ActiveCampaign vs Brevo: Which Is Better in 2026?

At a glance

Quick answer

Both tools send newsletters, run automations and keep a contact database. The gap is in depth and in how they charge. ActiveCampaign goes further on automation and sales features; Brevo’s pricing model makes it far more forgiving when your list is large but you email it only now and then.

Pricing models

This is the biggest practical difference. ActiveCampaign prices by the number of contacts, so the bill grows as your list grows, even if you rarely send. There’s no free plan, only a free trial.

Brevo prices by the number of emails you send rather than how many contacts you store. That suits businesses with large lists and modest sending schedules. Brevo also has a free plan with a daily sending cap, which is enough to get started or to run a small newsletter.

Both are cheaper on yearly billing, and both put their best automation and CRM features on higher tiers. Model your own list size and sending frequency on each pricing page to see where the lines cross for you.

Ease of use

Brevo is the easier tool to get going with. The campaign editor is straightforward, templates are clean, and the interface covers the basics without many menus. A small business owner can send a first campaign quickly.

ActiveCampaign has more to learn because it does more. The automation builder is visual and well designed, but planning good journeys takes thought, and the CRM, tags, custom fields and scoring add layers. It rewards people who will invest time in setup.

That difference shows up over time, too. With Brevo, a simple setup tends to stay simple, which is exactly what many small businesses want. With ActiveCampaign, accounts tend to grow into a web of tags, lists and automations, so it’s worth agreeing on naming rules early. Both offer help centres, guides and onboarding resources to shorten the learning curve.

Core features

Automation

ActiveCampaign is one of the strongest email automation tools for small businesses. Journeys can branch on almost anything — opens, clicks, site visits, tags, deal stages — and a large library of recipes gives you starting points. Brevo’s automation handles welcome series, abandoned carts and simple branching well, but it isn’t as deep for complex logic.

Email campaigns

Both have drag-and-drop editors, templates, segmentation and A/B testing. ActiveCampaign adds more advanced personalisation and conditional content. Brevo stands out for transactional email: it offers an SMTP relay and API for order confirmations and password resets, so one provider can cover marketing and app emails.

CRM and sales

ActiveCampaign includes a CRM with deal pipelines, tasks and lead scoring, and automations can move deals and notify salespeople. That makes it a good fit for businesses where marketing hands leads to sales. Brevo has a lighter built-in CRM for contacts, deals and tasks, which is fine for simple follow-up.

Other channels

Brevo is broader across channels, with SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, chat and landing pages alongside email. ActiveCampaign also supports SMS and landing pages, but its focus stays on email and the customer journey around it.

Deliverability

Both are established senders with the standard tools for getting into inboxes: domain authentication, list hygiene features and options for dedicated sending IPs on higher tiers. In practice, your own list quality and sending habits matter more than the choice between these two.

Integrations

ActiveCampaign has a large integrations catalog covering ecommerce platforms, CRMs, webinar tools, form builders and Zapier, and its site tracking feeds behaviour back into automations. Brevo integrates with the main ecommerce and CMS platforms, including WordPress and Shopify, plus Zapier and a well-documented API.

For a typical online store or service business, both will connect to what you have. If you rely on niche sales or webinar tools, ActiveCampaign is more likely to have a native integration.

Which should you choose?

A practical rule: if you can describe the automations you want and they have more than a few branches, lean ActiveCampaign. If your plan is mainly regular newsletters and promotions, Brevo is likely to cost less for the same outcome. You can always start simple and move later.

Read our full ActiveCampaign review and Brevo review, or see ranked ActiveCampaign alternatives and Brevo alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

ActiveCampaign pros & cons

Brevo pros & cons