Brevo Reviews
Brevo Review 2025 — Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons (Honest Breakdown)
By a 10-year veteran blogger, marketer & digital strategist
If you’re evaluating affordable, full-featured email marketing platforms in 2025, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is always near the top of the shortlist — especially for small businesses that need email + SMS + basic CRM without the enterprise price tag. In this deep, hands-on review I’ll cover Brevo’s core features, pricing model, real strengths and weaknesses, who it’s best for, and practical advice so you can decide quickly whether it fits your stack.
I researched platform docs, recent independent reviews, pricing pages, and real-user feedback to give a balanced, up-to-date view. Wherever possible I cite the source so you can confirm details.
TL;DR — Quick verdict
Brevo is a value-first, all-in-one marketing platform that combines email marketing, marketing automation, SMS/WhatsApp, transactional emails, and a lightweight CRM. It’s particularly strong for small businesses and marketers on a budget who want automation without the complexity or cost of enterprise tools. The free tier is generous for testing; paid plans use a pay-per-email model which can be cheaper than contact-based pricing for certain use cases.
What Brevo actually offers (core features)
1. Email campaigns & drag-and-drop editor
Brevo provides a visual, responsive email editor with templates and a straightforward campaign builder. It supports A/B testing, personalization tags, and dynamic content blocks. The editor is beginner friendly while giving enough flexibility for marketers who want custom layouts.
2. Automation & visual workflow builder
One of Brevo’s standout capabilities is its automation engine — visual workflows that trigger on events like signups, purchases, page views or custom events. These automations include time delays, condition branches, and multi-channel actions (email + SMS). For many SMBs this level of automation comes at a fraction of the cost of major competitors.
3. SMS, WhatsApp & multi-channel sends
Beyond email, Brevo supports SMS and WhatsApp campaigns (regional availability varies). This makes it attractive for merchants and local businesses that rely on SMS reminders or urgent promos.
4. Transactional emails & SMTP/API
Brevo includes transactional email capability and an SMTP/API service — useful for order confirmations, password resets, and app notifications. Transactional sending is handled on the same platform, simplifying tracking of marketing & transactional volume.
5. Lightweight CRM & contact management
Brevo offers a built-in CRM for contact profiles, deal pipelines, and basic contact scoring. It isn’t a full CRM replacement for complex sales stacks, but it’s very useful for small teams that want to centralize contacts, track conversations, and trigger automations from CRM events.
6. Landing pages, forms & chat
You can build landing pages, embed signup forms, and use Brevo’s live chat widget — features that support list growth and on-site conversion without extra tools.
7. Integrations & API
Brevo integrates with major ecommerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce), CMS and analytics tools, and offers APIs for developers. The integration ecosystem covers the essentials for small businesses.
Pricing (how Brevo charges and what to expect)
Brevo’s pricing model differs from many competitors: it charges by emails sent rather than strictly by number of contacts (though contact limits matter for certain features). There’s a free plan and several paid tiers. This can be cheaper for businesses with large contact lists that email infrequently, but more expensive for heavy broadcast senders. Check Brevo’s pricing page for exact, current tiers and limits.
Snapshot of common plan features (typical 2025 lineup)
Note: prices and quotas change; verify on Brevo’s site before purchasing. Below is a representative summary derived from Brevo’s published plans and recent reviews.
| Plan | Typical starting price* | Key limits & highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 300 emails/day, branded footer, basic automation, up to 100k contacts (contact limits may vary) |
| Starter | ~$9 / month | Increased monthly sends (e.g., 5k emails), no daily limit, remove branding for extra cost, basic support. |
| Standard / Business | ~$18+ / month | More sends, landing pages, multi-user access, marketing automation, A/B testing, priority email support. |
| Enterprise | Custom | High-volume sending, SSO, dedicated IP, SLA, advanced security & priority support. |
*Representative pricing — regional/local taxes and promotional discounts (e.g., seasonal offers) may apply. Brevo regularly runs promotions (Black Friday, etc.).
Practical pricing tip: Brevo’s free plan is generous for testing (300 emails/day) and can sustain a development or small-newsletter use case. For production ecommerce or regular weekly sends, Starter or Standard plans are typically the right starting point. If you’re focused on revenue attribution and ecommerce ROI, evaluate the total cost of ownership (sends + SMS credits + add-ons) rather than headline price.
What Brevo does best (strengths)
- Value for money — competitive pricing for automation and multi-channel features that other vendors reserve for higher tiers. Reviews consistently cite Brevo as the top budget choice.
- Ease of use — approachable UI and templates make onboarding fast for non-technical teams.
- All-in-one for small teams — email, SMS, CRM, chat and landing pages together reduce tool fragmentation.
- Generous free tier — useful for piloting campaigns and automations without upfront spending.
Where Brevo falls short (limitations & cons)
- Advanced ecommerce analytics — platforms like Klaviyo give deeper revenue attribution & predictive analytics for ecommerce; Brevo is improving but not as sophisticated in RPR and LTV modeling.
- Contact-based enterprise features — while Brevo’s CRM covers many SMB needs, larger sales organizations will prefer HubSpot or Salesforce for complex pipelines and native sales automation.
- Deliverability nuances — deliverability is generally solid, but very high-volume senders might want dedicated IPs or console controls that enterprise ESPs manage more tightly (available on Enterprise plans). Monitor warm-up and reputation when scaling.
- Occasional UI lag / import quirks — some reviewers report minor friction importing large datasets or complex migrations; these are solvable but worth noting.
Who should pick Brevo — recommended use cases
- Small ecommerce shops that need affordable automation + cart recovery + SMS.
- Local businesses & service providers who rely on SMS, chat and appointment reminders.
- Agencies & freelancers building basic campaigns and landing pages for clients on a budget.
- Content creators & newsletters who want a flexible free tier and simple automation.
If you need deep ecommerce data science, advanced CDP features, or a full enterprise CRM, consider Klaviyo (ecommerce) or HubSpot (CRM) as alternatives — but expect higher costs.
Real user feedback & reputation
Independent review sites show Brevo scores highly for ease of use and value, with repeated praise for automation capabilities in a budget-friendly package. Common user requests are for more granular reporting and smoother large-list migrations — typical tradeoffs for mid-market solutions.
Pro tips: how to get the most from Brevo
- Use automation early. Build a welcome series and abandoned cart flow before scaling broadcasts — those flows drive predictable revenue.
- Monitor send quotas. If you have a large list but infrequent sends, Brevo’s per-email pricing can be cost-efficient. Calculate sends × frequency vs contact-based pricing of alternatives.
- Add SPF/DKIM right away. Improve deliverability by authenticating your sending domain before large sends.
- Test SMS + email combos. For local promos or cart recovery, a timed SMS follow-up often lifts recovery rates at low incremental cost.
Quick comparison: Brevo vs alternatives (high level)
| Feature / Need | Brevo | Klaviyo | Mailchimp | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Small businesses, budget automation | Ecommerce revenue optimization | Beginners & design | CRM + scale sales teams |
| Pricing model | Pay-per-email + plans | Contact-based, ecommerce focused | Contact-based | Contact-based, higher cost |
| Automation | Strong visual workflows | Advanced ecommerce automation | Good, simpler | Powerful but complex |
| CRM | Basic built-in CRM | Limited CRM | Basic CRM | Enterprise CRM |
| SMS & multi-channel | Yes | Yes (paid) | Limited | Add-ons/paid |
(Use this table as a guide — evaluate feature parity for your specific flows and data needs.)
Final recommendation
If you’re a small business, agency, or creator who wants to run professional campaigns and automations without enterprise complexity or price, Brevo is an excellent choice in 2025. Its mix of email, SMS, automation, landing pages, and CRM makes it a practical all-rounder. For ecommerce brands that need advanced revenue analytics and predictive modeling, pair your evaluation with a close look at Klaviyo (for deep ecommerce features) and HubSpot (if CRM is mission-critical).