ActiveCampaign vs Brevo
Both are email marketing tools aimed at creators, coaches and small businesses. They differ most on free plan, value for money and email deliverability.
At a glance
| ActiveCampaign | Brevo | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 60/100 | 71/100 Higher |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Paid from | $15/mo (about £11.35) per month, billed annually | £6/mo (about $7.93) monthly; £5.42/mo billed yearly; from 5,000 emails a month |
| Positioning | automation platform | multi channel |
| Launched | — | — |
| Best for | Businesses whose email depends on detailed automation and segmentation, and that expect to grow into a CRM. | Small businesses that want a free or very cheap start and would rather pay by sending volume than list size. |
Where each one leads
| Dimension | ActiveCampaign | Brevo | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1/5 | 4/5 | Brevo |
| Ease of use | 3/5 | 4/5 | Brevo |
| Breadth of features | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
| Value for money | 3/5 | 5/5 | Brevo |
| Email deliverability | 4/5 | 3/5 | ActiveCampaign |
| Selling products | 2/5 | 2/5 | Tie |
| Course hosting | 1/5 | 1/5 | Tie |
| Automation | 5/5 | 4/5 | ActiveCampaign |
| Support | 3/5 | 3/5 | Tie |
Scores are 1–5 per dimension. ActiveCampaign leads on 2 dimensions, Brevo on 3. The overall figure weights these for email marketing generally — see methodology.
Pricing
Plans are listed per tool rather than paired row by row — tiers rarely line up, and putting one vendor's second plan beside another's implies an equivalence that is not there.
| Tool | Plan | Per month | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveCampaign | Starter | $15 | per month, billed annually |
| Plus | $49 | per month, billed annually | |
| Pro | $79 | per month, billed annually | |
| Enterprise | $145 | per month, billed annually | |
| Brevo | Free | Free | — |
| Starter | £6 | monthly; £5.42/mo billed yearly; from 5,000 emails a month | |
| Standard | £13 | monthly; £11.67/mo billed yearly | |
| Professional | £429 | monthly; £386.25/mo billed yearly; from 150,000 emails a month |
Pricing checked 24 September 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page. ActiveCampaign: Billed in USD. Prices are for 1,000 contacts on annual billing; the pricing page does not show monthly-billing prices. Brevo: Shown to UK visitors in GBP. Priced by emails sent each month rather than by contacts; yearly billing saves 10%. Where the two bill in different currencies, conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate.
Verdict
ActiveCampaign
- +Unlimited automation actions from the Plus plan, with more than 950 ready-made automation recipes.
- +Plus adds landing pages, at $49 a month for 1,000 contacts on annual billing.
- +A 14-day free trial, and a promise of your money back if you see no results in 30 days.
- −No free plan, and published prices are for annual billing only.
- −Starter limits each automation to 5 actions and one user.
Brevo
- +A free plan that never expires and needs no credit card, with up to 300 emails a day.
- +Standard, at £13 a month, adds unlimited automated workflows and A/B testing and removes the Brevo footer.
- +Email, SMS and transactional messages from one account, priced in pounds for UK customers.
- −Plans are priced by emails sent each month rather than by contacts.
- −On Starter, removing the Brevo logo costs £7.20 a month extra.
Common questions
Is ActiveCampaign cheaper than Brevo?
ActiveCampaign starts at $15/mo (about £11.35; per month, billed annually), and Brevo starts at £6/mo (about $7.93; monthly; £5.42/mo billed yearly; from 5,000 emails a month) — so Brevo is the cheaper entry point. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate. Compare what each includes at that tier, and what it renews at, rather than the headline figure alone.
Does ActiveCampaign or Brevo have a free plan?
ActiveCampaign has no free plan, and Brevo has a free plan.
Which is better, ActiveCampaign or Brevo?
On our weighted scoring across the use cases in this category, Brevo comes out ahead overall. The honest answer is that it depends on the use case — the tables above break the score down by dimension so you can weight it to your own priorities.
Other comparisons
Sources & verification
- api.frankfurter.app — checked 24 September 2026European Central Bank reference rate, published via Frankfurter.
- activecampaign.com — checked 24 September 2026No free plan; a 14-day free trial.
- brevo.com — checked 24 September 2026Free forever with no credit card; up to 300 emails a day once the account is approved for sending.