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Brevo’s volume-based plans look cheap at first glance, but the real cost depends on how often you actually hit send.
by Isabella Torres · Last updated: 2026-09-10Brevo pricing starts at $0 for a free plan capped at 300 emails per day, then $9 per month on the Starter plan for 5,000 monthly emails, scaling to $69 for 100,000 emails. Brevo charges by email send volume, not contact count, so unlimited contacts cost nothing but every send is metered.
That model is the single most important thing to understand before you commit. It can be a bargain if you have a huge list that you email rarely, and a trap if you send frequent campaigns or run automated sequences. This guide breaks down every published Brevo tier, the costs that do not appear on the headline price, and how the value stacks up against a list-based alternative.
Comparing options? See our full roundup of the best email marketing services for the complete picture.
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Key Takeaways
Brevo’s paid email plans begin at $9 per month and are priced entirely by how many emails you send, not how many contacts you keep (as of 2026-09-07). The free plan lets you test the platform at no cost, and each paid step raises your monthly send allowance. Here are the published Brevo plans confirmed in our pricing dataset.
Every one of these tiers allows unlimited contacts. That is genuinely unusual, and it is the headline reason marketers with large but low-frequency lists gravitate toward Brevo. The catch is that the price you see scales with sends, so the number that matters is your total monthly email volume, not your subscriber count. You can confirm the current published figures on Brevo’s official pricing page before you commit.
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Brevo pricing scales with sends, not subscribers, which flips the usual cost math. With most platforms, a bigger list means a bigger bill. With Brevo, a 50,000-person list that you email once a month can be cheaper than a 2,000-person list you email daily. Your true cost is contacts multiplied by send frequency.
Here is where the model quietly bites. A modest list of 8,000 contacts sounds small, but a weekly newsletter plus a five-step welcome automation can push monthly sends well past 40,000. Each automated email, each resend to non-openers, and each segment counts against your volume cap. Marketers who lean on automation, the highest-return tactic in most email programs according to HubSpot’s email marketing benchmarks, can burn through a volume tier far faster than they expect.
8,000 contacts emailed four times a month equals 32,000 sends. Add a welcome sequence and a re-engagement campaign and you can clear 50,000 sends, pushing you onto a higher tier even though your list barely grew.
The lesson is simple: estimate your monthly sends before you estimate your bill. If you send often, a volume-metered plan can cost more than a flat list-based plan that lets you mail your audience as much as you like.
Brevo’s headline prices leave out several costs that matter for a professional sender. The two that catch most people are branding removal and support access. The free plan stamps a Brevo logo on every email, and stripping that branding is a paid add-on at $10.80 per month, which is more than the entire first paid tier costs.
None of these are dealbreakers on their own, but they add up. A solo marketer who picks the $9 Starter tier, then adds branding removal, is effectively paying close to $20 per month before touching a higher send allowance. Always model the plan you will actually need, not the one on the pricing banner.
The honest answer depends on your send pattern. Brevo wins on raw price when you have a large list and email it infrequently. Mailsoftly wins on predictability: list-based pricing means your bill is set by your audience size, and you can email that audience as often as your strategy demands without watching a meter. Mailsoftly also includes free hands-on migration and a genuine free tier. For a feature-by-feature look, see our full Brevo vs Mailsoftly breakdown.
| Platform | Starting Price | Free Plan | Support | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailsoftly | $39/mo annual (5,000 contacts) | Yes, 500 contacts, 2,000 emails | Human support, free migration | Predictable list-based pricing |
| Brevo | $9/mo (5,000 emails) | Yes, 300/day, branding | Tiered, phone on higher plans | Large lists emailed rarely |
| Mailchimp | $13/mo (500 contacts) | Yes, 250 contacts | Tiered by plan | All-in-one marketing |
| ActiveCampaign | $19/mo (1,000 contacts) | No, 14-day trial | Tiered by plan | Automation-heavy teams |
For a frequent sender, the comparison tilts quickly. Mailsoftly’s Basic plan at $39 per month on annual billing covers 5,000 contacts and 40,000 emails per month, with $79 and $159 tiers stepping up to 15,000 and 30,000 contacts. You can see exactly what each plan includes on the transparent Mailsoftly pricing page, with no volume meter to track and no surprise add-on to strip branding.
Brevo pricing fits senders with a high contact-to-send ratio: large lists they email occasionally. If you have collected tens of thousands of contacts but only run a handful of campaigns a month, the unlimited-contacts model is hard to beat on price.
If you recognize your program in the second pair, a flat list-based plan will usually be cheaper and far less stressful to forecast. The moment your send frequency rises, the volume model starts working against you.
The fastest way to cut a Brevo bill is to cut wasted sends, because every send counts toward your tier. Trim inactive subscribers, suppress hard bounces, and resist resending to your whole list when only a segment is relevant. Cleaner sending also lifts deliverability, so your costs do more work. These habits are core to Email Marketing Fundamentals and pay off on any platform, not just Brevo.
For frequent senders, switching platforms is often the biggest lever of all. Moving to predictable list-based pricing removes the volume ceiling entirely, and a free migration means the change does not have to cost you a weekend of manual exports and imports.
For the broader landscape, see our full comparison of best email marketing services covering every major platform.
Looking for a simpler Brevo alternative? See why teams switch to Mailsoftly as a Brevo alternative — free hands-on migration in 1-2 hours, no contracts, real human support.
Brevo prices by emails sent, not contacts stored, so the same list can be cheap or expensive depending on how often you mail it. Three situations show both sides.
| Sender | Brevo plan and price | Mailsoftly plan and price | Which is cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30,000 contacts, one newsletter a month (30,000 sends) | Starter at 40,000 emails per month, $29 per month, unlimited contacts | Premium, $159 per month, 30,000 contacts and 300,000 emails | Brevo, by a wide margin; a large list mailed rarely is exactly what volume pricing rewards |
| 8,000 contacts, a weekly newsletter plus a welcome series (40,000 to 50,000 sends) | Starter at 100,000 emails per month, $69 per month, once sends pass 40,000 | Business, $79 per month, 15,000 contacts and 150,000 emails | Brevo by $10 at this volume; Mailsoftly holds the price steady as sends keep rising |
| 2,000 contacts, near-daily promotions (60,000 sends) | Starter at 100,000 emails per month, $69 per month | Business, $79 per month (Basic at $39 stops at 40,000 emails) | Brevo by $10, until you add contacts; Mailsoftly caps at emails, not a meter you watch daily |
Figures are list prices from each pricing page, verified 2026-09-07 (Mailsoftly prices shown at annual billing; monthly billing is $49, $99 and $199). Model your own contact count and monthly sends before you commit.
Brevo prices by emails sent, not contacts stored, so the same list can be cheap or expensive depending on how often you mail it. Three situations show both sides.
| Sender | Brevo plan and price | Mailsoftly plan and price | Which is cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30,000 contacts, one newsletter a month (30,000 sends) | Starter at 40,000 emails per month, $29 per month, unlimited contacts | Premium, $159 per month, 30,000 contacts and 300,000 emails | Brevo, by a wide margin; a large list mailed rarely is exactly what volume pricing rewards |
| 8,000 contacts, a weekly newsletter plus a welcome series (40,000 to 50,000 sends) | Starter at 100,000 emails per month, $69 per month, once sends pass 40,000 | Business, $79 per month, 15,000 contacts and 150,000 emails | Brevo by $10 at this volume; Mailsoftly holds the price steady as sends keep rising |
| 2,000 contacts, near-daily promotions (60,000 sends) | Starter at 100,000 emails per month, $69 per month | Business, $79 per month (Basic at $39 stops at 40,000 emails) | Brevo by $10, until you add contacts; Mailsoftly caps at emails, not a meter you watch daily |
Figures are list prices from each pricing page, checked in late August 2026 (Mailsoftly prices shown at annual billing, monthly billing is $49, $99 and $199). Model your own contact count and monthly sends before you commit.
Brevo really costs between $0 and $69 per month on its published Starter ladder, set by email volume. The free plan is $0 for 300 emails per day, then paid Starter tiers run $9 for 5,000 emails, $19 for 20,000, $29 for 40,000, and $69 for 100,000. Add roughly $10.80 per month if you need to remove Brevo branding.
Yes, Brevo has a free plan. It costs nothing, supports unlimited contacts, and allows up to 300 emails per day. The two limits to know are the daily send cap and Brevo branding on every message. Removing that branding is a paid add-on at $10.80 per month.
For small lists, Brevo can be inexpensive or surprisingly pricey depending on how often you send. Because pricing is metered by volume rather than contacts, a small list emailed daily or run through automations can blow past a cheap tier quickly. A small list emailed once or twice a month, by contrast, may sit comfortably on the free or $9 plan.
Brevo is worth it if you have a large list you email infrequently and value unlimited contacts. If you send often or rely on automation, a flat list-based plan like Mailsoftly is usually better value because your cost is predictable and you can email your audience without a volume meter, plus migration is free.
Brevo charges by email volume so it can offer unlimited contact storage, which suits senders with big lists and low frequency. The tradeoff is that automations, resends, and frequent campaigns all draw down the same monthly allowance, so heavy senders can pay more than they would on a flat list-based plan where sending is uncapped.
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