Sendinblue Review 2026 (Now Brevo): Features, Pricing & Honest Verdict
Verdict in 10 seconds
Buy if: you have a large contact list with moderate sending, or you want email + SMS + WhatsApp + CRM in one tool. Skip if: you want a clean UI, creator features, or cold outreach. Free up to 300 emails/day with unlimited contacts.
Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in 2023. The product is the same: an all-in-one platform combining email marketing, transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp, a CRM, and a chat widget. The hook is its email-volume pricing model with unlimited contacts, which is much cheaper than Mailchimp at scale.
The trade-off: the interface is less polished than Mailchimp or Kit, marketing automation is only on the Business plan, and the breadth of features can be overwhelming if you only need email.
What is Sendinblue (Brevo)?
European all-in-one marketing and customer engagement platform founded in 2012 in Paris. Combines email marketing, transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp marketing, sales CRM, live chat, and meeting booking in a single tool.
Not a cold email tool. Sending unsolicited emails violates its terms. For cold outreach, see our Lemlist review or Instantly review.
Key features
- Email marketing: Drag-and-drop designer with templates, segmentation, A/B testing, and basic-to-advanced reporting depending on plan.
- Transactional email: Reliable SMTP and API for triggered emails (order confirmations, password resets) with detailed logs.
- SMS marketing: Send promotional and transactional SMS, with country-specific per-message credits.
- WhatsApp campaigns: WhatsApp Business API integration for marketing and conversational messaging.
- Marketing automation (Business+): Visual workflows with conditional logic, behavior triggers, and lead scoring.
- Sales CRM: Free pipeline management with deal tracking, contact records, and meeting booking.
- Forms and landing pages: Lead capture without a separate tool.
- Live chat widget: Embed on your site for support and lead capture.
Pricing overview
Free plan plus three paid tiers. Pricing is based on monthly email volume, with unlimited contacts on every plan.
| Plan | Starting Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (300 emails/day) | Unlimited contacts, drag-and-drop builder, transactional email, SMS, basic CRM |
| Starter | ~$9/mo (5,000 emails) | No daily limit, removes branding, email support |
| Business | ~$18/mo (5,000 emails) | Marketing automation, A/B testing, send time optimization, multi-user |
| BrevoPlus | Custom | SSO, advanced security, sub-accounts, dedicated support |
Prices are approximate and scale with monthly email volume. Visit brevo.com for current pricing.
For a complete breakdown, see our Sendinblue (Brevo) pricing guide.
Pros
- Unlimited contacts on every plan, including free. Most platforms charge by subscriber count. Brevo's email-volume model is dramatically cheaper for large lists.
- Strong free plan. 300 emails/day (about 9,000/month) is enough for many small businesses to start without paying anything.
- Multichannel built in. Email, SMS, and WhatsApp under one platform with shared contact data and unified reporting.
- Free CRM included. Pipeline management, deal tracking, and meeting booking come bundled. Useful for small teams that don't want a separate CRM tool.
- Reliable transactional email. Strong API and SMTP infrastructure for triggered emails, with detailed delivery logs.
- EU-based with strong GDPR compliance. Useful for European businesses needing data residency in the EU.
- SMS marketing native. No need for a separate SMS tool when running combined campaigns.
Cons
- Less polished UI than Mailchimp or Kit. The interface works but feels denser and less intuitive, especially for first-time users.
- Marketing automation is Business-only. The Starter plan removes branding but doesn't include automation. Building meaningful workflows requires Business at minimum.
- Templates are dated. The default email templates feel less modern than Mailchimp's or MailerLite's.
- Deliverability requires manual setup. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration are on you. Other platforms guide users through this more carefully.
- SMS pricing is opaque. Per-country SMS credits make it hard to predict costs without testing.
- No cold email support. Brevo prohibits unsolicited emails. Account suspension is possible if you import non-opted-in contacts. For cold email outreach, use a dedicated tool.
- Steep learning curve for the full suite. The breadth of features (email, SMS, CRM, automation, chat) is more than most small teams need.
Who is Sendinblue (Brevo) best for?
- E-commerce and SMBs with large contact lists (10,000+ subscribers)
- Teams running multichannel campaigns (email + SMS + WhatsApp)
- Developers needing reliable transactional email API and SMTP
- European businesses needing GDPR-friendly data residency
- Companies wanting email marketing and a basic CRM in one tool
Who should look elsewhere?
- Cold outreach teams: Brevo prohibits cold email. For sales outreach, use Lemlist or Instantly. For automated link building outreach, MentionAgent ($99/mo) handles the full workflow.
- Creators and bloggers: Kit (ConvertKit) is purpose-built for creators with simpler pricing and built-in commerce.
- Small lists with simpler needs: MailerLite is cleaner, simpler, and cheaper for under 5,000 subscribers.
- Advanced automation: ActiveCampaign has deeper workflow logic and predictive features.
- Unlimited monthly sends without volume math: Moosend includes unlimited emails on every paid plan, simpler than Brevo's volume-based model if you send heavily.
Alternatives worth considering
| Tool | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| MentionAgent | $99/mo | Automated outreach for link building and PR |
| MailerLite | Free / ~$10/mo | Cleaner UI for small to mid-size lists |
| Mailchimp | Free / ~$13/mo | Better templates and e-commerce integrations |
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Free / ~$15/mo | Creator-focused with built-in commerce |
| ActiveCampaign | $15/mo (1k contacts) | Advanced automation and built-in CRM |
For a full comparison, see our best Sendinblue (Brevo) alternatives.
Your e-commerce store has 30,000 subscribers and you send 2 emails/week. On Mailchimp Standard, this would cost roughly $300/month. What makes Brevo cheaper?
Correct. Brevo's email-volume pricing means 30,000 contacts cost the same as 100,000 if your sending volume is the same. That's why it's cheaper than Mailchimp at scale. The free plan only covers ~9,000 emails/month, not contact count.
Brevo's main advantage is the email-volume pricing model. Contacts are unlimited on every plan, so you only pay more when you send more emails, not when your list grows.
You want to combine email and SMS in one campaign. Which Brevo feature handles this?
Correct. Brevo includes SMS marketing on every plan with country-based per-message credits. You can build campaigns that combine email and SMS using shared contact data and see unified reporting.
Brevo's multichannel capability (email, SMS, WhatsApp) on a single contact record is one of its main advantages over Mailchimp and Kit, both of which are email-only.
You need to build backlinks by reaching out to bloggers in your niche. Which tool handles this automatically?
Correct. Brevo prohibits cold outreach. MentionAgent ($99/mo) is built for outreach: it finds relevant blogs, looks up contacts, writes personalized pitches, and follows up automatically.
Brevo can't be used for cold outreach. MentionAgent automates the entire link building workflow: finding prospects, looking up contacts, writing emails, and sending follow-ups.
Need outreach, not marketing?
MentionAgent finds relevant blogs, looks up contacts, writes personalized pitches, and follows up. You just approve the emails. $99/mo flat, no subscriber lists or per-contact pricing.
Start Getting Mentioned For $99/moFrequently asked questions
Is Sendinblue still worth using?
Yes, especially for large lists. Sendinblue (rebranded to Brevo in 2023) is one of the best-priced platforms for marketing email at scale, with unlimited contacts on every plan and pricing based on email volume rather than contact count.
What is Sendinblue best for?
Sendinblue (Brevo) is best for businesses with large contact lists and moderate sending, multichannel campaigns combining email, SMS, and WhatsApp, and teams that want a free CRM bundled with email marketing.
What are the downsides of Sendinblue?
The interface is less polished than Mailchimp, marketing automation is only available on the Business plan, deliverability setup requires manual SPF/DKIM/DMARC configuration, and the breadth of features can be overwhelming if you only need email.
Can I use Sendinblue for cold email?
Is Brevo good for transactional email?
Yes. Brevo provides reliable SMTP and API for triggered emails like order confirmations, password resets, and receipts, with detailed delivery logs. For very high volumes of transactional-only email, dedicated services like Postmark or SendGrid often have stronger inbox placement.
Where are Brevo's servers located?
Brevo is a France-based company with EU data infrastructure, which makes it attractive for European businesses needing GDPR-friendly data residency. Brevo also operates infrastructure in other regions, but the company itself is headquartered in Paris.
Does Brevo support WhatsApp marketing?
Yes. Brevo integrates with the WhatsApp Business API for both marketing campaigns and conversational messaging. WhatsApp messages have their own per-message pricing on top of your email plan.
Can I import a list from Mailchimp into Brevo?
Yes. Export your Mailchimp audience as a CSV, then upload it in Brevo. Tags and segments don't transfer automatically and need to be rebuilt in Brevo's contact attributes. Make sure all imported contacts opted in to receive email from you.