Brevo's pay-per-email model suits schools and PTAs with large parent lists but moderate send frequency — you pay for emails sent, not contacts stored, so 10,000 parent contacts sending a monthly newsletter costs around $29/month. Mailchimp's per-contact model works better for smaller parent groups under 500 contacts using the free tier. Both charge by volume; Groupmail charges a flat $15/month regardless of list size. Pricing last verified May 2026.
Platform Overview
See how each platform compares
Mailchimp
Full-featured marketing platform
Mailchimp is a full marketing platform originally built for small businesses. It offers a free plan (500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month) and a 15% TechSoup nonprofit discount that K-12 public schools and qualifying educational nonprofits can apply for. Its per-contact billing model means costs climb quickly as parent lists grow — and it counts unsubscribed contacts toward your tier.
Brevo
Pay-per-email platform with built-in CRM
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) uses a pay-per-email model — you store unlimited contacts and pay based on how many emails you send each month. For schools with large parent lists that send moderately (one or two newsletters per month), this is significantly cheaper than per-contact platforms. The free plan allows 300 emails per day (9,000/month), but that daily cap can be a problem during emergencies.
Key Differences
Per-contact vs per-email billing
Brevo winsMailchimp charges based on how many contacts you store. A school district with 10,000 parent contacts pays ~$100/month on Mailchimp Standard. Brevo charges based on emails sent, not contacts stored. That same 10,000-contact district sending two newsletters per month (20,000 emails) pays around $29/month on Brevo's Starter plan. For schools with large, low-frequency lists, Brevo's model is substantially cheaper.
Discount eligibility for schools and PTAs
DrawMailchimp offers a 15% TechSoup discount for verified 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Many K-12 public schools qualify, but most PTAs and parent groups are not 501(c)(3) entities and do not qualify. Brevo's educational discount applies primarily at the Enterprise tier and must be negotiated directly. Neither platform offers a verified, self-service discount for the average school parent group.
Emergency notification capability
Mailchimp winsSchools sometimes need to send all-school emergency notifications at short notice. Brevo's free plan caps daily sends at 300 emails — a school with 800 parent contacts cannot send an emergency email to everyone in one send without a paid plan. Mailchimp's paid plans have no daily sending cap. If your school needs the ability to blast the entire parent list on demand, Brevo's free tier is not sufficient.
Annual volunteer coordinator turnover
Groupmail winsPTA email coordinators change every year at the end of the school year. Neither Mailchimp nor Brevo provides transition support. Groupmail's Continuity plan ($29/month) includes an annual handover call: when the coordinator changes in June, Groupmail schedules a call with the incoming volunteer and walks them through the account.
Feature Comparison
16 features · pricing verified May 31, 2026
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| Feature | Mailchimp | Brevo | Groupmail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | |||
| Free plan | 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/mo | Unlimited contacts, 9,000 emails/mo (300/day cap) | 500 contacts, 1,000 emails/mo |
| Pricing model | Per contact stored | Per email sent (contacts unlimited) | Flat monthly fee |
| Price at 2,500 parent contacts (2x/mo newsletter) | ~$45/mo (Standard) | $9/mo (Starter, 5k emails) | $15/mo (unlimited contacts) |
| Price at 10,000 parent contacts (2x/mo newsletter) | ~$100/mo (Standard) | ~$29/mo (Starter, 20k emails) | $15/mo (unlimited contacts) |
| Unlimited contacts | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Charges for old/graduated parent contacts | Yes — unsubscribes count toward tier | No — only send volume matters | No |
| Email Features | |||
| Drag-and-drop editor | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email automation | Standard+ plans | Business plans | ✗ |
| A/B testing | Standard+ plans | Business plans | ✗ |
| Scheduling | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Template library | 300+ templates | 40+ templates | Basic templates |
| Extra Tools | |||
| Transactional email | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in CRM | Basic (paid plans) | Included on all plans | ✗ |
| Support & Compliance | |||
| Human support (all plans) | ✗ | ✗ | Every plan, including free |
| Annual volunteer handover call | ✗ | ✗ | Included (Continuity plan) |
| FERPA / GDPR compliance | GDPR-capable; US data storage default | GDPR-capable; EU data storage available | GDPR-capable; EU (Ireland) by default |
Pricing at 10,000 Contacts
All prices USD · verified May 31, 2026
Mailchimp
$100/mo
Standard plan, 10,000 contacts
Public schools may qualify for 15% TechSoup discount (~$85/mo)
Brevo
$29/mo
Starter plan, 20,000 emails (unlimited contacts)
Assumes ~2 newsletters/mo to a 10k parent list
Groupmail
$15/mo
Community plan, unlimited contacts
Same price at 500 parents or 50,000
Pros & Cons
Mailchimp
Pros
- Free plan up to 500 contacts / 1,000 emails per month
- Intuitive drag-and-drop email editor suited to non-technical volunteers
- Landing pages and signup forms included on all plans
- Strong automation on Standard plans for event reminders and drip sequences
- 300+ integrations including Google, Stripe, and Eventbrite
- Detailed analytics — useful for school district reporting requirements
Cons
- Counts unsubscribed contacts (graduated families, old parents) toward billing tier
- 15% TechSoup discount only for 501(c)(3) nonprofits — most PTAs do not qualify
- Price climbs sharply above 2,500 contacts — $75/mo at 5,000, $100/mo at 10,000
- No phone support — email and chat only
- Dashboard packed with marketing features most PTA coordinators will never use
- Daily sending cap on free plan prevents emergency all-school notifications
Brevo
Pros
- Unlimited contacts stored on every plan — no penalty for large parent lists
- Pay-per-email model: 10,000 parent contacts sending twice monthly costs ~$29/mo
- Built-in CRM and transactional email on all plans
- Automation included on Business plans — useful for event sequences and reminders
- Free plan includes 9,000 emails/month (300/day) — sufficient for monthly newsletters
- SMS marketing add-on for emergency notifications via text
Cons
- Free plan capped at 300 emails per day — one batch to 800 parents requires multiple days or an upgrade
- Brevo logo on all free plan emails
- Educational discount is mainly available at the Enterprise tier
- Automation and A/B testing require Business plan (from $18/mo at 5k emails)
- Pay-per-email model gets expensive for high-frequency senders (daily updates, emergency blasts)
- Less well-known than Mailchimp — fewer community tutorials for school use
What others say
Verified third-party reviews and resources for further reading.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Mailchimp if…
- →Schools and PTAs with fewer than 500 parent contacts on a zero budget
- →School organizations that are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits and qualify for TechSoup
- →Districts or booster clubs that need landing pages and event signup forms
- →Schools already using Salesforce or Google Workspace with integration needs
- →PTAs that need detailed analytics for board reporting
Choose Brevo if…
- →Schools and PTAs with large parent contact lists (5,000+) that send 1-2 times per month
- →School districts managing multiple parent segments across buildings without a per-contact premium
- →PTAs transitioning off Mailchimp to reduce costs as their list grows
- →Schools that want a built-in CRM to track parent engagement alongside email
- →Organizations that also need transactional email (permission slips, confirmation receipts)
A third option
Neither was built for schools.
Mailchimp was built for marketers. Brevo was built for ecommerce. Groupmail has been built for community organisations — including school parent groups — since 1996.
Flat $15/month pricing
Same price whether you have 300 parents or 5,000 — no tier upgrades when your school grows.
No per-email or per-contact surprises
Send the weekly newsletter, emergency closures, and the annual fundraising appeal without counting emails or upgrading plans.
Annual coordinator handover
When the PTA email coordinator changes at the end of the school year, Groupmail's Continuity plan includes a handover call with the new volunteer.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Mailchimp vs Brevo for Schools: Full Overview
Mailchimp and Brevo represent two different pricing philosophies for school email. Mailchimp charges based on how many contacts you store — the more parent emails in your account, the higher your monthly bill. Brevo charges based on how many emails you send — storing 10,000 parent contacts costs nothing; sending a newsletter to all of them costs based on send volume.
For schools and PTAs, the right choice depends on your list size and send frequency. A small PTA with 400 parent contacts sending twice a month may find Mailchimp's free plan or low-cost paid plans sufficient. A school district managing 8,000 parent contacts across multiple buildings, sending a weekly newsletter, will pay dramatically less with Brevo's per-email model.
Neither platform was built for schools specifically. Mailchimp was built for small business marketing. Brevo was built for ecommerce and transactional email. Both have adapted over time to serve community organizations, but the feature sets reflect their origins. For PTAs sending member updates to parents, both platforms include substantially more complexity than most school organizations will ever use.
Core Email Features Compared
Both Mailchimp and Brevo offer the core features a school needs: a drag-and-drop email editor, contact management with list segmentation, signup forms for collecting parent emails, campaign analytics, and email scheduling.
Mailchimp has a larger template library — over 300 pre-built designs — which is helpful when a new PTA coordinator needs to produce a polished newsletter quickly without design skills. Brevo has a smaller template selection but a clean, modern editor that many volunteers find easy to navigate.
Automation features require paid plans on both platforms. Mailchimp gates automation behind its Standard tier; Brevo puts it on the Business plan. For the typical school newsletter workflow (compose, send, done), neither automation feature is necessary.
Where Mailchimp Adds Value for Schools
Mailchimp's free plan is its strongest card for small school groups. PTAs with 500 or fewer parent contacts can use Mailchimp at no cost with 1,000 emails per month. Brevo's free plan offers 9,000 emails per month with unlimited contacts, but applies Brevo's logo to every email, which may not suit schools that want professional-looking parent communications.
Mailchimp's template library and community documentation are unmatched. When a new PTA treasurer takes over in September and needs to send the first newsletter, they can find hundreds of tutorials, YouTube walkthroughs, and community forum answers for Mailchimp.
For school organizations that are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits — school foundations, qualifying booster clubs — Mailchimp's 15% TechSoup discount is available. It reduces the Standard plan from $100/month at 10,000 contacts to approximately $85/month.
Where Brevo Adds Value for Schools
Brevo's per-email pricing is transformative for schools with large parent lists. A school district with 10,000 parent contacts sending a biweekly newsletter (roughly 20,000 emails per month) pays approximately $29/month on Brevo's Starter plan. The same list on Mailchimp Standard costs $100/month — more than three times as much.
The contact-storage model means schools never pay extra for contacts they are not actively emailing. Graduated families, old emergency contacts, alumni who joined the list years ago — on Brevo, these stored contacts have no billing impact until you send to them.
Brevo also includes a built-in CRM and transactional email on all plans. For schools managing complex parent communication — class placement confirmations, permission slip replies, automated receipts for school fee payments — Brevo's transactional infrastructure handles both marketing and operational email in one platform.
Free Plan Comparison for School Groups
Brevo's free plan is technically more generous in email volume: 9,000 emails per month versus Mailchimp's 1,000. A school group can send a monthly newsletter to up to 9,000 parents on Brevo's free tier. Mailchimp's 1,000-email free plan only covers a monthly send to a list of around 900 contacts.
The critical limitation on Brevo's free plan is the 300-email daily cap. Sending 9,000 emails over a month means spreading sends across 30 days. For scheduled newsletters this works fine. For emergency notifications — school closures, safety alerts — you cannot reach all 800 parents in a single send if your daily cap is 300.
Both free plans add platform branding to outgoing emails. For professional school communications, both require a paid plan to remove third-party branding. Groupmail's free plan (500 contacts, 1,000 emails/month) does not add branding to emails and includes human support — an unusual combination at the free tier.
Migration Considerations for Schools
Moving between email platforms is straightforward but requires planning. Both Mailchimp and Brevo allow CSV export of contacts including email addresses, names, and tags. Neither exports email campaign history or automation workflows. For a school PTA, this is rarely a problem — you mostly care about the contact list, not historical sends.
When migrating, export only active, subscribed contacts. On Mailchimp, unsubscribed contacts show up in exports — import them to a new platform and you will be sending to people who explicitly asked to be removed. Filter your export to active subscribers only.
Switching platforms mid-school-year is disruptive. The best time to migrate is late spring, before the end-of-year coordinator handover, so the outgoing coordinator can complete the migration before passing the account to the incoming volunteer.
For Schools and PTAs Specifically
The central challenge for school email is the annual coordinator turnover. PTA email coordinators, school communications volunteers, and district communication managers change regularly — end-of-year elections, moving on, new school year, new person. Neither Mailchimp nor Brevo was designed with this transition cycle in mind.
Schools and PTAs have a distinctive contact list dynamic. Parent contacts accumulate over years — and graduate. A K-8 school's parent list turns over every nine years. On a per-contact billing platform like Mailchimp, graduated families who never unsubscribe accumulate silently in your billing tier. Brevo's per-email model sidesteps this entirely.
Emergency communication is a school-specific requirement. Schools need to reach every parent immediately when a closure, safety incident, or urgent update occurs. Brevo's free plan (300 emails/day) cannot handle a bulk emergency send for most schools. If emergency notification capability matters, that is a deciding factor for which Brevo tier you would actually need.
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