Brevo

Overview

Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is an all-in-one marketing and customer relationship platform. It bundles email marketing, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, marketing automation, a light CRM, transactional messaging, and even landing pages and forms into a single tool. It is built for small and mid-sized businesses that want the power of a full marketing suite without the price or complexity of enterprise software. Being a French company, it is especially strong in France and across Europe, and it is often chosen for its clear stance on data hosting and GDPR.

The rebrand from Sendinblue to Brevo in 2023 signalled a shift from a pure email sender toward a broader customer-engagement platform. For agencies, it is a practical default when a client needs email and automation that a non-technical marketer can run day to day, with pricing based on emails sent rather than the size of the contact list.

How it works

You import or collect contacts, segment them by attributes and behaviour, then send campaigns or trigger automated workflows. A drag-and-drop editor builds the emails, and a visual automation builder handles sequences: a welcome series when someone subscribes, a follow-up when a form is submitted, a reminder when a cart is abandoned. Because pricing is per email sent, not per contact, you can keep a large list without the cost climbing simply because the audience grew.

Brevo also sends transactional messages (receipts, password resets, order confirmations) over SMTP or API, so developers can plug it into a product as well as a marketing team. It connects to websites and e-commerce platforms, and for no-code stacks it integrates through native connectors and through tools like Make and Zapier. A Webflow form, for instance, can push new subscribers straight into a Brevo list and start an automation without anyone touching a spreadsheet.

Key features

• Email marketing: drag-and-drop campaigns, templates, A/B testing, and send-time optimisation.
• Marketing automation: visual workflows triggered by behaviour, dates, or events.
• Multichannel: SMS and WhatsApp campaigns alongside email.
• Built-in CRM plus a sales pipeline and shared inbox for smaller teams.
• Transactional email and SMS via SMTP and API for product messaging.
• Landing pages, sign-up forms, and integrations with major website and e-commerce platforms.

Use cases

Brevo fits businesses that want one tool for most of their customer communication. A small e-commerce shop uses it for newsletters, abandoned-cart automation, and order confirmations from the same account. A service business uses the CRM and forms to capture leads and nurture them with an email sequence. A content brand runs its newsletter and segments readers by interest.

For a Webflow-focused agency like BeBranded, Brevo is a common recommendation when a client wants affordable, GDPR-friendly email and automation wired to their site. A Webflow form feeds a Brevo list, an automation welcomes and nurtures the lead, and transactional emails go out through the same platform. The volume-based pricing and European hosting make it an easy sell to French clients who might otherwise default to Mailchimp.

Pros

• Affordable, with a usable free tier and per-email pricing that suits large lists.
• All-in-one: email, SMS, automation, CRM, and transactional in one place.
• European and GDPR-friendly, a genuine plus for France-based clients.
• Approachable for non-technical marketers, while still offering an API for developers.
• Strong transactional deliverability for product and e-commerce messaging.

Cons

Brevo is a strong generalist, and its limits mostly show at the edges. The email editor and templates are functional but feel less refined than design-led rivals, so pixel-perfect branded emails can take more effort. The automation builder covers common journeys well but hits a ceiling on very complex, multi-branch logic that dedicated automation platforms handle more gracefully. The CRM is light: fine for a small team, but growing sales organisations will outgrow it and want a dedicated CRM. Deliverability is generally good, yet on the lowest tiers you may share sending infrastructure, and a dedicated IP for high senders costs extra. Support and documentation, while improved, can lag on deeper technical questions. And although the free plan is generous on contacts, it imposes a daily send limit and Brevo branding that most businesses will want to remove by upgrading. For SMBs it is an excellent value; teams with advanced automation or heavy design needs may eventually reach for something more specialised.