Brevo prices differently from most of its competitors, and the difference is the single most important thing to understand before comparing it to anything else: you are billed on emails sent, not contacts stored.
That makes a direct price comparison against Mailchimp, Klaviyo or Constant Contact impossible without doing arithmetic on your own numbers first. This page explains the structure, what sits behind each tier, and the three charges that surprise people.
The billing model, and who it suits
Brevo’s plans are defined by monthly email volume — Starter begins at 5,000 emails a month, Professional at 150,000. Contacts are effectively unlimited within a plan.
The practical consequence:
- A large list you email occasionally is cheap. 50,000 subscribers mailed twice a month is 100,000 sends. On per-contact pricing you pay for 50,000 stored addresses every month regardless.
- A small list you email daily is expensive. 3,000 subscribers mailed every day is 90,000 sends a month — a small list generating a large bill.
Work out your monthly send volume before comparing anything. It is the only number that matters on this model. More on the underlying trade-off in our comparison of the main platforms.
What each plan includes
Free
Up to 300 emails per day. Contacts are not the limit — daily volume is. Usable for a genuine small operation, and unusually generous compared with Mailchimp’s free tier.
Starter
From 5,000 emails a month. Includes the drag-and-drop editor, templates, AI content generation, advanced segmentation, forms, basic reporting and email support.
What is not here: marketing automation. No workflows, no A/B testing, no send-time optimisation, no landing pages. Starter is a broadcast plan.
Standard
Everything in Starter plus marketing automation with unlimited multi-step workflows, A/B testing, advanced reporting with click heatmaps and geography and device breakdowns, AI send-time optimisation, web and event tracking, and one landing page.
This is the first plan that functions as a modern email platform. If you intend to run a welcome series or cart recovery, this is your starting point, not Starter.
Professional
From 150,000 emails a month, plus WhatsApp, popups and mobile and web push, 10 seats, contact scoring including RFM and CLV, AI-driven product recommendations, back-in-stock alerts and coupons, AI segmentation, an AI data analyst, phone support, and three hours a year of deliverability specialist time.
Enterprise
Custom pricing, aimed at 1M+ contacts. Adds multi-account management, custom objects, mobile wallet, a loyalty engine, custom data integrations, dedicated IP, SSO and SAML.
Three charges that catch people out
1. The Brevo logo in your emails
On the lower tiers your emails carry a “Sent with Brevo” footer. Removing it is a paid add-on on Starter, and included from Standard upward.
For a small business emailing customers, third-party branding in your own campaigns is not a cosmetic issue — it signals you are on a starter plan. Budget for the removal or budget for Standard.
2. SMS credits are sold separately
SMS appears in the Starter feature list, but SMS credits are purchased on top of your plan. The plan price gives you access to the channel, not the messages. The same applies to WhatsApp on Professional.
3. Landing pages are metered
Standard includes one landing page. If landing pages are part of how you capture leads, check that limit against what you actually need before choosing the tier.
What Brevo includes that competitors charge extra for
Fairness requires the other side of the ledger, and there is a significant one:
Transactional email is on every plan — including free. Brevo’s own FAQ confirms all plans include RESTful APIs, SMTP, outbound webhooks and unlimited log retention.
This is genuinely unusual. Mailchimp sells transactional as a separate product. Zoho Campaigns does not do it at all — you need ZeptoMail. If you run a store or a SaaS product and need receipts and password resets alongside campaigns, Brevo and Bluey Email are among the few that put both on one bill without a second subscription. Background in transactional vs marketing email.
Brevo also offers pay-as-you-go credits that do not expire — one email, one credit — which suits organisations that send in bursts a few times a year. Phone support is excluded from PAYG.
Brevo vs the per-contact platforms
Reference points from our tested comparison, at roughly 10,000 contacts (verified June 2026 — check current vendor pages before relying on any figure):
- Bluey Email — $14, billed per send
- Brevo — around $17, billed per send
- MailerLite — $89, per subscriber
- Omnisend — $132, per contact
- Mailchimp — $135, per contact
- Klaviyo — $175, per profile
- ActiveCampaign — $189, per contact
The gap between the send-based and contact-based platforms at this list size is substantial — but it narrows or reverses as send frequency rises. A daily sender to 10,000 people is producing 300,000 emails a month, which is a different conversation entirely.
Is Brevo good value?
Yes, if your list is large relative to how often you mail it, you need transactional email on the same bill, or you send in occasional bursts and want non-expiring credits.
Less so if you send daily to a modest list, you need automation but hoped Starter would cover it, or you are on a tier where the Brevo footer stays on your emails.
Compare against Brevo alternatives if the automation gate or the logo charge is what brought you here.
Frequently asked questions
Does Brevo charge per contact or per email?
Per email sent. Plans are defined by monthly sending volume — Starter from 5,000, Professional from 150,000 — and contacts are effectively unlimited within a plan. This is the opposite of Mailchimp, Klaviyo and Constant Contact.
Is Brevo really free?
There is a genuine free tier limited to 300 emails per day. Your emails carry a “Sent with Brevo” footer, and marketing automation is not included.
Does Brevo include transactional email?
Yes, on every plan including free — API, SMTP, webhooks and unlimited log retention. This is one of its stronger arguments against Mailchimp.
Which Brevo plan do I need for automation?
Standard. Starter has no marketing automation, no A/B testing and no send-time optimisation.
How do I remove the Brevo logo from my emails?
It is a paid add-on on Starter and included from Standard upward.
Does Brevo offer a discount for annual billing?
Yes — roughly 10% for yearly commitment, which is modest compared with the 25% some competitors offer.
If send-based pricing is what you are looking for
Bluey Email uses the same billing principle — charged on emails sent, not contacts stored — with transactional included on every plan, automations from the free tier, and no third-party branding on any tier.
See Bluey Email pricing, or read the direct comparison: Bluey Email vs Brevo.
Plan structure, feature gating and inclusions verified from Brevo’s own pricing page and FAQ, September 2026. Brevo displays prices dynamically by volume and region — check brevo.com/pricing for current figures. Comparative price points dated June 2026.
Also in this series: Mailchimp pricing • Constant Contact pricing • ActiveCampaign pricing