Brevo Pricing for AI Email Marketing: Plans, Send Volume and Real Costs
For a small or mid-sized team that wants AI writing help without a high monthly bill, Brevo is the best pick among the tools on this page. The Starter plan costs $9 a month on a base of 5,000 emails a month, and Brevo's plan descriptions list an AI content generator from that tier. Brevo prices by email volume rather than by contact count, which keeps a large, rarely mailed list cheap to store.
The Short Version
Free: up to 300 emails a day with Brevo branding, and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. Starter at $9 a month: a 5,000-email monthly base with no daily sending limit and the AI content generator. Standard at $18 a month: the same 5,000-email base with automation, A/B testing, advanced reports and AI send-time optimization. Professional at $499 a month: a base of 150,000 to 10 million monthly sends, up to 2 million contacts, plus WhatsApp, popups, push and AI segmentation. Yearly billing on Professional shows $449.08 a month. Enterprise: no published price; request a quote. Confirm current bands on the official Brevo pricing page before you buy.
Who This Guide Is For
Small teams adding AI to email
You write most of your own campaigns and want help drafting subject lines and body copy without paying for a suite designed for enterprise marketing departments. Starter is the plan to check first, because it is the lowest paid tier that lists AI content generation.
Newsletter and content operators
You send often to a large list that is opened only occasionally. Volume-based pricing can suit that pattern, but only if your send count is predictable. This guide shows how to test that before you commit.
SaaS teams weighing lifecycle email
You need to decide whether a volume-priced campaign tool is enough, or whether event-driven messages from product data justify a different platform. The cost tables below include contact-based and event-based options so you can compare the same send patterns.
Finance reviewers
You approve the monthly line item and want to know which plan the bill lands in, what changes with contacts, what changes with sends, and which costs appear outside the plan price.
If your list is small and your sends are occasional, most of this decision is straightforward. The details matter when volume climbs, when automation depth becomes a requirement, or when messages need to react to product events rather than to a calendar.
How Brevo's Plans Are Structured
Brevo uses four public tiers plus a quote-based Enterprise option. Each paid tier has an email base, and the base determines your price. The table below lists what each tier includes according to Brevo's plan descriptions, and where each one stops being a good fit.
| Plan | Price | Volume base | Listed features | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 300 emails per day | Core sending, templates, segmentation; storage for up to 100,000 contacts | Brevo branding stays on messages; the daily cap pauses sending once reached |
| Starter | $9 a month | From 5,000 emails a month, no daily limit | AI content generator; removes Brevo branding | Automation depth is limited compared with Standard |
| Standard | $18 a month | From 5,000 emails a month | Automation, A/B testing, landing pages, advanced reports, AI send-time optimization, event tracking | Volume bands rise with monthly sends |
| Professional | $499 a month ($449.08 on yearly billing) | 150,000 to 10 million emails a month; up to 2 million contacts | WhatsApp, popups, mobile and web push, AI segmentation, 10 seats, phone support | Large step up from Standard in price and base |
| Enterprise | Quote on request | Large volumes and 1 million or more contacts | SSO and SAML, dedicated IP, sub-accounts, tailored onboarding | Requires a sales conversation |
Two details on the table need explaining. First, the Starter and Standard prices apply to a 5,000-email base, so a team that sends 3,000 emails a month and a team that sends 5,000 pay the same amount. Second, the Professional figure is the monthly price for a 150,000-email base. Between 5,000 and 150,000 monthly emails, Brevo's public bands define the price, so check that range on the pricing page before you assume the Starter or Standard figure will hold.
The Professional jump is the step most teams underestimate. The plan includes channels that Starter and Standard do not, and it moves the base from thousands of emails to 150,000. If you only need email, that jump is a cost you should avoid unless the base matches your real sends.
Where Brevo's AI Features Sit
AI features are the reason many teams look at Brevo. Based on its plan descriptions, the AI content generator appears from Starter, so a team paying $9 a month can draft campaign copy without moving to Standard. That is a useful entry point for a founder or a small marketing team that writes its own emails and wants a second draft to edit.
The AI send-time optimization and event tracking are listed from Standard. Send-time optimization is useful when your audience opens at different times of day. Its value depends on list size and engagement; a list of a few hundred active subscribers will show less benefit than a list of tens of thousands. AI segmentation is listed at Professional, where it sits alongside the larger volume base.
Be precise about what these features do. A content generator produces draft text that a person still has to check for accuracy, tone and claims, especially in regulated industries. Send-time optimization changes when messages are delivered and does not change what they say. Segmentation based on AI depends on the quality and volume of the data behind it. None of these features replace a clear offer, a tested subject line or a clean list.
Because feature lists change, the safest approach is to read the AI and automation rows on the current pricing page the day you buy, then confirm them in a trial before you move a campaign onto the plan.
Pricing Axis: Volume, Not Contacts
Brevo charges for the emails you send each month within a volume band. Contacts stored in the account do not add to the price in the same way they do at Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, where each contact band raises the monthly fee. The question that drives the bill becomes "how many emails did we send this month?" instead of "how many people are on the list?"
That model favors a list that grows faster than it is mailed. It also has a cost. Volume bands move in steps, and a team that emails each new trial several times, sends a weekly campaign to active users and pushes receipts through the same account can cross a band within a few months. The band that fits you depends on send frequency, not on list size.
The practical check is simple. Take last month's delivered count, add the planned onboarding messages for the trials you expect, add the campaigns you will send, and compare the total against the base of the plan you are considering. If two consecutive months come close to the top of a band, price the next band before the bill arrives.
Hygiene matters under this model too. Removing 10,000 dead addresses does not reduce a volume-priced bill if those addresses were not being mailed. It does protect sender reputation, which affects whether the emails you do send reach the inbox. Cadence is the budget lever: reducing one message per user per month can change the bill more than any negotiation over the plan.
How Brevo Compares With Other Email Tools
Brevo is one option among several that offer AI features for email. The table below compares the tools on this site by who each one suits, its entry price with the plan and billing view stated, the AI features its pricing page lists, and its main limitation. Where a tool's pricing page does not list AI features, the table says so rather than guessing.
| Tool | Best for | Entry price (plan, billing) | AI features listed on pricing | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Small teams and volume senders who want AI writing help at a low entry price | $9 a month, Starter, 5,000-email base | AI content generator (Starter); send-time optimization (Standard); AI segmentation (Professional) | Professional is a large step up in price and base |
| ActiveCampaign | Teams that want CRM, automation and segmentation tied to contact count | $15 a month, Starter, at 1,000 contacts | None listed in the plan figures used here | Price rises with contact count |
| Mailchimp | Teams with a moderate list that want a familiar campaign builder | Free for up to 250 contacts; $20 a month, Standard, at 500 contacts | None listed in the plan figures used here | Contact bands raise the fee quickly |
| Customer.io | SaaS and app teams sending messages based on product events | $100 a month, Essentials, billed monthly | AI Agent core skills (Essentials); elevated AI Agent limits (Premium) | Profile-based pricing; yearly billing not listed for Essentials |
| Loops | Product teams with a contact-based audience and simple sequences | Free Early Stage plan; $99 a month, Growing Audience | None listed in the plan figures used here | Free plan caps sends and shows a Loops footer |
| SendGrid (Twilio) | Developers and senders who need an email API with marketing features | $15 a month, Basic, up to 100,000 contacts and 300,000 emails | None listed in the plan figures used here | Plan selector bands by email volume and contacts |
| Mailgun | Developers who need transactional sending with usage-based overages | $15 a month, Basic, 10,000 emails a month | None listed in the plan figures used here | Sending service rather than a marketing suite |
The table is only a starting point. Two tools that look similar on price can differ sharply on automation, reporting and data handling, so the individual sections below explain where each one falls short for the audience it suits.
The Tools, One by One
Brevo: the best entry point for AI writing on a volume budget
What it does well: Brevo gives small teams a low-cost route to campaign sending, templates and a free tier for testing. The AI content generator appearing at Starter is the main reason to choose it for this audience, because it puts drafting help within reach of a $9 monthly budget. The API is a practical option for teams that send transactional email alongside campaigns.
Where it falls short: The free plan keeps Brevo branding and stops sending once the daily cap is reached, which makes it unsuitable for time-sensitive messages. Automation depth is a Standard feature, so a team that buys Starter for its price may find the workflows it wanted are one tier up. The Professional jump is large, and channels such as WhatsApp and push add separate costs.
Price: Free for 300 emails a day; Starter $9 a month on a 5,000-email base; Standard $18 a month on the same base; Professional $499 a month for 150,000 to 10 million sends, or $449.08 a month on yearly billing. Current details are on the Brevo pricing page.
ActiveCampaign: CRM and automation with contact-based pricing
What it does well: ActiveCampaign combines email, marketing automation and a CRM in one account. Its Pro tier adds advanced segmentation, and the Plus tier adds landing pages. For a team whose sales and marketing work share one contact record, this integration can outweigh the price difference.
Where it falls short: The price is set by the number of contacts. The figures used here start at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts on Starter, $49 on Plus, $79 on Pro and $145 on Enterprise, and each figure scales as the contact count rises. A large list that is mailed rarely will cost more here than on Brevo. Its pricing page does not list AI writing features in the plan figures used for this page.
Price: Starter $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, Plus $49, Pro $79, Enterprise $145; a free trial is offered. See the ActiveCampaign pricing page for the contact band that matches your list.
Mailchimp: a familiar builder with contact bands that climb quickly
What it does well: Mailchimp has a free plan for very small lists, a long-established campaign builder and a wide range of templates. Teams that already know the interface can start without retraining, and the free tier of up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month suits a first campaign.
Where it falls short: Contact bands drive the price. The figures used here are $20 a month at 500 contacts on Standard, $100 a month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts with up to 60,000 emails, $135 for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts, and $230 for 10,001 to 15,000 contacts. The 2,501 to 5,000 contact band can be a surprise for a list that grows past 2,500 subscribers. The pricing used here does not list AI writing features.
Price: Free for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month; Standard $20 a month at 500 contacts; higher contact bands from $100 a month. Confirm the band that matches your list on the Mailchimp pricing page.
Customer.io: event-driven messages with AI Agent skills
What it does well: Customer.io is built for messages triggered by what users do in a product. Its Essentials plan lists AI Agent core skills, a visual workflow builder and basic data integrations. For a SaaS team that wants a trial-expiry sequence or a feature-adoption message to fire from an event, this design fits the job better than a calendar-based campaign tool.
Where it falls short: Pricing is based on profiles and email volume. Essentials is $100 a month billed monthly in the figures used here, and profile bands are $145 at 10,000 profiles, $235 at 20,000, $325 at 30,000, $415 at 40,000 and $505 or more at 50,000. The Premium plan has custom profile volume with elevated AI Agent limits. A team that only sends a monthly newsletter will pay for a capability it does not need.
Price: Essentials $100 a month, billed monthly; profile bands from $145 at 10,000 profiles; Premium is quoted. Eligible early-stage companies that have raised under $10 million can receive 12 months free through the Startup Program. See the Customer.io pricing page.
Loops: simple sequences for product teams
What it does well: Loops offers a free Early Stage plan that includes all features for up to 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days, to the 1,000 newest contacts. The paid Growing Audience plan at $99 a month allows unlimited sends to subscribers and transactional sends to users outside your audience. For a product team with a modest list and a short list of sequences, the free tier is a fair way to test.
Where it falls short: The free plan shows a Loops footer and limits sends to the newest 1,000 contacts. Those limits are a poor fit for a list where older contacts still matter. The pricing figures used here do not list AI writing features.
Price: Early Stage free; Growing Audience $99 a month. Check the Loops pricing page for the contact band that applies to your list.
SendGrid (Twilio): an email API with volume plans
What it does well: SendGrid suits developers who want a dependable sending API and marketing features on top. Its Marketing Campaigns free plan covers up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month, and the Basic plan is $15 a month for up to 100,000 contacts and 300,000 emails. For a team that already runs code-driven email, this keeps sending logic in one place.
Where it falls short: Plans are sorted into email and contact bands rather than marketing features, so buyers need to match their volume to the right band. The pricing figures used here do not list AI writing or optimization features, and an AI tool would need to be added separately.
Price: Free trial of 100 emails a day for 60 days; Marketing Campaigns free for up to 2,000 contacts; Basic $15 a month; Essentials $19.95 a month for 50,000 to 100,000 emails; Pro $89.95 a month for 100,000 to 2.5 million emails. See the SendGrid pricing page.
Mailgun: transactional sending with usage overages
What it does well: Mailgun is a sending service with a free plan of 100 emails a day and a Basic plan at $15 a month for 10,000 emails. It suits applications that need password resets, receipts and alerts delivered through an API. Overage charges for email and email validation are published, so usage is transparent.
Where it falls short: Mailgun is not a marketing suite. Campaign building, segmentation and AI writing are not part of its plan figures, so a team that wants those features will need another product alongside it.
Price: Free for 100 emails a day; Basic $15 a month for 10,000 emails; Foundation $35 a month for 50,000 emails; Scale $90 a month for 100,000 emails. Foundation and Scale include one free month. See the Mailgun pricing page.
What Three Send Profiles Cost
Pricing comparisons are easiest to read when every tool is measured against the same send pattern. The table below uses three profiles, each defined by contacts and monthly emails. Where a tool's published bands do not cover the profile, the cell says "pricing on request" instead of an estimate. That is deliberate: a missing band is a reason to check the vendor page, not to guess a number.
| Tool | Profile A: 5,000 contacts, 5,000 emails a month | Profile B: 20,000 contacts, 60,000 emails a month | Profile C: 50,000 contacts, 150,000 emails a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | $9 a month (Starter, 5,000-email base) | Pricing on request (between the Standard base and the Professional base) | $499 a month (Professional, 150,000-email base); $449.08 on yearly billing |
| ActiveCampaign | Pricing on request (plans start at $15 a month for 1,000 contacts) | Pricing on request | Pricing on request |
| Mailchimp | $100 a month (2,501 to 5,000 contacts band, up to 60,000 emails) | Pricing on request (10,001 to 15,000 contact band is $230 a month) | Pricing on request |
| Customer.io | Pricing on request (lowest listed profile band is 10,000 profiles at $145 a month) | $235 a month (20,000-profile band) | $505 a month or more (50,000-plus profile band) |
| Loops | $99 a month (Growing Audience) | $99 a month (Growing Audience; check the contact band) | $99 a month (Growing Audience; check the contact band) |
| SendGrid | $15 a month (Basic, up to 100,000 contacts and 300,000 emails) | $19.95 a month (Essentials, 50,000 to 100,000 emails) | $89.95 a month (Pro, 100,000 to 2.5 million emails) |
| Mailgun | $15 a month (Basic, up to 10,000 emails a month, so Profile A needs Foundation at $35) | $90 a month (Scale, 100,000 emails) | Pricing on request (above the Scale base) |
Read the table with three cautions. Mailgun's Basic plan covers only 10,000 emails, so Profile A on Mailgun needs the Foundation plan at $35 a month for 50,000 emails. Loops' Growing Audience figure is a flat $99 in the published plans, but the contact band that applies to your list should be confirmed on its pricing page. Customer.io's figures are per profile, so a list of 5,000 people with many events per person can behave differently from a list measured in subscribers.
Profile A shows Brevo's strength. Its Starter plan is $9 a month at a 5,000-email base, while the contact-based Mailchimp band for 5,000 contacts is $100. Profile C shows the opposite. At 150,000 monthly emails, Brevo's Professional plan is $499 a month, while SendGrid's Pro band is $89.95 for a sending-focused service. The two are not like for like: Brevo Professional bundles marketing features and channels, while SendGrid's Pro band is a sending plan. The right comparison depends on whether you need the marketing features.
Add the cost of the work outside the plan. Zapier's Professional plan is listed at $19.99 a month, and it is a common way to connect a billing tool to an email tool when no native connector is available. That line belongs in the budget whenever a tool needs a middleware layer.
Which Tool to Pick for Which Job
The decision table turns the figures above into a short set of choices. Each row names a need, the tool that fits it best on the published figures, and the reason. The rows are not rankings; a team with a different need should read a different row.
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|---|---|
| AI drafting help at the lowest paid price with volume-based billing | Brevo Starter ($9 a month, 5,000-email base) | The AI content generator is listed from this tier, and the price does not rise with contact count |
| Messages that fire from product events, such as trial expiry | Customer.io Essentials ($100 a month, billed monthly) | Event-driven workflows are the core design; AI Agent core skills are listed on this plan |
| A free plan to test sending before spending anything | Brevo Free (300 emails a day) or Loops Early Stage | Both are free; Brevo keeps branding and caps daily sends, while Loops caps sends to the newest 1,000 contacts |
| CRM and automation in one account for a sales-led team | ActiveCampaign Starter ($15 a month at 1,000 contacts) | Contact records and marketing automation share one system, which matters more than price for sales-led teams |
| Transactional sending through an API with marketing add-ons | SendGrid Basic ($15 a month) or Mailgun Basic ($15 a month) | Both are sending services with published volume bands and overage terms |
| High-volume broadcasts of 150,000 emails a month with marketing features | Brevo Professional ($499 a month, or $449.08 yearly) | The base covers 150,000 emails and includes marketing features and channels; SendGrid Pro is a lower-cost sending plan without the same marketing scope |
The most common mistake is choosing a plan by its entry price alone. A $9 plan that does not include the automation you need will cost more in practice than a $18 plan that does, and a free tier that stops sending in the middle of a launch can cost more than any paid plan.
How to Choose a Plan
Work through these questions in order. Each one narrows the choice, and the answers should come from your own data rather than from the headline price.
- Count your real monthly sends. Add campaigns, onboarding messages, receipts and reminders. Use last month's delivered count if you have it, and project the new messages separately.
- Decide whether messages must react to events. If a message should go out because a user signed up, upgraded or failed a payment, a calendar-based campaign tool will need extra work. Event-driven tools are built for that job.
- List the AI features you will use. A content generator, send-time optimization and AI segmentation do different jobs. Name the one you need, then find the plan that lists it.
- Check the band, not the base price. Find the band that matches your contact count or send volume on the vendor's pricing page. Entry prices often apply only to the smallest band.
- Price the outside costs. Include middleware, extra seats, channels such as SMS or WhatsApp, and any paid add-ons the feature list does not show.
- Test before you move a live list. Use the free plan or a free trial to send a real campaign to a small segment and confirm rendering, deliverability and the AI output you intend to use.
For most small teams the answer is Brevo Starter, provided their monthly sends stay within the 5,000-email base and they do not need the automation that begins at Standard. For SaaS teams with event-driven messages, the answer is usually a product-event tool, and Brevo serves as a campaign layer alongside it rather than as the whole stack.
Setup and Migration Checklist
Moving to Brevo, or onto any of these tools, goes more smoothly when the work is done in a fixed order. The checklist below applies to a team moving from a contact-based tool to a volume-based one, which is the change where pricing is most likely to shift.
- Export your list and its status. Keep subscribed, unsubscribed and bounced addresses separate. Do not import unsubscribed or bounced contacts into a new account.
- Authenticate your sending domain. Set up the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records the new provider asks for before the first live send, so reputation carries over cleanly.
- Rebuild only the sequences you use. Move the three or four flows that generate most of your results. Leave the rest until you have a reason to rebuild them.
- Map send volume to the plan band. Use your forecast from the first step to choose the plan, and set a reminder to recheck the band each month.
- Run a test send to a small segment. Check rendering in common inboxes, links, unsubscribe handling and any AI-generated text before the full list receives the campaign.
- Keep the old account running briefly. Leave it active for a short overlap so you can confirm the new system is sending as expected, then close it.
Migration is also the right moment to remove dead addresses. Under a volume-priced plan that step does not cut the bill directly, but it protects the sender reputation that determines whether your next campaign reaches the inbox.
Hidden Fees and Fine Print
Brevo's pricing page is clear about its main bands, but the total cost of a plan depends on items that are easy to miss. Check these before you commit:
- The free daily cap is 300 emails. A single launch can use the whole day's quota, and sending stops until the window resets. Free works for testing, not for time-sensitive email.
- Free keeps Brevo branding. Removing the logo starts at Starter, so client-facing sends should not be planned on the free tier.
- Automation depth is a Standard feature. Starter does not include the automation most lifecycle programs need, so budget for Standard if you need workflows.
- The Professional step is large. It moves the base to 150,000 emails and adds channels. Model your sends before assuming Standard will last.
- SMS and WhatsApp bill separately. Messaging credits are not included in email volume, so multi-channel plans need their own budget line.
- Yearly billing is shown on Professional. The yearly toggle shows $449.08 a month against the $499 monthly price. Confirm yearly terms on the pricing page for the tier you choose.
- Enterprise has no published price. SSO, dedicated IP and sub-accounts require a sales conversation, so allow time for that process.
- Middleware is an outside cost. If a billing tool or database must feed Brevo, a connector such as Zapier adds its own monthly fee. The Professional Zapier plan is listed at $19.99 a month.
- Other tools bill on different units. Customer.io counts profiles, Mailchimp counts contacts, and SendGrid and Mailgun count sends. Compare like with like before reading a difference as a price advantage.
- Feature lists change. AI features are added and moved between plans. Read the current pricing page on the day of purchase.
Budget with every line visible, and the bill stays predictable. Budget with only the entry price visible, and the surprises arrive from features, channels and cadence.
Related Pricing Guides
- Pricing overview: all pricing guides
- Volume-priced senders: SendGrid pricing guide · Mailgun pricing guide
- Product and lifecycle tools: Loops pricing guide · Customer.io pricing guide · Mailchimp pricing guide
- Site context: the full ranking · about the editors
Brevo Pricing FAQs
How much does Brevo cost?
The free plan allows 300 emails a day with Brevo branding. Starter is $9 a month on a 5,000-email base, Standard is $18 a month on the same base, and Professional is $499 a month for 150,000 to 10 million sends, or $449.08 a month on yearly billing. Enterprise is quoted. Confirm the current figures on the official Brevo pricing page.
Which Brevo plan includes AI writing tools?
Brevo's plan descriptions list an AI content generator from Starter, with AI send-time optimization and event tracking from Standard and AI segmentation at Professional. Feature lists change, so check the current plan table before you buy.
Does Brevo charge per contact?
Brevo prices by email volume. The free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts, and Professional covers up to 2 million. A large list that is mailed rarely costs less on Brevo than on a contact-based tool of the same size.
Is the free plan enough to test AI features?
The free plan is enough to check templates, sending and deliverability, but it keeps Brevo branding and caps sends at 300 a day. Test the AI features on a paid tier, because the listed AI features start at Starter.
How does Brevo compare with Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign on price?
Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign rise with contact count. ActiveCampaign Starter is $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, and Mailchimp's 2,501 to 5,000 contact band is $100 a month. For 5,000 people sent 5,000 emails a month, Brevo Starter at $9 is the lower figure, though the tools differ in CRM and segmentation depth.
When should a SaaS team choose Customer.io instead of Brevo?
Choose Customer.io when messages must react to product events, such as trial expiry or feature adoption. Essentials is $100 a month billed monthly and lists AI Agent core skills. Its profile-based bands rise from $145 at 10,000 profiles, so model profile count as well as send volume.