Overview
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), founded in 2012 and headquartered in Paris, France, is an omnichannel marketing platform. It unifies email marketing, SMS, WhatsApp Business messaging, marketing automation, live chat, and customer relationship management (CRM) into one solution, serving over 500,000 business customers worldwide.
In 2024 the brand evolved from Sendinblue to Brevo, upgrading from a single email tool into an omnichannel digital marketing platform. Unlike most competitors that charge per contact, Brevo charges per volume sent. Its free plan includes 300 emails per day with no contact limits, making it especially friendly for businesses with large lists but low send frequency.
Key Strengths
- Generous free plan: 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts, roughly 9,000 emails per month. Compared with Mailchimp's 500-contact free tier and ActiveCampaign's 500-contact free tier, Brevo's free allowance is far more attractive.
- Omnichannel orchestration: 5 channels - email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, and CRM - orchestrated on one platform. A single visual workflow covers cross-channel outreach without switching among 4 or more tools.
- Pay-per-volume pricing: Growing contacts from 10,000 to 100,000 does not trigger a price jump. Sending 50,000 emails per month costs around $25, an ideal fit for high-contact, low-frequency models.
- Visual automation builder: Supports conditional branching (If/Else), delay triggers, behavior triggers, and multi-path sequences, with templates covering ecommerce, SaaS, and education scenarios. A first sequence can launch within 15 minutes.
- API and developer experience: Dual REST API and SMTP integration with SDKs for 7 languages including Python, Node.js, and PHP. See the API integration basics guide to get started quickly.
Product Ecosystem
Email Marketing
Brevo's email module offers a drag-and-drop editor, responsive templates, and A/B testing, plus behavior-based automation sequences such as welcome emails, cart recovery, and repurchase reminders. Following the email deliverability optimization guide with SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication improves inbox placement.
SMS and WhatsApp
Native SMS and WhatsApp Business API support let marketers combine email, SMS, and WhatsApp nodes in one workflow - for example, "if no email open within 48 hours, send an SMS reminder" - for true multi-channel outreach.
Live Chat
The built-in website chat supports visitor sessions, proactive invitations, and automated replies. Conversation data syncs to contact profiles and can trigger follow-up automation.
CRM and Sales Pipeline
The built-in CRM provides contact management, deal pipelines, task management, and email tracking. Campaign engagement data flows automatically into the contact timeline, giving sales teams a complete view of prospect interactions.
Automation Workflow Builder
The drag-and-drop visual builder supports conditional branching, delay triggers, behavior triggers, and multi-path sequences covering the full customer journey from acquisition to repurchase.
Limitations
- Limited automation depth: Compared with ActiveCampaign (behavior scoring, conditional content) and HubSpot (full-funnel CRM orchestration), Brevo's complex automation and cross-department capabilities lag behind.
- Rebranding transition: Renamed from Sendinblue to Brevo in 2024. During the API domain migration, some legacy users needed to update SDKs and integration code, and brand recognition takes time to rebuild.
- Limited template flexibility: The drag-and-drop email editor offers less custom CSS and fine-grained layout control than Mailchimp; highly customized designs may require the HTML editor.
- Mainland China access: Servers reside in France, Germany, the UK, and the US. Access speed from mainland China is affected by network conditions, and local channels such as WeChat and Weibo are not integrated.
Use Cases
- SMBs and growth-stage teams (★★★★★): An all-in-one platform reduces tooling and learning costs, and the generous free plan supports zero-cost startup.
- Multi-channel marketing teams (★★★★★): Email, SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat orchestrated together suit ecommerce cart recovery, B2B lead nurturing, and other cross-channel journeys.
- High-contact, low-frequency businesses (★★★★★): Pay-per-volume pricing delivers the best value when contact lists are large but send frequency is low.
- Ecommerce sellers (★★★★): Native Shopify and WooCommerce integrations enable event-triggered automation for cart abandonment, order confirmation, and repurchase reminders.
- Enterprises needing deep automation (★★★): For complex CRM integration and cross-channel orchestration, evaluate ActiveCampaign or HubSpot.
Pricing
| Plan | Daily Send Volume | Monthly Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 300 emails/day | $0 | Basic email marketing, unlimited contacts, Brevo branding |
| Starter | 10,000 emails/day | $25 | No branding, advanced reports, basic automation, A/B testing |
| Business | 20,000 emails/day | $65 | Advanced automation, multi-user, phone support, Facebook ads |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom quote | SLA, dedicated manager, SSO, advanced compliance |
Note: Prices reflect standard official rates as of August 2026. Billing is per volume sent with no contact limits; exceeding daily volume incurs overage fees. Annual billing is available at a discount.
FAQ
- How do Brevo and Mailchimp compare? Brevo's free plan includes 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts and pay-per-volume pricing, which suits budget-conscious scenarios. Mailchimp has more mature template design and brand recognition but its free tier is limited to 500 contacts and pricing scales with contact count; see email marketing platform selection.
- What is the relationship between Brevo and Sendinblue? Sendinblue was officially renamed Brevo in 2024. Core functionality and product direction remain unchanged, and existing accounts and data migrated automatically with no action required; see business email service guide for email platform options.
- How can I improve Brevo deliverability? Configure a custom sending domain, set up SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication, and clean invalid addresses regularly. See the email deliverability optimization guide.
- Does Brevo integrate with ecommerce platforms? Yes, native integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce enable automation triggered by cart abandonment, order confirmation, and repurchase events.
- How fast is Brevo from mainland China? Brevo's servers are located in Europe and the US, so access speed from mainland China is affected by network conditions. Evaluate local email solutions if your audience is primarily in mainland China; see overseas acceleration for China websites for cross-border speed options.