Pricing Models That Actually Matter

Mailercloud and Brevo use opposite pricing strategies, and understanding this difference will save you money.

Mailercloud charges $50/month for 10,000 contacts with unlimited email sends. If you send 10 campaigns per month or 100, you pay the same. This is the traditional email marketing model used by Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and most others. It works well if you send frequently to your list.

Brevo charges by email volume with unlimited contacts. The Starter plan is $25/month for 20,000 emails. If you have 10,000 contacts and send 2 campaigns per month, that's 20,000 emails—you pay $25. If you send 6 campaigns, that's 60,000 emails and you'd pay around $49/month. Brevo's model is better if you have a large list but send infrequently, or if you have many inactive subscribers you don't want to pay for.

Both platforms offer free tiers, but they work differently. Mailercloud gives you 1,000 contacts forever. Brevo gives you 300 emails per day (9,000 per month), which is generous if you're just starting. Check our pricing page to see how these compare to other platforms.

All-in-One vs. Email-Only

Brevo is trying to be your entire marketing platform. You get email, SMS, WhatsApp, landing pages, a CRM, and transactional email in one dashboard. This is appealing if you're a small team that doesn't want to juggle multiple tools. The SMS and WhatsApp features are particularly useful for e-commerce businesses that need multichannel communication.

Mailercloud focuses entirely on email marketing. It doesn't try to be a CRM or SMS platform. You get a solid email editor, basic automation, and unlimited sending. If you already use HubSpot or Salesforce for CRM, or if you just need email marketing without the extras, Mailercloud's simplicity might appeal to you.

The transactional email difference is huge. Brevo includes transactional email in all plans—you can use it for password resets, order confirmations, and receipts. This saves you from needing a separate tool like SendGrid or Postmark. Mailercloud doesn't offer transactional email at all, so you'll need another service. For SaaS companies, this is a pain point. Sequenzy includes transactional email in our $49/month plan—learn about our transactional email features.

Automation: Basic vs. Advanced

Brevo's automation is significantly more powerful. You can build workflows based on email behavior, CRM activity, website visits, and even SMS interactions. The visual workflow builder is intuitive, and you can create complex multi-step sequences with conditions and delays.

Mailercloud's automation exists but feels limited. You can set up basic welcome series and drip campaigns, but the trigger options are sparse and the interface is clunky. If marketing automation is a core part of your strategy, Brevo is the obvious choice.

For SaaS businesses, neither platform offers the Stripe-triggered automation you probably need. When a customer upgrades, churns, or has a payment failure, you want emails to fire automatically. Sequenzy handles this natively with our Stripe integration—no webhooks or Zapier required.

The Hidden Costs and Gotchas

Brevo's pricing looks cheap until you factor in SMS. Email is affordable, but SMS costs extra—around $0.012 per message in the US. If you plan to use SMS heavily, these costs add up fast. WhatsApp also costs extra per conversation.

Mailercloud's limitation isn't about cost—it's about contact management. You can't add the same contact to multiple lists, which makes segmentation awkward. If someone subscribes to your newsletter and then downloads a lead magnet, you have to pick one list for them. Brevo doesn't have this restriction.

Both platforms have learning curves, but Brevo's is steeper because of all the features. If you just need email marketing, Mailercloud's focused interface is easier to learn. If you want an all-in-one platform, Brevo's complexity is the trade-off for its capabilities.

Who Should Pick Which

Choose Mailercloud if you send frequent campaigns to a defined list, if you want to experiment with AMP emails for interactive content, or if you prefer paying a flat rate regardless of send volume. It's solid for straightforward email marketing without distractions.

Choose Brevo if you have a large but inactive list (you won't pay for unengaged contacts), if you need SMS and email in one platform, if you want transactional email included, or if you need a basic CRM alongside your marketing tools. It's the better value for businesses that need multiple channels.

Choose Sequenzy if you're running a SaaS business and need Stripe integration, if you want AI to generate your email sequences, or if you need transactional and marketing email in one simple tool. Learn more about our features or read our comparison guides to see how we stack up.