If you’ve been hunting for an email marketing platform that doesn’t punish you for growing your contact list. Go through our Brevo review and you may realise that it might be exactly what you need. It’s one of the few platforms that charges based on emails sent — not contacts stored. That single difference saves growing teams a significant amount every month.
Originally launched as Sendinblue, Brevo has evolved into a full marketing suite covering email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, transactional emails, and a built-in CRM — all from one dashboard. Over 300,000 businesses across 180 countries use it today, from solo freelancers to mid-market teams with serious growth ambitions.
Our Brevo review covers everything you need to know about its features, real pricing, honest pros and cons, and how it compares to Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and MailerLite. Let’s get started!
What Is Brevo?
Brevo is an all-in-one marketing and CRM platform designed for businesses that want email, SMS, automation, and customer management under one roof — without the enterprise price tag. It’s built for teams tired of paying for five separate tools that barely integrate.
The platform’s biggest differentiator is its pricing model. Most email platforms charge by the number of contacts stored. Brevo flips that — you can store unlimited contacts on every plan and only pay for the volume of emails you send each month. If you have a large list but don’t send constantly, Brevo will almost always cost less than Mailchimp.
The modern Brevo platform includes:
- Email marketing with drag-and-drop builder and 40+ templates
- SMS and WhatsApp campaign tools
- Visual marketing automation and workflow builder
- Built-in CRM with contact scoring and pipeline management
- Transactional email via SMTP and REST API
- Live chat and shared inbox for customer support
- AI-powered send-time optimisation and subject line suggestions
- 150+ native integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce, and HubSpot
Key Features of Brevo
1. Email Marketing Builder
Brevo’s drag-and-drop email editor is clean, intuitive, and beginner-friendly. The 40+ responsive templates look modern and work across devices. The builder supports dynamic personalisation fields, conditional content blocks, and real-time mobile previews before you hit send.
AI-powered send-time optimisation is available on paid plans. It analyses your audience’s historical engagement patterns and schedules each email to land when each individual recipient is most likely to open it — a feature that rivals those on platforms costing three times as much.
2. SMS & WhatsApp Marketing
This is where Brevo genuinely pulls ahead of most competitors. SMS and WhatsApp campaigns are built in across most paid plans — not locked behind expensive enterprise tiers. You can run multichannel sequences that send an email, follow up with an SMS if the email goes unopened, and then trigger a WhatsApp message if needed. For eCommerce brands, this kind of cart abandonment flow can meaningfully recover revenue that would otherwise be lost.
3. Marketing Automation
Brevo’s visual workflow builder is where the platform earns its keep for growing teams. Multi-step automations can be triggered by user behaviour — page visits, email clicks, form submissions, purchases, and more. Pre-built automation templates handle the most common use cases: welcome sequences, re-engagement campaigns, and lead nurturing flows.
A/B testing is available from the Business plan up, letting you test subject lines, content variants, and send times with clear winner-selection based on open or click rate.
4. Built-in CRM
Brevo includes a free, functional CRM that tracks contacts, assigns tags, scores leads, and manages a basic sales pipeline. It’s not a replacement for Salesforce or HubSpot’s CRM — and Brevo is honest about that. But for small teams that don’t need a dedicated sales tool yet, it covers the essentials. You can see a contact’s full engagement history: every email opened, every page visited, every campaign they responded to.
5. Transactional Email
Every Brevo plan includes transactional email via SMTP relay and REST API. That means the same platform running your marketing campaigns can also send order confirmations, password resets, and shipping notifications. Having both marketing and transactional email under one roof simplifies your stack and helps protect your sender reputation through unified deliverability management.
6. Live Chat & Shared Inbox
Brevo’s live chat widget lets you add real-time support to your website without a third-party tool. Conversations are routed to a shared inbox alongside email replies and WhatsApp messages, giving your team a single place to manage all customer communication. It’s a practical addition for small support teams.
7. Integrations
Brevo connects natively with 150+ tools including Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier, and Stripe. A full REST API is available from the Business plan, and webhook support is standard. Setup for most integrations is straightforward and well-documented.
Brevo Pricing (2026)
Brevo’s biggest competitive advantage is its pricing model. You pay for emails sent, not contacts stored. You can build a list of 100,000 contacts and only pay for the emails you actually send each month.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Emails/Month | Best For |
| Free | $0 | 300/day (~9,000/mo) | Testing & solo starters |
| Starter | From $9/mo | 5,000 – 100,000 | Small businesses & early-stage teams |
| Business | From $18/mo | 5,000 – 1M+ | Growing teams needing automation & A/B testing |
| Professional | From $449/mo | 150,000+ | High-volume senders & advanced eCommerce |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | Large orgs with custom needs |
Annual billing saves 10% across all paid plans. The Pay-As-You-Go option suits occasional senders — credits never expire, and you only pay for what you use.
A few costs to know about upfront: removing Brevo branding from emails on the Starter plan costs an extra ~$10.80/month. Sales pipeline add-ons (Sales Essentials or Sales Advanced) cost $27.92–$58.50/user/month. A dedicated IP for full sender-reputation control costs $251/year.
For most small teams, the Starter or Business plan offers the best value. If you’re unsure where to start, try the free plan first — no credit card required.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Volume-based pricing means unlimited contacts on every plan — a major cost advantage for large lists
- Genuinely all-in-one: email, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, chat, and automation under one roof
- Generous free plan includes marketing automation and CRM — rare among competitors
- AI-powered send-time optimisation and subject line suggestions on paid plans
- GDPR-compliant by design, built to European data privacy standards
- Pay-As-You-Go option available for irregular senders — credits never expire
- 150+ native integrations with major eCommerce, CRM, and marketing platforms
- Transactional email included on all plans — no need for a separate sending service
Cons
- Free plan is limited to 300 emails per day — a hard ceiling that can stall time-sensitive campaigns
- Brevo branding on emails requires a paid add-on to remove on Starter plan
- No A/B testing on free or Starter plans
- Live chat support only available on higher tiers — Starter and Business users rely on email support
- CRM is functional but not a replacement for advanced sales tools like Salesforce or Pipedrive
- WhatsApp integration requires Meta Business verification, which can take several days
- Template library is more limited than Mailchimp’s
Brevo vs. Competitors (2026)
Here’s how Brevo stacks up against the tools it’s most often compared to:
| Platform | Starting Price | Free Plan | SMS & WhatsApp | Built-in CRM | Best For |
| Brevo | $9/mo | Yes (300/day) | Yes | Yes | All-in-one on a budget |
| Mailchimp | $13/mo | Yes (limited) | SMS only | Basic | Beginners & small lists |
| ActiveCampaign | $19/mo | No | SMS only | Advanced | Deep automation & CRM |
| MailerLite | $9/mo | Yes | No | No | Simplicity & low cost |
| GetResponse | $19/mo | No | No | Basic | Webinars & funnels |
Brevo vs. Mailchimp
Pricing: Brevo wins. Mailchimp charges by contacts — including unsubscribed and duplicate contacts. For lists over 5,000, Brevo frequently costs less than half of Mailchimp at equivalent send volumes.
Features: Brevo includes SMS, WhatsApp, and a built-in CRM at no extra cost. Mailchimp’s multichannel messaging and CRM cost extra. Mailchimp has a larger template library and stronger eCommerce analytics.
Verdict: Choose Brevo if budget or list size is a concern. Mailchimp makes more sense if you need deep eCommerce analytics like predictive CLV segmentation.
Brevo vs. ActiveCampaign
Automation: ActiveCampaign is more sophisticated, with 900+ pre-built automation recipes and advanced behavioural tracking. Brevo’s automation is solid for most teams but less complex.
Pricing: Brevo is significantly more affordable, especially at the entry level. ActiveCampaign starts at $19/month with no free plan.
Verdict: Brevo is the better choice for affordable all-in-one marketing. ActiveCampaign is worth the premium if complex customer journey automation is central to your growth strategy.
Brevo vs. MailerLite
MailerLite is similarly affordable and beginner-friendly but lacks SMS, WhatsApp, and a built-in CRM. Brevo wins on channel breadth. MailerLite wins on interface simplicity for teams that only need email.
Who Is Brevo Best For?
Brevo is an excellent fit for:
- Small businesses and startups that want an all-in-one marketing tool without managing five separate platforms
- eCommerce brands running multichannel campaigns across email, SMS, and WhatsApp
- Teams with large contact lists who send infrequently — the volume-based pricing is a genuine money-saver
- B2B teams who want basic CRM and pipeline management built into their marketing platform
- Developers and technical marketers who need transactional email via SMTP or API without a separate service
It’s less suited for pure enterprise use cases that need a deep sales CRM, or for creators and bloggers who just want a simple newsletter tool without the added complexity of SMS and chat features.
Brevo Is Quietly One of the Best Value Platforms in 2026
Brevo doesn’t have the brand recognition of Mailchimp or the automation depth of ActiveCampaign — but it doesn’t need to. For the vast majority of small and mid-size teams, it does everything they actually need at a price that makes sense.
The unlimited contacts model alone sets it apart. The built-in SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, and transactional email turn it into a genuinely complete marketing stack rather than just an email tool. And the free plan — with automation and CRM already included — gives you a real chance to test the platform before spending a cent.
Overall Rating: 4.4 / 5 — Highly recommended for growing teams who want multichannel marketing without the enterprise price tag.
If you’re ready to give it a try, sign up for Brevo’s free plan here — no credit card required, and you can upgrade at any time as your needs grow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo free to use?
Yes. Brevo’s free plan requires no credit card. It allows up to 300 emails per day and unlimited contacts. Marketing automation and basic CRM features are included — tools most platforms lock behind paid plans.
How is Brevo different from Mailchimp?
The biggest difference is pricing. Mailchimp charges by contacts, which gets expensive fast. Brevo charges by emails sent, with unlimited contacts on every plan. Brevo also includes SMS, WhatsApp, and a built-in CRM that Mailchimp charges extra for.
Is Brevo GDPR compliant?
Yes. Brevo is a French company built to European data privacy standards. It includes tools for managing consent, handling data removal requests, and maintaining GDPR compliance — important for businesses marketing to European audiences.
Can Brevo replace my CRM?
For small teams, possibly. Brevo’s built-in CRM handles contact management, lead scoring, tagging, and a basic sales pipeline. It’s not a full replacement for Salesforce or HubSpot. Most growing businesses use Brevo for marketing automation alongside a dedicated CRM for sales.
What happens if I exceed my monthly email limit?
Brevo will pause campaigns before you hit your limit and notify you so you can take action — purchase more credits, upgrade your plan, or wait for the next billing cycle. It won’t send emails beyond your limit without warning.
Does Brevo offer pay-as-you-go pricing?
Yes. Brevo’s Pay-As-You-Go plan lets you buy email credits that never expire. It’s ideal for businesses that send infrequently or run seasonal campaigns. All Starter-level features are included. See PAYG options here.
Is Brevo good for eCommerce?
Yes, particularly on Business and Professional plans. Brevo integrates natively with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. You can build cart abandonment workflows, post-purchase sequences, and SMS follow-ups. The multichannel approach — email, SMS, WhatsApp — works especially well for recovering lost eCommerce revenue.
