies, then compared the constraints in this order: ability to complete the required dispatch, recurring sending capacity, and contact storage. This is a documentation review, not an inbox-placement test. Our recommendation assumes a consented newsletter list; it does not rank the entire marketing stack.
The useful planning unit is a recipient email. Write down the audience for each planned dispatch and reserve capacity for other messages before calling either plan sufficient. A newsletter that can arrive over several days is a different job from an announcement that must reach everyone together.
Can Brevo send a large campaign automatically over several days?
Do not assume that. Brevo's Free-plan instructions require manual requeueing of recipients left after the daily allowance. Unused capacity cannot be banked for launch day. We therefore recommend Brevo only when someone owns the remaining-send task or the daily audience already fits.
For a deadline-bound whole-list campaign, investigate paid capacity before import. Brevo documents removal of the daily cap on Starter; that is not a promise of unlimited monthly sending.
When is Mailchimp Free the more practical choice?
When the account stays within the contact and sending limits and no dispatch needs to be split, either product can satisfy this narrow job. We would keep an already workable Mailchimp setup rather than migrate solely for unused Brevo storage. If the calendar exhausts the monthly allowance, that rationale disappears.
Storage also does not confer permission. Brevo prohibits purchased or rented lists, and Mailchimp prohibits purchased-list campaigns. For a broader software shortlist, see email marketing for small businesses.
FAQ
Is Brevo Free unlimited because it stores a large list?
No. Its storage allowance and daily sending quota measure different things. Judge it against the dispatch deadline.
Can I carry unused Brevo emails into tomorrow?
No. Unused daily sends do not roll over.
Does Mailchimp stop sending if I import too many contacts?
On Free, exceeding the contact cap places sending on hold until you reduce contacts or upgrade. Check the full account before importing.