ActiveCampaign vs Brevo Comparison 2026
ActiveCampaign pairs email automation with a CRM underneath it, and its conditional logic goes deeper than anything at this price, though Starter at $15 a month caps automations at five actions, which blocks the branching the product is bought for. Brevo prices by messages sent rather than contacts stored, with a free forever plan that needs no card and Starter at $9 a month once a daily send limit runs out. The number that decides this is how large the list is against how often it actually gets mailed.
Email automation with a CRM underneath it
Email, SMS and automation on one free plan
At a glance
- Brevo starts cheaper, at $9.
- Only Brevo has a free tier.
- ActiveCampaign bills annually only, so there is no month to try it for.
Side by side
ActiveCampaign | Brevo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $15 | From $9 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Annual only | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API |
ActiveCampaign
Email automation with a CRM underneath it
ActiveCampaign is what people move to when the sequences outgrow a newsletter tool, and its conditional logic goes deeper than anything at this price. The CRM underneath means a sponsor conversation and a subscriber record are the same object. It takes a weekend to learn, and the cheapest plan caps automations at five actions, which is not enough to try the thing it is good at.
Our note
Budget for Plus rather than Starter. The five-action cap on the cheapest plan blocks exactly the branching logic that justifies choosing ActiveCampaign over a newsletter tool, and discovering that after migrating a list is a bad afternoon.
Brevo
Email, SMS and automation on one free plan
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, prices by messages sent rather than by contacts stored, which is the cheaper shape for anybody with a big list they mail rarely. Email, SMS and WhatsApp sit in one place. The editor and templates are plainer than the newsletter-first tools.
Our note
Why people weigh these two
- Brevo instead of ActiveCampaign
- Brevo folds SMS in alongside email and automation, and keeps a free plan, where ActiveCampaign has no free tier at all.
- ActiveCampaign instead of Brevo
- ActiveCampaign bundles a CRM into the automation, from $15 with no free tier; Brevo stays plainer and keeps a free plan, priced by messages sent rather than contacts stored.
Which one should you pick
Pick ActiveCampaign for a creator selling courses or coaching, where the sequence does the selling and needs real branching on behaviour, tags or a deal stage. Budget for Plus at $49 a month rather than Starter at $15, since Starter's five-action automation cap blocks exactly the branching logic that justifies choosing this over a newsletter tool. If the automation is only a welcome series, this is several times the tool needed.
Pick Brevo for a big list that gets mailed rarely, since pricing follows messages sent rather than contacts stored, or for anybody who needs transactional and marketing email from one account. The free forever plan needs no card and sends within a daily limit, and Starter at $9 a month lifts that cap. A writer who mails weekly and wants the newsletter itself to grow will find the send-based pricing stops saving money, and the editor plainer than a newsletter-first tool.
Common questions
- Which one is cheaper for a large list?
- Brevo, if that list is mailed rarely, since it prices by messages sent rather than by contacts stored. ActiveCampaign prices by contacts: Starter is $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, and the price rises as the list does regardless of how often you mail it.
- Does Brevo have a free plan?
- Yes, free forever with no card needed, sending within a daily limit. ActiveCampaign has no free tier; Starter starts at $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, billed annually.
- What is the real entry price for ActiveCampaign's automation?
- Plus, at $49 a month, not Starter's $15. Starter caps automations at five actions, which blocks the conditional branching that is the actual reason to choose ActiveCampaign over a plainer newsletter tool.
- Can Brevo send SMS and WhatsApp as well as email?
- Yes, all three sit in one contact record on Brevo. ActiveCampaign's stated features center on email automation and the CRM underneath it, with no SMS or WhatsApp channel mentioned.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.