TL;DR

Brevo prices by emails sent per month rather than contacts stored, and its free plan uniquely allows up to 100,000 stored contacts with 300 emails/day at no cost and no card required. It carries a 4.5/5 G2 rating across 2,716 reviews, with 84.1% of reviewers from small businesses who praise ease of use but flag a learning curve for automation and support responsiveness. Klaviyo edges out the group on G2 rating at 4.6/5 from 1,356 reviews and includes 150 SMS/MMS credits in its free tier, but it isn't a general CRM, just profile and segmentation data built for ecommerce.

ActiveCampaign has no free tier at all beyond a 14-day, 100-contact trial, and its Sales Engagement CRM costs an extra $68/month on top of the base plan, while Mailchimp offers no SMS on any plan and gates multi-step branching automation behind its $20/month Standard tier. Brevo's own marketing automation is locked out of its Free and Starter tiers, only unlocking at Standard. The comparison frames Brevo as best suited to SMBs and agencies with large, infrequently-emailed contact lists or teams wanting native SMS/WhatsApp plus transactional email in one platform.

Best Brevo Alternatives for 2026: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and Klaviyo Compared

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is one of the most-reviewed email marketing platforms on the market, but it isn't the right fit for every team. This guide breaks down what Brevo actually offers in 2026, and compares it against three genuine, commonly-recommended alternatives — Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and Klaviyo — using current, sourced pricing and review data rather than guesswork.

Product Overview

Direct answer: Brevo is an all-in-one marketing platform built around email, SMS, and WhatsApp messaging, with marketing automation, a drag-and-drop editor, and a built-in CRM layer. Its defining characteristic is pricing based on emails sent per month rather than contacts stored — every paid plan includes unlimited contacts, and Brevo's own help center confirms the Free plan lets you store up to 100,000 contacts and send up to 300 emails per day at no cost, with no credit card required (Brevo Help Center — About Brevo's pricing plans).

On G2, Brevo carries a 4.5 out of 5 rating across 2,716 reviews, with small-business users making up 84.1% of reviewers (G2 — Brevo Reviews). Reviewers consistently praise ease of use and setup, while the most common complaints center on missing/limited advanced features, a learning curve for automation, and support responsiveness — some users also report account restrictions tied to Brevo's engagement-monitoring policies (G2 — Brevo Marketing Platform Reviews).

Brevo is best suited to SMBs and agencies with large, infrequently-emailed contact lists, or teams that want native SMS/WhatsApp plus transactional email in one platform. Teams that send very frequently to a smaller list, or that need deeper e-commerce automation, are often better served by a contact-based competitor — which is why this comparison focuses on Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and Klaviyo, three of the most common tools teams evaluate alongside Brevo.

Quick Answer

  • If you're sitting on a large contact list you email infrequently → choose Brevo, because it prices by emails sent rather than contacts stored, and its free plan supports up to 100,000 stored contacts.
  • If you're needing native SMS/WhatsApp plus transactional email in one platform → choose Brevo, because it bundles SMS/WhatsApp billed per message alongside marketing and transactional email, unlike Mailchimp which offers no SMS on any plan.
  • If you're running ecommerce and want the highest-rated option → choose Klaviyo, because it holds the top G2 rating in the comparison at 4.6/5, and its free tier even includes SMS/MMS credits.
  • If you're wanting a built-in sales CRM without paying extra → choose Brevo over ActiveCampaign, because Brevo's Sales CRM is included while ActiveCampaign's Pipelines/Sales Engagement CRM is a paid add-on starting at $68/month.

Feature Comparison Matrix

DimensionBrevoMailchimpActiveCampaignKlaviyo
Free tier300 emails/day, up to 100,000 stored contacts (Brevo Help Center)250 contacts, 500 emails/month (SendX — Mailchimp Pricing 2026)None — 14-day trial only, 100 contacts (EmailToolTester — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026)250 profiles, 500 emails + 150 SMS/MMS credits/month (EmailToolTester — Klaviyo Pricing 2026)
Pricing basisEmails sent/monthContacts storedContacts storedActive profiles
SMS / WhatsAppYes, billed separately per message (from ~$0.013/SMS US) (SendX — Brevo Pricing 2026)SMS not included on any plan — separate purchase (SendX — Mailchimp Pricing 2026)SMS available as a paid add-on (from ~$16.83/month) (Mailsoftly — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026)Native Email+SMS plan available, SMS billed by message volume (Mailsoftly — Klaviyo Pricing 2026)
Marketing automationNot on Free/Starter — unlocks at Standard tier (Layer3Labs — Brevo Pricing 2026)Basic on Essentials; multi-step branching automation requires Standard ($20/mo+) (SendX — Mailchimp Pricing 2026)Included from Starter tier ($15–19/mo) (SendX — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026)Included on all paid plans; free tier has limited automation
CRMBuilt-in Sales CRM includedNot native (Mailchimp is primarily email/marketing)Marketing CRM on Starter; Pipelines/Sales Engagement CRM as paid add-ons ($68/mo+) (Mailsoftly — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026)Not a general CRM — profile/segmentation data only, built for e-commerce
G2 rating4.5/5 (2,716 reviews) (G2 — Brevo)4.4/5 (G2 — Intuit Mailchimp Email Marketing)4.5/5 (14,000+ reviews) (G2 — ActiveCampaign Reviews)4.6/5 (1,356 reviews) (G2 — Klaviyo Products)
Best forMulti-channel senders with large, low-frequency listsBeginners wanting a simple, well-known interfaceAutomation-heavy B2B teams that want CRM + email in oneE-commerce brands (especially Shopify) needing deep segmentation

Pricing Comparison

Direct answer: Pricing below reflects entry-level paid tiers reported by third-party pricing trackers; always confirm current numbers on each vendor's official pricing page before purchasing, since figures shift with promotions and billing cycle.

  • Brevo: Starter plan from $9/month for 5,000 emails/month; Standard from $18/month for 5,000 emails (adds landing pages and automation); Professional from $499/month for 150k+ emails/month with WhatsApp and AI segmentation. Enterprise is custom-quoted. SAML SSO is a separate $324/month add-on not listed on the main pricing page (SendX — Brevo Pricing 2026; EmailToolTester — Brevo Pricing 2026).
  • Mailchimp: Essentials from $13/month (500 contacts, 5,000 sends, no multi-step automation); Standard from $20/month (unlocks branching automation, predictive segmentation); Premium from $350/month for 10,000 contacts. At 10,000 contacts, Essentials runs about $110/month and Standard about $135/month — pricing scales with list size, not send volume (SendX — Mailchimp Pricing 2026).
  • ActiveCampaign: No free plan. Starter from $15/month (annual billing) for 1,000 contacts; Plus from $49/month; Pro from $79/month; Enterprise from $145/month. At 10,000 contacts, Plus rises to roughly $239/month and Professional to about $419/month. Annual billing saves roughly 20% versus month-to-month (SendX — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026; Mailsoftly — ActiveCampaign Pricing 2026).
  • Klaviyo: Free up to 250 profiles. Email plan from $20/month for 251–500 profiles (5,000 sends/month); Email+SMS from $35/month. At 5,000 profiles the Email plan runs about $100/month, and at 50,000 profiles roughly $720/month — SMS is billed separately on top by message volume (EmailToolTester — Klaviyo Pricing 2026; Omnisend — Klaviyo Pricing 2026).

Who Should Choose What

  • Choose Brevo if you have a large contact list you email infrequently, want native SMS/WhatsApp alongside email without a third integration, or need a built-in CRM without paying for a separate add-on. Its send-based pricing rewards low-frequency senders with big lists.
  • Choose Mailchimp if you're a small business or solo marketer who wants a familiar, beginner-friendly interface and don't need advanced automation immediately — but budget for cost increases as your list grows, since pricing is contact-based and jumps noticeably at scale.
  • Choose ActiveCampaign if automation sophistication and an integrated CRM/sales pipeline matter more than upfront cost — it's the strongest fit for B2B teams running complex, branching customer journeys, though there's no free tier and CRM pipelines cost extra.
  • Choose Klaviyo if you run an e-commerce store (especially on Shopify) and need deep behavioral segmentation and combined email/SMS flows tied to purchase data — just model out pricing carefully, since costs scale quickly once you pass 10,000–25,000 profiles.

Sources