Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, has positioned itself as an all-in-one marketing platform, with email marketing being a core component of its offering. They aim to cater to a wide range of businesses with various tiers and functionalities.

Brevo Email Marketing Functionality

Brevo offers several pricing tiers, each unlocking a different set of features and sending allowances. Let’s break them down:

Free Plan

This is their entry-level offering, typically allowing a limited number of contacts and email sends per month. Functionality is understandably basic but includes:

• Contact management and segmentation.
• Drag-and-drop email builder.
• Basic email templates.
• Transactional email capabilities.
• SMS marketing (pay-as-you-go).
• Marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts.
• Limited reporting.

Starter Plan (typically around £19 per month, price may vary based on sending volume)

This tier builds upon the free plan by increasing sending limits and removing the Brevo logo from emails. Key additions often include:

• Higher sending volumes.
• No-code automation workflows.
• More advanced reporting and statistics.
• Email support.

Business Plan (typically around £49 per month, price may vary based on sending volume and features)

This plan targets businesses with more sophisticated needs. Features often include:

• Advanced segmentation.
• Landing page builder.
• Marketing automation with more advanced workflows.
• Multivariate A/B testing.
• Access for multiple users.
• Priority support.
• Phone support.

BrevoPlus (custom pricing)

This enterprise-level plan offers tailored solutions with advanced features, higher sending limits, and dedicated support. Features often include:

• SLA (Service Level Agreement).
• Custom integrations.
• Advanced reporting and analytics.
• Dedicated account manager.

Take a look at our analysis and comparison of the features of the top ten email marketing platforms.

How Much Does Brevo Cost (And Is It Worth It?)

The pricing structure of Brevo appears competitive, particularly at the lower tiers. 

The Free Plan is a decent starting point for very small businesses or individuals just dipping their toes into email marketing. It allows for list building and basic campaign execution without upfront costs.

The Starter Plan (typically around £19 per month) offers good value for growing businesses that need to send more emails and benefit from basic automation. The removal of branding is a significant plus for presenting a professional image.

The Business Plan (typically around £49 per month) represents a step up in cost but unlocks powerful features like landing pages and advanced automation, making it suitable for businesses serious about their marketing efforts. Whether it represents good value depends on the extent to which a business utilises these advanced functionalities. If you’re not leveraging the landing page builder or sophisticated A/B testing, you might find other platforms offer similar core email marketing features at a lower price point.

BrevoPlus (custom pricing) is aimed at enterprises with specific needs and the budget to match. The custom pricing reflects the tailored nature of the offering.

Overall, Brevo offers reasonable value for money, especially at the lower tiers. The Free and Starter plans provide a good balance of features for their respective price points. The Business plan’s value is more dependent on a business’s specific requirements for advanced marketing tools.

Take a look at where Brevo sits on our ranking of the most cost-effective email marketing platforms.

Brevo: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Comprehensive platform with multiple marketing tools	The sheer number of features can be overwhelming for beginners
Competitive pricing, especially for lower tiers	The user interface, while improving, can sometimes feel a bit cluttered
Robust automation capabilities	Reporting may lack the depth of some specialist platforms
Decent email deliverability rates	Customer support responsiveness can be inconsistent according to some users
Good range of templates available	Some advanced features might require a steeper learning curve
Transactional email and SMS capabilities integrated	Pricing can escalate significantly with higher sending volumes and tiers
Landing page builder in higher tiers

Our Analysis: What Type of Business is Brevo Best Suited For?

Brevo’s tiered structure makes it suitable for a wide range of businesses.

Small Businesses and Startups: The Free and Starter plans are excellent for those on a tight budget who need essential email marketing tools and basic automation. The integrated SMS functionality can also be a bonus for direct communication.

Growing Businesses: The Business plan is well-suited for companies looking to scale their marketing efforts with advanced segmentation, automation, and the ability to build landing pages. The multi-user access is also beneficial for teams.

E-commerce Businesses: The platform’s transactional email capabilities are crucial for order confirmations, shipping updates, and password resets. The segmentation features can be used to target customers based on purchase history.

Marketing Agencies: The multi-user access and the range of features in the Business and BrevoPlus plans can be attractive for agencies managing multiple clients.

Businesses Seeking an Integrated Platform: For companies that want to consolidate their marketing tools (email, SMS, chat, CRM, landing pages) into a single platform, Brevo offers a compelling solution.

Conclusion

Brevo presents a solid and versatile option for email marketing, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Its tiered pricing structure allows businesses to start at a comfortable level and scale as their needs grow. The integration of multiple marketing channels within one platform is a significant advantage for efficiency.

However, potential users should be mindful of the platform’s complexity, which might be daunting for absolute beginners. While the pricing is competitive at lower levels, it’s essential to carefully assess the features needed in the higher tiers to ensure value for money. Overall, if you’re looking for a comprehensive marketing platform with a strong focus on email and the ability to expand into other channels, Brevo is certainly worth considering. Just be sure to have a good poke around the interface and perhaps take advantage of their free plan or a trial to see if it truly fits your business.

Brevo Competitors

• Omnisend
• ActiveCampaign
• GetResponse
• HubSpot Marketing Hub
• Mailchimp
• Constant Contact
• Klaviyo
• MailerLite
• Campaign Monitor

Check out our comparison of the best email marketing software, and see where Brevo sits in the top ten.