Brevo is a customer engagement platform that combines email marketing, marketing automation, transactional messaging, SMS, WhatsApp, sales CRM, and other communication tools in one system. Formerly known as Sendinblue, the platform is designed to help businesses manage customer communication without relying on a separate application for every channel.
For small businesses, startups, ecommerce operators, and growing teams, Brevo can be particularly interesting because its email pricing is primarily based on the number of emails sent rather than simply the number of contacts stored.
This guide explains what Brevo does, how its major features work, how its pricing model differs from competitors, and what businesses should consider before choosing it.
Executive Summary / Quick Verdict
Quick Verdict: Brevo is a strong option for small and midsize businesses that want email marketing, automation, transactional messaging, and CRM capabilities in one platform. Its contact-storage approach and email-based pricing can be attractive to businesses with large databases that do not send messages to every contact frequently.
Businesses requiring highly specialized ecommerce segmentation, extremely advanced automation, or sophisticated enterprise CRM functionality may find a dedicated alternative more suitable.
Brevo Scorecard
| Category | Rating | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 4.5/5 | Generally accessible for beginners |
| Deliverability | 4.5/5 | Strong infrastructure, but results depend on sender practices |
| Multi-Channel Features | 4.5/5 | Email, SMS, WhatsApp and other engagement tools |
| Automation | 4/5 | Capable workflows for common marketing scenarios |
| Value for Money | 4.5/5 | Attractive for many growing businesses |
Best for: SMBs, startups, ecommerce businesses, agencies, and budget-conscious brands.
Consider alternatives if: You need extremely advanced automation logic, specialized ecommerce functionality, or a comprehensive enterprise CRM as the primary system of record.
What Is Brevo?
Brevo is a customer relationship and communications platform built around customer engagement. Instead of focusing exclusively on newsletters, it combines several functions businesses commonly need for communicating with prospects and customers.
These include:
- Email campaigns
- Marketing automation
- Transactional email
- SMS messaging
- WhatsApp campaigns
- Sales CRM
- Contact management
- Conversational tools
- Reporting and analytics
- API-based integrations
The platform was previously called Sendinblue before adopting the Brevo name.
The central idea is straightforward: businesses can maintain customer information and communicate with those contacts across multiple channels from one platform.
For a small company, this can reduce the need to maintain separate systems for newsletters, transactional emails, customer lists, and basic sales management.
Core Features Breakdown
1. Email Marketing and Drag-and-Drop Editor
Email marketing remains one of Brevo’s core capabilities.
Users can create campaigns using visual editing tools rather than manually coding HTML emails. This makes the platform accessible to businesses without dedicated email developers.
Email Templates
Brevo provides pre-designed templates that can be customized for different purposes, including:
- Newsletters
- Promotional campaigns
- Product announcements
- Welcome emails
- Event invitations
- Ecommerce communications
Users can also create their own templates for repeated campaigns.
Responsive Design
Modern email campaigns need to work across desktop and mobile devices. Brevo’s email editor supports responsive layouts so marketers can build campaigns intended for different screen sizes.
However, businesses should still test important campaigns across major email clients because responsive behavior can vary between Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and other inbox environments.
Personalization
Personalization allows marketers to insert contact information or other available attributes into emails.
For example, an email can address a subscriber by first name or display content based on stored customer information.
The quality of personalization ultimately depends on the quality and structure of the underlying contact data. A sophisticated editor cannot compensate for inaccurate or incomplete customer information.
2. Multi-Channel Campaigns
Brevo extends beyond traditional email marketing by supporting multiple customer communication channels.
SMS Marketing
Businesses can use SMS for time-sensitive communication, promotional campaigns, reminders, and transactional notifications.
SMS can be particularly useful when the message needs to reach a customer quickly rather than waiting for an email to be opened.
WhatsApp Campaigns
WhatsApp can provide another direct communication channel for businesses whose customers actively use the platform.
This can be useful for promotional communication and customer engagement, subject to WhatsApp’s applicable business and messaging requirements.
Web Push
Web push notifications can provide another method of reaching users who have opted into browser notifications.
This can be useful for announcements, promotions, reminders, and other timely messages.
Live Chat and Conversations
Brevo also offers conversational functionality that can help businesses communicate with website visitors and customers.
The benefit of combining these channels is centralization. Instead of treating every communication channel as a completely separate marketing operation, businesses can manage multiple forms of customer engagement from a broader platform.
3. Marketing Automation and Workflows
Automation is one of the most important features for businesses moving beyond basic newsletters.
Instead of manually sending every message, marketers can create workflows triggered by customer actions or predefined conditions.
Common examples include:
- Welcome sequences
- Lead nurturing
- Abandoned-cart communication
- Post-purchase follow-ups
- Customer re-engagement
- Birthday or anniversary campaigns
- Behavioral follow-ups
A typical workflow might look like:
Customer subscribes → Welcome email → Wait → Engagement check → Follow-up email → Segment based on behavior
Automation can save considerable time while creating more consistent customer experiences.
Behavioral Triggers
Depending on the setup and available integrations, workflows can respond to events such as email engagement, website behavior, contact attributes, or ecommerce activity.
This allows businesses to move from generic “send to everyone” campaigns toward more relevant communication.
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring can help sales and marketing teams identify contacts based on engagement or other criteria.
For example, a business might assign higher scores to prospects who repeatedly interact with campaigns or demonstrate other signs of purchase intent.
Lead scoring is useful, but companies should avoid treating a score as a guaranteed indicator of buying intent. It is a prioritization mechanism rather than a replacement for human sales judgment.
4. Sales CRM and Pipeline Management
Brevo also includes sales-oriented CRM functionality.
The CRM allows businesses to organize contacts and track deals through sales pipelines.
Common CRM activities include:
- Managing customer records
- Creating deals
- Tracking deal stages
- Assigning sales tasks
- Recording customer interactions
- Managing sales activities
For a small business, having CRM functionality inside the same ecosystem as email marketing can be convenient.
For example, a sales representative could manage a prospect while marketing automation continues nurturing other leads.
However, businesses with complex enterprise sales operations may still require a dedicated CRM platform with deeper customization, reporting, permissions, and ecosystem integrations.
5. Transactional Emails
Transactional email is different from marketing email.
Marketing email is generally promotional—for example, newsletters and product announcements.
Transactional email is triggered by a customer action or system event.
Examples include:
- Password resets
- Account confirmations
- Order confirmations
- Shipping notifications
- Invoices
- Registration emails
- System alerts
Brevo supports transactional email through its infrastructure, including SMTP and API-based options.
Developers can integrate transactional messaging directly into websites, applications, ecommerce stores, and other systems.
Why Deliverability Matters
A technically excellent email platform cannot guarantee that every message reaches the inbox.
Deliverability depends on factors including:
- Domain authentication
- Sender reputation
- Email engagement
- List quality
- Complaint rates
- Bounce rates
- Message content
- Sending practices
Businesses should therefore configure authentication correctly and maintain clean mailing lists rather than assuming that a platform alone guarantees inbox placement.
Brevo’s Pricing Model Advantage
One of Brevo’s most notable characteristics is its approach to contact storage and email pricing.
Many email marketing platforms have historically connected pricing to the number of contacts stored in an account.
Brevo’s email plans are primarily structured around the volume of emails sent, which can be advantageous for businesses that maintain a large contact database but communicate with only a portion of it each month.
For example, a company could maintain a substantial customer database while sending campaigns to selected segments rather than paying solely because inactive contacts remain stored.
Free Plan
The free option can be useful for beginners who want to experiment with the platform before committing to a paid plan.
However, free accounts have sending limitations and are not necessarily appropriate for a business conducting large-scale campaigns.
Starter
The Starter tier is aimed at businesses that need more email-sending capacity and additional functionality while keeping costs relatively controlled.
It can be suitable for growing companies that have moved beyond the limitations of a free account.
Business
The Business tier is designed for organizations requiring more advanced marketing capabilities, including enhanced automation and campaign functionality.
It is more appropriate for businesses running structured marketing programs rather than occasional newsletters.
Enterprise
Enterprise is designed for larger organizations with more complex requirements.
Pricing and functionality can depend on the organization’s specific needs, volume, and required services.
Important: Pricing, limits, features, and plan names can change. Always verify current pricing and included features directly with Brevo before making a purchasing decision.
Brevo Pros and Cons
Pros
1. Contact-Friendly Pricing Approach
Businesses that maintain large contact databases may benefit from a pricing model focused on email volume rather than simply the number of stored contacts.
2. Broad Customer Engagement Toolkit
Email, automation, transactional messaging, SMS, WhatsApp, CRM, and other tools can be managed within the same broader ecosystem.
3. Strong Transactional Email Capabilities
SMTP and API options make Brevo relevant not only to marketers but also to developers and businesses that need application-generated emails.
4. Accessible for Small Businesses
The visual campaign tools and relatively broad feature set make the platform accessible to businesses that do not have large marketing technology teams.
5. Built-In CRM
Having basic sales CRM functionality alongside marketing tools can simplify operations for smaller organizations.
Cons
1. Free-Tier Sending Restrictions
The free option is useful for testing and smaller workloads but comes with sending limitations that can become restrictive as campaign volume increases.
2. Advanced Features May Require Higher Plans
Some more sophisticated marketing capabilities may require a paid tier, increasing the cost for businesses that need advanced functionality.
3. Not a Replacement for Every Specialized Platform
Brevo offers a broad set of tools, but businesses requiring highly specialized ecommerce analytics, advanced enterprise CRM functionality, or exceptionally complex automation may find dedicated platforms more suitable.
Brevo vs. Mailchimp vs. ActiveCampaign vs. Klaviyo
| Feature | Brevo | Mailchimp | ActiveCampaign | Klaviyo |
| Pricing Structure | Primarily email volume | Contact/features based | Contact/features based | Contact/profile and usage based |
| Contact Storage | Strong allowance depending on plan | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent | Plan-dependent |
| Email Marketing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Limited/market dependent | Available through integrations/features | Available through integrations/features | |
| Marketing Automation | Yes | Yes | Strong | Strong |
| Built-in CRM | Yes | Limited sales/marketing tools | Yes | Primarily customer marketing platform |
| Ecommerce Focus | Good | Good | Good | Excellent |
| Transactional Email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Best Fit | SMBs and growing businesses | General marketing | Advanced automation | Ecommerce and retail |
The “best” platform depends heavily on the business model.
Brevo stands out for businesses wanting broad functionality and a pricing structure that can be attractive when contact volume is high.
Mailchimp remains a familiar option for businesses focused on straightforward email marketing.
ActiveCampaign is particularly compelling when advanced automation and CRM workflows are priorities.
Klaviyo is especially strong for ecommerce businesses that need deep customer-data-driven marketing and segmentation.
How to Set Up Brevo: A 4-Step Beginner Guide
Step 1: Create Your Account
Start by creating a Brevo account and entering the basic business information requested during registration.
Before sending campaigns, configure your company information and sender details properly.
Use a professional business email address rather than a generic personal address whenever possible.
Step 2: Authenticate Your Domain
Domain authentication is one of the most important technical steps.
You should configure the relevant DNS records provided by Brevo, including authentication mechanisms such as SPF and DKIM.
You should also establish an appropriate DMARC policy for your domain.
These technologies help receiving mail systems verify that your messages are authorized and can contribute to a healthier sending reputation.
The exact DNS records should always be taken from Brevo’s current documentation rather than copied from an outdated third-party tutorial.
Step 3: Import and Organize Contacts
Import your existing subscribers and organize them into meaningful lists or segments.
Avoid importing purchased, scraped, or otherwise non-consensual email lists.
A clean list is generally more valuable than a large but inactive or low-quality database.
Useful segments might include:
- New subscribers
- Existing customers
- High-value customers
- Engaged subscribers
- Inactive contacts
- Product-specific audiences
Step 4: Build and Launch Your First Campaign
Create your first email using a template or the visual editor.
Before sending:
- Verify the sender information.
- Check links.
- Review personalization fields.
- Test the email on different devices.
- Confirm your audience and segment.
- Review the subject line and preview text.
- Check unsubscribe functionality.
- Send a test before launching.
Start with a controlled audience and monitor delivery, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes.
Use those results to improve future campaigns rather than treating a single campaign’s metrics as definitive.
Is Brevo Right for You?
Brevo is most compelling when a business wants email marketing, automation, transactional messaging, and basic CRM functionality without assembling multiple separate platforms.
Its pricing approach can also be attractive for companies with substantial contact databases that do not need to email every stored contact frequently.
For ecommerce businesses, the combination of customer data, automation, transactional communication, and multiple messaging channels can provide a useful foundation for lifecycle marketing.
However, there is no universally best email marketing platform.
A business heavily focused on sophisticated ecommerce personalization may prefer Klaviyo. A company prioritizing advanced automation may prefer ActiveCampaign. Businesses already invested in another CRM or marketing ecosystem may also find a different platform more appropriate.
The right choice should therefore be based on sending volume, database size, automation requirements, ecommerce integrations, CRM needs, technical capabilities, and total cost.
Final Verdict
Brevo is a strong all-around customer engagement platform for small and midsize businesses that want more than a basic newsletter tool.
Its combination of email marketing, automation, transactional messaging, multi-channel communication, and CRM capabilities makes it a practical option for businesses looking to consolidate parts of their marketing technology stack.
Its pricing model can be particularly appealing to businesses that maintain many contacts but send email selectively, while its broader feature set gives growing teams room to expand beyond basic campaigns.
Before subscribing, compare the current plans, sending limits, available features, integrations, and terms against your specific requirements.
Ready to explore Brevo?
[Insert Affiliate Link / CTA Button]
Editorial note: LedgCraft may receive compensation when readers sign up or purchase through qualifying affiliate links. Affiliate relationships do not determine our editorial conclusions, and we aim to present both the advantages and limitations of the products we review.