Email Marketing
Brevo
Brevo — known as Sendinblue until its 2023 rebrand — inverts the usual email-marketing model: it charges by email volume, not list size. That single design choice makes it the standout pick for a specific small business: the one with thousands of contacts that only emails now and then.
Beyond campaigns, Brevo bundles SMS, WhatsApp, web push, transactional email (SMTP), and a genuinely usable free CRM into one platform — an unusually wide free surface for this category.
- Website
- brevo.com
- Category
- Email Marketing
- Pricing
- Free plan + paid tiers
- Starts at
- Free plan; paid from ~$9/month
- Best for
- Businesses with a big contact list that email occasionally — you pay for volume sent, not list size.
- Profile updated
- July 16, 2026
Independent profile — no affiliate links or sponsored placement.
Key features
- Email campaigns plus SMS, WhatsApp, and web push in one tool
- Marketing automation builder — works on the free plan for up to 2,000 contacts
- Built-in CRM at no charge
- Transactional email and SMTP relay included
- Ecommerce integrations and volume-based sending that scales without list-size penalties
Pricing
As of July 2026 (verify current pricing on Brevo's pricing page — it calculates exact prices interactively):
- Free — store up to 100,000 contacts; sending capped at 300 emails/day (~9,000/month); automation for up to 2,000 contacts; transactional email included
- Starter — from around $9/month for 5,000 emails, scaling with volume; removing Brevo branding is a paid add-on on top
- Standard/Business tiers — from about $18/month; this is where the 2,000-contact automation cap lifts
Pros and cons
Pros
- No practical contact limit on the free plan — ideal for big, quiet lists
- Automation plus transactional email free is a rare combination
- A usable CRM included at every tier
Cons
- The 300/day free throttle turns one big campaign into a multi-day drip
- Branding removal costs extra even on the paid Starter tier
- Automation stays capped at 2,000 contacts until the mid tier
Who should use Brevo?
Brevo fits the business whose list outgrew Mailchimp's pricing but whose sending habits didn't: a shop that emails customers monthly, a contractor with years of accumulated contacts, a side project with a big newsletter it rarely sends. If you send frequently to a small list instead, per-contact platforms may price out cheaper.
Ratings, for context: 4.5/5 on G2 (2,500+ reviews) and 4.4/5 average on Capterra — as of July 2026.
FAQs
Is Brevo the same as Sendinblue?+
Yes — Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in 2023. Same product line, same volume-based pricing model, new name.
Is Brevo really free for 100,000 contacts?+
You can store up to 100,000 contacts free; what's limited is sending — 300 emails a day. Brevo charges for volume sent, so a big list costs nothing until you actually email it at scale.
When does Brevo stop making sense?+
If you email your whole list frequently, volume pricing loses its advantage and the daily throttle on free becomes painful. Frequent senders with small lists often do better on per-contact platforms like Mailchimp or GetResponse.
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