Brevo vs ActiveCampaign
Brevo prices by email volume and covers SMS, WhatsApp, and chat. ActiveCampaign prices by contact count and goes deep on automation and CRM. The right choice depends on whether you need breadth or depth.
Key takeaways
This comparison comes down to pricing model and use-case fit, not feature checklists. Brevo rewards large lists emailed moderately. ActiveCampaign rewards businesses that need complex, multi-step automations and a built-in CRM.
- Brevo Starter starts at $9/month for 5,000 emails with unlimited contacts on its free plan
- ActiveCampaign Starter starts at $15/month for 1,000 contacts and bills by contact count
- At 100k contacts, Brevo is 3-4x cheaper than ActiveCampaign's equivalent plan
- ActiveCampaign supports 900+ automation triggers and a full CRM with deal pipelines; Brevo does not
Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: Quick Comparison
| Features | Brevo | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | By email send volume | By contact count |
| Free plan | Yes (300 emails/day) | No (14-day trial) |
| Entry paid price | $9/month (5k emails) | $15/month (1k contacts) |
| At 10k contacts | ~$29/month (if emailing 4x/mo) | $149/month (Starter) |
| At 100k contacts | ~$99–$129/month | $375+/month (Pro) |
| Automation depth | Moderate | Advanced (900+ triggers) |
| Built-in CRM | Basic | Full (pipelines, scoring) |
| Lead scoring | No | Yes |
| Site tracking | No | Yes |
| WhatsApp campaigns | Yes | No |
What Are Brevo and ActiveCampaign?
Brevo
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) prices by email volume rather than contact count — making it cost-effective for large lists emailed infrequently.
- Free plan: unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day, no credit card
- Starter plan: from $9/month (5,000 emails), $29/month (20,000 emails), $69/month (100,000 emails)
- Business plan: from $18/month (5,000 emails) with marketing automation and A/B testing
- Brevo includes SMS, WhatsApp Business campaigns, live chat, landing pages, and a basic CRM on all paid plans
- Transactional email (SMTP/API) is included in plans — no separate Mandrill-style add-on required
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation and CRM platform for businesses that need complex, data-driven customer journeys with deep CRM and lead scoring.
- Starter plan: $15/month for 1,000 contacts, $149/month for 10,000 contacts (annual billing)
- Plus plan: $49/month for 1,000 contacts adds CRM, landing pages, and more automation depth
- Pro plan: $79/month for 1,000 contacts; 10,000 contacts costs $375/month (annual)
- Supports 900+ automation triggers including CRM deal stage changes, lead score thresholds, and site tracking events
- Optional paid add-ons: CRM pipelines ($68/month), custom reporting ($159/month), extra users ($12/user/month)
Pricing Models: Brevo, ActiveCampaign, and mailtani
Brevo: volume-based
- Free: unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day
- Starter: $9/month (5k emails), $29/month (20k), $69/month (100k)
- Business: $18/month (5k), $65/month (20k), $129/month (100k)
- Logo removal add-on: $9/month on Starter
- No contact count limit on any paid plan
ActiveCampaign: contact-based
- Starter: $15/month (1k contacts), $149/month (10k) — annual
- Plus: $49/month (1k), $189/month (10k) — annual
- Pro: $79/month (1k), $375/month (10k) — annual
- CRM pipelines: $68/month add-on
- Custom reporting: $159/month add-on
mailtani: one flat price
- €89 one-time — no monthly fees ever
- Unlimited contacts, unlimited emails
- Bring your own AWS SES, Resend, or SMTP key
- Email warmup and inbox rotation included
- Sequences, broadcasts, and deliverability control
Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: The Full Breakdown
The pricing model difference matters more than the feature list. Brevo charges per email sent; ActiveCampaign charges per contact stored. A 100,000-contact list emailed four times a month (400k emails) costs roughly $99/month on Brevo Business. On ActiveCampaign Pro, 100k contacts costs $375+/month annually. For businesses with large lists and moderate send frequency, Brevo's volume model saves thousands of dollars per year.
ActiveCampaign's automation depth is genuinely in a different league. Where Brevo offers standard sequences, welcome series, and basic conditional branching, ActiveCampaign supports 900+ trigger types — CRM deal stage changes, lead score thresholds, site tracking events, purchase history, and webhook integrations. For B2B businesses running multi-stage customer journeys with sales team handoffs, ActiveCampaign's sophistication has no equivalent in Brevo.
Brevo's multi-channel breadth is unmatched at its price point. Email, SMS, WhatsApp Business, live chat, transactional email API, and a basic CRM are all included on paid plans. For small businesses that want a single tool replacing multiple subscriptions — an ESP, a transactional email service, and a messaging tool — Brevo's all-in-one model provides real value. ActiveCampaign has SMS but no WhatsApp or live chat.
ActiveCampaign's hidden costs compound quickly. The base plan pricing looks reasonable at entry level, but the CRM pipelines add-on ($68/month), custom reporting ($159/month), and per-user fees ($12/user/month) mean that a small B2B team with full feature access pays significantly more than the headline plan price. Brevo's pricing is more straightforward.
Neither tool gives you deliverability control. Both Brevo and ActiveCampaign send from their shared infrastructure — you cannot connect your own AWS SES key, run inbox rotation, or control your sending reputation independently. For founders who care about deliverability at the infrastructure level, both tools have the same fundamental limitation.
How Brevo, ActiveCampaign, and mailtani Compare, Feature by Feature
| Feature | Brevo | ActiveCampaign | mailtani |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume-based pricing | |||
| Free plan with unlimited contacts | |||
| WhatsApp Business campaigns | |||
| Transactional email included | |||
| SMS marketing | |||
| Live chat widget | |||
| Advanced automation builder | ✓ sequences | ||
| Full CRM with deal pipelines | |||
| Lead scoring | |||
| Site tracking | |||
| 900+ automation triggers | |||
| A/B testing | ✓ Business+ | ✓ Plus+ | |
| Landing pages | ✓ Plus+ | ||
| Email warmup | |||
| Inbox rotation | |||
| BYOS (own SMTP/SES key) | |||
| Flat one-time pricing | |||
| Unlimited email sends | |||
| Drag-and-drop email editor | |||
| Signup forms |
The Third Option: Why Founders Pick mailtani
- Own your sending infrastructure — connect AWS SES, Resend, or any SMTP key; no shared IP reputation risk
- Email warmup and inbox rotation built in — capabilities that neither Brevo nor ActiveCampaign offer
- One flat price — €89 once instead of $9-$375/month that compounds as your list grows
- Unlimited emails — no per-email charges, no volume tier to outgrow
What Each Tool Is Built For
Brevo
Brevo is built for multi-channel marketing at low cost
Brevo suits businesses that want email, SMS, WhatsApp, and transactional messaging under one roof without paying per-contact. Its volume-based pricing is a structural advantage for large lists emailed infrequently. Freelancers, small agencies, e-commerce businesses, and startups that need multi-channel reach without deep automation complexity find Brevo compelling. It is not the tool for sophisticated CRM-driven customer journeys.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is built for deep automation and B2B CRM
ActiveCampaign suits businesses that treat marketing automation as a core revenue driver — B2B companies nurturing long sales cycles, SaaS businesses with complex onboarding flows, and marketers who need lead scoring, site tracking, and CRM integration to close deals. The automation builder depth and CRM capability have no equivalent in Brevo. The tradeoff is cost: at 10k+ contacts, ActiveCampaign is 3-5x more expensive.
Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: Who Should Choose Which?
Choose Brevo if...
- You have a large list and email moderately — volume pricing saves you money
- You want email + SMS + WhatsApp + transactional email in one affordable platform
- You are a small business that needs breadth rather than automation depth
- You want unlimited contacts on a free plan without a trial clock ticking
- Your automations are simple (welcome sequences, drips, basic conditions)
Choose ActiveCampaign if...
- You need complex, multi-step marketing automations with 900+ triggers
- You want a built-in CRM with deal pipelines, lead scoring, and task management
- You run B2B marketing and need site tracking and contact activity data
- Automation sophistication and CRM integration matter more than price
- You are building a long-cycle sales nurture process alongside email marketing
Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: Pros & Cons
Brevo
Pros
- Volume-based pricing — large lists cost far less than contact-count platforms
- Unlimited contacts on free plan — no contact limit to outgrow before paying
- WhatsApp and transactional email included — multi-channel without extra subscriptions
- Live chat and basic CRM — genuine all-in-one value at low cost
- Simple, intuitive interface — short learning curve for non-technical users
Cons
- No lead scoring — cannot segment by contact engagement score automatically
- No site tracking — cannot trigger automations from website behaviour
- Shallow automation depth — unsuitable for complex multi-stage customer journeys
- Brevo branding on Starter — $9/month add-on to remove it
- Basic CRM — not suitable for active B2B sales pipeline management
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- 900+ automation triggers — the deepest automation builder in the mid-market
- Full CRM with deal pipelines — viable CRM replacement for teams of 1-10
- Lead scoring and site tracking — data-driven segmentation from behaviour and intent
- 250+ email templates — broad starting-point library for campaign design
- 950+ integrations — connects to nearly every tool in a marketing stack
Cons
- Contact-based pricing scales painfully — 10k contacts on Pro costs $375/month annually
- Add-ons inflate the real cost — CRM, reporting, and extra users add $68-$159+/month
- Steep learning curve — the automation builder complexity takes time to master
- No WhatsApp or live chat — multi-channel breadth is limited compared to Brevo
- No transactional email — requires a separate Twilio or Mailgun subscription for transactional sends
Neither Brevo nor ActiveCampaign right for you?
Both Brevo and ActiveCampaign charge monthly fees that grow with your usage. mailtani is €89 once — connect your own AWS SES or SMTP key, send unlimited emails, and get warmup, inbox rotation, and sequences included. No contact limits. No monthly fees.
14-day free trial
Before You Decide: Common Questions Answered
More Comparisons
What mailtani Brings to the Table
Who Uses These Tools
Start Your Free Trial
Bring your own SMTP key. Unlimited contacts, sequences, warmup, and inbox rotation for €89 once.
€89 lifetime No monthly fees