Brevo
Why Brevo
Combining email and SMS marketing with marketing automation, a basic CRM and transactional APIs in one platform reduces subscription sprawl. Lean B2B teams and small businesses use it for newsletters, drip campaigns and customer messaging across multiple channels. Pricing is based on email volume sent per month rather than contact count.
What it does
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a marketing and customer messaging platform. It covers email, SMS, WhatsApp campaigns, web and mobile push, live chat and chatbots, plus automation, a sales CRM, a loyalty programme and transactional messaging by SMTP relay and API.
The vendor also has an AI layer called Aura, with agents for marketing, sales, conversations and data analysis. I have not used Brevo myself, so this review rests on research and feedback from clients.
Why you would need it
You feel the pain when your email tool, SMS tool and CRM do not talk to each other. A lead signs up, gets a newsletter from one system, a text from another and a sales call from a third, and nobody sees the whole picture.
Brevo puts those channels and a simple CRM in one account. One automation can send an email, follow up with an SMS and create a task for sales.
Where it fits
Brevo sits in the middle of a small marketing stack. Forms, ecommerce and your website feed it, and it feeds your sales follow-up. The vendor lists more than 150 integrations, including Shopify, WordPress, Stripe and Zapier. It can replace a newsletter tool and a basic CRM, and its transactional API can replace a separate sender for system emails.
What stands out
- Several channels in one place, so one campaign flow can mix email, SMS and WhatsApp.
- Pricing based on email volume rather than on the number of contacts.
- A free plan and an easy editor, which makes it accessible for non-technical teams.
- A documented API, webhooks for marketing, transactional and CRM events, and an official MCP server.
My take
The feedback I have seen is consistent. Brevo is good value, easy to learn and broad. Compared with Mailchimp, it offers more channels and a CRM layer, and its volume-based pricing tends to suit growing lists. Compared with ActiveCampaign, it falls short on advanced automation and segmentation. Compared with HubSpot, it is far simpler and cheaper, and far less deep.
Its CRM is basic. It tracks contacts and deals, but if you need complex sales automation or pipeline analytics, a dedicated CRM is the better choice. Some features, such as A/B testing and landing pages, sit on higher plans, so the entry plans can feel tight as you grow.
Verdict
Pick Brevo if you are a small or mid-sized team that wants multi-channel marketing and a simple CRM without much cost or complexity. Skip it if your automation needs branch on many events, or if you already outgrew a basic CRM.
Books behind it
Notes
Your note
Before you choose
The CRM is basic
Brevo's CRM works for contacts and simple pipelines. If you run complex sales processes, you will want a full CRM such as HubSpot or Salesforce. The sales CRM is also sold as a per-user add-on.
Read moreShow less
Automation depth
The automation builder covers common cases. Teams that need multi-step branching on many events, or very detailed lead scoring, may hit a ceiling. ActiveCampaign is the usual comparison for that.
Lower plans hold some features back
There is a free plan with a daily sending cap, and some features such as A/B testing and landing pages need higher plans. Check which features you need, and how many emails you send, before you pick a tier. Volume sets the price, so model your real sending.
Alternatives to compare
Look at Mailchimp, Kit and Customer.io. Mailchimp prices by contacts, Brevo by emails sent, so the cheaper one depends on your list and your sending habits.