Mailchimp has an easy-to-use email editor and a fairly generous free plan, but Sendinblue has more to offer when it comes to listing automation and management.
The price is also a big difference, with Sendinblue being a much more affordable supplier.
If you’re comparing Sendinblue and Mailchimp, I’m guessing it’s for one or more of the following reasons:
- You are a paid Mailchimp user who is tired of the big bills that come in every month.
- You are new to email marketing and you are researching the different providers out there.
- Sendinblue has caught your eye with its very affordable, very comprehensive solution billed by email rather than contact… but you still don’t know if you should trust it with such a big name.
In this comparison, I will present you with all the important aspects so that you leave with a clear idea of the supplier to choose.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Ease of use and editor
A lot of people are drawn to Mailchimp because of its ease of use.
However, as some functions are sometimes hard to find, I think it might be slightly more intuitive for complete beginners.
That said, the background is well-designed and easy to navigate, and the team makes sure that you’ve taken all the steps necessary to set up a new campaign.
Sendinblue has done a very good job in this regard as well.
Their drag-and-drop editor is quick and offers all the predefined options you’ll need. It also guides you every step of the way so you know you haven’t forgotten anything.
It also offers the option to revert to earlier versions of the very useful email.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Design and flexibility
The design of your emails is important, and many marketers prefer to use the ready-made templates provided by their marketing email provider.
It is therefore very important to have a large number of attractive and suitable models for mobile phones and to be able to easily customize them.
Mailchimp has over 100 templates, which are mobile-friendly and not bad at all. They are easy to modify as you like and can be saved so you can reuse them in all your campaigns.
You can also create your own HTML templates via code, URL, or. ZIP file.
You can filter models by category, making it easier for you to find what you’re looking for.
You can also do this with Sendinblue, but there aren’t as many templates to choose from and they don’t look as modern as the ones from Mailchimp.
You can create your own template by copying and pasting the HTML into their editor or you can import a template from another account on their platform using a shared URL.
It is not possible to import a template created on another email marketing platform or a third-party platform.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Managing contact lists
One thing that Mailchimp users have a real problem with is list management.
Mailchimp’s lists are mutually exclusive. In other words, you can’t include contacts from different lists in the same campaigns. There is also no way to create automation to move subscribers from one list to another, for example, as is the case with GetResponse.
Since Mailchimp charges per subscriber, this means that if you have the same contact on different lists, you will be paying for them multiple times. I haven’t seen this with other vendors and it’s very annoying.
In addition, Mailchimp made it quite complex with its different options and naming conventions; you have audiences (contact lists), segments, tags, and groups.
No wonder users are so confused.
The process of creating lists and segmenting contacts is much easier with Sendinblue.
Use the contact field criteria and behavior (opening emails, clicks, etc.) to filter contacts and save the list to use in your campaigns. You can add multiple conditions.
You can also automate it so that when a new subscriber signs up, they are added to a particular list based on a particular condition.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Email Automation
Mailchimp boasts of having ” all automation triggers “. And while that is the case, is the price justified next to Sendinblue’s range of automation options at affordable prices?
Sendinblue allows you to set up fairly advanced triggered campaigns based on contact data, email engagement, web behavior, and e-commerce activity.
To be honest, considering how affordable it is, I was surprised at how extensive Sendinblue’s automation features are.
These include lead scoring, the ability to test your campaigns before activating them, and the “Best time” function, which allows you to send your campaigns at the optimal time based on the performance of previous campaigns.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Registration Forms
This is a standard feature, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.
First of all, it’s not that easy to figure out where to go to create a signup form in Mailchimp because it doesn’t show up in the main navigation. It’s actually located under the “Audience” tab.
In terms of options, you can create a built-in form, pop-up form, or landing page, but the setup is a bit tricky and not all forms seem to be mobile-friendly.
When new subscribers sign up, they are put on whatever list (or audience) you choose, but they can only be put on one list if you want to avoid being billed again.
Sendinblue, on the other hand, allows subscribers to select which list (s) they want to be subscribed to (for example, based on their interests or industry), which is pretty cool.
The recently updated Sendinblue editor is very pleasant to use and makes the whole process very easy.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Spam and design testing
Mailchimp and Sendinblue have equally decent design testing features. Besides mobile and desktop testing, they both allow you to test how your email looks on different email clients.
The difference is, while Mailchimp offers more email clients to test than Sendinblue, it’s not exactly free.
Mailchimp’s paid monthly plans come with 25 Inbox Preview tokens to use each month. Keep in mind that each client you test will use one token, and unused tokens do not carry over to the next month. You can, of course, buy additional tokens if you run out.
Sendinblue, on the other hand, does not charge for this feature.
No spam test is available from either provider.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Reporting
Both Mailchimp and Sendinblue offer the following reporting features:
- Email performance (opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, etc.)
- Links clicked
- Geo Location
- Automation reports
reporting features
However, Sendinblue is missing social and e-commerce reports.
You can track conversions through both providers and Google Analytics integration is also available.
Winner: Because Mailchimp offers social and e-commerce data, they win this round! Sendinblue 6, Mailchimp 4.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Integrations and extras
Mailchimp, being as famous as it is, integrates with hundreds of tools. You should be able to hook up pretty much all the tools you need except Shopify, strangely enough.
Sendinblue doesn’t have as many direct integrations available.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Support
Both providers have similar support channels – knowledge base, email, live chat – although, in Mailchimp’s case, you have to upgrade to a paid account to get support.
In the case of Sendinblue, their help button sometimes shows you different support options (sometimes just their knowledge base). It can be quite frustrating if you need help at the moment and it isn’t available.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Pricing
You probably understood that I’m not a big fan of Mailchimp’s pricing.
While they offer a free plan and scalable pricing to suit your needs, the fact that they now charge users for unregistered contacts and those who haven’t confirmed the opt-in can make this provider pretty Dear.
Sendinblue, which does not set a limit for contacts, invoices the number of emails sent. This makes it one of the most affordable all-in-one providers out there and a great option for those who have a large number of contacts but only send one or two emails per month.
Let’s take a look at their lowest plans to compare them.
Sendinblue Price:
You will see that there is a big price difference between the two providers.
Mailchimp Price:
Interestingly, Sendinblue’s plans all include a lot of key features, like marketing automation and website tracking.
To unblock Mailchimp’s automation feeds, you’ll need to subscribe to their Standard plan ($ 79.99 for 5,000 users).
If you need advanced segmentation, benchmarking reports, multivariate testing, and premium support, you’ll need to subscribe to their Pro plan.
Sendinblue vs Mailchimp: Final Thoughts
Mailchimp is MUCH better known than Sendinblue, but as we saw in this Sendinblue vs Mailchimp comparison, notoriety isn’t everything.
Sendinblue is a great choice if you are looking for a tool that is easy to use and has multiple features.
You’ll find its prices much more reasonable than Mailchimp’s, and managing its lists will be a lot less of a headache.
I think this comparison shows that when you break everything down, Mailchimp still has a few areas to work on if it wants to be the real champion.
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