Overview
Mailjet and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) are both positioned as budget-friendly email platforms. Both combine transactional email and marketing in one product. Both undercut expensive platforms like Mailchimp. See our Brevo comparison for more alternatives.
The key difference: Brevo has expanded into multichannel. Mailjet has stayed focused on email with better collaboration tools.
Multichannel vs Email Focus
Brevo includes SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat natively. You can run multichannel campaigns from one dashboard with unified pricing.
Mailjet focuses on email. SMS is available through parent company Sinch, but it's not built into the platform. If you want true multichannel marketing, Brevo is more complete out of the box.
The Collaboration Advantage
Mailjet's Passport editor allows real-time collaborative email editing. Multiple people can work on the same email simultaneously, like Google Docs for email.
Brevo doesn't have this. For teams where marketing and design collaborate on emails, Passport is genuinely useful and unique in the email platform space.
Pricing Comparison
Both are budget-friendly with similar price points:
- Mailjet: Essential $17/15k emails, Premium ~$27+ for automation
- Brevo: Starter $25/20k emails with automation included
Brevo offers unlimited contacts, charging only by emails sent. For large lists with moderate sending, Brevo's model can be cheaper. For smaller lists with heavy sending, prices are similar.
Transactional Email
Both include transactional email with API and SMTP support. No separate product needed like Mailchimp/Mandrill. This is a key similarity and advantage over more expensive platforms.
CRM and Landing Pages
Brevo includes a basic CRM and landing page builder. Mailjet doesn't have either. If you need these features included, Brevo offers more. If you don't need them, Mailjet is cleaner.
For SaaS Companies
Neither platform is built for SaaS specifically. Both are general-purpose email tools.
If you're a SaaS company with Stripe billing, consider Sequenzy. We offer native Stripe integration for payment-triggered emails and SaaS-focused automation that neither Mailjet nor Brevo provides.
Making the Choice
Choose Mailjet for email-focused simplicity with real-time collaboration. Choose Brevo for multichannel marketing with SMS and WhatsApp. For SaaS with Stripe billing, consider Sequenzy.
Use-case matchups
| Need | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborative email production | Mailjet | Mailjet's real-time editor is the clearest differentiator. |
| SMS, WhatsApp, chat, and CRM in one platform | Brevo | Brevo has broader multichannel and CRM coverage. |
| Email-focused marketing plus transactional | Mailjet | Mailjet stays closer to email and collaboration. |
| Unlimited contacts with email-volume pricing | Brevo | Brevo's pricing model can fit large lists with lower send frequency. |
| SaaS lifecycle email with Stripe | Sequenzy | Sequenzy is built around SaaS campaigns, transactionals, and billing triggers. |
Best Fit by Channel Strategy
Best email platform for collaborative campaign production
Mailjet fits email-first teams that care about real-time editing, shared templates, transactional email, and campaign production more than channel breadth.
Best budget marketing platform for SMS WhatsApp chat and CRM
Brevo is the better fit when the buyer needs email plus SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, CRM, and transactional email around unlimited contacts.
Best SaaS email platform for Stripe lifecycle campaigns
Sequenzy fits subscription teams that need lifecycle campaigns and transactionals tied to billing events rather than multichannel marketing.
Pricing reality
Mailjet is listed at $35-50/month for 10,000 contacts. Brevo is listed at $25-65/month depending on plan and automation needs. Sequenzy is listed at $49/month for 10,000 contacts with unlimited sends.
The price range depends on send volume, automation access, multichannel needs, and whether the team values Mailjet collaboration or Brevo's broader CRM/SMS/WhatsApp surface.
Review signals
The cited Mailjet reviews praise real-time collaboration, EU/GDPR positioning, marketing plus transactional coverage, and value, while noting free-plan limits and basic automation. The cited Brevo reviews praise multichannel capabilities, free CRM, and transactional support, while noting free-plan limits and automation bugs.
Migration checklist
| Workstream | Moving toward Mailjet | Moving toward Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Export lists, fields, consent, segments, suppressions, and unsubscribes. | Export lists, fields, consent, CRM records, suppressions, and unsubscribes. |
| Campaigns | Rebuild templates, collaborative workflows, campaigns, and automations. | Rebuild campaigns, automations, CRM flows, SMS, WhatsApp, and transactional templates. |
| Domains | Recreate SPF, DKIM, DMARC, tracking, bounces, and sender identities. | Recreate SPF, DKIM, DMARC, tracking, bounces, and sender identities. |
| Channels | Decide whether email-only collaboration is enough. | Decide which SMS, WhatsApp, chat, and CRM features are actually in scope. |
| Reporting | Export campaign, delivery, engagement, and automation reporting. | Export campaign, CRM, transactional, SMS, and automation reporting. |
Decision checklist
- Choose Mailjet if email collaboration and a simpler email-first platform matter most.
- Choose Brevo if multichannel marketing, CRM, SMS, and WhatsApp are part of the buying case.
- Choose Sequenzy if the core requirement is SaaS lifecycle and transactional email tied to Stripe.
The Multichannel Question
Brevo's SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat capabilities make it a multichannel marketing hub. For businesses that genuinely use multiple communication channels, having everything in one platform with unified analytics and automation is valuable.
But many businesses, particularly SaaS companies and tech startups, primarily communicate through email. Paying for multichannel features you will not use is wasted budget. Mailjet's email focus means every dollar goes toward email quality rather than SMS infrastructure you may never activate.
Pricing Model Comparison
Brevo charges per email sent with unlimited contacts. Mailjet charges with contact and email limits depending on the plan. For businesses with large contact lists but moderate sending frequency, Brevo's unlimited contacts model is more economical. For businesses with smaller lists that send frequently, pricing is comparable.
Calculate your specific scenario before choosing. The right pricing model depends on your list size and sending frequency, not on which model sounds better in the abstract.
European Data Processing
Mailjet's Paris headquarters and EU data infrastructure simplify GDPR compliance for European businesses. Brevo is also available in EU regions but is not EU-headquartered. For companies subject to strict European data residency requirements, Mailjet's native EU presence is a genuine compliance advantage.
This distinction matters for regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and government where data sovereignty is not optional. For most other businesses, both platforms handle GDPR compliance adequately.
Email Design and Template Flexibility
Mailjet and Brevo take different approaches to email design. Template variety, customization depth, and mobile responsiveness all affect how your emails look across inboxes. The right email editor can save hours of design time per campaign.
Consider how each platform handles dynamic content, personalization tokens, and conditional blocks. Being able to show different content to different segments within the same campaign reduces the number of emails you need to create and manage.
List Management and Segmentation
Effective email marketing depends on reaching the right subscribers with the right message. Mailjet and Brevo handle list management differently, from how they count subscribers to how they manage bounces and unsubscribes.
Segmentation capability directly impacts your campaign performance. Look at whether each platform supports behavioral segments, purchase-based targeting, and engagement scoring. More granular smart segments mean more relevant emails and better results.
Deliverability and Sender Reputation
Your email marketing investment is wasted if messages land in spam. Both Mailjet and Brevo provide deliverability tools, but their approaches to shared vs dedicated IPs, authentication, and compliance differ significantly.
Long-term email deliverability depends on list hygiene, engagement rates, and sender reputation management. Compare how each platform helps you maintain a clean list, identify disengaged subscribers, and optimize sending patterns for better inbox placement.
