Brevo vs MailerLite: A Small Newsletter or a Larger Stored List?
MailerLite is our choice for a small recurring newsletter that fits its Free subscriber limit. It costs $0/month for up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails. Prefer Brevo when retaining a larger consented list matters more than dispatching it together: its $0 plan stores up to 100,000 contacts, but daily sending is capped at 300. That tradeoff, rather than a universal price winner, drives our comparison method.
| Newsletter requirement | MailerLite Free | Brevo Free |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring price and audience | $0/month; 250 active subscribers | $0/month; 100,000 stored contacts |
| Send allowance | 2,500 emails/month | 300/day, without rollover |
| Editorial access | 2 seats | 1 seat |
| Small automated sequences | 3 active automations | Not ranked by automation count here |
| Binding audience behavior | Sending locks above the subscriber cap | Larger campaigns need manual requeueing |
Prices checked: September 20, 2026. USD Free plans; active subscribers, stored contacts and recipient sends are separate units. No temporary paid trial benefits are treated as permanent Free entitlements.
What matters more: the address book or the mailing schedule?
Our methodology starts with the active newsletter audience, then asks how often it receives messages and who prepares them. We checked vendor pricing and help documents, not real account performance. The recommendation favors MailerLite when the published monthly allowance and editorial access fit the routine. It reverses when the list exceeds MailerLite's subscriber ceiling and staggered delivery is acceptable.
Before choosing Brevo for its address-book size, mark any campaigns whose value expires quickly. Manual requeueing may be reasonable for an evergreen update and unsuitable for a closing registration deadline. This is a workflow judgment, not a claim that either provider delivers faster.
What changes when MailerLite's free audience is outgrown?
MailerLite locks campaign and automation sending above the Free subscriber cap. A large unused monthly send balance does not override it. Its Comfort plan uses ten times the subscriber-tier ceiling as the monthly sending allowance. Compare your next audience tier and cadence together, instead of multiplying by the number of contacts you happen to mail today.
We have not supplied a paid MailerLite quote: the fetched calculator did not expose the selected tier's price. A starting-price label alone would not establish the cost for your larger audience.
How should a shared newsletter be evaluated?
MailerLite's Free seat allowance and Brevo's Free user allowance make account access a concrete secondary distinction. Have the people who draft and approve a newsletter test the access arrangement before migrating the list; a seat count does not establish a complete approval workflow.
Use the original opt-in records during that migration. MailerLite's anti-spam policy rejects bought or rented addresses, as does Brevo's documented list policy. The broader small-business shortlist covers selection beyond this newsletter-capacity decision.
FAQ
Which would you choose for a small team newsletter?
MailerLite, if its subscriber, monthly-send and seat limits fit. The recommendation is about a manageable editorial routine, not measured usability.
Is Brevo's free storage the same as free campaign reach?
No. Daily dispatch is limited even when the list is larger.
Does MailerLite Comfort base sends on the exact audience size?
Its documented allowance uses the subscriber-tier ceiling, not simply the current number of recipients.