Email marketing software: invoice and budget checks

Checks before comparing invoices and budgets

How to read plan listings

When reviewing the Mailchimp and Brevo pricing pages, note the currency, whether VAT is included, the billing basis and usage limits. Do not assume the displayed amount is the total a UK buyer will pay.

The figures below are approximate and undated, not current verified quotes or a like-for-like comparison. Check the live UK and EU pages and match plan usage and tax treatment before using them.

These are typical ranges, not quotes.

For a UK buyer, check whether the invoice amount includes UK VAT and whether that VAT is recoverable in your circumstances. A euro-denominated bill also exposes the budget to exchange-rate movements.

Mailchimp prices by contact band and discounts annual prepay, which locks the price for a year. Brevo prices some plans by send volume, which suits a large but quiet list.

For a UK business buying qualifying services from an EU supplier, the general place-of-supply rule may mean no EU VAT is charged and the UK reverse charge applies. Check the supplier, service and invoice against HMRC VAT Notice 741A; the invoice alone does not establish whether VAT is recoverable. A tier-by-tier reading of both Standard plans sits in our supplier comparison of Mailchimp and Brevo.

VAT checks for UK email software purchases

For many business-to-business services, the place of supply is where the business customer belongs, though exceptions can apply. Under the UK rules, VAT on a service supplied by an overseas business may be accounted for by the UK customer under the reverse charge. Check the transaction against HMRC VAT Notice 741A. The standard UK VAT rate is 20 per cent.

Where the UK reverse charge applies, the buyer accounts for VAT rather than paying EU VAT to the supplier. A VAT-registered business may be able to reclaim that VAT subject to the usual rules, so it can affect cash flow without necessarily being a net cost. Check the treatment against HMRC VAT Notice 741A. GOV.UK's guidance on buying and selling outside Great Britain covers the wider trade context.

For UK sellers invoicing EU businesses, VAT is a separate issue from buying email software. Do not use the purchase examples above to estimate the VAT treatment of those sales.

Check any invoice in three steps:

Currency risk and the rate your budget should record

A pound contract is stable for a UK buyer. A euro contract is not, because the pound moves against the euro. Record the rate and its date on every comparison.

Budget euro contracts conservatively and review quarterly. Annual prepay fixes the euro price but reduces flexibility. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Consumer Prices Index (CPI) data gives UK inflation context, but does not show software suppliers' price movements or EU inflation. Our email software budget template keeps the currency buffer and VAT lines visible.

Data adequacy and where your email data is hosted

International transfers are governed by the UK GDPR for UK transfers and the EU GDPR for EU transfers. The EU's adequacy decision for the UK applies to transfers from the EU to the UK; check the UK's own adequacy rules for transfers from the UK to another country. If an applicable adequacy decision does not cover a transfer, the relevant safeguard depends on the regime: EU GDPR transfers may use the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), while UK GDPR restricted transfers may use the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to the EU SCCs. The ICO's guidance on international transfers explains the UK mechanisms.

Example: a Manchester retailer pricing a pound plan against a euro plan

The figures are hypothetical and show the method only. The retailer sends 60,000 emails a month to 20,000 contacts and is VAT-registered, so UK VAT is reclaimed.

The euro plan wins on list price and loses once the buffer and fees are counted. Swap in your own rate and the ranking can reverse. Costs that never appear on a licence page are listed in email software hidden costs.

Common questions

Is an EU email software plan cheaper than a UK plan after Brexit?

The examples here do not establish that one is cheaper: the prices are approximate, undated and in different currencies. Match usage, use an exchange rate dated for your comparison, and account for VAT and payment costs.

How does VAT work when I buy email software from an EU supplier?

For a UK business buying qualifying services from an EU supplier, the UK reverse charge may apply under the place-of-supply rules. Check the supplier, service and invoice against HMRC VAT Notice 741A, including whether any VAT is recoverable.

Do I need EU VAT registration to email EU customers?

Not simply because you send them emails. For sales to EU consumers, VAT obligations depend on what you sell and where the supply is treated as made. The EU VAT One Stop Shop (OSS), including its non-Union scheme, is a reporting scheme for eligible cross-border consumer sales; it does not decide whether a supply is taxable.

Which exchange rate should go in my email software budget?

Use the rate on the invoice, or a published daily reference rate for the comparison date. The European Central Bank (ECB) publishes euro foreign exchange reference rates. Record the rate and the date together.