| Free plan | Yes — 300 emails/day (Marketing Platform); free tier also on Sales Platform |
|---|---|
| Starting paid price | Starter $9/month (5,000 emails, annual billing) |
| Upper tiers | Business $18 · Professional $499 · Enterprise custom |
| Trial | No trial needed — free plan has no expiry |
| Best for | Solo operators and small teams with a large, infrequently-emailed list |
| Not ideal for | Teams that need a genuine sales pipeline, not just a light one |
| Standout feature | Billed by emails sent, not contacts stored |
| Biggest drawback | The CRM (Sales Platform) is thin next to a dedicated sales tool |
The Short Verdict
Brevo's pricing model is the whole story. Because it charges for emails sent rather than contacts stored, a business with 50,000 quiet subscribers and a monthly newsletter pays a fraction of what a contact-based tool like Mailchimp or Klaviyo would charge for the same list. Layer in SMS, WhatsApp campaigns and transactional email in the same account, plus a free-tier Sales Platform for a basic pipeline, and Brevo becomes a genuinely useful "email plus light CRM" bundle for under $40 a month for a two-person team.
The trade-off is depth. The Sales Platform is a real pipeline with contacts, deals and a calendar, but it isn't built to the standard of a dedicated sales CRM — no phone system, thinner reporting, and automation that stops short of ActiveCampaign's canvas. Brevo is the right tool when marketing is the primary job and the CRM is a bonus, not the other way around.
Bottom line: the best-value marketing platform for a large, quiet list, with a usable free CRM thrown in. Not a replacement for a dedicated sales tool once the pipeline gets serious.
Who Brevo Is (and Isn't) For
A strong fit if you…
- Have a large contact list you email infrequently and want to stop paying for size you don't use
- Want email, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional messaging in one account
- Are a solo operator or small team that also wants a basic, free CRM pipeline
- Left ActiveCampaign or a similar tool over price and can live with lighter automation
Look elsewhere if you…
- Need a real sales pipeline with phone, sequences and forecasting (see Pipedrive or Freshsales)
- Send frequently to a small, active list — you'll want a contact-based tool instead (see Mailchimp)
- Run an ecommerce store and want revenue-attributed flows built for store data (see Klaviyo)
Pricing: Free, Starter, Business, Professional
| Plan | Price (billed annually) | Aimed at | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 — 300 emails/day | Testing the water, very small senders | Marketing automation basics, one landing page, a CRM contact record, Brevo branding on emails |
| Starter | From $9/mo — 5,000 emails | Small businesses and solo marketers | Removes daily send cap in favour of a monthly allowance, email support, no ads; branding removal is a paid add-on |
| Business | From $18/mo — 5,000 emails | Growing teams that need automation | Unlimited multichannel marketing automation, A/B testing, send-time optimisation, advanced statistics, no branding |
| Professional | From $499/mo — 150,000 emails | High-volume senders | Dedicated IP options, phone support, deliverability tooling built for scale |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Large organizations | SSO, dedicated account management, custom limits and SLAs |
USD list prices from brevo.com, September 2026; annual billing carries roughly a 10% discount over monthly. Pricing is based on emails sent per month, not contacts stored. Sales Platform CRM priced separately (see below).
What a real bill looks like
- Solo marketer with a 20,000-contact list, monthly newsletter only: Starter at $9/mo covers roughly 5,000 sends — one send to that list would exceed it, so plan the volume against list size, not just headcount.
- Small business, weekly newsletter to 5,000 contacts plus automation: Business at $18/mo, once volume and automation needs push past Starter.
- Two-person team running email marketing plus a light sales pipeline: Business at $18/mo plus one Sales Platform Pro seat at $12/mo — under $40 a month total.
Which tier should you actually buy?
Starter is the entry point once the free plan's daily cap starts to bind — at $9 it's priced like a starter tier should be. Business is where Brevo becomes a real marketing automation tool: unlimited automation and A/B testing at $18 undercuts most of the category. Professional only makes sense once you're genuinely sending six figures of email a month; most small businesses will never need it.
Watch out for: because pricing is send-based, a single large campaign to your whole list can push you into overage or force an upgrade mid-month in a way contact-based pricing doesn't. Model your actual sending pattern, not just your list size, before picking a tier.
Features Walkthrough
Email marketing
A drag-and-drop editor, a template library, list segmentation and A/B testing (Business and above) cover the core of what most small businesses need from email. Deliverability tooling and send-time optimisation are Business-tier features that punch above the price point.
SMS and WhatsApp
Brevo sends transactional and marketing SMS from the same account, priced separately by credit, and supports WhatsApp campaigns — a combination few competitors at this price bundle natively rather than through a third-party add-on.
Marketing automation
Visual workflow builder for welcome series, abandoned-cart-style triggers and re-engagement flows. Business unlocks unlimited automation; Free and Starter cap the number of active workflows.
Transactional email
A separate API-driven transactional email service (password resets, order confirmations) runs alongside marketing sends, priced by volume — useful if you also need a reliable delivery pipe for system-generated email.
Landing pages and forms
Built-in landing page and signup form builders exist from Free, though the design flexibility is more functional than polished next to a dedicated page builder.
The Sales Platform: Brevo's CRM
Brevo's CRM is a genuinely separate product — same login, different app — called the Sales Platform. It covers contacts, a visual deal pipeline, a shared calendar, meeting scheduling and basic chatbot scenarios for lead capture, with a free tier for a small team and a Pro seat at $12 a month for advanced sales automation. For a two-person business that wants one bill covering email and a basic pipeline, it works well.
Where it falls short of a dedicated CRM: no built-in phone system, no sales sequences that mix calls with email, and reporting that covers the basics rather than forecasting or territory management. If your sales process is the main job, not a companion to marketing, price Pipedrive or Freshsales instead — or treat Brevo's CRM as free training wheels before you outgrow it.
Ease of Use and Setup
The email builder and automation workflow editor are approachable for a non-technical marketer, with templates that get a first campaign out within an hour. The Sales Platform, being a separate product, has its own onboarding — simple enough for a small pipeline, but expect a second learning curve rather than one unified system. Running both products together takes an afternoon to set up properly, not minutes.
Integrations
Brevo connects natively with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress and Zapier, and its own API is well documented for developers who want custom connections. The library is smaller than Mailchimp's or HubSpot's, but covers what a small ecommerce or services business typically needs — payment platforms, form tools and the major website builders.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Billed by emails sent, not contacts stored — cheap for large, quiet lists
- Free plan plus a $9 entry tier with no expiry
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp and transactional email in one account
- Sales Platform CRM included with a free tier
- Business tier's unlimited automation is well priced at $18
- Transparent, published pricing with no sales call required
Cons
- Sales Platform CRM is light next to a dedicated sales tool
- Send-based pricing can spike with one large campaign
- Automation shallower than ActiveCampaign's canvas
- Smaller integration library than Mailchimp or HubSpot
- Two separate products (Marketing and Sales) rather than one unified app
- Professional tier's $499 entry is a steep jump from Business
Brevo vs the Alternatives
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan | Choose it over Brevo when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | $13 | Yes (250 contacts) | You want the easiest editor and a bigger template library, and send often to a small list |
| Klaviyo | $20 | Yes (250 profiles) | You run an ecommerce store and want revenue-attributed flows built for store data |
| ActiveCampaign | $15 | No | You need deeper automation logic and a real sales pipeline add-on |
| Pipedrive | $14 | No | Sales is the primary job and marketing is secondary, not the other way around |
Looking for the full field? See our ActiveCampaign alternatives guide, where Brevo is ranked against six other tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo free?
Yes. Brevo's Marketing Platform free plan allows up to 300 emails a day with no expiry and no card required, and its Sales Platform CRM also has a free tier for a basic pipeline. Paid marketing plans start at Starter, $9 a month for 5,000 emails; the Sales Platform's Pro seat is $12 a month.
How much does Brevo cost?
Marketing Platform: Free (300 emails/day), Starter from $9/mo (5,000 emails), Business from $18/mo (unlimited automation, no branding), and Professional from $499/mo for high-volume senders, all billed annually with a 10% discount over monthly. Sales Platform CRM: free tier, then Pro at $12 per user per month.
Is Brevo a real CRM or just email marketing?
Both, in two separate products under one login. The Marketing Platform is Brevo's strength — email, SMS, WhatsApp and automation. The Sales Platform is a lighter deal pipeline with a free tier and a $12 Pro seat; it covers contacts, deals and a calendar, but not the depth of a dedicated sales CRM like Pipedrive or HubSpot.
Does Brevo charge by contacts or emails sent?
By emails sent, not contacts stored, which is the opposite of most competitors including Mailchimp and Klaviyo. A large, mostly-quiet contact list costs nothing extra on Brevo; a small list you email constantly can push you up a tier faster than a contact-based tool would.
Brevo vs Mailchimp — which is better?
Brevo is cheaper for a large, quiet list because it bills by sends, not contacts, and it bundles SMS and a light CRM in the same account. Mailchimp has the easier editor and a bigger template and integration library, and is simpler if newsletters are your entire email programme.
Final Verdict
Brevo earns its place as the best-value option for a business whose contact list has outgrown what contact-based pricing can justify. The send-based model, the SMS and WhatsApp bundling, and a genuinely free Sales Platform tier add up to a lot of tool for very little money. It won't replace a dedicated sales CRM once your pipeline gets serious, and the automation ceiling is lower than ActiveCampaign's — but for a solo operator or small team watching every dollar, start with the free plan and upgrade only when the daily send cap actually bites.
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