Brevo Pricing in 2026: Real Costs at Every Tier (and the Free Plan That Actually Works)
Best for:Small businesses that send high-volume transactional + marketing email (Brevo's bundled transactional is the standout feature).
Pricing:Free (300 emails/day) · Lite $9/mo (20K emails) · Starter $18/mo (20K emails) · Standard $449/mo (150K emails) · Premium $989/mo (1M emails)
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) rebranded in March 2023 and restructured pricing again in November 2024. The result is a tier structure that’s reasonable at the small end and aggressively enterprise at the top — most small businesses end up on Free, Lite, or Starter. This breakdown covers actual Brevo pricing across all three pricing categories: Marketing Platform, Transactional, and Sales, with real costs at every send volume tier.
At a glance: 2026 Brevo pricing
| Plan | Marketing Platform | Transactional | Sales | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 300 emails/day (9,000/mo) | 20,000/mo (no separate signup) | Not included | Hobbyists, very low-volume senders |
| Lite | $9/mo (20,000 emails/mo) | Same as Free (~20K/mo) | Not included | Solo creators, micro businesses |
| Starter | $18/mo (20,000 emails/mo) | Same | Included | Small businesses up to 50K emails/mo |
| Standard | $449/mo (150,000 emails/mo) | Same | Included | Mid-market, multi-brand senders |
| Premium | $989/mo (1,000,000 emails/mo) | Same | Included | Enterprise, transactional-heavy |
Two things to understand upfront:
- Brevo’s pricing is send-based, not contact-based — you pay for the number of emails sent, not for the number of contacts in your list. Send 5,000 emails to 50,000 contacts? Brevo counts the 5,000 sends, not your 50,000 contact list.
- Marketing Platform and Transactional are separate products in Brevo’s billing. You can subscribe to just Marketing Platform and skip Transactional entirely if you don’t send order confirmations or password resets through Brevo.
This send-based model is fundamentally different from Mailchimp and ConvertKit (which charge per contact). For businesses with large lists but infrequent sends — like monthly newsletters to a 30,000-subscriber base — Brevo can be dramatically cheaper.
The 2026 tier walk-through
Free — what you actually get
The Brevo Free tier is generous for a no-cost plan, but with critical limits:
- ✅ Up to 300 emails/day (roughly 9,000/month)
- ✅ Unlimited contacts
- ✅ Email + SMS + WhatsApp campaigns
- ✅ Signup forms, list management, basic segmentation
- ✅ Transactional email: 20,000 emails/month
- ❌ No marketing automation (multi-step sequences require Lite+)
- ❌ No A/B testing
- ❌ No advanced segmentation
- ❌ Brevo logo on transactional emails (removable on Lite+)
- ❌ Daily send cap — can’t stockpile
The Free tier’s biggest trap: the 300 emails/day limit. A single campaign blast to 3,500 subscribers takes ~12 days. If you send a weekly newsletter to even 500 subscribers, you’ll consistently hit the daily cap.
Where Free works: Side projects, very low-volume senders (under 250 emails/day), transactional-only setups with a separate marketing ESP.
Lite ($9/mo annual / $11/mo monthly) — the most common starting point
This is the real entry-level plan for most small businesses.
- ✅ 20,000 emails/month (no daily cap)
- ✅ Marketing automation
- ✅ A/B testing
- ✅ Advanced segmentation
- ✅ 3 users
- ✅ No Brevo logo
At 20,000 emails per month, you can send a weekly newsletter to 5,000 subscribers (4 × 5,000 = 20,000) without overage fees. That covers the majority of small businesses with under 5,000 subscribers.
The Lite → Starter jump is the cheapest real upgrade — from $9 to $18, you get:
- 4 users (vs 3)
- Advanced reporting
- Multi-channel campaigns (email + SMS + WhatsApp combined workflows)
- Sales pipeline (basic CRM)
- Priority support
Most businesses never need to go above Starter.
Standard ($449/mo) and Premium ($989/mo) — enterprise territory
These tiers are designed for multi-brand senders, agencies, and businesses with multi-million annual email volume. Pricing for Standard and Premium includes:
- Larger send volumes (150K and 1M emails/mo respectively)
- Multi-account management
- Dedicated IP option
- Advanced deliverability consultation
- Phone support (Premium only)
- SAML SSO (Premium only)
For small businesses, these tiers are essentially out of scope. We don’t recommend them unless you have a specific need (e.g., dedicated IP for high-volume transactional email, or sub-account management for an agency with multiple clients).
Real cost comparison: Brevo vs Mailchimp at the same email volume
| Your volume | Mailchimp Essentials | Brevo Lite | Brevo Starter | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 emails/mo to 500 contacts | $13/mo (Essentials) | $9/mo | — | $4/mo |
| 20,000 emails/mo to 5,000 contacts | $35/mo (Essentials at 5K tier) | $9/mo | $18/mo | $17-$26/mo |
| 50,000 emails/mo to 10,000 contacts | $80+ /mo (Premiere custom) | Overage: ~$22-26/mo | Overage: ~$31-39/mo | $40-50/mo |
| 200,000 emails/mo to 50,000 contacts | $400+/mo (Premiere custom) | Overage: $90+/mo | Overage: $110/mo | $200+/mo |
(Estimates based on Q2 2026 public pricing; overages calculated at Brevo’s published per-email rates.)
For businesses with large contact lists but low send frequency, Brevo can save $200+/month compared to Mailchimp. For businesses with high send volume to smaller lists, the savings are smaller but still meaningful.
Transactional email pricing — Brevo’s standout feature
This is where Brevo genuinely differs from competitors. Unlike Mailchimp (which requires the separate Mandrill service for transactional) or MailerLite (which doesn’t include transactional at all), Brevo bundles transactional email with the main product:
- Free tier: 20,000 transactional emails/month included
- Lite and above: transactional sends consume from your overall send budget; overages at ~$0.001/email
- No separate signup for transactional
- All API features (SMTP relay, webhooks, templates) available across all tiers
For a typical e-commerce store sending 10,000 transactional emails per month (order confirmations, shipping notifications, password resets) plus 10,000 marketing emails per month, Brevo’s 20,000 emails/month on Lite is essentially free for both marketing and transactional. The next jump (Standard at 150,000 emails/mo) costs $449/mo but handles most stores doing <$10M/year revenue.
By comparison:
- Mailchimp + Mandrill: $13/mo (Mailchimp Essentials) + $20/mo (Mandrill base) + ~$0.0010/email = $33/mo minimum, plus per-email costs
- Brevo Lite: $9/mo (everything bundled)
For transactional-heavy businesses, Brevo saves $25+/month on the equivalent Mailchimp setup.
What changed in 2026
The most material pricing changes since Brevo’s November 2024 restructure:
- Free tier daily limit increased from 200 to 300 emails/day (more generous)
- Marketing automation removed from Free tier (previously included)
- Starter tier added multi-channel campaigns (email + SMS + WhatsApp combined workflows)
- Sales pipeline included in Starter (previously Standard-only)
- Annual prepay discount increased from 15% to 20%
If you signed up before November 2024, you may still have free marketing automation on the Free tier — this was a one-time grandfathered feature in the original Sendinblue pricing. Confirm with support if you’re not sure.
The verdict
Brevo pricing in 2026 is competitive across most small business tiers and aggressively cheaper than Mailchimp for businesses with large lists and low send volume.
If you send over 50K emails/month to a list of 10K+ contacts, Brevo’s send-based pricing saves you $40-50/month vs Mailchimp Essentials or Standard tiers.
If you send transactional email (order confirmations, signups, etc.), Brevo saves you $25+/month vs Mailchimp + Mandrill.
If you only have 200-500 subscribers and send weekly, both Mailchimp and MailerLite offer similar value at the entry tier — pick by feature, not price.
If you’re sending less than 300 emails/day, the Brevo Free tier genuinely works for hobby projects, but you’ll hit the daily cap quickly if you try to run a real business on it.
For our complete Brevo review, the feature-by-feature comparison, or if you’re comparing against specific competitors:
- Brevo vs Mailchimp — direct pricing comparison across 5 tiers
- Brevo vs MailerLite — where each one wins
- Best email marketing tools for small business — top picks under $30/mo
- Best email marketing tools for ecommerce — transactional + marketing combined picks
How we built this breakdown
Pricing below is taken from each vendor’s public pricing page and modelled at common subscriber and volume tiers. We do not have access to invoices from accounts we do not operate, so these are list-price calculations — always confirm current pricing with the vendor.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up for Brevo or one of the alternatives we compare, we may earn a commission. This never changes our recommendations.
Frequently asked questions about Brevo pricing
Is Brevo actually free in 2026?
Yes — Brevo Free covers 300 emails/day (≈9,000/month) with unlimited contacts, email + SMS + WhatsApp campaigns, signup forms, basic segmentation, and 20,000 transactional emails/month. The two big traps: no marketing automation (multi-step sequences require Lite at $9/mo) and the 300 emails/day cap — a single blast to 3,500 subscribers takes ~12 days on Free. Hobby projects and very low-volume senders can run on Free; anyone sending weekly newsletters needs Lite.
How much is Brevo Lite per month in 2026?
Brevo Lite costs $9/mo on annual prepay or $11/mo on monthly billing, covering 20,000 emails/month with no daily cap. Lite unlocks marketing automation, A/B testing, advanced segmentation, 3 users, and removal of the Brevo logo. At 20,000 emails/month, you can send a weekly newsletter to 5,000 subscribers (4 × 5,000) without overage fees — covering most small businesses under 5,000 subscribers.
Does Brevo include transactional email in 2026?
Yes — transactional email is bundled on every Brevo tier, including Free (20,000/mo). On Lite and above, transactional sends consume from your overall send budget at overage rates around $0.0009/email. By comparison, Mailchimp requires the separate Mandrill service ($20/mo base + per-email fees) for transactional. For an ecommerce store sending 10,000 marketing + 10,000 transactional emails/month, Brevo Lite at $9/mo handles both, while Mailchimp + Mandrill starts at $33/mo.
How much does Brevo cost at 50,000 emails/month vs Mailchimp in 2026?
At 50,000 emails/month to 10,000 contacts, Brevo Starter at $18/mo with overage runs ~$31-39/mo vs Mailchimp Premiere custom at $80+/mo — Brevo saves $40-50/mo. At 200,000 emails/month to 50,000 contacts, Brevo runs ~$90+/mo vs Mailchimp $400+/mo — savings of $200+/mo. Brevo’s send-based pricing (vs Mailchimp’s contact-based) is the core advantage for businesses with large lists and low send frequency.
What changed in Brevo pricing in 2026?
The 2026 changes since Brevo’s November 2024 restructure: Free tier daily limit increased from 200 to 300 emails/day; marketing automation removed from Free (now requires Lite+); Starter tier added multi-channel campaigns (email + SMS + WhatsApp combined); Sales pipeline included in Starter (was Standard-only); annual prepay discount increased from 15% to 20%. If you signed up before November 2024, you may have free marketing automation grandfathered on Free — confirm with support.
What is Brevo’s Starter tier ($18/mo) and who needs it?
Brevo Starter at $18/mo is a $9/mo jump from Lite, adding 4 users (vs 3), advanced reporting, multi-channel campaigns (email + SMS + WhatsApp combined workflows), the basic CRM/sales pipeline, and priority support. Senders with 50K emails/month or 4+ team members need Starter to avoid per-email overages and unlock the CRM. Most businesses never need to go above Starter — Standard ($449/mo) and Premium ($989/mo) are enterprise territory with dedicated IPs and SAML SSO.
Quick pros and cons
What we like
- Free marketing tier covers 300 emails/day indefinitely — most generous free tier among Gmail-tier competitors
- Bundled transactional email included on Lite+ plans ($0.0009/email above threshold) — no separate Mandrill-style add-on
- Pricing scales by sends/month, not by contact count — better than Mailchimp when lists grow but volume stays low
- Marketing Platform and Transactional are billed separately with clear pricing for each
- Sales pipeline included from Starter tier — basic CRM and deal tracking bundled in
- Annual prepay saves up to 20% (vs Mailchimp's 15%)
What we don't
- Pricing tier names (Free, Lite, Starter, Standard, Premium) changed twice in 18 months — confusing for active users
- Free tier no longer includes marketing automation flows — multi-step sequences require Lite ($9/mo)
- Phone support reserved for Premium only ($989/mo+); chat support limited on Free and Lite
- Email templates and design editor are less polished than Mailchimp or MailerLite
- Marketing Platform pricing jumps significantly at Premium ($989/mo) — designed for enterprise, not small business