Mailchimp's price rises with your contact count, and its free plan stops below 250 contacts. This page compares three alternatives that have their own page on SaaSEuro: Brevo, Kit and ActiveCampaign. It sets out each vendor's published prices in the currency it lists, what the free plan includes, and what its legal pages say about data protection. It is compiled from official pricing and legal pages, not from our own hands-on testing.
TL;DR: who should leave Mailchimp, and for what
- Brevo suits you if you send a lot of email to a small list and want a French company with prices in EUR and GBP. Its pricing is built on email volume, not contacts.
- Kit suits creators and newsletter writers who want a free plan of up to 10,000 subscribers. It lists prices in US dollars only, and its stated data location is the United States.
- ActiveCampaign suits teams that want deeper automation and a CRM. It has no free plan we could confirm, only a 14-day trial, and also lists USD prices only.
- Stay on Mailchimp if you are under 250 contacts and the free plan covers you, or if you depend on its integrations. Switching costs time, and a lower price does not always repay it.
Side by side: price, free plan and data
| Tool | Free plan | Paid plans from | Currency listed | Stated data location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | Basic features, under 250 contacts | Essentials €11.70 / £9.91 / US$13 a month (0–500 contacts) | USD, EUR, GBP | No hosting region found |
| Brevo | 300 emails a day | Starter €7 / £6 a month; Standard €15 / £13 a month | EUR, GBP | Not verified |
| Kit | Up to 10,000 subscribers | Creator US$39 a month (US$33 billed yearly), 1,000-subscriber tier | USD | United States (AWS) |
| ActiveCampaign | None confirmed; 14-day trial | Starter US$19 a month (US$15 billed yearly), 1,000 contacts | USD | US, Australia, Ireland, Brazil, Costa Rica (privacy policy) |
Prices are the vendors' own, checked between 5 and 10 October 2026: Mailchimp (EUR and GBP read from its French page), Brevo, Kit and ActiveCampaign. Kit and ActiveCampaign publish dollars only, so we show dollars and do not convert them into euros. Each plan's price also moves with your list size or send volume; the table shows entry points, not what you will pay.
Brevo: the only EU-headquartered option here
Brevo is a French company based in Paris, according to its press page. It charges by the number of emails you send rather than by the size of your contact list, so a large list that you mail rarely costs less than it would on a per-contact plan. The free plan allows 300 emails a day. Paid plans start at €7 a month (Starter) and €15 a month (Standard), or £6 and £13 in pounds, and the price climbs as the monthly volume tier rises.
What we could not verify: where Brevo stores your data. Its privacy policy names the data controller as Sendinblue France SAS, Brevo Inc. or Brevo Germany GmbH depending on where you are, and says Brevo Inc. complies with the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. It does not give a single hosting region. See the Brevo page for current prices, or our Brevo vs Mailchimp comparison.
Kit: for creators with a big free list
Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited forms and broadcasts, the biggest free allowance of the four. Paid plans start at US$39 a month (Creator, US$33 on yearly billing) for a 1,000-subscriber tier, with visual automations and email sequences. Pro, at US$79 a month, adds a newsletter referral system and subscriber scoring.
The trade-offs for a European buyer: prices are in dollars, and Kit's security page states its data is hosted in the United States on AWS. Its privacy page says it complies with the EU–US and Swiss–US Data Privacy Frameworks and offers a Data Processing Addendum. See the Kit page.
ActiveCampaign: automation first, no free plan
ActiveCampaign's Starter plan is US$19 a month (US$15 on yearly billing) for 1,000 contacts and one user, with marketing automation limited to 5 actions. Plus (US$59) removes that limit and adds landing pages and a standard CRM; Pro (US$99) adds predictive content and attribution tracking for 3 users. We could not confirm a free plan. It offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Its privacy policy says information may be transferred to ActiveCampaign locations in the United States, Australia, Ireland, Brazil and Costa Rica. Its DPA covers transfers under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, with Standard Contractual Clauses as fallback. See the ActiveCampaign page.
What you are comparing against: Mailchimp
On Mailchimp, the free plan covers basic marketing features under 250 contacts. Essentials (€11.70 a month at 0–500 contacts) allows up to 5,000 emails a month and automation flows up to 4 steps; Standard (€18) allows up to 6,000 emails a month and flows up to 200 steps. Both include a 14-day trial, and the price rises with the contact count. Mailchimp is part of Intuit; Intuit Ireland Software Limited contracts with customers in most of the EU, not Sweden or Denmark, and Intuit Limited with UK customers (terms). Details are on the Mailchimp page.
GDPR, DPA and currency: one section for all four
All four vendors offer a data processing agreement or addendum, and all four rely on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for transfers to the US. That is a legal mechanism, not a hosting location, and none of them states an EU-only region on the pages we read. Of the four, only Brevo is verified as headquartered in the EU. If your contracts require EU hosting, ask the vendor in writing before you pay; we have not verified one for any of the four.
For VAT, a business customer in another EU country normally buys under the reverse charge, so the invoice should show no VAT. Check how each vendor invoices you, since a US company may bill differently from an Irish or French entity. Treat this as a question for your accountant, not as advice from this page.
FAQ
Is there a free Mailchimp alternative?
Yes. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, and Brevo's free plan allows 300 emails a day. Mailchimp's own free plan stops below 250 contacts.
Which alternative prices in euros?
Brevo lists EUR and GBP. Kit and ActiveCampaign list US dollars only, so any euro figure would be a conversion we do not make.
Which alternative is European?
Brevo is a French company, according to its press page. Mailchimp is part of Intuit; the other two are not verified as EU-based on the pages we read.