Market Focus
Automation-first vs all-in-one messaging
ActiveCampaign centers on advanced marketing automation and CRM workflows, while Brevo emphasizes broad messaging capabilities across email, SMS, and chat.
ActiveCampaign vs Brevo
A side-by-side comparison for teams choosing between ActiveCampaign and Brevo.
Last updated: December 16, 2025
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Quick Overview
Deep automation strategy vs streamlined multichannel sending
The biggest difference between ActiveCampaign and Brevo is the depth of marketing automation strategy versus streamlined multichannel communications. ActiveCampaign is positioned as an AI-first autonomous marketing platform built to turn goals into coordinated, behavior-driven journeys across channels, while Brevo emphasizes practical, accessible messaging and contact management that keeps campaigns moving without a lot of operational complexity. If your priority is orchestration and decisioning, the center of gravity is different than if your priority is straightforward execution.
That split largely comes from what each product has optimized for over time: ActiveCampaign’s evolution into “autonomous marketing” leans on an intelligence layer (goal-aware automations, AI agents, and insights) designed to guide what to do next as engagement changes, whereas Brevo’s roots as a broad marketing platform (formerly Sendinblue) show up in a more utilitarian approach—bringing core channels like email, SMS, chat, and WhatsApp together with simpler segmentation and workflow building. Both cover multichannel outreach, but they bet on different levels of decision automation.
In practice, this tradeoff affects how you structure lifecycle marketing, how much logic you embed into journeys, and how much day-to-day overhead you’re willing to carry to keep campaigns precise. The rest of this comparison unpacks what that means for automation depth, cross-channel coordination, segmentation sophistication, reporting/insight expectations, and the operational “weight” of maintaining your messaging system as your programs become more complex.
Quick Comparison
At a Glance
| Category | ActiveCampaign | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | SMB marketing and sales teams | Small business multichannel marketing |
| Core strength | Marketing automation with CRM | Email, SMS, chat platform |
| Automation depth | Complex conditional workflow builder | Pre-built automation templates |
| Pricing model | Tiered plans by contacts | Tiered plans by email sends |
| Learning curve | Drag-and-drop automation builder | Not found in sources |
Why These Platforms Feel So Different
ActiveCampaign grew out of a push to give lean teams access to sophisticated automation that larger organizations already used. Brevo originated as Sendinblue, built around reliable email sending for high-volume messaging, including transactional delivery. Those starting constraints pulled one toward workflow depth and the other toward sending infrastructure.
Because ActiveCampaign began with “powerful marketing automation” as the core problem, it prioritizes a flexible automation engine and tightly linked customer records. This leads to more configuration overhead, since the product assumes you will model your process inside the tool. A concrete example is its emphasis on building branching workflows with granular triggers and conditions.
Because Brevo started from the email-sending side, it prioritizes throughput, deliverability controls, and packaging that treats messages as a metered resource. This leads to tradeoffs in how far the system goes in modeling complex lifecycle logic inside one unified flow. A concrete example is how Brevo’s plans and structure are anchored around send volume, with transactional sends accounted for within the same allowance.
These origin choices explain why the two platforms feel different when you try to scale complexity versus scale sending. The next sections will show how those early priorities surface as practical differences across the product.
Key Takeaways
Key Differences
ActiveCampaign and Brevo differ across several core dimensions that shape fit, complexity, and how teams execute marketing and sales workflows.
Workflow Complexity
Deep workflows vs simpler setup
ActiveCampaign supports highly granular, multi-branch automations, while Brevo is typically faster to configure for straightforward campaigns and journeys.
Sales & CRM
Built-in sales CRM vs lighter CRM
ActiveCampaign includes a stronger native sales CRM and pipeline automation, while Brevo’s CRM tools are more lightweight and contact-centric.
Data & Reporting
Automation reporting vs campaign reporting
ActiveCampaign prioritizes automation and funnel performance insights, while Brevo focuses more on deliverability and campaign-level reporting across channels.
Integration Philosophy
Ecosystem depth vs core connectors
ActiveCampaign offers a wider automation-focused integration ecosystem, while Brevo relies more on essential connectors and API-based customization.
Pricing Structure
Contact-based tiers vs send-based options
ActiveCampaign pricing is primarily tied to contacts and automation level, while Brevo commonly ties plans to sending volume and channel usage.
Feature Comparison
Feature-by-feature comparison
Compares core cross-channel messaging, automation, data, and go-to-market capabilities.
Feature
A
Platform
ActiveCampaign
B
Platform
Brevo
Email marketing
Email campaign creation, personalization, and delivery.
ActiveCampaign
Email campaigns with AI Campaign Builder and personalization.
Brevo
Drag-and-drop email editor with templates and AI content generator.
Marketing automation
Workflow automation for journeys and triggered messaging.
ActiveCampaign
Advanced automations, including AI-suggested automations and actions.
Brevo
Marketing automation included on paid plans.
SMS marketing
SMS campaigns and automated text messaging.
ActiveCampaign
SMS automation with AI SMS Builder.
Brevo
Email and SMS sending with SMS available on plans.
WhatsApp messaging
WhatsApp campaigns and automated messaging support.
ActiveCampaign
WhatsApp messaging and automation support.
Brevo
WhatsApp included, alongside email, SMS, and automation.
CRM
Contact management and sales CRM capabilities.
ActiveCampaign
Dedicated CRM add-on integrated with marketing automation.
Brevo
CRM suite with unified customer view.
Sales pipeline management
Visual pipelines and deal tracking for sales teams.
ActiveCampaign
Pipeline management with deal tracking and task management.
Brevo
—
Landing pages
Landing page creation for lead capture and campaigns.
ActiveCampaign
Landing pages supported for migration and campaign use.
Brevo
Landing pages included on Standard plan.
Contact segmentation
Audience segmentation and targeting controls.
ActiveCampaign
AI-suggested segments and advanced targeting.
Brevo
Advanced segmentation included on Starter plan.
Reporting and analytics
Performance reporting for campaigns and automation.
ActiveCampaign
AI-driven performance analysis and reporting.
Brevo
Real-time campaign analytics dashboard and downloadable reports.
Integrations ecosystem
Native integrations and app marketplace breadth.
ActiveCampaign
App marketplace with 1,000+ integrations.
Brevo
Integrations listed for solutions like PayPal, WordPress, and Google Sheets.
Feature Analysis
Feature Explanation: How These Capabilities Differ in Practice
You’ve already seen what each platform includes. This section explains how those features behave day to day when you’re building campaigns and automations.
#1 Automation & Flows
ActiveCampaign uses a visual automation builder with split and conditional actions to route contacts through different paths. It also supports automation split testing by comparing multiple routes.
Brevo’s workflow details are not described consistently in the available sources, so workflow mechanics aren’t compared here.
#2 Customer Segmentation
ActiveCampaign supports behavioral segmentation and dynamic segments that automatically update as criteria change. It also supports conditional content driven by tags and fields.
Brevo’s segmentation mechanics (rules, dynamic updates, and how segments are built) aren’t described clearly in the available sources.
#3 Multichannel Messaging
ActiveCampaign supports cross-channel messaging, including email, SMS, and WhatsApp, within automations. Messaging can be coordinated with the same contact record and automation logic.
Brevo is described as supporting SMS availability, but WhatsApp and cross-channel orchestration details aren’t described clearly in the available sources.
#4 Analytics & Attribution
ActiveCampaign includes revenue and conversion attribution that ties outcomes back to campaigns and automations. This is designed to connect marketing activity to sales impact.
Brevo’s reporting and attribution approach isn’t described clearly in the available sources.
#5 Ecommerce Integrations
ActiveCampaign provides a native Shopify integration focused on lifecycle automations like welcome, upsell, review requests, and abandoned cart follow-up. It also supports adding a Shopify “Buy Now” button to ActiveCampaign landing pages.
Brevo’s ecommerce integrations and what data they sync (orders, products, events) aren’t described clearly in the available sources.
Pricing
Pricing & Plans
Compare tiers, caps, and upgrade paths at a glance.
ActiveCampaign
Tiered
Volume pricing
Public monthly pricing is listed for lower tiers, with higher-volume tiers requiring contacting sales for custom pricing.
Brevo
Tiered
Volume pricing
Public pricing is listed across multiple contact tiers with corresponding included monthly email send volumes, and SMS is available.
Contact tier
ActiveCampaign
Brevo
1,000 contacts
PLAN
$19
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 10,000 emails
- ✓ Email campaigns and newsletters
- ✓ Multi-step marketing automation
- ✓ A/B testing on emails
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 10,000 for this tier; sending beyond the included amount requires upgrading.
PLAN
$17
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 10,000 emails
- ✓ Email marketing with monthly send allowance
- ✓ Audience/contact-based tiering
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 10,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
10,000 contacts
PLAN
$189
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 100,000 emails
- ✓ Marketing automation
- ✓ Landing pages (noted on higher plans in ActiveCampaign materials)
- ✓ Reporting and analytics
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 100,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
PLAN
$69
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 100,000 emails
- ✓ Higher monthly email send allowance than entry tier
- ✓ Audience/contact-based tiering
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 100,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
50,000 contacts
PLAN
$759
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 500,000 emails
- ✓ Marketing automation at higher contact volumes
- ✓ Segmentation and reporting capabilities
- ✓ Integrations (noted across ActiveCampaign materials)
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 500,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
PLAN
$399
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 500,000 emails
- ✓ Scaled email sending capacity for mid/high lists
- ✓ Audience/contact-based tiering
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 500,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
100,000 contacts
PLAN
Contact sales
—
What's included
- ✓ Includes custom emails
- ✓ Custom email sending allocation (sales-quoted)
- ✓ Higher-volume account support (contracted)
- ✓ Enterprise-scale configuration (sales-quoted)
Limitations
- • Pricing is not publicly listed at this volume and requires contacting sales for a custom quote/contract.
PLAN
$669
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 1,000,000 emails
- ✓ 1,000,000 included monthly email sends
- ✓ Publicly listed pricing at higher volume
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 1,000,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
500,000 contacts
PLAN
Contact sales
—
What's included
- ✓ Includes custom emails
- ✓ Custom email sending allocation (sales-quoted)
- ✓ Enterprise onboarding and account configuration (contracted)
- ✓ Scalable automation for large databases
Limitations
- • Requires sales engagement and a custom contract at this contact volume.
PLAN
$2,447
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 5,000,000 emails
- ✓ 5,000,000 included monthly email sends
- ✓ Very high-volume contact tier with public pricing
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 5,000,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
1,000,000 contacts
PLAN
Contact sales
—
What's included
- ✓ Includes custom emails
- ✓ Custom pricing and sending limits (sales-quoted)
- ✓ Enterprise-scale deliverability planning (contracted)
- ✓ High-volume automation use cases
Limitations
- • Typically requires a negotiated agreement (custom pricing and terms) rather than self-serve checkout.
PLAN
$45,473
per month
What's included
- ✓ Includes 10,000,000 emails
- ✓ 10,000,000 included monthly email sends
- ✓ Largest listed contact tier
- ✓ SMS channel availability
Limitations
- • Monthly email sends are capped at 10,000,000 for this tier; higher send volumes require upgrading.
Customer Voices
Reviews & Ratings
See how ActiveCampaign vs Brevo compare based on verified customer reviews (pros, cons, sentiment).
ActiveCampaign
4.6
/ 5.0
Based on 2,545 reviews
Positive sentiment
Top Pros
- • Powerful automations save time and streamline campaigns
- • Great segmentation and tagging for targeted messaging
- • Reliable email sending and campaign performance tracking
- • Helpful onboarding resources and responsive technical support
Top Cons
- • Steep learning curve for advanced workflows
- • Bugs and glitches interrupt work unexpectedly
- • Landing pages and forms feel limited to customize
- • Can feel slow or laggy at times
Brevo
4.6
/ 5.0
Based on 3,339 reviews
Positive sentiment
Top Pros
- • Easy setup and intuitive interface for campaigns
- • Great value, especially the generous free plan
- • Solid email templates and drag-and-drop editor
- • Support team is responsive and helpful
Top Cons
- • Email sending limits can be restrictive
- • Platform can load slowly when editing
- • Accounts may get suspended without clear reasons
- • Forms and integrations feel limited or buggy
Real-World Scenarios
How ActiveCampaign and Brevo differ in real workflows
Feature boxes don’t show how work actually flows day to day. These scenarios highlight how each platform behaves when teams run recurring campaigns, adjustments, and handoffs.
#1 Lead follow-up cadence
ActiveCampaign: Sales and marketing run ongoing follow-ups that adapt after each reply or visit, reducing manual handoffs and keeping daily outreach consistent.
Brevo: Teams usually run recurring follow-ups in scheduled bursts, reviewing results weekly and manually adjusting who gets the next message.
#2 Segmentation refresh and list hygiene
ActiveCampaign: Audiences update continuously as contacts take actions, so workflows keep moving without weekly list rebuilds or frequent exports between teammates.
Brevo: Segments are often refreshed during routine campaign prep, with periodic cleanups and more recurring coordination to keep targeting aligned.
#3 Cross-team campaign production
ActiveCampaign: Teams operate with more connected steps, so changes to messaging or timing cascade through ongoing workflows with fewer stop-and-restart cycles.
Brevo: Production tends to be more campaign-by-campaign, with clearer weekly handoffs where teams pause, edit, and relaunch to reflect updates.
#4 Behavior-driven messaging adjustments
ActiveCampaign: Marketers manage ongoing adjustments based on what people do next, so cadence shifts automatically without frequent manual re-sends or retargeting cycles.
Brevo: Adjustments often happen after a send, with teams making weekly changes to timing and content based on performance reviews.
#5 Reporting rhythm and visibility
ActiveCampaign: Teams monitor performance as workflows run, making small daily tweaks to keep conversions steady without waiting for a full campaign cycle.
Brevo: Visibility is commonly reviewed per send, so optimization happens in recurring reporting moments, then applied to the next campaign burst.
#6 Scaling multi-audience programs
ActiveCampaign: As programs grow, teams keep a consistent operating cadence by reusing ongoing workflows and adjusting branches instead of duplicating many campaigns.
Brevo: Scaling often means coordinating more separate recurring sends, with additional weekly scheduling and checks to prevent audience overlap.
Decision Guide
Which Platform Should You Choose?
Use these cues to quickly see which platform fits how you work.
ActiveCampaign
Best for
Teams that run tightly-orchestrated, rules-driven lifecycle work with a dedicated owner who continuously maintains the system.
This platform is a good fit if:
- ✓ You have someone on the team who routinely revisits your logic and keeps it consistent as new scenarios pop up.
- ✓ Your team holds regular check-ins to review segments and routing rules, then makes small adjustments week to week.
- ✓ Campaigns are built around many branching paths, and you treat edge cases as part of normal operations.
- ✓ Workflows depend on clean, structured data, and you spend time standardizing fields and naming conventions.
Brevo
Best for
Teams that prioritize simple, repeatable communication routines managed by a small group that needs to move quickly without heavy ongoing upkeep.
This platform is a good fit if:
- ✓ You run a steady cadence of broadcasts and short sequences, and you prefer a setup that stays stable for long stretches.
- ✓ Your marketing workload is shared across roles, so processes need to be easy to hand off without a specialist.
- ✓ Campaigns are often assembled on a tight timeline, with quick approvals and minimal iteration cycles.
- ✓ Workflows depend on a few core audience groupings, and you rarely need to model highly specific edge cases.
Need-to-know
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about comparing these platforms.
How much work is it to migrate my lists, tags, and automations without breaking anything?
Expect contacts and basic fields to transfer cleanly, but automations often need to be rebuilt or re-mapped because ActiveCampaign and Brevo use different workflow structures and event triggers.
A practical approach is to export contacts (and any tags/segments) from the current platform, import into the new one, then recreate critical journeys (welcome, abandon, post-purchase) and re-test tracking events before sending to your full list.
What happens if I switch to one platform and later need to switch back or undo the move?
You can move back by exporting contacts and key data from the platform you chose, but you should plan on rebuilding automations because workflow logic is not portable between ActiveCampaign and Brevo.
To reduce rework, keep a written map of triggers, conditions, and message content so you can recreate the same flows if you reverse the decision.
Do I still own my customer data, and can I export everything I need at any time?
In both ActiveCampaign and Brevo, you can export core contact data (e.g., email, phone, attributes) and lists/segments via built-in export tools, which supports retaining your customer records if you leave.
Some operational data (like detailed automation run history or platform-specific engagement logs) may not export in a one-click, fully normalized format, so verify what you can download if you rely on those records for reporting.
If I have GDPR obligations, how do consent and regional rules impact what I can send?
Both ActiveCampaign and Brevo support consent-based marketing workflows, but you still need to configure your own lawful basis, subscription capture, and suppression rules to match your region and data practices.
If you operate across regions, ensure your forms, consent fields, and unsubscribe handling are aligned in the platform you choose, and document how consent is recorded and updated for audits.
Can I manage multiple stores or brands without mixing audiences and sending the wrong messages?
Multi-brand setups are possible, but you’ll need a clear separation strategy (separate lists/audiences, dedicated sender identities, and strict segmentation) whether you use ActiveCampaign or Brevo.
Operationally, the main risk is cross-contamination from shared contact records; define rules for when the same email can belong to multiple brands and how preferences are stored so campaigns don’t overlap unintentionally.
Will API limits or integration constraints break my sync with my CRM, website, or data warehouse?
If you rely on heavy real-time syncing, confirm the API rate limits, payload constraints, and webhook coverage for the specific objects you push (contacts, events, custom fields) in ActiveCampaign and Brevo.
When you hit limits, the common failure mode is delayed updates rather than a hard stop, so design integrations with retries, backoff, and a queue to prevent data drift between systems.
What if I want to use SMS—are there country restrictions or compliance rules that block sends?
SMS availability and rules depend on destination country, sender type (alphanumeric vs. long code), and local regulations; both ActiveCampaign and Brevo require compliant opt-in and honoring STOP/unsubscribe keywords where applicable.
Before committing, verify that your target countries are supported for SMS delivery and that your use case (marketing vs. transactional) fits the required registration or sender approval processes.
How do I protect deliverability if engagement drops or a campaign goes wrong?
Both ActiveCampaign and Brevo rely on your sending practices to protect deliverability, so you should enforce list hygiene (confirmed opt-in where feasible), suppress unengaged contacts, and keep complaint rates low.
Operational safeguards include warming up new sending domains, monitoring bounces/complaints, and using segmentation to avoid blasting your entire file after major list imports or strategy changes.
What should I realistically expect from support when something breaks during a launch?
Support responsiveness depends on your plan level and the channel offered (ticket/chat/phone), so verify what access you get in ActiveCampaign versus Brevo before you’re in a time-sensitive situation.
For launch-critical work, keep internal runbooks and escalation steps (including integration owners and DNS/email authentication contacts) so you’re not blocked waiting for a single support response.
If my list and sending volume grow fast, will I hit scaling ceilings or operational bottlenecks?
Scaling issues typically show up as slower segmentation, longer processing times for large imports, and more careful deliverability management as volume increases; this can happen in either ActiveCampaign or Brevo depending on your usage pattern.
Plan for governance as you scale—naming conventions, permission controls, and a change process for automations—so you don’t accumulate conflicting segments and duplicate sends that become hard to debug at higher volume.
Final Thoughts
Our Recommendation
This decision is about how your team runs: a coordination-heavy revenue engine versus a lighter workflow that stays easy to operate week to week.
Choose ActiveCampaign when you manage multiple moving parts across teams and need a steady optimization cadence. It fits organizations that accept higher coordination overhead to keep programs aligned as complexity grows.
Choose Brevo when you want straightforward execution with predictable routines and minimal upkeep. It suits lean teams that prioritize consistency, clear handoffs, and low operational burden over constant iteration.
Once you map the choice to your internal cadence and ownership model, the answer becomes clear. Pick ActiveCampaign for complex, coordinated operations; pick Brevo for simple, stable workflows.