MailerLite vs Brevo 2026: Which Is Cheaper as You Grow?

Pick MailerLite if your list is under about 10,000 contacts or you mail more than twice a week; pick Brevo if your list is large and you mail it a few times a month. At 500 contacts, MailerLite Comfort costs $12/mo and Brevo Starter $9/mo, but Brevo's cheapest plan with automation (Standard, $18/mo) costs more than Comfort until the list reaches 10,000.

The two vendors bill on different meters, which is why "which is cheaper" has no single answer. MailerLite charges by active subscribers and caps Comfort's sends at ten times the tier ceiling. Brevo charges by monthly email volume and attaches a contact cap to each volume step. Prices below were read in US dollars on MailerLite's pricing page and on Brevo's pricing page plus the pricing catalog that page feeds from, on 18 October 2026.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 108 email marketing tools for its email marketing ranking updated 15 October 2026, and places Brevo fifth and MailerLite eighth. That ranking weighs review volume and media attention, not price, so the cost model below does the real deciding. For transparency: MarketingShot and Dupple's other newsletters are sent on beehiiv, not on either tool compared here.

MailerLite vs Brevo at a glance

	MailerLite	Brevo
What you pay for	Active subscribers, in tiers	Emails sent per month, in volume steps
Free plan	250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month	100,000 contacts stored, 300 emails a day
Cheapest paid plan	Comfort, $12/mo at 500 subscribers	Starter, $9/mo for 5,000 emails and 500 contacts
Cheapest plan with automation	Comfort (50 active automations)	Standard, $18/mo at 5,000 emails
Seats on the entry paid plan	3 on Comfort	1 on Starter; Standard includes 1 and sells up to 2 more
Logo removal	Included on Comfort and Power	Paid add-on on Starter, included from Standard
Unlimited sending	Power, from $25/mo, under fair use	No; every plan is priced by volume
Yearly billing	10% off	10% off

How the two bills are built

MailerLite's bill follows your list; Brevo's follows your send calendar. That single difference explains every row in the cost tables further down.

MailerLite rounds your active subscriber count up to the next tier, so 1,200 subscribers pay the 2,500 rate. Unsubscribed and bounced addresses do not count, but an address that was active at any point in the billing cycle counts until the cycle resets. Comfort's monthly send allowance is ten times the tier ceiling: the up-to-1,000 tier sends 10,000 emails a month. Power removes the send cap under a fair-use policy.

Brevo sells a monthly email volume, and each volume step carries a contact ceiling. The 5,000-email step holds 500 contacts, the 10,000 step 1,500, the 15,000 step 2,500, and every step from 20,000 emails up holds 500,000 contacts on Starter and Standard. Below 20,000 emails, then, Brevo is quietly priced by contacts too, and a 2,000-contact list cannot sit on a cheap step even if it mails once a month.

What a weekly newsletter costs at each list size

The fair way to compare is a fixed schedule. The table assumes four sends a month to the whole list, priced at monthly billing, and puts each vendor's cheapest plan next to its cheapest plan with automation.

List size	Emails a month	Brevo Starter	Brevo Standard	MailerLite Comfort	MailerLite Power
500	2,000	$9	$18	$12	$25
1,000	4,000	$17	$35	$19	$39
2,500	10,000	$25	$49	$33	$49
5,000	20,000	$32	$69	$49	$69
10,000	40,000	$46	$89	$89	$129
25,000	100,000	$82	$139	$179	$239
50,000	200,000	Not offered	$249	$319	$389
100,000	400,000	Not offered	$429	$439	$489

Brevo's 1,000-contact row lands on the 10,000-email step because the 5,000 step stops at 500 contacts, so a weekly sender pays for emails it never sends. Starter tops out at 100,000 emails a month, which is why the two largest lists have to move to Standard.

The automation-to-automation matchup crosses over at 10,000 contacts. Below that, Comfort undercuts Brevo Standard by $6 to $20 a month; at 10,000 both cost $89; above it, Brevo Standard pulls ahead, by $40 a month at 25,000 and $70 at 50,000. If you only need plain campaigns, Brevo Starter is cheaper than Comfort at every list size it covers, once you accept one seat, no workflows and the Brevo footer.

Plan for the step, not the slope. Both vendors bill in jumps: MailerLite's 1,001st subscriber moves Comfort from $19 to $33, and Brevo's 501st contact moves Starter up a full step, to $17.

How send frequency flips the answer

Brevo punishes frequent senders and MailerLite Power rewards them. Every extra send on Brevo buys a bigger volume step, while Power's price stays flat no matter how often you mail.

Take a 5,000-contact list. Mailing twice a month (10,000 emails) still lands on Brevo's 20,000-email step, because the smaller steps cap contacts at 2,500, so Starter costs $32 against $49 on Comfort. Mailing twice a week (40,000 emails) raises Starter to $46, while Comfort still fits under its 50,000-email cap at the same price. Mail daily, about 20 sends a month, and the list needs 100,000 emails: Brevo Starter costs $82, Standard $139, and MailerLite needs Power at $69 because Comfort's cap is exceeded.

At 10,000 contacts the daily-send gap widens. Brevo needs its 250,000-email step on Standard, $249/mo, while MailerLite Power stays at $129/mo. At 50,000 contacts and daily sends, Brevo's volume runs past Standard's 500,000-email ceiling and into Professional, where 1 million emails cost $999/mo; MailerLite Power is $389.

The rare sender sees the mirror image. A 50,000-contact list mailed twice a month needs 100,000 emails, which is $82 on Brevo Starter or $139 on Standard, against $319 on MailerLite Comfort. That gap pays for a lot of features you might miss.

Free plans: list size against send volume

Brevo's free plan holds a big list; MailerLite's runs a small program properly. They suit different people.

Brevo Free stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends 300 emails a day once the account is approved for sending. That is roughly 9,000 over a 30-day month, but a single campaign to 1,000 people takes four days to go out, and every email carries the Brevo footer. It also includes transactional email through SMTP and the API, which matters to a developer more than to a newsletter writer.

MailerLite Free covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with two seats, three active automations of five steps each, one website, one landing page and three active forms. Once active subscribers pass 250, campaigns and automations are locked until you upgrade or prune the list. For other free starting points, the free email marketing software roundup compares the tiers that cap differently.

Automation, testing and seats

MailerLite puts automation on its entry paid plan; Brevo saves it for the second one. That is the gap that makes Brevo Starter look cheaper than it is for a marketer.

Comfort includes 50 active automations of up to 100 steps, auto-resend, multivariate testing, dynamic emails, and a preference center. Power lifts active automations, forms, sites and seats to unlimited, adds multiple automation triggers and 24/7 live chat. Brevo lists marketing automation (unlimited multi-step workflows), A/B testing, advanced reporting, AI send-time optimization, web and event tracking and one landing page as what Standard adds over Starter.

Seats split the same way. Comfort includes three, Power is unlimited. Brevo Starter is capped at one seat; Standard includes one and sells two more as paid add-ons, so a three-person team on entry Standard pays $42/mo before volume grows. Brevo's Professional plan, from $499/mo for 150,000 emails, is where ten seats, WhatsApp, popups, push and phone support come in.

A team that needs those channels in one account is buying something MailerLite does not sell. The Brevo review covers that multichannel side, and the marketing automation software ranking sets both against heavier tools.

Billing traps worth checking

• Brevo Starter's logo fee. Removing the "Sent with Brevo" footer is a paid add-on on Starter, which makes logo-free Starter at 5,000 emails $21, more than entry Standard, where logo removal is already included.
• MailerLite's cumulative count. A subscriber deleted mid-cycle still counts until the cycle resets, so clean the list before your billing date, not after.
• Brevo's contact ceilings under 20,000 emails. A list of 2,600 cannot use the 15,000-email step, whatever its send calendar; it starts at the 20,000 step, the same price a 5,000-contact list pays.
• MailerLite Comfort's send cap. Ten times the tier ceiling covers weekly sending at any tier, but a daily sender passes it and has to move to Power.
• Brevo SMS and WhatsApp. SMS credits are sold separately on every Brevo plan, so budget them on top of the email bill. The SMS marketing cost guide breaks those rates down.

MailerLite also gives registered nonprofits 30% off its paid plans after an approval check, which narrows the large-list gap for that buyer.

Who should pick which

Pick MailerLite when the list is under 10,000 contacts, you need automations from the first paid plan, more than one person logs in, or you send more than twice a week (Power's flat price wins there). Its full tier ladder is in our MailerLite pricing breakdown, and the MailerLite review covers deliverability and editors.

Pick Brevo when the list is large and the calendar is light: a 25,000-contact list mailed weekly saves about $40 a month on Standard against Comfort, and much more on Starter if plain campaigns are enough. Read the Brevo pricing breakdown for every volume step before you size the plan.

Pick neither if you sell subscriptions or want a referral program built in; the newsletter platforms ranking covers creator-first tools. Weighing a third contender? Mailchimp vs MailerLite and Brevo vs Mailchimp set each tool here against the incumbent, and the email marketing software roundup covers the wider field. Directory profiles live at MailerLite on Toolradar and Brevo on Toolradar.

How we compared

This is a price and plan-limit comparison built from each vendor's own published pricing, read in US dollars on 18 October 2026: the tier table on MailerLite's pricing page and its billing FAQ, and Brevo's pricing page with the USD pricing catalog behind it. The cost tables are our own calculation: each list size multiplied by the number of sends, matched to the smallest MailerLite tier and the smallest Brevo volume step whose limits cover it. We did not send campaigns on either platform. Both vendors move tiers without notice, so re-check before you buy.

FAQ

Is MailerLite or Brevo better in 2026?

MailerLite is the better fit for lists under 10,000 contacts and for anyone who needs automation on a budget, because Comfort includes 50 active automations on its entry tier. Brevo is the better fit for large lists mailed a few times a month, because it bills by emails sent and holds up to 500,000 contacts from its 20,000-email step.

Is Brevo cheaper than MailerLite?

On its cheapest plan, yes: Brevo Starter costs less than MailerLite Comfort at every list size it covers, up to its 100,000-email ceiling. Like for like with automation, Brevo Standard costs more than Comfort below 10,000 contacts, ties at $89/mo at 10,000 for a weekly sender, and costs less above that.

Which is cheaper for a daily newsletter?

MailerLite Power, in most cases. Its price does not rise with send volume, so a 10,000-subscriber daily list costs $129/mo, while Brevo needs its 250,000-email step on Standard at $249/mo for the same schedule.

Which free plan is better, MailerLite or Brevo?

Brevo's free plan holds far more contacts (up to 100,000) but sends only 300 emails a day with its logo on each. MailerLite's free plan stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month but includes three automations and two seats, so it runs a small program end to end.

Does Brevo Starter include automation?

No. Marketing automation workflows, A/B testing and send-time optimization start on Brevo Standard, from $18/mo. MailerLite includes automations on its Free plan (three, five steps each) and on Comfort (50 active, 100 steps each).

Do both offer a discount for yearly billing?

Yes, 10% on both. MailerLite Comfort at 500 subscribers drops to $10.80/mo billed yearly, and Brevo Starter's entry step costs $97 for the year.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "MailerLite vs Brevo 2026: Which Is Cheaper as You Grow?", October 2026.

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