We switched our entire marketing stack from Mailchimp to Brevo six months ago, and the difference in our monthly bill was the first thing that caught our attention — but it wasn’t the last. Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, charges based on email volume rather than subscriber count, and that single pricing decision changed how we run campaigns. Instead of purging our list every time it crept past 500 contacts to avoid Mailchimp’s price jumps, we could actually keep growing our audience.
Email, SMS, and WhatsApp in One Dashboard
The Brevo marketing platform bundles three communication channels that most small businesses end up paying separately for. On the free plan, you get 300 emails per day — that’s roughly 9,000 per month — with no subscriber cap. When we upgraded to the Starter plan at $9 per month, the daily limit disappeared entirely and we could send up to 20,000 emails monthly. But what actually surprised us was the SMS and WhatsApp integration. We run a small e-commerce shop, and being able to send an abandoned-cart SMS reminder from the same dashboard where we built our newsletter saved us from juggling three different tools. The SMS credits are pay-as-you-go, starting around $0.04 per message, so we only spend what we use. The transactional email API is also solid — our order confirmations and shipping notifications route through Brevo’s SMTP relay with delivery rates we’ve tracked at 97% plus over six months.
We’ll be honest: the automation builder isn’t as sophisticated as ActiveCampaign’s. The visual workflow editor handles basic triggers — welcome series, abandoned cart, birthday emails — but if you need multi-branch conditional logic with behavioral scoring, you’ll hit a ceiling. For our 8,000-subscriber list and simple three-step funnels, it’s been perfect. For complex B2B lead nurturing, you might outgrow it.
A CRM That Doesn’t Pretend to Be More Than It Is
Brevo includes a built-in CRM that syncs with your email and SMS contact lists. It’s lightweight — think pipeline stages, deal tracking, and contact notes — not a Salesforce replacement. But for a solopreneur or a team of five, having your marketing contacts and sales pipeline in one place eliminates the sync headaches we used to deal with. We tracked $14,200 in attributed revenue from Brevo campaigns last quarter, and the reporting dashboard showed us exactly which emails drove clicks and conversions. The unsubscribe and bounce management is automated, which keeps our sender reputation clean without manual cleanup.
Limited-Time Offer: 50% Off the First Three Months
Brevo is currently offering 50% off the Starter and Business plans for the first three months. That brings the Starter plan down to about $4.50 per month — less than a coffee. The Business plan, which unlocks advanced automation and A/B testing, drops to around $18 per month for the promo period. There’s no credit card required for the free plan, so you can test the full email builder and contact management before committing. The discount applies automatically when you upgrade within 30 days of signing up.
Stop Overpaying for Email Marketing
If you’re spending $30-plus a month on an email tool and your list is under 10,000, you’re overpaying. Brevo’s free plan covers most early-stage businesses, and the $9 Starter tier handles everything we threw at it. Sign up, import your list, and send your first campaign today — the discount window won’t stay open forever.
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