MailerLite vs Brevo: Which Platform Should You Use?

MailerLite and Brevo are both strong choices for email marketing, but they serve somewhat different needs and priorities. In 2025, choosing the right tool means matching your business plan, growth needs, and communication strategy — not just going for the flashiest feature. In this comparison, you’ll see where each platform excels, where limitations lie, and which scenario suits each best.

What Are MailerLite and Brevo?

MailerLite

A user-friendly email marketing platform built for designers, small businesses, and content creators. MailerLite offers email campaigns, landing pages, automation, and basic segmentation — all with a focus on simplicity and affordability.

Brevo

A multifaceted communication platform that combines email, SMS, automation, CRM, transactional emails, and more. Brevo is built for marketers who plan to scale communication across channels with compliance and delivery in mind.

Side-by-Side Feature Comparison

Feature	MailerLite	Brevo
Ease of Use	Very intuitive, simple workflows	More complexity, more features to explore
Automation	Basic drip automation, simple branching	Advanced workflows with triggers, branching, multi-channel
Multi-Channel Support	Email + landing pages (core)	Email, SMS, WhatsApp, plus transactional messages
CRM / Contact Management	Basic segments and tags	Full CRM with attributes, behavioral data, tags
Deliverability	Good, especially for standard email campaigns	Strong deliverability, reputation, and inboxing
Pricing Model	Free tier + tiered by contacts	Many plans based on email volume, not just contacts
Compliance and Data	GDPR-compliant tools, data handling	GDPR-first, EU data storage options, consent features
Best Use Cases	Newsletters, bloggers, small creators	Businesses needing multi-channel growth, automation, CRM

Strengths of MailerLite

• Ease of Onboarding: MailerLite’s UI is clean and minimal. For beginners, it’s quick to launch your first campaign or landing page without getting lost in options.
• Affordability for Small Lists: For small to mid audiences, their pricing is competitive. The free tier is generous and useful for many startups.
• Simplicity = Focus: Because the tool is lighter, you’re less likely to get distracted by features. You focus on sending content rather than configuring tools.
• Good for Email-First Use Cases: If your main channel is email, and you don’t immediately need SMS, transactional messaging, or heavy CRM, MailerLite covers the essentials well.

Limitations to watch for: automation depth is limited, multi-channel reach is weak, and once your needs grow, scaling may require a migration.

Strengths of Brevo

• Multi-Channel Communication Built-In: Email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional — all in one place. You don’t need to bolt on external tools for basic cross-channel outreach.
• Advanced Automation & Workflow Logic: Complex journeys, branching logic, behavior-based triggers — Brevo supports nuanced workflows that scale with your business.
• Robust CRM Capabilities: Brevo tracks contact attributes, behavioral history, segmentation, and gives you actionable insight directly in your workflow.
• Strong Deliverability & Compliance: Brevo’s reputation, domain authentication, GDPR infrastructure, and deliverability performance tend to give it an edge — especially for bigger campaigns.
• Scalability: As your list and needs grow, Brevo’s architecture handles greater complexity without requiring a full platform switch (unlike moving from MailerLite to something else later).

Which Tool Matches Which Scenario?

Your Situation	Best Choice
You’re starting out, have a small list, and want a straightforward tool	MailerLite — ease, cost-effectiveness, minimal setup
You plan to scale into automation, cross-channel messaging, or CRM	Brevo — more room to grow
Your priority is sending beautifully designed newsletters with minimal fuss	MailerLite may feel simpler
You want lifecycle campaigns, triggers, and behavior-based messaging	Brevo provides that depth

Real-World Example

Let’s say your business is growing and you start with MailerLite:

• You build a newsletter, manage contacts, and run basic email sequences.

Over time, you want to send SMS reminders, trigger follow-ups when someone clicks a link, or see your contacts’ activity history.

At this growth point, MailerLite starts feeling limiting.

Switching to Brevo allows you to:

• Import your contacts
• Recreate or extend automations
• Add SMS or transactional messages
• Use CRM logic and behavioral triggers

Without losing your base list or forcing a full rebuild of your content.

Common Misconceptions & Risks

• “MailerLite is always cheaper.” — Not necessarily. As your list grows, email volume or required features may make Brevo more cost-effective.
• “Brevo is too complex.” — There is a learning curve, but its depth becomes a long-term advantage.
• “Simplicity trumps features.” — At first yes, but as business complexity increases, feature limitations can become stumbling blocks.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation

MailerLite is a fantastic option if you want to get going quickly, manage a modest list, and stay lean. It’s ideal for creators, newsletters, small launches, and content-first strategies.

Brevo becomes the better choice when your goals move beyond email — toward automation, CRM, multi-channel, scaling, and long-term relationship marketing.