What is Brevo?
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a Paris-based all-in-one platform for email marketing, transactional email, SMS, marketing automation and a lightweight CRM. It serves over 500,000 businesses worldwide - from solo founders sending their first newsletter to mid-market companies routing millions of transactional emails.
Think of it as Mailchimp + SendGrid + HubSpot Lite, with pricing that scales by email volume instead of contact count. That single decision - charging by emails sent, not contacts stored - makes Brevo dramatically more affordable for any growing list.
Key Features
Email Marketing
Drag-and-drop builder, segmentation, A/B tests, deliverability tooling.
Transactional Email
Reliable SMTP & API for password resets, receipts, system notifications.
SMTP & API
Production-grade SMTP relay with REST API, webhooks & event tracking.
Automation
Visual workflow builder - welcome series, abandoned cart, lifecycle drips.
CRM
Built-in contact management with pipelines, deals and team collaboration.
Landing Pages
Conversion-focused landing page builder - no separate tool required.
Signup Forms
Embeddable forms, popups & multi-step opt-ins to grow your list.
SMS Marketing
Send transactional & marketing SMS to a global audience from one dashboard.
Pricing
Prices below are indicative and based on Brevo's public pricing pages - always verify on the official site.
Forever free
Free
$0
- 300 emails / day
- Unlimited contacts
- Email template library
- Drag-and-drop editor
For growing senders
Starter
$9 / mo
- Up to 20k emails/mo
- No daily limit
- Basic reporting
- Email support
For pros & teams
Business
$18 / mo
- Marketing automation
- A/B testing
- Advanced statistics
- Send-time optimization
Who Should Use Brevo?
Developers
Need clean SMTP + REST API for transactional mail without enterprise pricing.
Startups
Want one tool for marketing email, transactional mail and a starter CRM.
Small Businesses
Sending newsletters & promotions to growing lists without paying per contact.
Agencies
Multi-client setups with sub-accounts, white-label and team workflows.
Creators
Newsletters, automations, landing pages - ship a full funnel from one dashboard.
My Experience
I started using Brevo for a side-project that needed transactional email - password resets and order receipts. The free SMTP plan handled it without breaking a sweat.
What surprised me later was how natural the upgrade path felt. As my project grew, I migrated my newsletter into the same dashboard, added a welcome-series automation, and started using the lightweight CRM to track outreach. Three tools collapsed into one.
If you're a developer building a SaaS, an indie hacker shipping side-projects, or a small business owner who refuses to juggle five SaaS subscriptions - Brevo is the easy recommendation.
Note: This section is editable from the admin panel - I keep it updated as my usage evolves.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Generous forever-free plan with unlimited contacts
- Pricing scales by email volume - not list size (huge win)
- Solid deliverability on both marketing & transactional flows
- Beginner-friendly UI, but flexible enough for engineers
- Strong all-in-one feature set - CRM, SMS, landing pages included
- Great free SMTP for small SaaS & side-projects
Cons
- Template designer can feel dated vs. some competitors
- Advanced segmentation requires the Business plan
- Reporting dashboards are functional but not best-in-class
- Some integrations require third-party connectors (Zapier/Make)
Screenshots
Replace these with real screenshots via the admin panel.
Video Walkthrough
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo really free?
Yes - the free plan includes up to 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts, forever. It is one of the most generous free tiers in the email marketing space.
Can I use Brevo just for transactional email?
Absolutely. Brevo offers a dedicated transactional SMTP + API. Many developers use it solely for password resets, receipts and system mails, even on the free plan.
Brevo vs Mailchimp - which is better?
Mailchimp has more polish on visual design, but Brevo wins on pricing (volume-based, not contact-based), transactional email and built-in CRM. For most developers and indie founders, Brevo is the better economic choice.
Does Brevo support marketing automation?
Yes. The visual workflow builder supports triggers, conditions, A/B branches and goal tracking. Available from the Business plan upward.
Is Brevo GDPR compliant?
Yes. Brevo is a French company headquartered in Paris and is fully GDPR compliant. It provides consent management and data export tools out of the box.
Can I migrate from Mailchimp / Sendgrid easily?
Yes - Brevo supports CSV imports of contacts and templates. The migration usually takes under an hour for small lists, longer for advanced automation maps.
Ready to try Brevo?
Start free - no credit card required. Send up to 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts.
Visit Brevo