Brevo

Ease of Use

Brevo is frequently praised for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. The platform’s layout is clean and consistent across features, with on-screen tips that guide you through each step. Marketers new to email automation can quickly get comfortable with Brevo’s drag-and-drop email editor and visual workflow builder. In practice, it feels simpler and less overwhelming than more complex tools like HubSpot or ActiveCampaign. This low learning curve makes Brevo attractive for small teams that need to get campaigns running with minimal fuss.

CRM Depth

One standout feature of Brevo is its built-in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) module, which is included even on the free plan. Brevo’s CRM provides a straightforward sales pipeline where you can manage deals with drag-and-drop ease. It allows you to set up stages, assign tasks, and track contacts through the sales funnel without bogging you down in complexity. However, the CRM’s depth is limited it covers basic deal management and task tracking, but it lacks advanced analytics and some sophisticated CRM features that dedicated platforms offer. Compared to HubSpot or ActiveCampaign’s CRM capabilities, Brevo’s is more simplistic. This simplicity can be perfect for a small sales team, but fast-growing companies with complex sales processes might find Brevo’s CRM too basic in the long run.

Automation Workflows

Brevo includes a capable automation workflow builder that lets you automate email and SMS campaigns based on triggers like contact data, email engagement, website behavior and e-commerce actions. It comes with a library of pre-built workflow templates (e.g. welcome series, abandoned cart emails) to help you get started. Using the visual editor, you can create branching sequences with time delays and if/else conditions, which cover most common marketing needs. For instance, you might automatically send a follow-up SMS if a contact doesn’t open an email. These features are impressive for a tool at Brevo’s price point, but it’s important to note the limits. Brevo’s automation isn’t as elaborate or flexible as ActiveCampaign’s (which supports multiple triggers, advanced logic, and hundreds of automation “recipes”). In short, Brevo will handle basic to intermediate workflows well, but power users seeking ultra-complex automation may find it falls short of tools like ActiveCampaign or HubSpot’s workflow builder.

Pricing Model

Brevo’s pricing is a major draw for budget-conscious teams. It offers a free plan that allows up to 300 emails per day to unlimited contacts. This volume-based pricing (charging by emails sent, not by number of contacts) means you can store, segment, and nurture a large audience without seeing your bill skyrocket. In fact, one analysis found Brevo’s plans to be roughly 72% cheaper than Mailchimp for equivalent usage, thanks to this model. Paid plans start at around $9/month for 5,000 emails (Starter plan) and scale up as you need to send more. The mid-tier Business plan (starting ~$18/month) unlocks advanced features like A/B testing, landing pages, and phone support. Brevo even offers pay-as-you-go credits if your email volume varies, so you only pay for what you use. The main consideration here is value relative to growth: Brevo remains more affordable than most competitors for small-to-midsize contact lists, though larger teams should note extra costs (for example, additional user seats cost extra on higher plans).

Support

Responsive support can be a lifesaver when you’re running campaigns, and Brevo performs solidly on this front. All users, even on the free plan, get access to Brevo’s extensive knowledge base and can reach support via email. On paid plans, Brevo provides live chat support during business hours, and Business plan subscribers can even access phone support for more urgent needs. In practice, Brevo’s support team has a reputation for fast live-chat response times and helpful guidance, especially for troubleshooting or setup questions. The platform also offers a “Brevo Academy” with training resources for beginners, which helps shorten the learning curve. One minor gripe is that the in-app help button can be inconsistent (sometimes showing different contact options), but overall both self-help resources and human support are well-regarded. Compared to some competitors, Brevo’s multilingual support (in six languages) and availability of chat even on relatively low-tier plans stand out as a plus.

Integrations

When choosing a marketing platform, you need to ensure it plays nicely with your other tools. Brevo offers a decent range of integrations covering CMS, e-commerce, CRM, and more. Currently, it has direct integrations with around 60+ third-party apps including popular ones like WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Pipedrive (CRM), Salesforce, Stripe, and others. These integrations let you, for example, sync your Shopify customer data to Brevo or embed Brevo signup forms on your WordPress site. If a native integration isn’t available, Brevo can connect to thousands of other apps via Zapier and provides an API for custom integrations. This should cover the needs of most small businesses enabling things like importing leads, triggering emails from your product, or syncing contact lists. However, Brevo’s integration catalog isn’t as deep as some competitors (ActiveCampaign boasts close to 900+ integrations). So, if your stack includes a very specific or niche tool, double-check Brevo’s integration list. The good news is the Brevo team appears to be continually adding integrations, and the essentials for B2B marketing (websites, CRMs, payment processors, etc.) are largely covered.

As a Head of Growth who hasn’t personally used Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), I’ve based this review on in-depth research and feedback from clients. Below, I break down key considerations when evaluating Brevo, offer my candid take on its strengths and weaknesses, and provide an ultimate guide to help scale-up marketers and SMB founders assess if Brevo is the right fit.

In my research and conversations with clients, a consistent theme emerged: Brevo is a great value for what it offers. Its biggest strengths are accessibility and breadth. The platform is easy to learn, even if you’re not deeply technical, and it bundles together multiple capabilities (email marketing, basic CRM, SMS, WhatsApp, chat) under one roof. For a head of growth at a service-based SMB or a lean B2B team, that “all-in-one” convenience is appealing you can manage newsletters, automated drip campaigns and even simple sales pipelines without juggling multiple tools.

In day-to-day use, Brevo’s UI and workflow get positive feedback. Clients have told me they appreciate how quickly they can design an email or set up an automation. Having tried tools like Mailchimp and HubSpot myself, I can see why Brevo is often described as “refreshingly simple”. Unlike HubSpot, which can feel overwhelming with its dozens of hubs and features, Brevo keeps things focused on core marketing needs. And unlike Mailchimp (which is friendly but primarily email-centric), Brevo gives you extra channels and a CRM layer out-of-the-box. This means a small agency or startup can start building basic customer journeys (for example, an email nurture sequence followed by a sales call task in the CRM) without a heavy software investment.

Of course, no tool is perfect. Brevo has its limits, and it’s important to acknowledge them. Its CRM, while handy, is quite bare-bones. It works for tracking deals and contacts, but if you need complex sales automation or detailed analytics on your pipeline, Brevo won’t go as far as a dedicated CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce. Similarly, Brevo’s automation builder covers common use cases but doesn’t match the sophistication of ActiveCampaign or HubSpot workflows for really intricate logic. I’ve seen teams outgrow Brevo’s capabilities once their marketing gets more advanced for instance, if you want multi-step branching based on events, lead scoring, or highly personalised content streams, you might hit a ceiling. Additionally, some advanced features (like A/B testing emails or building landing pages) require upgrading to higher-tier plans, so the entry-level packages can feel a bit restricted as your needs grow.

When I compare Brevo to other platforms, I’d position it somewhere in the middle and that’s not a bad place to be. Mailchimp is often the go-to for beginners, and Brevo competes well there: it’s equally easy to use and notably more cost-effective as your contact list expands. In fact, Brevo’s unlimited contacts on the free plan and cheaper volume pricing is a clear win over Mailchimp’s contact-tiered pricing. Versus ActiveCampaign, Brevo falls short on high-end automation and deep segmentation, but not every team needs those from day one. I’d say if you’re a marketer who finds ActiveCampaign powerful but a bit overwhelming, Brevo offers a simpler, leaner alternative you sacrifice some advanced features, but you also save a lot of time and money. HubSpot, on the other hand, is a different beast: it’s incredibly powerful, combining CRM and marketing automation at enterprise level, but it can be overkill (and very expensive) for a small business. I see Brevo as a pragmatic HubSpot alternative for teams that want a CRM + email marketing combo without the hefty price tag or complexity.

Who is Brevo best for? In my opinion, Brevo shines for small to midsize teams the kind of marketers and founders who need to wear multiple hats. If you’re running marketing for a scale-up or SMB service firm, Brevo gives you the key tools to capture leads, send campaigns, and track follow-ups, all in a reasonably integrated way. It’s especially well-suited if you have a tight budget or limited tech support, because you can get a lot done in one platform without a steep learning curve. I’ve noticed many early-stage companies use Brevo to get started with email newsletters, simple automations, and basic CRM, and they’re quite happy with it. When does Brevo fall short? It’s when your operations become more complex. For example, a larger marketing department with multiple specialists might find Brevo’s feature set somewhat limiting they might demand deeper analytics, more creative automation hacks, or a wider range of integrations than Brevo currently offers. Also, if real scalability is a concern (millions of emails, very large databases, or multi-team workflows), you may lean towards more robust systems. In those cases, investing in something like HubSpot or a specialised enterprise tool could be justified.

All things considered, I come away with a balanced view of Brevo. It’s not the flashiest or the most powerful marketing platform out there, but it doesn’t pretend to be. Brevo is reliable, approachable, and hugely cost-effective for what it delivers. As a growth lead, I appreciate tools that solve real problems without unnecessary complexity, and Brevo largely fits that bill. Just be clear about your needs: if they align with Brevo’s sweet spot (affordable multi-channel marketing for a modest-sized team), this platform could be a perfect ally. If your needs outgrow it, the good news is you’ll have saved a lot of budget along the way and switching to a more advanced platform will be a sign that your marketing operation has matured beyond Brevo’s scope.