Brevo

Brevo is the value pick, and its send-based pricing is the single most underrated fact in this category. Almost every competitor charges by how many contacts you store. Brevo charges primarily by how many emails you send, and unlimited contacts are included on every plan — including the free one.

Do the arithmetic on your own list and the difference is often startling. A business with 40,000 subscribers that sends one newsletter a month pays Mailchimp or Klaviyo for storing 40,000 contacts; on Brevo it pays for 40,000 sends. For newsletters, seasonal retailers and any list that grew faster than the sending cadence, that inverts the cost comparison entirely.

The product you get is competent rather than exceptional. The automation builder handles branching workflows well, the built-in CRM is genuinely useful for small teams, and transactional email and SMS share the same account — a real convenience. But the template editor is less refined than Mailchimp’s, ecommerce triggers are shallower than Klaviyo’s, and reporting stops well short of revenue attribution. Support quality draws mixed reviews at the lower tiers.

Our guidance: if you mail a large list infrequently, Brevo will save you meaningful money for no meaningful loss. If you mail a small list constantly, or you need catalog-driven ecommerce flows, the send-based advantage evaporates and you should buy elsewhere.