Quick Answer
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) costs $0 to $499+/month depending on how many emails you send per month, not how many contacts you store. The free plan sends 300 emails/day, Starter plans run from $9/month, Standard plans add automation from $18/month, and Professional plans start at $499/month. That distinction — pricing by sends instead of contacts — affects how you compare Brevo to most alternatives.
If you're looking at pricing data published before mid-2023, ignore it — Brevo has adjusted plans since the Sendinblue rebrand.
How Brevo Pricing Works: The Key Difference From Most Tools
Brevo prices by emails sent per month. Most competitors price by contacts stored. That's the single structural fact that decides whether Brevo is cheap or expensive for you, and it has nothing to do with which tier you pick.
Picture two businesses, each with 10,000 contacts. The first sends one newsletter a month, so 10,000 emails. The second runs welcome sequences, weekly campaigns, and re-engagement flows, so it sends eight times a month, or 80,000 emails. On a contact-based platform, those two businesses pay the same. On Brevo, the second one pays several times more. Same list, very different bill.
Here's the catch: Brevo's volume-based model rewards infrequent senders and penalizes daily ones. If you email rarely, you get unlimited contacts on every paid plan and you only pay for the modest volume you actually send. If you email constantly, your costs climb with each campaign, even though your list isn't growing.
The reason every major platform gates either by volume or by contacts comes down to infrastructure economics. Sending email at scale has a real per-message cost — even the cheapest providers charge fractions of a cent per send. Multiply that by millions of emails and the economics become clear: unlimited sending would mean absorbing unpredictable infrastructure costs on behalf of every customer.
Brevo Plans and Pricing: Full Breakdown (2026)
Brevo runs eight pricing tiers in total: three Starter volume bands, three Standard volume bands, plus Professional and Enterprise (Brevo.com, June 2026). Every paid plan includes unlimited contacts. What scales is the email volume you're allowed to send each month.
Plan | Starting price | Emails included | Automation | Limitations |
Free | $0 | 300/day (9,000/mo) | No | Brevo branding on emails |
Starter | $9/mo (5k); $32/mo (20k); $82/mo (100k) | Tiered by volume | No | No automation, no daily cap |
Standard | $18/mo (5k); $69/mo (20k); $139/mo (100k) | Tiered by volume | Yes | Adds A/B testing, landing pages |
Professional | $499/mo | High volume | Yes, full | Phone support, optional dedicated IP |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Yes, full | SLA, onboarding manager |
Plan data: Brevo.com, June 2026. Verify current figures on brevo.com/pricing before committing.
A quick verdict on each:
Free. Good for testing. Not a real business plan. 300 emails a day caps how many people you can reach in a single send.
Starter. Cheap but stripped. You're paying for volume, not features. Starter at the 20,000-email band runs $32/month and excludes automation entirely (Brevo.com, June 2026). If you need automation, you'll be back on this page in a month.
Standard. The plan most businesses actually use. Standard at 20,000 emails/month costs $69/month and is your entry point for marketing automation (Brevo.com, June 2026). Competitive, if that volume ceiling fits your program.
Professional. Jumps to $499/month. That's a big step. At that price you're comparing Brevo to ActiveCampaign and HubSpot, not MailerLite.
Enterprise. Custom pricing means a sales call. If you're here, you already know.
Hidden Costs to Watch
The Brevo pricing page shows you plan tiers. It doesn't show you the add-ons that most growing senders end up needing. Budget for these before you commit, because they can quietly double a plan's real cost.
The catch with SMS and WhatsApp: they aren't included in any email plan. Brevo meters them separately, so a campaign that mixes channels lands on a second bill.
A few more to watch:
SAML SSO runs $324/month as an add-on, and it doesn't appear on the main pricing page (Brevo Help Center, 2026).
Dedicated IP is an extra charge, not bundled even on Professional.
Brevo branding removal is an add-on on Starter, so the "cheap" tier costs more once you strip the logo.
Overage fees kick in when you exceed your volume tier. Go past your monthly send allowance and you're charged per additional email.
None of these are scandalous. They're just easy to miss when you're comparing the headline number against another platform's headline number.
Who Should and Shouldn't Use Brevo
Brevo is the right fit for infrequent, high-list senders who want SMS and email on one bill, and the wrong fit for daily senders or budget-conscious teams that need automation. The deciding factor is always send frequency, not list size, because Brevo charges for the former and gives the latter away free.
Brevo is the right choice if:
You have a large list but email infrequently, like monthly newsletters or seasonal campaigns.
You want SMS and email in one platform with a single vendor relationship.
You're based in Europe, where Brevo's Paris headquarters makes GDPR compliance straightforward.
You're a small team or solo operator testing the waters on the free or Starter plan.
Brevo is the wrong choice if:
You send daily. Lifecycle emails, welcome sequences, and drip campaigns push your volume up fast, and volume-based pricing costs more than contact-based alternatives for that pattern.
You need automation on a budget. The realistic floor for automation is $69/month on Standard.
You're growing fast. Your contact count scales free, but your send volume costs escalate as your program matures.
Run the test on yourself. Multiply your list size by how many times you email each month. If that number runs past your Brevo tier, you're paying for the model, not the features.
Brevo vs. Key Alternatives: The Cost Comparison
For a business with 10,000 contacts sending four times a month (40,000 emails), Brevo Standard lands around $69/month. That is cheaper than Mailchimp, MailerLite, and ActiveCampaign, but more expensive than SendX, which charges $59.99/mo on monthly billing — or $44.99/mo with annual billing (25% off) — with unlimited sends included on every plan. The table below shows where each platform sits at that common usage level. All figures are monthly billing.
Platform | Pricing model | Est. cost (10k contacts, 4 sends/mo) | Automation included | Free plan |
Brevo | Email volume | ~$69/mo (Standard, 20k tier) | Standard and up | Yes (300/day) |
Mailchimp | Contacts | ~$110/mo (Essentials, 10k) | Yes | Yes (500/mo, 250 contacts) |
MailerLite | Contacts | ~$73/mo (10k) | Yes | Yes (12k/mo) |
ActiveCampaign | Contacts | ~$149/mo (Starter, 10k) | Yes | No (14-day trial) |
Contacts | ~$59.99/mo (10k, unlimited sends) | Yes, all plans | No (14-day trial) |
Sources: Mailchimp, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign, SendX. Figures verified June 2026; confirm current pricing before purchase.
Here's the differentiator that matters. At four sends a month, Brevo's $69 already costs more than SendX on monthly billing. Now picture the same 10,000 contacts at eight sends a month, or daily automation — that's 80,000+ emails, which pushes Brevo into a higher volume band and a higher bill, while contact-based platforms don't move at all. SendX prices by contacts with unlimited sends on every plan, so a business running frequent campaigns pays the same whether it sends four times or forty.
5 Brevo Alternatives Worth Comparing
The best Brevo alternative depends on your send frequency. SendX and MailerLite win on contact-based simplicity, ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo win on automation depth, and Mailchimp wins on ecosystem breadth. All five price by contacts rather than sends, which is the structural opposite of Brevo's model.
1. SendX. Contact-based pricing with unlimited sends on every plan, all features included. Starts at $9.99/month for 1,000 contacts on monthly billing, or $7.49/month billed annually. Best for growing businesses that email frequently and don't want per-send math.
2. MailerLite. Also contact-based, with a more generous free plan than Brevo at 12,000 emails/month versus Brevo's 9,000 (MailerLite pricing, June 2026). Clean editor, paid from around $9/month. Best for bloggers and creators who want simplicity.
3. Mailchimp. Contact-based with a deep integration ecosystem, free up to 500 emails/month (250 contacts), paid from $13/month. The catch: pricing climbs steeply as your list grows. Best for teams already invested in the Mailchimp ecosystem.
4. ActiveCampaign. Contact-based, with some of the strongest automation and a built-in CRM. Starts around $15/month for 1,000 contacts. Best for teams that treat automation as a revenue center, not a nice-to-have.
5. Klaviyo. Contact-based and built for e-commerce, free up to 250 contacts, then scaling by list size. Notably more expensive at scale. Best for e-commerce businesses running deep lifecycle programs where revenue attribution matters.
For a wider field, see our full email marketing software comparison.
Sending More Than a Newsletter a Month? Try SendX
Brevo is a good deal if you have a large list and email infrequently — unlimited contacts on every paid plan is a real advantage for that pattern. For daily senders or teams running frequent campaigns, contact-based pricing with unlimited sends is more predictable: your bill tracks your audience size, not your campaign calendar. SendX is contact-based, includes all features on every plan, and starts at $9.99/month for 1,000 contacts on monthly billing — or $7.49/month billed annually.
Try SendX free for 14 days. No credit card required.
FAQs
How much does Brevo cost per month?
Brevo costs $0 to $499+/month. The free plan sends 300 emails/day, Starter runs from $9/month, Standard from $18/month, and Professional from $499/month. Pricing scales by email volume sent, not contacts stored (Brevo.com, June 2026).
Is Brevo the same as Sendinblue?
Yes. Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in May 2023 to reflect its expansion beyond email into CRM, SMS, and chat (GlobeNewswire, May 2023). Same product, new name.
Does Brevo charge by contacts or by emails?
Brevo charges by emails sent per month, not contacts stored. Every paid plan includes unlimited contacts. This is the opposite of most platforms, including Mailchimp, MailerLite, and SendX, which price by contacts.
Does Brevo's free plan have automation?
No. The free plan and all Starter plans exclude marketing automation. Automation starts on the Standard plan, which begins at $18/month and realistically runs $69/month at the 20,000-email tier (Brevo.com, June 2026).
What's the cheapest Brevo alternative with unlimited sends?
SendX starts at $9.99/month for 1,000 contacts with unlimited email sends and all features included (sendx.io/pricing). For high-frequency senders, contact-based pricing with unlimited volume is usually cheaper than Brevo's per-send model.