Editorial review — prices checked 7 October 2026
Brevo Pricing Guide 2026
Brevo is the best starting pick for a small team that sends a newsletter or campaign email to its own list. The free plan costs $0 and allows 300 emails a day to up to 100,000 contacts. The first paid plan, Starter, is $9 a month on the monthly view and removes the daily sending limit, so a list that outgrows 300 people a send can keep going without a rebuild.
How to read Brevo's prices
Brevo's paid plans are priced by the monthly email volume you select, and each plan can be billed monthly or yearly. The $9 and $18 figures are the starting points for the 5,000-email band. They are not flat fees for every list size. Once your monthly volume moves beyond the band you choose, the price moves with it, so the number you need is the one shown by the volume selector on Brevo's pricing page.
Professional is the one exception to the band logic that matters in practice. It is listed at $499 a month on the monthly view and $449.08 a month on the yearly view, which is the 10% yearly discount applied to the monthly figure. It is built for 150,000 to 10 million monthly sends and up to 2 million contacts.
Loops prices by contacts and sends. Customer.io prices by profile count, with a separate Premium plan for custom profile volume. Where a price is not published for your exact size, this guide says so and does not estimate it. Confirm the final number on each vendor's pricing page before you buy.
The short comparison
The tools below are the ones most often weighed against Brevo for email to a list or to a product's users. Each row names the plan and billing view behind the starting price, so you can see exactly which number you are comparing.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price (plan, billing) | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | Newsletters and campaign sends to a list of any size up to 2 million contacts | Free: $0, 300 emails a day. Starter: $9/month, monthly view, starting at the 5,000-email band | The free plan caps daily sends at 300; automation, A/B testing and advanced reports need Standard at $18/month |
| Loops | SaaS product email and transactional sends to your own users | Early Stage: $0, up to 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days. Growing Audience: $99/month | The free plan shows a Loops footer, limits sends to 10 per second and mails only the 1,000 newest contacts |
| Customer.io | Event-triggered lifecycle messages, such as a trial ending or a failed payment | Essentials: $100/month. The 10,000-profile step is $145/month, billed monthly | Cost follows profile count as well as email volume, so both need modeling before you commit |
| Superhuman, Shortwave, Spark, HEY | One person's inbox, with help reading, sorting and replying to mail | Pricing on request; check each vendor's own pricing page | They manage a single mailbox and do not send campaigns to a subscriber list, so they cannot replace Brevo |
Read the table as a shortlist, not a ranking. A newsletter team and a SaaS onboarding team need different tools even when both pay under $100 a month, because one is broadcasting to a list and the other is reacting to what each user does.
Brevo, plan by plan
Brevo's plans differ mainly in three things: the daily sending cap, the monthly volume band, and whether automation and reporting are included. For most newsletter teams the decision is between Free and Starter first, and Standard only once a real automation or test is needed. Professional belongs to a different scale altogether.
Free: $0
The free plan allows 300 email sends per day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. It suits a launch list, the first months of a weekly newsletter, or a trial of your sender domain and templates. The constraint is the daily cap. A send that reaches more than 300 people has to be spread over more than one day, which matters during launch weeks, holiday promotions and any campaign timed to a fixed hour.
Free is a good place to check deliverability basics. Confirm your sending domain is authenticated, read the bounce and unsubscribe reports after each send, and remove addresses that have hard-bounced before you grow the list. These habits carry over unchanged when you move to a paid plan, and they matter more on a platform than the plan you pick.
Starter: $9/month
Starter costs $9 a month on the monthly view and starts at the 5,000-emails-a-month band. Its main change from Free is that the daily sending limit no longer applies. Most newsletters move to Starter the first week a send goes above 300 people, or the first week a campaign has to reach a whole audience at a fixed time.
Starter is the right plan if you send single campaigns and do not need multi-step automation. It is also the cheapest way to remove the daily cap. Check the exact price for your monthly volume with the selector on the pricing page, because $9 is the starting band and not a fixed price for every list.
Standard: $18/month
Standard starts at the 5,000-emails-a-month band and adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports. Choose it when you need a multi-step welcome series, a re-engagement flow with branches, or a subject-line test whose result you will act on. If you only send one-off newsletters, the extra $9 a month buys features you will not use.
Professional: $499/month
Professional is built for 150,000 to 10 million monthly email sends and up to 2 million contacts. The monthly view shows $499 a month, and the yearly view shows $449.08 a month. A list of a few thousand subscribers does not need this plan. Buying it early is the most direct way to overspend on Brevo, because the volume band is far larger than the list most small teams mail.
Where Brevo falls short
Brevo is a sending platform for campaigns and lists. If your messages depend on events inside your product, such as a trial ending, a seat being added or a payment failing, Customer.io or Loops will usually model those triggers more directly. Brevo can still send those messages, but its setup is built around lists and campaigns rather than per-user event streams.
Plan descriptions also leave some details to the selector and the feature pages. Before you commit, check the feature list on the pricing page for anything your workflow depends on, such as a specific integration or a sending domain setup. This guide only states plan contents that the plan descriptions name.
Loops and Customer.io for product email
If most of your email is about your own product, such as onboarding, activation, usage nudges and billing notices, Brevo is not the only option. Loops and Customer.io are built around users and events, and their pricing reflects that difference.
Loops
Loops suits SaaS teams sending product and onboarding email to their own users. The Early Stage plan is $0 and includes all features, with up to 4,000 sends in any rolling 30 days to the 1,000 newest contacts. The Growing Audience plan is $99 a month and includes unlimited sends to subscribers, plus transactional sends to users outside your audience.
The free plan's limits are specific. The Loops footer appears in messages, sends are capped at 10 per second, and only the 1,000 newest contacts receive mail. A product that is growing will pass the 4,000-send ceiling quickly, so the realistic choice after launch is the $99 plan. Full details are on Loops' pricing page.
Customer.io
Customer.io is designed for messages triggered by user behavior: a signup, a stalled trial, a failed card or a change of plan. The Essentials plan starts at $100 a month and includes AI Agent core skills, a visual workflow builder, email and community support, and basic data integrations. Its profile steps are $145 a month at 10,000 profiles, $235 at 20,000, $325 at 30,000, $415 at 40,000 and $505 a month at 50,000 or more profiles, shown as $505+. Those steps are billed monthly.
The Premium plan is listed at $1,000 a month, with custom profile volume, elevated AI Agent limits and premium support. Eligible early-stage companies that have raised under $10 million can receive 12 months free through the Startup Program. The main limit is that cost follows both profile count and email volume, so a product with many profiles and frequent triggers can cost more than the headline step suggests. Details are on Customer.io's pricing page.
AI-native inbox clients are a different category
Superhuman, Shortwave, Spark and HEY are mailboxes for one person. They are built to help with reading, sorting, drafting replies and finding threads in a single inbox. They do not send campaigns to a list, manage subscribers or handle unsubscribes at scale, so none of them can replace Brevo for a newsletter.
Many teams use both. An inbox client handles the mail that arrives in a founder's or support lead's own mailbox, and a sending tool handles the list. This guide does not publish prices for the inbox clients, so check each vendor's own pricing page for current figures before comparing them with the sending tools.
If your question is which AI features help you write, the choice is about the writing workflow, not the list. Use an inbox client for personal correspondence and a sending platform for anything that goes to many addresses at once. Keeping those two jobs apart also keeps your subscriber data in the tool built to manage it.
What it costs at real list sizes
The table below applies the listed prices to four realistic situations. Each cell names the plan and the billing view it uses. Where Brevo's price for that exact volume is not published on the starting bands, the cell says pricing on request rather than guessing a figure.
Monthly email volume is contacts multiplied by sends per month. A 2,000-subscriber newsletter sent four times a month is 2,000 × 4 = 8,000 emails. Spread over a 30-day month, that is 8,000 ÷ 30 = 266.7 sends a day on average. That fits under the free 300-a-day cap on an average day, but a heavy send day would not.
| Scenario | Monthly emails | Brevo | Loops | Customer.io |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly newsletter, 2,000 subscribers, 4 sends a month | 8,000 | Free ($0) only if no single day passes 300 sends. Otherwise Starter from $9/month on the monthly view; the exact price for 8,000 is pricing on request | Early Stage covers up to 4,000 sends in 30 days, so Growing Audience at $99/month is needed | Essentials from $100/month; the smallest listed profile step is 10,000 profiles at $145/month |
| Early SaaS, 8,000 contacts, 30,000 sends | 30,000 | Standard from $18/month on the monthly view if automation is needed; the exact price for 30,000 is pricing on request | Growing Audience at $99/month, with unlimited sends to subscribers | The 10,000-profile step at $145/month is the nearest listed step to 8,000 profiles |
| Growing product list, 25,000 contacts, 100,000 sends | 100,000 | Between the Standard band and the Professional band, which starts at 150,000 sends; the exact price is pricing on request | Growing Audience at $99/month, with unlimited sends to subscribers | The 30,000-profile step at $325/month covers 25,000 profiles |
| High volume, 300,000 sends a month, 50,000 profiles | 300,000 | Professional at $499/month on the monthly view, or $449.08 a month on the yearly view | Growing Audience at $99/month; check the pricing page for any contact-based limits at your size | $505+/month at 50,000 or more profiles; Premium is $1,000/month with custom profile volume |
Read the table with its gaps in mind. Brevo's published bands begin at 5,000 emails, so most mid-size scenarios depend on the volume selector. Customer.io's profile steps show how cost rises with audience size. Loops' Growing Audience price is flat for the features it lists, which makes it easy to budget once you pass the free ceiling.
Two inputs change the answer more than any other: how many contacts you have, and how many of those contacts a single send reaches. Count both before you open a pricing page, because the cheapest tool for 2,000 newsletter readers is often not the cheapest tool for 25,000 product users.
Which plan to pick
Start from the job you need done, not from the lowest price. The table below maps common needs to a plan and gives the reason it fits.
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|---|---|
| To start sending under 300 emails a day, to up to 100,000 contacts | Brevo Free ($0) | No cost, and enough to test templates, sender domain and list hygiene |
| A newsletter above 300 people per send, without automation | Brevo Starter ($9/month) | Removes the daily cap at the lowest paid starting band |
| Automation, A/B testing or advanced reports you will act on | Brevo Standard ($18/month) | These features are included in Standard, which costs $9 more than Starter |
| Monthly volume from 150,000 sends, up to 2 million contacts | Brevo Professional ($499/month, or $449.08/month yearly) | Built for 150,000 to 10 million monthly sends; confirm the features you need first |
| Product email to your own users, with no paid budget yet | Loops Early Stage ($0) | All features are included, with a 4,000-sends-in-30-days ceiling |
| Messages triggered by user events and billed by profile | Customer.io Essentials (from $100/month) | Built for behavior-based flows; the profile step sets the cost |
| An inbox assistant for your own mail | Superhuman, Shortwave, Spark or HEY | They manage one mailbox and do not send campaigns; pricing on request from each vendor |
How to choose, step by step
Count three numbers before you open any pricing page: the number of contacts, the number of sends per month, and the busiest single day. Contacts decide the cost on profile-based tools, monthly sends decide the Brevo band, and the busiest day decides whether the free daily cap is safe.
Then decide whether your email is a broadcast or a trigger. Broadcasts such as newsletters fit Brevo's campaign model. Triggers such as a trial ending or a failed payment fit Customer.io or Loops better, because they react to a single user's activity.
When to move up or sideways
Move from Free to Starter when a single send goes above 300 people, or when the daily cap starts to delay campaigns. Move to Standard when you need automation or A/B tests you will actually use. Move to Professional only when monthly volume reaches the 150,000 band or contacts approach 2 million.
Move sideways to Loops or Customer.io when most of your email is product messages tied to user events. The cheapest tool for a newsletter is rarely the cheapest tool for onboarding.
Setup and migration checklist
Moving a list to Brevo is mostly list hygiene. The steps below keep the free plan's daily cap and your unsubscribe obligations in view from the first day.
| Step | What to do | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Count your numbers | Note total contacts, planned sends per month and the busiest single day | You have one written figure for each |
| 2. Check the daily cap | Compare your busiest day with the 300-send free limit | The busiest day is under 300, or you have chosen Starter |
| 3. Export from the old tool | Export contacts with their subscription status and the source of each address | Every contact has a status and a source |
| 4. Import only consented contacts | Remove unsubscribed and hard-bounced addresses before import | Your suppression list is loaded before the first send |
| 5. Authenticate your sending domain | Set up the sender domain records Brevo asks for before the first campaign | The domain shows as authenticated in your Brevo settings |
| 6. Build the first flow | Start with one welcome or re-engagement flow; use Standard if automation is needed | The flow has been sent to internal test addresses and reads correctly |
| 7. Send a seed test | Send the campaign to a small internal list and check rendering, links and the unsubscribe link | Links, footer and unsubscribe work on the devices your readers use |
Keep the old tool running in parallel for two or three sends. If open or click numbers drop sharply, the most common cause is a sender domain that is not yet authenticated, not the plan you chose. Fix that before you judge the new platform.
Prompt examples for a Brevo newsletter
Drafting with AI works best with hard limits. These two prompts set length, subject count and the one action you want readers to take. They work with any writing assistant, so you can use them whichever tool drafts your copy.
For more prompt patterns, see the prompt gallery.
Related
- AI-native email tools overview: where Brevo fits among sending and inbox tools.
- Pricing overview: all vendors compared on one page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Brevo's free plan really free?
Yes, the listed price is $0. It allows 300 email sends per day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. The limit to plan around is the daily cap, not the price.
What does Starter cost, and what changes from Free?
Starter is $9 a month on the monthly view and starts at the 5,000-emails-a-month band. Its main change is that it has no daily sending limit. Check the price for your exact monthly volume, because $9 is the starting band.
When does Standard make sense over Starter?
Standard costs $18 a month on the monthly view and adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports. Choose it when you will use those features. If you only send single campaigns, Starter covers the same job for $9.
Is Professional's yearly price different?
Yes. Professional is $499 a month on the monthly view. The yearly view shows $449.08 a month, a 10% discount on the monthly figure. Professional covers 150,000 to 10 million monthly sends and up to 2 million contacts.
Can Loops or Customer.io replace Brevo for a newsletter?
They can send email, but both are built around product activity. Loops suits SaaS product email to your own users, and Customer.io suits flows triggered by user behavior. For a broadcast newsletter to a large list, Brevo's campaign model is usually the simpler fit.
Do Superhuman, Shortwave, Spark or HEY replace a sending tool?
No. They manage one person's inbox, with help reading, sorting and drafting replies. They are not built to send campaigns to a subscriber list. Pricing for them is on request from each vendor.
How current are these prices?
The figures on this page were checked against each vendor's pricing page on 7 October 2026. Plans and volume bands change, so confirm the current price on the vendor's pricing page before you buy.