Every few months someone asks me which email marketing platform they should use. And every time, my answer starts the same way: it depends on what you’re actually trying to do.

So let’s break this down properly. No affiliate links here, no sponsored opinions. Just what I’ve seen work (and not work) for Australian small businesses over the past few years.

The Contenders

I’m comparing four platforms that come up most often for Aussie SMBs: Mailchimp, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), MailerLite, and Campaign Monitor — the last one being homegrown Australian.

There are plenty of others (ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo), but these four cover the range most small businesses need.

Pricing Reality Check

Here’s where things get interesting, because the “free tier” game has changed dramatically.

Mailchimp used to be the obvious free choice. Not anymore. Their free plan now caps at 500 contacts and 1,000 sends per month. For most businesses, that’s about three months of growth before you’re paying. Once you’re on a paid plan, costs escalate fast — a 5,000-contact list runs around $75-100 AUD per month.

Brevo prices by email sends, not contacts. You can have unlimited contacts on every plan. Their free tier gives you 300 emails per day. For a small business sending a weekly newsletter to 2,000 people, the Starter plan at about $35 AUD/month covers it.

MailerLite offers the most generous free plan: 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. Paid plans start around $15 AUD/month for 500 subscribers, scaling to about $40/month for 5,000.

Campaign Monitor doesn’t have a free plan. Their basic tier starts around $12 AUD/month for 500 contacts but with limited features. The unlimited plan for 5,000 contacts runs about $100 AUD/month.

What Actually Matters

Templates and Design

Campaign Monitor wins this one easily. Their template builder is intuitive, the designs look professional, and they’re consistently well-rendered across email clients. If your brand aesthetic matters (and it should), Campaign Monitor gives you the most polished output with the least effort.

MailerLite has improved significantly here. Their drag-and-drop editor is clean and modern. Mailchimp’s editor is powerful but cluttered — there’s a learning curve.

Brevo’s templates feel a generation behind the others. Functional, but not inspiring.

Automation

This is where you’ll see the biggest differences as your needs grow.

Mailchimp and Brevo both offer solid automation — welcome sequences, abandoned cart emails, birthday messages. But Mailchimp’s automation builder has become unnecessarily complicated. What used to be straightforward now requires navigating through multiple screens.

MailerLite keeps automation simple. If you’re setting up basic sequences, it’s the fastest to get running.

Campaign Monitor’s automation is capable but feels designed for agencies managing multiple clients rather than business owners doing it themselves.

Deliverability

This is the metric that actually matters. No point having beautiful emails if they land in spam.

In my experience across client accounts over the past year, MailerLite and Campaign Monitor consistently have the best inbox placement rates. Mailchimp has gotten worse here, partly because their massive user base includes a lot of spammers on free plans, which affects shared IP reputation.

Brevo is solid if you set up proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). If those letters mean nothing to you, that’s fine — just know you might need a technically inclined person to handle initial setup.

Australian-Specific Considerations

Campaign Monitor is based in Sydney. If you care about data sovereignty or want phone support during Australian business hours, that’s worth something. They also understand Australian Privacy Act requirements natively.

The others store data overseas (primarily US and EU). For most small businesses, this isn’t a dealbreaker, but if you’re in healthcare, legal, or financial services, check with your compliance requirements.

GST handling in invoicing is straightforward with Campaign Monitor. The international platforms charge in USD and may or may not handle GST properly — check with your accountant.

My Recommendations

Just starting out, budget-conscious: MailerLite. Best free plan, clean interface, good deliverability.

Growing business, need automation: Brevo. Pricing by sends instead of contacts saves money if you have a large list but don’t email daily.

Brand-focused, design matters: Campaign Monitor. Best templates, local support, Australian data storage.

Already using Mailchimp: Don’t switch just because I said their pricing went up. Migration has its own costs. But if you’re hitting pain points, know that alternatives exist.

The best email platform is the one that gets your emails opened. Pick one, learn it properly, and focus on writing emails people actually want to read. That matters more than any feature comparison.