# ActiveCampaign vs Brevo

Updated 2026-10-14. Compared from independent Reddit comments only. Methodology: https://gtmranked.com/methodology/

**Is ActiveCampaign or Brevo better?** Independent users prefer Brevo (66/100 from 34 rated comments) over ActiveCampaign (46/100 from 20 rated comments). Brevo is best for Small businesses and nonprofits with large lists that send infrequently; ActiveCampaign is best for Teams that need multi-branch, behaviour-based email automation beyond what Mailchimp or MailerLite offer.

**Is ActiveCampaign or Brevo cheaper?** ActiveCampaign: Email plans billed annually and priced by contact count: Starter from $15/mo, Plus from $49/mo, Pro from $79/mo, Enterprise from $145/mo. WhatsApp and Email + WhatsApp plans are also listed. 14-day free trial with no credit card; no free plan. Brevo: Free plan sends up to 300 emails/day. Paid plans are priced by monthly email volume (campaigns and transactional): Starter from $9/mo for 5,000 emails ($8.08/mo billed yearly), Standard from $18/mo ($16.17/mo yearly) adding automation, A/B testing and no Brevo logo, Professional from $499/mo ($449.08/mo yearly) from 150,000 emails, and custom-priced Enterprise. Removing Brevo branding on Starter is a $10.80/mo add-on; pay-as-you-go email credits that do not expire are also sold. Prices shown in USD. Prices are from each vendor's pricing page and change often.

| | ActiveCampaign | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 46/100 | 66/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 | #1 |
| Rated comments | 20 | 34 |
| Best for | Teams that need multi-branch, behaviour-based email automation beyond what Mailchimp or MailerLite offer; B2B and non-ecommerce companies leaving HubSpot mainly for email marketing; Businesses with modest, actively mailed lists | Small businesses and nonprofits with large lists that send infrequently; Beginners and small newsletters that want a free or cheap starting tier; Teams that want marketing and transactional email from one provider |
| Starting price | $15/mo | $9/mo |

## #3 ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and marketing automation platform with segmentation, landing pages, a built-in CRM and WhatsApp messaging, priced by contact count. Website: activecampaign.com. Category: [Email Marketing & Lifecycle](https://gtmranked.com/best/email-marketing/). Score 46/100 (11 positive, 5 mixed, 4 negative of 20 independent comments).

**Verdict:** More than half of the 68 comments are promotional: plugs for competing tools, a vendor reply, and a cluster of near-identical praise in Feb and Mar 2026 repeating the same abandoned-cart and automation-builder talking points. Among the rest, users consistently rate its automation builder as more capable than Mailchimp, Brevo or MailerLite for multi-branch workflows, and see it as a cheaper HubSpot alternative for email. The main trade-off is cost at scale: billing is by stored contacts rather than sends, users describe steep price jumps as lists grow, and two say removing old contacts to cut the bill is deliberately slow.

**What users like:**
- Automation builder handles complex, multi-branch and behaviour-based workflows better than Brevo, Mailchimp or MailerLite [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lebhzu/_/no75fb8/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/nf1xl58/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/nej00ko/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lv1j3z/_/nm7vqpo/) [5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1p7frf6/_/nr015bo/)
- Users moving off HubSpot find comparable email marketing power for noticeably less money, with CRM features built in [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nkuyuu6/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lebhzu/_/myj6o4u/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nl0h2ut/)
- Rated well for deliverability, and one user notes its reporting filters out bot clicks and Apple opens [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1hrd1hw/_/m55hmi6/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1rky8nv/_/o8os48s/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/niepvhu/)

**What users complain about:**
- Billing scales with stored contacts, not sends, so costs climb steeply as a list grows; users call it expensive at scale and note recent price increases [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1v68bgp/_/p0005se/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1h1xfb5/_/lzgymyf/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lv1j3z/_/n9juhmp/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nl0h2ut/) [5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nkuyuu6/) [6](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lv1j3z/_/nul689l/) [7](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1h1xfb5/_/lzfeviy/)
- Removing old contacts to cut the bill is hard: one user says they are not allowed to delete contacts, another describes an archive-then-delete process that still needs support's sign-off [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lv1j3z/_/nul689l/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1v68bgp/_/p0005se/)

**Best for:** Teams that need multi-branch, behaviour-based email automation beyond what Mailchimp or MailerLite offer; B2B and non-ecommerce companies leaving HubSpot mainly for email marketing; Businesses with modest, actively mailed lists.
**Skip it if:** Large lists that are mailed rarely, since billing follows stored contacts; Cold outreach, which permission-based marketing platforms like this one do not allow; Budget-first senders who only need simple newsletters.
**Pricing (vendor-stated, checked 2026-10-14):** Email plans billed annually and priced by contact count: Starter from $15/mo, Plus from $49/mo, Pro from $79/mo, Enterprise from $145/mo. WhatsApp and Email + WhatsApp plans are also listed. 14-day free trial with no credit card; no free plan.

Full review: https://gtmranked.com/tools/activecampaign/

## #1 Brevo

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a marketing and transactional messaging platform for sending email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns and automations, with an API and SMTP relay for transactional messages and optional sales CRM features. Website: brevo.com. Category: [Email Marketing & Lifecycle](https://gtmranked.com/best/email-marketing/). Score 66/100 (25 positive, 6 mixed, 3 negative of 34 independent comments).

**Verdict:** Independent users in r/Emailmarketing and r/ecommerce mostly treat Brevo as the budget pick: cheap for large lists because plans are priced on emails sent rather than contacts, simple enough for beginners, and backed by support that several long-time users praise. The trade-off is depth: users call its automations limiting for complex or ecommerce flows, one reports ecommerce automations misfiring, native integrations are thin, and deliverability reports conflict. 42 of 97 comments were promotional and excluded, including a near-identical PushOwl pitch posted by four accounts, matching Omnisend switch stories, and repeated plugs for Sender, Mailtrap, Moosend and EngageBay.

**What users like:**
- Cheap for big lists: pricing follows emails sent rather than contacts stored, so infrequent senders with large lists pay less, and pay-as-you-go credits suit occasional sends [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1o6awha/_/oojfbym/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1p990z8/_/nrcjvug/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nl0h2ut/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1rq28cb/_/oaw4mah/) [5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1s1pwel/_/ocn16pp/) [6](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1k4i0br/_/moanurl/)
- Customer support gets repeated praise from long-term users, including a four-year customer and one who moved from Klaviyo [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/niq9yqw/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lebhzu/_/mymhi59/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1k4i0br/_/moanurl/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lebhzu/_/no75fb8/)
- Simple, easy interface that beginners and small teams can run without technical help [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/nmcjjl5/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/niq9yqw/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1oroyhw/_/nns1jdu/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1p7frf6/_/nr015bo/) [5](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1u7bric/_/oyh1krq/)
- Free tier of 300 emails a day with no contact cap covers small club or startup newsletters [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1u7bric/_/os1fpil/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1ppm6io/_/nupcor1/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1u7bric/_/os7w9q3/)
- Several long-term users report good delivery, including five years on shared IPs and 63%+ open rates on a 15-20k list, though others report the opposite (see cons) [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1hrd1hw/_/m4xls9y/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1rq28cb/_/oaw4mah/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1r96q7r/_/o6b7scq/)

**What users complain about:**
- Automation is fine for standard sequences but limiting for complex multi-branch or ecommerce flows; one WooCommerce user says ecommerce automations failed to trigger when buyers used coupons [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1lebhzu/_/no75fb8/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1rq28cb/_/o9v0i2i/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nkwixvs/) [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1g5eghk/_/ogeuxq2/)
- Few native integrations, so small teams without IT skills may need help connecting their stack [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1rq28cb/_/o9t37du/)
- Deliverability is contested: one user's open rate rose after leaving Brevo for MailerLite, another saw open rates under 5% on two IPs, and a new sender found Gmail filed every email under Promotions [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1h1xfb5/_/m16xjyd/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1hrd1hw/_/m502kju/) [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1htxd1f/_/m5szxhu/)
- Smaller gaps users name: limited design customization and clunky consent management [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1nhf18x/_/nefgx1r/) [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1odksu0/_/nkwixvs/)

**Best for:** Small businesses and nonprofits with large lists that send infrequently; Beginners and small newsletters that want a free or cheap starting tier; Teams that want marketing and transactional email from one provider.
**Skip it if:** Ecommerce stores that need complex, Klaviyo-style flows; Small teams that need many native integrations without IT help.
**Pricing (vendor-stated, checked 2026-10-14):** Free plan sends up to 300 emails/day. Paid plans are priced by monthly email volume (campaigns and transactional): Starter from $9/mo for 5,000 emails ($8.08/mo billed yearly), Standard from $18/mo ($16.17/mo yearly) adding automation, A/B testing and no Brevo logo, Professional from $499/mo ($449.08/mo yearly) from 150,000 emails, and custom-priced Enterprise. Removing Brevo branding on Starter is a $10.80/mo add-on; pay-as-you-go email credits that do not expire are also sold. Prices shown in USD.

Full review: https://gtmranked.com/tools/brevo/