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The verified steps, what to export before you close the account, refund and data-retention rules, and where switchers land next.
by Alkan Balkaya · Last updated: 2026-07-18To cancel Brevo, open the account dropdown, click My plan, then click Cancel subscription at the bottom, decline the pause offer, select a reason, and confirm. Your account downgrades to the Free plan at the end of the billing period. Canceling does not delete your data, and Brevo generally does not refund used or unused credits.
You have already decided to leave, so this guide skips the sales pitch and gets practical. It walks through what to export first, the exact cancellation path, the difference between canceling and permanently closing your account, and how refunds and retention windows actually work. Every specific claim below comes from Brevo’s own help center.
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Key Takeaways
Export your contacts, templates, and reports before you cancel, because a Free downgrade restricts features and a permanent closure wipes everything. Even though canceling alone keeps your data, exporting now means you own a clean copy no matter which exit path you choose later. Do this while you still have full account access.
Contacts are the priority. In Brevo, go to CRM, then Contacts, load a list or segment or leave it unfiltered for all contacts, select all using the CONTACT column checkbox, then Select all contacts, then More actions, then Export. Choose your attributes and statuses, pick a CSV separator, and download from the notifications bell or receive the file by email. The official walkthrough for how to export your contacts from Brevo covers the current menu labels.
Automation workflows and reporting deserve special care. Neither exports as a tidy file, so capture them as screenshots or a short written summary: triggers, timing, segments used, and results. That record makes rebuilding in a new platform far faster and lets a migration team recreate your logic accurately instead of guessing.
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Cancel Brevo from the account dropdown, then My plan, then click Cancel subscription at the bottom of the page, decline the pause offer, select a reason, and confirm. Only the account owner or a user with plan, billing, or payments permission can do this. The full steps live on Brevo’s help page for how to cancel your Brevo subscription.
Two exceptions matter. If your subscription is currently paused, you must resume it before you can cancel. And a yearly Professional plan cannot be canceled through this self-serve flow: you need to create a support ticket from your account and ask the support team to process it. Everything else follows the five steps above.
After you cancel, the subscription runs until the end of the current billing period, then automatically downgrades to the Free plan with no further charges. You can keep using remaining credits until that date. If you change your mind before the period ends, you can undo it with Remove scheduled changes on the My plan page.
Your data stays put. Canceling does not delete anything: you still have access to forms, templates, contacts, and other data. Free-plan feature restrictions apply, and automations are limited to 2,000 contacts. Canceling also does not cancel a dedicated IP, which requires a separate support ticket. Note that if you formally downgrade to a lower paid plan, any remaining prepaid credits are lost.
Cancel: account survives on Free, all data remains accessible, reversible before the billing period ends.
Permanently close: irreversible, all data is permanently lost, and only aggregated data is kept for 3 months.
If you want the account gone entirely, that is a separate action. Go to the account dropdown, then Settings, then General, then Definitively close your account, type DELETE, and click Delete organization. Only the account owner can do this, and Enterprise plans must contact their Customer Success Manager. As Brevo documents on its page about how to permanently close your Brevo account, the action is irreversible, all data is permanently lost, and Brevo retains only aggregated data for three months for statistics and legal claims. The account cannot be restored during that period.
One more thing worth knowing if you leave the account dormant on Free: Brevo automatically deletes Free-plan accounts that go unused for 4 months, and all data is permanently lost. Four reminder emails go out at 30, 15, 7, and 1 day before deletion, and simply logging in resets the inactivity clock. Paid accounts stay active without logins.
Usually not. Brevo does not provide refunds for used or unused credits, except in narrow cases: a technical error on Brevo’s side, or a user who is not qualified to send from Brevo’s shared IPs. Brevo also states it cannot refund unused months when an account was suspended, compromised, or when a customer simply forgot to cancel their plan.
Because refund handling can change, treat the numbers above as the current policy at the time of writing and confirm the specifics for your account. Brevo publishes the authoritative version on its page explaining whether it has a refund policy for used and unused credits. If you believe you qualify for one of the exceptions, open a support ticket and reference your billing history.
Pick a platform based on how you actually work: your list size, how often you send, whether you rely on automation, and how much support you want when something breaks. The honest short list of alternatives is broad, and the right fit depends on your priorities. If human help and predictable pricing matter to you, that is where Mailsoftly is built to land somewhere with real support.
Two structural differences are worth naming. Brevo prices by email volume, so all plans allow unlimited contacts and cost scales with sends. Mailsoftly prices by contacts with generous monthly send limits, which is simpler to forecast if your list is stable. You can review the numbers and pick a tier on our page for transparent Mailsoftly pricing plans.
Whatever you choose, bring the exports you saved earlier. A good destination will help you import contacts, rebuild templates, and recreate automations without leaving you to figure it out alone. Mailsoftly includes free hands-on migration and real human support so the move does not become a second project on your plate.
For the broader picture on this topic, see our complete Email Platform Comparisons guide, which covers strategy, fundamentals, and advanced playbooks.
At the end of the current billing period. Until then you keep access and can use remaining credits, and you can undo the cancellation with Remove scheduled changes on the My plan page. After the period ends the account downgrades to the Free plan, and canceling deletes nothing: contacts, forms, and templates stay in the account under Free plan limits.
Usually not. Brevo does not refund used or unused credits, except when there is a technical error on Brevo’s side or a user is not qualified to send from Brevo’s shared IPs. Brevo also states it cannot refund unused months when the account was suspended, compromised, or when you forgot to cancel. If you think you qualify for an exception, open a support ticket.
They stay. Canceling does not delete any data, so you keep access to contacts, forms, and templates on the Free plan, though feature restrictions apply and automations are limited to 2,000 contacts. Your contacts are only permanently lost if you separately choose to permanently close the account, or if a Free account sits unused for 4 months and is auto-deleted.
Yes, if you are on a monthly plan. Brevo lets you pause a Starter, Standard, or Professional monthly subscription for 1, 2, or 3 months, up to 3 months total. The pause takes effect at the end of the current billing period. During the pause you can use Free-plan features but cannot send emails, and the subscription resumes automatically. Resuming early charges a pro-rated fee. Brevo’s help center has the current pause steps.
Canceling downgrades you to the Free plan at the end of the billing period and keeps all your data accessible; it is reversible before the period ends. Permanently closing the account is a separate, irreversible action that deletes all data, with only aggregated data retained for three months. Only the account owner can permanently close the account.
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