Brevo vs MailerLite: 2026 Budget Email Tool Comparison
Brevo vs MailerLite for budget-conscious small businesses. Real pricing, free tier limits, friction points, and full feature matrix compared for 2026.
EmailTool™ Score
How we scoreComposite score based on features, pricing, deliverability, and reported friction severity.
Cost Calculator
Estimated monthly cost based on your contact list size.
Brevo
Free/mo
MailerLite
$35/mo
Brevo saves you ~$35/mo at 5,000 contacts.
Estimates based on published starting prices with proportional contact scaling. Actual pricing varies by plan tier and billing cycle. Check vendor sites for exact quotes.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Brevo | MailerLite | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Plan Contacts | 100,000 contacts | 500 subscribers | Brevo |
| Free Plan Email Sends | 300/day (~9,000/month) | 12,000/month | ML |
| Pricing Model | Based on emails sent (not contacts) | Based on subscriber count | Brevo |
| Email Builder | Drag-and-drop with known bugs | Clean drag-and-drop, reliable | ML |
| SMS Marketing | Built-in, 60+ countries | Not available | Brevo |
| Transactional Email | Built-in on all plans | Via MailerSend integration | Brevo |
| CRM | Full CRM with deals pipeline | No built-in CRM | Brevo |
| Automation | Full automation on free plan | Automation on free plan | |
| Website Builder | Not available | Built-in website builder | ML |
| Landing Pages | Built-in on all plans | 10 on free, unlimited on paid | |
| Price at 10K Contacts | $25/mo (Starter, 20K emails) | $73/mo (Growing Business) | Brevo |
| Deliverability | ~72% Gmail inbox rate (tested) | Mixed reports, Promotions tab issues |
Real Friction Points
Manually researched issues reported by actual users. Not AI-generated.
Brevo
Brevo's Gmail inbox placement rate is around 72% according to independent deliverability tests, meaning roughly 1 in 4 emails may miss the primary inbox. The drag-and-drop editor has persistent bugs with blocks snapping to wrong positions, and removing the Brevo logo from emails costs an extra $9/month. Contact management is frustrating — you cannot select contacts across pages, forcing repetitive page-by-page selection for lists over 100 contacts.
MailerLite
MailerLite cut its free plan from 1,000 to 500 subscribers in September 2025. Trustpilot reviewers report sudden account terminations without warning, particularly for new accounts with fresh domains. Customer support is repeatedly described as slow and unhelpful, and the migration from MailerLite Classic to the new version caused price increases and feature confusion that users found disruptive.
The Verdict
Brevo is better for businesses with large contact lists who want email + SMS + CRM in one platform and send moderate volumes. MailerLite is better for creators and small businesses that prioritize a reliable email builder, website builder, and clean UX. If you have 10K+ contacts but send infrequently, Brevo's per-email pricing saves significantly over MailerLite's per-subscriber model.
Affiliate disclosure: Links below may earn us a commission. This does not affect our EmailTool scores or friction points. Full policy.