Updated 2026-03-23: Pricing, features, and accuracy figures verified against the latest product release.
Quick Specs
Brevo is the email platform that charges you for what you send, not who you have. While every other tool on this list prices by contact count, Brevo prices by email volume. That single difference makes it the cheapest option for businesses with large contact lists who don’t send every day. It also makes it the wrong choice for daily newsletter senders.
If you searched for Sendinblue and ended up here - same company, same product. They rebranded to Brevo in 2023.
I’ve tested the free plan, explored the automation builder, and read through user reviews on G2 and email industry analysis. Here’s what I found.
What Brevo Does Well
Send-Based Pricing Changes the Math
Most email platforms charge by contact count. Have 10,000 subscribers? You’re paying for 10,000 subscribers whether you email them once a month or every day. Brevo flips this. The Starter plan begins at $9/month for 5,000 emails, regardless of how many contacts you have (with some contact limits on lower tiers).
This fundamentally changes who benefits from Brevo. A restaurant with 10,000 contacts sending one monthly newsletter would pay $17/month on Brevo’s Starter plan (10,000 emails). On MailerLite, that same list costs $73/month. On ActiveCampaign Starter, you’re looking at $189/month. For businesses that email their full list infrequently, Brevo’s model saves serious money.
The flip side: if you send 4+ emails per month to your full list, the math quickly favors contact-based platforms. A daily newsletter to 5,000 subscribers means roughly 150,000 emails per month, which pushes you into Brevo’s Professional tier at $499/month. Kit would handle that for $89/month.
Transactional Email Support
This is Brevo’s hidden strength and the reason many businesses end up here. Brevo offers a full transactional email API alongside its marketing platform. You can send order confirmations, password resets, shipping notifications, and account alerts through Brevo’s SMTP relay or HTTP API.
Most marketing email platforms either don’t support transactional emails or charge extra for them (Mailchimp charges separately through Mandrill). Brevo includes it in the same platform, using the same infrastructure. For ecommerce stores, SaaS products, and any business that needs both marketing and transactional emails, this consolidation is practically useful.
The Free Plan Is Practical
Brevo’s free plan allows up to 100,000 contacts and 300 emails per day (roughly 9,000 per month). You get the drag-and-drop editor, email templates, segmentation, signup forms, and even the CRM. The main limitations are Brevo branding on your emails and no landing pages.
300 emails per day is enough for a small business just getting started with email marketing. And unlike some free plans that cap contacts, Brevo lets you store up to 100,000 contacts for free. You only pay when you want to send more.
Multi-Channel Marketing
Beyond email, Brevo includes SMS marketing, WhatsApp campaigns, and web push notifications (on the Professional plan). The SMS feature works globally and uses a pay-per-message model on top of your email plan. For businesses that want to reach customers across multiple channels without stitching together multiple tools, this is convenient.
Built-in CRM
Brevo includes a basic CRM on all plans, including free. You get contact management, deal pipelines, and task tracking. It’s not Salesforce - it’s closer to a contact database with some pipeline features - but for small businesses that don’t have a CRM, it’s one less tool to pay for.
The Sales Essentials add-on ($31/month) extends the CRM with more pipeline features and team management. It’s a separate cost from the email marketing plans.
What Brevo Doesn’t Do Well
Deliverability Has Mixed Reviews
This is the elephant in the room. Brevo’s deliverability rates have been a recurring concern in independent tests. EmailToolTester and other testing services have reported deliverability rates around 87% - decent, but below the 95%+ rates that platforms like Kit and ActiveCampaign regularly achieve.
On G2 and Reddit, you’ll find users who report excellent deliverability and others who’ve struggled with emails landing in spam. Brevo’s shared IP infrastructure means your deliverability can be affected by other senders on the same IP. Dedicated IPs are available on the Professional plan ($499/month) and above.
If inbox placement is critical to your business, this is worth considering. Brevo has improved in recent tests, but the reputation gap compared to premium platforms persists.
Email Templates Are Basic
Brevo’s drag-and-drop editor works, and there’s a reasonable template library. But the designs feel dated compared to MailerLite’s modern templates or even Mailchimp’s creative options. If your brand depends on polished, visually distinctive emails, you’ll either be doing significant customization or looking elsewhere.
Automation Isn’t the Strongest
The Standard plan ($18/month for 5,000 emails) unlocks marketing automation. The workflow builder is functional - you can build triggered sequences based on email opens, clicks, website visits, and custom events. But the interface is less intuitive than ActiveCampaign or Kit, and the branching logic is more limited.
For basic welcome sequences and triggered campaigns, Brevo’s automation works fine. For complex multi-step funnels with deep behavioral targeting, you’ll want a more specialized tool.
The Brevo Brand on Free Emails
The free plan and Starter plan include Brevo’s logo on your emails. Removing it costs extra on the Starter plan. This is standard practice (MailerLite does the same on their free plan), but it’s worth knowing upfront if brand presentation matters to you.
Pricing Breakdown
Brevo’s pricing is based on email volume, not contacts. Monthly billing:
| Emails/month | Free | Starter | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300/day (~9K) | $0/mo | - | - |
| 5,000 | - | $9/mo | $18/mo |
| 10,000 | - | $17/mo | $35/mo |
| 20,000 | - | $29/mo | $65/mo |
| 40,000 | - | $39/mo | $75/mo |
| 60,000 | - | $55/mo | $89/mo |
| 100,000 | - | $69/mo | $129/mo |
Professional: Starts at $499/month for 150,000+ emails. Adds WhatsApp, web push, contact scoring, AI segmentation, phone support, and a deliverability specialist.
Key distinction: Starter has contact limits on lower tiers (500 contacts for 5K emails, 1,500 for 10K emails). At 20,000 emails/month and above, contacts are unlimited.
Brevo also offers pay-as-you-go credits that don’t expire - useful for businesses with unpredictable sending patterns.
Who Should Use Brevo
Brevo makes sense for specific situations:
- Businesses with large lists and low send frequency - the send-based pricing model saves money compared to contact-based platforms
- Companies needing transactional + marketing emails in one platform, without paying for a separate service like Mandrill or SendGrid
- Budget-conscious small businesses that want CRM, email marketing, and SMS in one tool for under $20/month
- Ecommerce stores wanting basic email marketing with transactional email capabilities
- International businesses needing multi-channel marketing (email + SMS + WhatsApp)
Who Should NOT Use Brevo
Brevo is a poor fit if:
- You send daily or weekly newsletters. The send-based pricing works against high-frequency senders. Kit or MailerLite are cheaper for regular newsletter senders.
- Deliverability is your top priority. Brevo has improved, but independent tests still show lower deliverability than premium platforms. If inbox placement is critical, ActiveCampaign or Kit have stronger track records.
- You need beautiful email templates. The template library is functional but not inspiring. MailerLite has a much more modern design experience.
- You need advanced automation. Brevo’s automation works for basics but falls short of ActiveCampaign or Kit for complex workflows.
How Brevo Compares
Brevo vs MailerLite: MailerLite has better templates, a more modern interface, and stronger deliverability. Brevo is cheaper for large lists with low send frequency and includes transactional emails and CRM. For pure marketing email, MailerLite wins. For businesses needing marketing + transactional in one platform, Brevo wins.
Brevo vs Mailchimp: Similar feature sets, but Brevo is significantly cheaper. Mailchimp’s free plan caps at 250 contacts; Brevo’s allows up to 100,000 contacts with 300 emails/day. Mailchimp charges separately for transactional email (Mandrill). Brevo includes it. For budget-conscious businesses, Brevo is the better value.
Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign is the better email marketing platform across the board - stronger automations, better deliverability, more refined CRM. Brevo’s advantages are price (significantly cheaper) and transactional email support. If your budget is tight and you need transactional emails, Brevo makes sense. For everything else, ActiveCampaign is worth the premium.
Final Verdict
Brevo earns a 7.0 rating because it fills a specific niche well: affordable email marketing with transactional email support for businesses that don’t send at high volume. The send-based pricing model is a genuine differentiator that saves money for the right use case. The CRM, SMS, and WhatsApp features add value beyond what most competitors include at this price.
The deliverability concerns, basic templates, and limited automation keep it from the top tier. Brevo isn’t the platform to choose if email marketing is your primary growth channel. It’s the platform to choose if email is one of many channels and you need it to work reliably at a low price.
For businesses that need marketing and transactional emails under one roof without breaking the budget, Brevo delivers. For everything else, there are better tools.
Pricing last verified: March 2026. Some links are affiliate links. How we make money.
