Last Updated on September 30, 2026
Most “Mailchimp alternatives” lists rank twenty tools by star rating and leave the one question that decides a switch unanswered: what will you pay at the size your list is now, and the size it will be next year?
We read the pricing pages for Mailchimp, MailerLite and Brevo from a UK connection on 30 September 2026 and priced each one at 500, 1,500, 2,500 and 5,000 contacts. At 5,000 contacts Mailchimp Standard cost £76.04 a month and the Brevo tier that covers the same list cost £24. That is £624.48 a year before VAT.
The quick verdict
Under 250 contacts: stay free. Mailchimp, MailerLite and Brevo all have a free plan at that size. Paying anyone is premature.
Around 500 contacts: do not switch to save money. Mailchimp Essentials is £9.89 a month and the cheapest alternative here is £6. The £3.89 gap will not cover the evening you lose rebuilding templates and forms.
1,500 contacts and up: the gap is worth acting on. Brevo is the cheapest route we priced at every list size from 1,500 to 5,000. MailerLite is the pick if you want every feature on the entry plan and can live with a bill in dollars.
Stay on Mailchimp if you run real automations on Standard and they earn money, or if a sterling bill with a UK payment entity matters to your bookkeeping more than the £33.03 a month you would save at 5,000 contacts.
What each route costs at your list size
Monthly billing, prices read from each vendor’s own pricing page on 30 September 2026, excluding VAT. Mailchimp shows prices in pounds. MailerLite shows dollars or euros only, converted here at HMRC’s September 2026 rate (£1 = $1.3554). Brevo shows pounds and prices by emails sent a month, with a contact allowance attached to each tier.
| Contacts | Mailchimp Essentials | Mailchimp Standard | MailerLite Comfort | Brevo Starter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | £9.89 | £15.21 | £8.85 ($12) | £6.00 |
| 1,500 | £20.15 | £34.22 | £24.35 ($33) | £12.00 |
| 2,500 | £34.22 | £45.62 | £24.35 ($33) | £18.00 |
| 5,000 | £57.03 | £76.04 | £36.15 ($49) | £24.00 |
How the Brevo column was read. Brevo’s Starter tiers on 30 September were 5,000 emails a month with 500 contacts for £6, 10,000 emails with 1,500 contacts for £12, 15,000 emails with 2,500 contacts for £18, and 20,000 emails with 500,000 contacts for £24. Each row above uses the cheapest tier whose contact allowance covers the list. Weekly sends to 2,500 contacts come to about 10,000 emails a month, which still fits the £18 tier. Weekly sends to 5,000 contacts come to about 21,700 emails a month, over the 20,000 tier; we did not price the next Brevo tier, so treat £24 as the price for a list of 5,000 mailed up to four times a month.
How the MailerLite column was read. MailerLite prices in bands. A 1,500-subscriber list falls in its “up to 2,500” band, which is why the 1,500 and 2,500 rows match. Paying yearly takes 10% off.
What a year costs at 5,000 contacts
| Route | Per month | Per year, excluding VAT | Against Mailchimp Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Standard | £76.04 | £912.48 | n/a |
| Mailchimp Essentials | £57.03 | £684.36 | £228.12 less |
| MailerLite Comfort | £36.15 ($49) | £433.80 ($588) | £478.68 less |
| Brevo Starter | £24.00 | £288.00 | £624.48 less |
The saving grows with the list. At 500 contacts, moving from Mailchimp Essentials to Brevo saves £46.68 a year. At 5,000 contacts it saves £396.36.
The trap in each price
Mailchimp: the price follows the list
Every Mailchimp plan is priced by contact band. Essentials at 5,000 contacts is £57.03, close to six times its £9.89 price at 500. A list that doubles in a year moves you up a band without you touching a setting. The automation and testing tools most businesses grow into sit on Standard, so the band rises and the plan rises together.
MailerLite: the bill is in dollars
MailerLite gives UK buyers a choice of dollars or euros and no sterling price. Your pound cost moves with the exchange rate, and many UK business cards add a conversion fee. We covered the contract side of this in Mailchimp vs MailerLite: MailerLite contracts with UK customers from Dublin.
Brevo: contacts come with the sending tier
Brevo sells email volume, and the contact allowance is tied to it. The cheapest tier covers 500 contacts. Emails also carry a “Sent by Brevo” sticker on Starter unless you pay £7.20 a month to remove it. Add that and Brevo at 2,500 contacts is £25.20, still below both Mailchimp plans at that size. Brevo’s marketing automation and A/B testing sit on its Standard plan, from £13 a month at the entry sending tier. We did not price Standard at the higher tiers.
The free routes, and where they stop
| Platform | Free plan limit, 30 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Under 250 contacts |
| MailerLite | Up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month |
| Brevo | 300 emails a day |
Brevo’s free plan is capped by sending, which suits a small list that mails once or twice a month. Mailchimp and MailerLite both cut their free tiers after 2024, a change our UK Business Software Price Index tracked in July 2026.
Which route fits, by stage
Start. A list under a few hundred people. Use a free plan and put the effort into the sign-up form. The platform is not the constraint yet.
Build. A list of 1,500 to 5,000 and a regular send. This is where the cheaper route pays: Brevo Starter covered every list size in this band for less than Mailchimp Essentials, and MailerLite Comfort did at 2,500 and 5,000. Price the list you expect in twelve months before you move, because every one of these ladders steepens.
Scale. Email is a revenue channel with automated flows. Compare Mailchimp Standard against Brevo Standard and MailerLite Power at your real list size, and include the time cost of rebuilding your automations. A cheaper plan that loses a working flow is not cheaper.
Before you switch
- Export your contacts with their consent records and tags. Your lawful basis for emailing each person travels with their record.
- List every automation that sends money-making email. Rebuild those first and test them on yourself.
- Warm up sending on the new platform with your most engaged contacts before mailing the whole list.
- Check what your price will be at twice your current list size. That is the number to compare.
What this page did not check
We read published prices. We did not test deliverability or build campaigns on each platform. We priced three platforms, two widely used Mailchimp alternatives plus Mailchimp itself, and did not price creator platforms such as Kit, which are built for a different job. Prices change often; the date above is the date they were true.
The takeaway
Switching email platforms to save money only pays once your list is in the thousands. At 5,000 contacts the gap between Mailchimp Standard and Brevo Starter was £624.48 a year on 30 September 2026. At 500 contacts it was not worth an evening.
Related: our Mailchimp review, Mailchimp vs MailerLite and the best email marketing platforms for UK businesses.
Common questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Mailchimp in the UK?
Of the platforms we priced on 30 September 2026, Brevo Starter was cheapest at every list size from 500 to 5,000 contacts: £6 a month at 500 contacts and £24 at 5,000, excluding VAT. Brevo prices by emails sent a month, with a contact allowance attached to each tier.
Is MailerLite cheaper than Mailchimp?
At 500, 2,500 and 5,000 contacts, yes. At 1,500 contacts MailerLite’s “up to 2,500” band made it £4.20 a month dearer than Mailchimp Essentials. At 5,000 subscribers MailerLite Comfort was $49 (about £36.15) a month against £57.03 for Mailchimp Essentials. MailerLite bills UK customers in dollars or euros, so the sterling cost moves with the exchange rate.
How much does Mailchimp cost for 5,000 contacts?
On 30 September 2026, Mailchimp’s UK pricing page showed Essentials from £57.03 a month and Standard from £76.04 a month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts, excluding VAT.
Is it worth leaving Mailchimp to save money?
Only once your list is in the thousands. At 500 contacts the cheapest alternative saved £3.89 a month against Mailchimp Essentials. At 5,000 contacts it saved £33.03 a month against Essentials and £52.04 against Standard.
Which Mailchimp alternatives have a free plan?
MailerLite is free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Brevo is free for up to 300 emails a day. Mailchimp itself is free under 250 contacts. Limits as shown on each pricing page on 30 September 2026.
Sources
All read by Whito from a UK connection on 30 September 2026: mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing (GBP, each contact band from 0 to 5,000 selected in turn); mailerlite.com/pricing (500, 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000 subscribers, monthly and yearly billing); brevo.com/pricing (Starter at 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 emails, and the Free plan). Dollar prices converted at HMRC’s exchange rate for September 2026, £1 = $1.3554. Earlier Whito checks: Mailchimp vs MailerLite (7 September 2026) and the UK Business Software Price Index (2 July 2026).
