Under 1,000 contacts; rises with contacts
Visit ActiveCampaign ↗ActiveCampaign vs Brevo
Short answer: ActiveCampaign suits businesses that want email marketing built around automations, from first workflows to larger teams. Brevo suits individuals and small businesses that want low-cost email marketing with a free plan to start.
Compare with for .
Set your own weights
What you'd pay
Entry plan for 10 people, billed yearly where offered, in US dollars (USD). Prices checked Nov 2026.
5,000 emails a month
Visit Brevo ↗
ActiveCampaign
Small to mid-sized businesses and ecommerce brands that want powerful, flexible marketing automation (email-first) with strong segmentation and workflow capabilities, and optionally a built-in CRM for sales follow-up.

Brevo
SMBs and mid-market teams that want an all-in-one platform for email marketing plus automation, transactional messaging, and basic CRM—especially when pricing by email volume is preferable to per-seat pricing.
Who each one is for
ActiveCampaign
- Best for
- Businesses that want email marketing built around automations, from first workflows to larger teams. source ↗
- Not for
- Anyone who needs a free plan should look elsewhere, since ActiveCampaign offers only a 14-day free trial. source ↗
From ActiveCampaign's own pricing and help pages, checked Nov 4, 2026.
Brevo
- Best for
- Individuals and small businesses that want low-cost email marketing with a free plan to start. source ↗
- Not for
- Teams that need phone support or many users on a small budget, since both start on the $499/month Professional plan. source ↗
From Brevo's own pricing and help pages, checked Nov 4, 2026.
Side by side
| Pricing | From $15/month billed annually (Starter, under 1,000 contacts) | Free (300 emails/day); paid from $9/month (Starter) |
| Price checked | Nov 9, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 |
| G2 Rating | 4.4 (14,813 reviews) | 4.5 (2,768 reviews) |
| Best For | Businesses that want email marketing built around automations, from first workflows to larger teams. | Individuals and small businesses that want low-cost email marketing with a free plan to start. |
| Not for | Anyone who needs a free plan should look elsewhere, since ActiveCampaign offers only a 14-day free trial. | Teams that need phone support or many users on a small budget, since both start on the $499/month Professional plan. |
Pros and cons
ActiveCampaign
Pros
- Very capable automation and segmentation for the price compared with many enterprise tools
- Large integration ecosystem and solid API/webhooks for connecting data and events
- Good balance of email marketing + automation + (optional) CRM in one platform
- Mature feature set for lifecycle marketing (nurture, onboarding, win-back, lead scoring on higher tiers)
Cons
- Pricing scales with contact count and can rise quickly as lists grow or advanced tiers are needed
- Learning curve for building and maintaining complex automations and data hygiene
- Some advanced features (attribution, predictive, SSO, dedicated support) are gated behind higher tiers
Brevo
Pros
- Strong value for money for email-volume-based pricing and bundled channels
- All-in-one suite (marketing automation + transactional messaging + basic CRM)
- Good automation and segmentation for common SMB lifecycle use cases
- Solid API/SMTP options for product-led and eCommerce transactional messaging
Cons
- Advanced automation, attribution, and analytics can be less robust than enterprise MAPs
- Some features and support levels are gated behind higher tiers/usage add-ons
- UI and feature depth can feel uneven across modules (marketing vs CRM vs conversations)
Related comparisons

ActiveCampaign alternatives
Stay with ActiveCampaign if you want deep automation without enterprise bloat. Pick Klaviyo if you run an online store and email is a revenue engine.

Best Email Marketing Software for Ecommerce
Pick Klaviyo if email is a main revenue channel for your store. Pick Omnisend if you want ready-made store automations for less.

Best Email Marketing Software for Small Business
Pick MailerLite if you want real automation at the lowest monthly price. Pick Brevo for the tightest budget or SMS, and Constant Contact if you want live phone support.