Direct answer: at 10 sends per contact per month (a common e-commerce automation load), public monthly prices are: at 2,500 contacts Klaviyo USD 60, Mailchimp Standard 60 and Brevo Standard 79; at 10,000 contacts 150 / 135 / 139; at 50,000 contacts 720 / 450 / 429. At 4 sends per month (a monthly newsletter or campaign cadence), the same rows are 60 / 60 / 49, 150 / 135 / 89 and 720 / 450 / 249. The point is not “who is cheapest” but the billing unit: Klaviyo bills active profiles, Mailchimp bills contacts with a 12× send cap, and Brevo bills monthly email volume. For the same 50,000-contact list, Brevo’s bill differs by USD 180/month between 4 and 10 sends.
This guide is for marketing leaders, e-commerce operators and procurement teams replacing an email platform, adding automation to a DTC/export business, or extending an existing CRM with EDM. Data cut-off: 3 November 2026; prices are US public list prices in USD, excluding tax, with no FX conversion; 2,500/10,000/50,000 contacts and 4/10 sends are editorial assumptions, not vendor quotes. “Contacts”, “active profiles” and “email volume” are different units, and each table states which one it uses.
Separate contacts, send volume and AI credits; calculate at your own cadence instead of comparing the 500-contact entry price; then add SMS, extra seats, dedicated IP, migration, template design and deliverability tools. All three have AI copywriting, but which tier includes it — and whether Composer or automation costs extra — is the procurement question.
Three billing units: the same “email marketing” label, different bills
Klaviyo bills active profiles and gives roughly 10× the profile count in monthly email sends. Mailchimp bills by contact band and Standard includes 12× contacts in monthly sends; exceeding the cap pauses sending or requires an add-on. Brevo bills by monthly email volume, and its contact limit is tied to the volume tier: 5,000 emails allows 500 contacts, 10,000 allows 1,500, 15,000 allows 2,500, and 20,000–500,000 allows 500,000. So “2,500 contacts” on Brevo is not a 2,500-contact plan; both the send volume and the contact cap must be satisfied.
| Platform | Primary billing unit | Send relationship | Contact cap | Most common miscalculation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Active profiles / month | About 10× profiles in monthly sends | By profile tier | Treating “profiles” as “sendable list size”; Composer adds USD 20/month |
| Mailchimp | Contact band / month | Standard: 12× contacts; overage pauses or adds cost | By contact band | Using the USD 20 entry price when 2,500 contacts is USD 60 |
| Brevo | Monthly email volume / month | Step-ups at 5k/10k/15k/20k… | Tied to volume tier | The 10k tier allows only 1,500 contacts; 2,500 needs the 15k tier |
Sources: Klaviyo Pricing, Mailchimp Pricing, Brevo Pricing and Brevo’s public pricing Markdown/API (all accessed 3 November 2026). This is editorial grouping, not a vendor taxonomy; “about 10×” is inferred from Klaviyo’s published points: 500 profiles/5,000 sends, 2,500/25,000, 10,000/100,000 and 50,000/500,000.
The official 2026 price lists
Klaviyo Email: 500 profiles USD 20/month (5,000 sends), 2,500 profiles 60 (25,000), 10,000 profiles 150 (100,000) and 50,000 profiles 720 (500,000); Composer is a separate USD 20/month add-on. Mailchimp Standard: 0–500 contacts USD 20/month (6,000 sends, 5 seats), 1,501–2,500 is 60 (30,000), 5,001–10,000 is 135 (120,000) and 40,001–50,000 is 450 (600,000); Premium is USD 350/month with unlimited contacts. Brevo: Starter USD 9/month (8.08 annual), Standard 18 (16.17), Professional 499 (449) and Enterprise from 2,499; email volume is added in steps.
| Platform / plan | Monthly (USD) | Annual-equivalent (USD/month) | Included sends | Contacts / seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo Email 500 | 20 | No annual discount listed | 5,000/month | 500 active profiles |
| Klaviyo Email 2,500 | 60 | — | 25,000/month | 2,500 active profiles |
| Klaviyo Email 10,000 | 150 | — | 100,000/month | 10,000 active profiles |
| Klaviyo Email 50,000 | 720 | — | 500,000/month | 50,000 active profiles |
| Mailchimp Standard 0–500 | 20 | Shown monthly | 6,000/month | 5 seats, 5 audiences |
| Mailchimp Standard 1,501–2,500 | 60 | — | 30,000/month | 5 seats, 5 audiences |
| Mailchimp Standard 5,001–10,000 | 135 | — | 120,000/month | 5 seats, 5 audiences |
| Mailchimp Standard 40,001–50,000 | 450 | — | 600,000/month | 5 seats, 5 audiences |
| Mailchimp Premium | 350 (297.50 first year at 10k+) | Shown monthly | 15× contacts | Unlimited contacts, unlimited seats, SSO |
| Brevo Starter | 9 | 8.08 | 5,000/month | 500 contacts, 1 seat, AI copy |
| Brevo Standard | 18 | 16.17 | 5,000/month + volume add-on | From 500 contacts, up to 3 seats |
| Brevo Professional | 499 | 449 | 150,000/month | 10 seats, AI segmentation/data analyst |
| Brevo Enterprise | From 2,499 | Custom | Custom | 1M+ contacts, SSO/SAML, dedicated IP |
Sources: Klaviyo Pricing (Email tiers and Composer), Mailchimp Pricing (Standard/Premium contact bands and send caps), Brevo Pricing and Brevo pricing.md (generated 29 September 2026), and the Brevo pricing API (accessed 3 November 2026). USD, excluding tax; Klaviyo lists no annual discount; Mailchimp offers 15% off the first 12 months for 10,000+ contacts, so the 10k/50k figures are shown prices and renewal follows the contract; Brevo’s annual discount is a public 10%.
Brevo’s volume steps: why “2,500 contacts” is not a 2,500-contact plan
Brevo Standard’s USD 18 base includes only 5,000 emails and 500 contacts. Covering 2,500 contacts requires at least the 15,000-email tier (contact cap 2,500), which adds USD 31 for a total of 49/month. The 25,000-email tier totals 79; 100,000 totals 139; 500,000 totals 429. The add-on prices come from Brevo’s public recurring email-credit steps, and the contact caps from the same public pricing table.
| Monthly email tier | Email add-on (USD/month) | Standard total (USD/month) | Contact cap at this tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 0 | 18 | 500 |
| 10,000 | 17 | 35 | 1,500 |
| 15,000 | 31 | 49 | 2,500 |
| 20,001–30,000 | 61 | 79 | 500,000 |
| 30,001–40,000 | 71 | 89 | 500,000 |
| 80,001–100,000 | 121 | 139 | 500,000 |
| 150,001–250,000 | 231 | 249 | 500,000 |
| 350,001–500,000 | 411 | 429 | 500,000 |
Sources: Brevo pricing.md, Standard recurring email-credit steps and contact limits (accessed 3 November 2026). “Standard total” = USD 18 base + the tier add-on; under annual billing the base is USD 194/year and each add-on has its own yearly total (for example 15k totals 529/year, 25k 853/year, 100k 1,501/year and 500k 4,633/year). The main table does not mix monthly and annual billing. Tiers are step prices, not a linear per-thousand price.
2,500 / 10,000 / 50,000 contacts: 4 versus 10 sends
At 4 sends/month: 2,500 contacts cost Klaviyo 60, Mailchimp 60 and Brevo 49; 10,000 contacts 150 / 135 / 89; 50,000 contacts 720 / 450 / 249. At 10 sends/month: 2,500 contacts 60 / 60 / 79; 10,000 contacts 150 / 135 / 139; 50,000 contacts 720 / 450 / 429. Klaviyo and Mailchimp do not raise the price within their send caps; Brevo steps up with volume, cheapest at low frequency and close to Mailchimp at high frequency.
| Contacts / cadence | Klaviyo (USD/month) | Mailchimp Standard (USD/month) | Brevo Standard (USD/month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 contacts, 4 sends/month (10k emails) | 60 | 60 | 49 |
| 2,500 contacts, 10 sends/month (25k emails) | 60 | 60 | 79 |
| 10,000 contacts, 4 sends/month (40k emails) | 150 | 135 | 89 |
| 10,000 contacts, 10 sends/month (100k emails) | 150 | 135 | 139 |
| 50,000 contacts, 4 sends/month (200k emails) | 720 | 450 | 249 |
| 50,000 contacts, 10 sends/month (500k emails) | 720 | 450 | 429 |
Editorial calculation, not a quote. Assumptions: every contact receives 4 or 10 emails a month; Klaviyo uses the matching active-profile tier; Mailchimp uses the matching Standard contact band (both cadences are within the 12× send cap); Brevo uses the USD 18 Standard base plus the matching email-volume add-on, with the tier’s contact cap satisfied. Excludes tax, SMS, extra seats, dedicated IP, migration, template design and implementation. Annualised at monthly × 12: 720/720/588, 720/720/948, 1,800/1,620/1,068, 1,800/1,620/1,668, 8,640/5,400/2,988 and 8,640/5,400/5,148; Brevo annual billing is a further 10% lower.
The two counter-intuitive points are worth showing to a CFO: at 2,500 contacts and 10 sends/month, Klaviyo and Mailchimp both cost 60 while Brevo costs 79 — Brevo’s low tier is for low-frequency sending, not high-frequency automation. At 50,000 contacts, Klaviyo at 720 is 1.6× Mailchimp at 450 and 2.9× Brevo at 249 in the 4-send case. The difference comes from the billing unit, not from “more features”.
At the same price, which tier includes AI and automation?
Klaviyo paid plans include generative AI for segments, content, flows and images plus predictive analytics; Composer is a separate AI marketing agent at USD 20/month. Mailchimp Standard/Premium include generative AI as a no-additional-cost add-on, while Essentials excludes it. Brevo Starter includes an AI content generator, Standard adds AI send-time optimisation, and Professional adds AI segmentation and AI Data Analyst. None of the three meters AI by token, but the tier that includes the feature determines whether you must upgrade.
| Capability | Klaviyo | Mailchimp Standard | Brevo Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI copy / subject lines | Generative AI on paid plans (content, segments, flows, images) | Generative AI is a no-additional-cost add-on | AI content generator (from Starter) |
| AI send-time optimisation | Not listed | Not listed | Included from Standard |
| Predictive / advanced segmentation | Predictive analytics on paid plans | Not listed | AI segmentation/Data Analyst on Professional |
| Automation | Email flows | Up to 200 flows | Unlimited automations from Standard |
| A/B testing | Not listed | Not listed | Included from Standard |
| Landing pages | Not listed | Not listed | One page from Standard |
| SMS / WhatsApp | SMS priced by destination and volume | SMS add-on | SMS credit sold separately |
| Seats | Seat cap not listed | 5 seats on Standard | Up to 3 seats on Standard (1 included) |
Sources: Klaviyo Pricing (paid feature comparison and Composer at USD 20/month), Mailchimp Pricing (generative AI “no additional cost add-on”, Standard 5 seats/200 flows), Brevo Pricing (Starter AI content generator; Standard AI send time, A/B, one landing page; Professional AI segmentation/Data Analyst) and Brevo pricing.md (seat limits). Accessed 3 November 2026. “Not listed” means the official pricing page does not state it for that tier; this article does not infer either way.
If AI copy is the main need, Brevo Starter at USD 9 is enough. If AI must run through segmentation, prediction and automation, Klaviyo’s paid tier is more complete but costs USD 720/month at 50,000 contacts. Mailchimp’s generative AI is free on Standard, which suits teams already running automations in Mailchimp and unwilling to buy another AI tool. Composer is Klaviyo’s separate AI agent, not a sending requirement; do not add it to the base budget by default.
Six price traps: entry prices, contact caps, promotions and seats
The common error is multiplying the 500-contact entry price: Klaviyo is USD 20 at 500 profiles but 60 at 2,500; Mailchimp is 20 at 0–500 but 60 at 1,501–2,500; Brevo’s USD 18 covers only 500 contacts and 5,000 emails, so 2,500 contacts needs 49. Then add one-off promotions, annual discounts, extra seats and SMS: Mailchimp offers 15% off the first year at 10,000+ contacts; Brevo’s annual plan saves 10% but Standard caps at 3 seats, with extra seats at USD 12/month; SMS is never inside the email price.
| What it looks like | What it is | Budget impact |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo USD 20/month | Only 500 active profiles and 5,000 sends; 2,500 profiles is USD 60 | Multiplying 20 by five understates by 3× |
| Mailchimp USD 20/month | Only 0–500 contacts and 6,000 sends; 1,501–2,500 is USD 60 | Budget from USD 60 for 2,500 contacts |
| Brevo USD 18/month | Only 500 contacts and 5,000 emails; 2,500 contacts needs the 15k tier at USD 49 | Also check the tier’s contact cap |
| Mailchimp “save 15%” at 10k+ | First 12 months; renewal follows the page/contract | Do not use the first-year price as long-term TCO |
| Brevo annual −10% | Paid upfront; Standard caps at 3 seats | Save 10% but lose flexibility; extra seat USD 12/month |
| All three “include AI” | AI copy/send time/prediction/Composer differ by tier | Confirm which feature you lack before upgrading |
| Email price = total cost | SMS, dedicated IP, migration, templates, deliverability tools are extra | First-year budget needs migration/design/training |
Sources: Klaviyo Pricing, Mailchimp Pricing, Brevo Pricing and Brevo pricing.md (accessed 3 November 2026). The USD 12/seat figure is Brevo’s public marketing-seat price for the 2–10 band; SMS is priced by destination/volume and no unit price is listed here. Promotions and discounts follow checkout and the contract; this article does not treat a promotion as a long-term price.
Which option fits which scenario?
Low-frequency monthly newsletters on a budget: Brevo Standard (49 at 2,500, 89 at 10,000, 249 at 50,000). High-frequency e-commerce automation with prediction/deep segmentation: Klaviyo. Mature automation, 5 seats and generative AI at no extra cost: Mailchimp Standard. More than 5 seats or unlimited seats: Mailchimp Premium or Brevo Professional. AI copy only, small list: Brevo Starter. If you are already in an ecosystem (Shopify/Klaviyo, QuickBooks/Mailchimp, CRM/Brevo), price migration and integration before comparing monthly fees.
| Scenario | First choice | Why | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 contacts, 4 sends/month | Brevo Standard | Lowest at USD 49/month | Must buy the 15k tier to allow 2,500 contacts |
| 2,500 contacts, 10 sends/month | Klaviyo / Mailchimp | USD 60/month, no extra within the send cap | Brevo is 79 in the same scenario |
| 10,000 contacts, low frequency | Brevo Standard | USD 89/month | Mailchimp 135, Klaviyo 150 |
| 10,000 contacts, high-frequency e-commerce | Mailchimp / Brevo | 135 / 139, close | Klaviyo 150, but stronger data/prediction |
| 50,000 contacts | Brevo / Mailchimp | 249–429 / 450 | Klaviyo 720; choose by cadence |
| More than 5 seats / unlimited seats | Mailchimp Premium / Brevo Professional | 350 unlimited seats / 499 with 10 seats | Brevo Standard caps at 3 seats |
| Deep e-commerce data and prediction | Klaviyo | Predictive analytics, generative AI segmentation | USD 720/month at 50k profiles |
| AI copy only, small list | Brevo Starter | USD 9/month with AI content generator | No automation/A-B/landing pages |
“First choice” is an editorial judgement, not a vendor recommendation; the final decision depends on cadence, list quality, automation complexity, seats, integrations (Shopify/CRM), migration cost and compliance. Prices are public list prices, excluding tax and discounts.
What should procurement and acceptance specify?
At least eight things: the billing unit (contacts/volume/profiles), send cap and overage behaviour, contact cap and list-cleaning rules, AI feature boundaries, seats and permissions, SMS/WhatsApp add-ons, migration plus template/automation rebuild, and deliverability/compliance (SPF/DKIM/DMARC, unsubscribe, GDPR/CCPA). Then run a four-week POC on a real list: record opens/clicks, unsubscribes, complaints, deliverability and actual usage for 2–3 automations, not just the first-month discount.
- Billing unit: active profiles, all contacts or monthly volume; what contact cap applies to the volume tier. Brevo’s 10k tier allowing only 1,500 contacts is the easiest trap.
- Overage: whether exceeding sends/contacts auto-upgrades, bills by usage or pauses sending. Mailchimp states that sending pauses or overage applies; Klaviyo/Brevo follow the contract.
- AI: which tier has AI copy, send time, prediction, segmentation and Composer/AI agents; whether it costs extra; whether customer data trains models. Klaviyo Composer is USD 20/month; Mailchimp generative AI is free on Standard/Premium; Brevo AI segmentation is Professional.
- Seats: how many seats each plan includes, the extra-seat price, whether agency/guest access is charged. Mailchimp Standard 5 seats; Brevo Standard up to 3 (one included, extra USD 12/month); Klaviyo does not list a seat cap.
- Channels: whether SMS, WhatsApp, RCS or web push are included; how they are priced by message/destination; whether credits are separate.
- Migration: contacts, tags, campaign history, automations, templates and domain authentication; migration service cost and downtime.
- Deliverability: shared versus dedicated IP; warm-up plan; bounce/complaint handling; whether a third-party deliverability tool is needed.
- POC: four weeks, 2–3 real automations (welcome, abandoned cart, repeat purchase), 2,500–10,000 real contacts; record opens/clicks, unsubscribes, complaints, deliverability, AI-copy acceptance and the actual bill.
FAQ
Which is cheapest for 2,500 contacts?
It depends on cadence. At 4 sends/month (10k emails), Brevo Standard is lowest at USD 49/month; Klaviyo and Mailchimp are both 60. At 10 sends/month (25k emails), Klaviyo and Mailchimp are 60 and Brevo is 79. Brevo’s 2,500 contacts require the 15k email tier (contact cap 2,500), not the 10k tier.
What about 10,000 contacts?
At 4 sends/month: Brevo 89, Mailchimp 135, Klaviyo 150. At 10 sends/month: Mailchimp 135, Brevo 139, Klaviyo 150. Low frequency favours Brevo; high frequency with mature automation and 5 seats favours Mailchimp; predictive analytics and deeper e-commerce data favour Klaviyo. None includes SMS, migration or design.
What about 50,000 contacts?
At 4 sends/month: Brevo 249, Mailchimp 450, Klaviyo 720. At 10 sends/month: Brevo 429, Mailchimp 450, Klaviyo 720. Brevo is close to Mailchimp at high frequency but caps Standard at 3 seats; Mailchimp Standard gives 5 seats; Klaviyo is more expensive but sells data, segmentation and prediction.
Why is Brevo cheap at low frequency but not at high frequency?
Brevo prices by monthly email-volume steps: 5k/10k/15k/20k… and the add-on jumps at each step. At 4 sends/month, 2,500 contacts only need the 15k tier (USD 49); at 10 sends/month they need the 25k tier (USD 79). Klaviyo and Mailchimp give a fixed send cap inside the plan (about 10×/12× contacts), so more sends do not add cost, but more contacts move you to a new band.
Klaviyo and Mailchimp both cost 60 — what is the difference?
At 2,500 contacts, Klaviyo includes 25,000 sends/month, bills active profiles, and its paid tier includes generative AI and predictive analytics; Composer adds USD 20/month. Mailchimp Standard includes 30,000 sends/month, 5 seats, 5 audiences, and generative AI at no extra cost, but predictive/advanced data capabilities are not listed on the pricing page. Choose by whether you lack sends, seats or data/prediction.
Which tier includes AI features?
Klaviyo paid plans include generative AI (content, segments, flows, images) and predictive analytics. Mailchimp Standard/Premium include generative AI as a no-additional-cost add-on; Essentials excludes it. Brevo Starter includes an AI content generator, Standard adds AI send-time optimisation, and Professional adds AI segmentation and AI Data Analyst.
How do annual billing and promotions work?
Brevo publishes a 10% annual discount (Starter 97/year, Standard 194/year, Professional 5,389/year) but requires upfront payment. Mailchimp offers 15% off the first 12 months for 10,000+ contacts; the 10k/50k figures here are shown prices and renewal follows the contract. Klaviyo lists no annual discount, so this article uses monthly × 12.
What hidden costs remain?
SMS/WhatsApp credits, extra seats (Brevo Standard from USD 12/month for the second seat), dedicated IP, migration services, template/automation rebuild, design/copywriting, deliverability tools, tax and internal labour. None of the three email prices includes these; the first-year budget should put migration and rebuild outside the monthly fee.
Research method and limitations
This article separates “official facts” from “editorial modelling”: plan prices, contact bands, send caps, AI features and seats come from the three official pricing pages plus Brevo’s public pricing API/Markdown; the 2,500/10,000/50,000-contact and 4/10-send monthly totals are arithmetic on published tiers, not vendor quotes.
Eight limitations: (1) only US public list prices are compared, without enterprise discounts, tax or implementation/migration; (2) Mailchimp’s 10k/50k figures are shown prices, and the first-year 15% promotion and renewal price may differ, so the promotion is not treated as a long-term price; (3) Brevo’s email add-ons are step prices and differ by annual/monthly billing and currency; this article uses USD monthly in the main table and lists annual examples separately; (4) Klaviyo “active profiles”, Mailchimp “contacts” and Brevo “contact caps” are not the same measure; the comparison is of billing bands, not sendable list size; (5) this article does not compare deliverability, open rates, AI-copy quality or template depth, all of which require a real-list POC; (6) SMS/WhatsApp, dedicated IP, migration, design, third-party deliverability tools and internal labour are excluded; (7) only three vendors are compared, excluding ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Omnisend and MailerLite; (8) mainland China network access, data compliance and local pricing are excluded. Treat this as a unit-alignment template and replace the assumptions with a four-week POC.
Sources and basis
- Klaviyo, Pricing: klaviyo.com/pricing. Email tiers: 500 profiles USD 20/month (5,000 sends), 2,500 profiles 60 (25,000), 10,000 profiles 150 (100,000), 50,000 profiles 720 (500,000); Free 250 profiles/500 sends; Composer USD 20/month; paid plans include generative AI and predictive analytics; SMS priced by destination/volume. Accessed 3 November 2026.
- Mailchimp, Pricing: mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing. Standard: 0–500 contacts USD 20/month (6,000 sends, 5 seats), 1,501–2,500 60 (30,000), 5,001–10,000 135 (120,000), 40,001–50,000 450 (600,000); Premium USD 350/month with unlimited contacts; generative AI at no additional cost on Standard/Premium; 15% first-year promotion for 10,000+ contacts. Accessed 3 November 2026.
- Brevo, Pricing: brevo.com/pricing. Starter USD 9/month (8.08 annual), Standard 18 (16.17), Professional 499 (449), Enterprise from 2,499; Starter includes 5,000 emails/500 contacts/1 seat/AI copy; Standard adds automation, A/B, AI send time, one landing page and up to 3 seats; Professional includes 150,000 emails/10 seats/AI segmentation/AI Data Analyst. Accessed 3 November 2026.
- Brevo, pricing.md / pricing API: brevo.com/pricing.md. Standard recurring email-credit steps (10k +17, 15k +31, 20,001–30,000 +61, 30,001–40,000 +71, 80,001–100,000 +121, 150,001–250,000 +231, 350,001–500,000 +411 USD/month); contact limits 5k→500, 10k→1,500, 15k→2,500, 20k–500k→500,000; marketing seat USD 12/month in the 2–10 band; 10% annual discount. Generated 29 September 2026; accessed 3 November 2026.
Data cut-off 3 November 2026; prices are public list prices excluding tax; all models are editorial calculations. This is not procurement, legal or data-compliance advice.