Brevo (ex-Sendinblue)
Marketing teams today expect their tools to be intuitive, scalable, and capable of unifying customer interactions across multiple channels. Brevo, previously known as Sendinblue, is one of the platforms that has expanded into this space by offering an integrated suite for marketing automation, CRM, email, SMS, WhatsApp, and transactional messaging. With its accessible structure and multi-channel design, the Brevo marketing platform has positioned itself as a practical option for both new and growing businesses.
This guide explains the platform in a neutral, informative manner, using industry-standard language to simplify complex capabilities. For readers evaluating marketing systems, the goal is to offer clarity rather than persuasion.
Internal links are included naturally to help readers explore more resources from SJ Curve, such as the advisory guide on navigating martech tools available at the Martech Landscape Guide on the SJ Curve website.
Why Brevo Is Considered a Multi-Channel Marketing Ecosystem
Brevo aims to function as a centralised system for managing engagement across email, SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications, live chat, CRM, and transactional communication. The platform consolidates functions commonly spread across multiple tools. Core capabilities include:
- Bulk email campaigns
- Automated journeys for customer lifecycle engagement
- SMS and WhatsApp automation
- CRM features for tracking contacts, leads, and accounts
- Transactional email and SMS via SMTP and APIs
- Multi-channel retargeting
- Chat, chatbot, and live-interaction tools
- Integrations with e-commerce, CRM, and payment systems
Across the platform, the consistent theme is usability. Reviewers highlight the drag-and-drop email editor, pre-built templates, and simple workflow builder as enablers for marketing teams that prefer intuitive design. This also supports the Brevo email marketing for beginners keyword, reflecting how many teams adopt the software during early-stage marketing setup.
Platform Features: An Integrated Toolkit for Marketing and CRM
Brevo includes a wide range of features designed to support both communication and data management. The following table summarises its primary feature clusters according to user feedback and platform documentation.
Brevo Feature Overview
Category | Key Capabilities |
Email Marketing | Template editor, email previews, high-volume sending, deliverability management, A/B testing |
Marketing Automation | Automated journeys, triggers, segmentation, branching logic, behavioural targeting |
CRM Function | Lead management, contact scoring, deal tracking, task management |
SMS Automation | Bulk SMS, scheduled SMS, two-way messaging, transactional SMS |
Whatsapp Marketing | Bulk messaging, personalised campaigns, automation, transactional WhatsApp |
Landing pages | Drag-and-drop builder, templates, A/B testing, mobile optimisation |
Transactional Messaging | SMTP server, API for notifications, logs, monitoring |
AI Tools | AI-generated text, AI-supported optimisation, performance analytics |
E-Commerce Tools | Cart abandonment, product recommendations, personalised messages |
Throughout these modules, the platform attempts to unify marketing efforts with transactional communication. This approach eliminates the need for multiple disconnected systems, which aligns with the broader CX trend many businesses follow today, a trend often discussed across educational resources on SJ Curve, such as the Guide for Business Owners available on the SJ Curve website.
Automation Capabilities: How Brevo Supports Scalable Workflows
The Brevo automation keyword reflects one of the platform’s core strengths: automated workflows. These workflows support actions such as:
- Welcome sequences
- Lead nurturing
- Abandoned cart reminders
- Re-engagement journeys
- Purchase follow-ups
- Transactional alerts
- Behaviour-based messaging
Automation is available across email, SMS, and WhatsApp, allowing marketers to design multi-channel journeys. Advanced capabilities include dynamic segmentation, workflow branching, scoring models, and conditions that move contacts between automation steps.
The platform also supports API-triggered messages, transactional pipelines, and webhook integrations, enabling integration with custom application workflows.
Deliverability and Performance Infrastructure
Brevo provides various deliverability tools that help ensure messages reach inboxes consistently. These include:
- Dedicated IP options
- Sender reputation monitoring
- Domain authentication support (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
- Spam filter testing
- Inbox placement testing
- Performance logs and delivery metrics
With deliverability insights available in real-time dashboards, businesses can identify performance bottlenecks and address issues such as content quality, domain reputation, or IP warm-up strategies.
Pricing Breakdown: Understanding the Value Structure
Brevo uses a pricing model based on the number of email messages sent rather than the number of stored contacts. This structure is beneficial for businesses with large audiences that prefer usage-based billing instead of list-size billing.
Brevo Pricing Overview
Plan | Starting Price | Key features |
Free | $0 | Up to 300 emails/day, mobile-friendly editor, real-time reporting, transactional emails, API access |
Starter | $9/month | No daily sending limit, email support, advanced contact manager, API access |
Businesses | $18/month | Unlimited automations, phone support, send-time optimisation, advanced reporting, multi-user access |
Brevo Plus | Custom | Enterprise-grade security, advanced integrations, account hierarchy, onboarding support |
For organisations evaluating marketing tools, this structure helps control costs without sacrificing scalability. It also allows teams testing a new platform to begin with the free plan before expanding into advanced automations or higher-volume sending.
User Experience, Integrations, and Ecosystem Flexibility
Brevo integrates with more than 40 applications, including:
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- WordPress
- Zapier
- Airtable
- Google Ads
- HubSpot
- Microsoft Dynamics
This ecosystem benefits teams that want to synchronise CRM activities, marketing campaigns, order history, or customer data. The platform also offers:
- API documentation
- Contact data syncing
- Real-time reporting
- Calendar integrations
- Data import and export tools
Users report that Brevo maintains consistent uptime and generally performs well across marketing operations, though some note that templates and design customisation could be expanded further.
When Brevo Is Most Suitable
A neutral evaluation shows that Brevo is best suited for organisations that need:
- A centralised multichannel communication tool
- A straightforward email and SMS automation system
- An affordable solution that scales with message volume
- Unified CRM and marketing automation in one interface
- Transactional and marketing messages from the same platform
For beginners, the simple interface supports the Brevo setup guide use case, while more advanced teams can benefit from API integrations, AI-supported optimisation, and multi-channel automation.
Conclusion: Understanding Brevo in the Modern Martech Landscape
Brevo remains a popular choice for businesses seeking an accessible, multifaceted marketing platform. Its strengths include multichannel communication, automation, CRM integration, deliverability tools, and flexible pricing. Limitations noted by users primarily relate to template customisation and the depth of analytics. However, they do not significantly affect its role as an effective email marketing tool for campaigns, transactional communication, and customer engagement.
For businesses exploring tools in the broader martech landscape, the platform demonstrates how unified communication systems can streamline processes and help teams operate more efficiently. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of martech strategy or platform selection can explore additional resources at the SJ Curve homepage and the Navigating the Martech Landscape guide.