ActiveCampaign vs Brevo Comparison

Why choose ActiveCampaign

• Higher Customization score (7/10 vs 6/10)
• Higher Integration score (8/10 vs 7/10)
• Better fit for agencies (6/10 vs 4/10)
• Better fit for marketing teams (9/10 vs 7/10)

Why choose Brevo

• Has a free plan (ActiveCampaign does not)
• Higher Cost score (8/10 vs 5/10)
• Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
• Better fit for startups (8/10 vs 6/10)

ActiveCampaign

Pros

• Every plan, including Starter, has multi-step automation and AI campaign builders, so small teams can run nurture sequences cheaply.
• Pro adds predictive sending, conditional content and attribution tracking at a list price of about 79 USD a month for 1,000 contacts on annual billing.
• Enterprise covers compliance-heavy buyers with SSO, HIPAA support, custom objects and a Salesforce integration.
• Review sites rate it highly, at about 4.4 on G2 from around 14,700 reviews and 4.6 on Capterra.
• iOS and Android apps let users create and manage deals, assign tasks and log calls on the go.

Cons

• Pricing is tied to contact count and rises sharply as lists grow, and there is no permanent free plan.
• Deal pipelines and inbox sales email cost extra through CRM add-ons, which adds a lot to the total cost for sales teams.
• Starter allows only 5 actions per automation and 1 user, and it has no landing pages.
• Reviewers often mention a steep learning curve and slow support on lower tiers.
• Reporting customisation is limited, and deals cannot be exported without the API.

Brevo

Pros

• The free plan sends 300 emails a day and allows up to 100,000 contacts, which is generous for testing the product or for very small lists.
• Pricing is based mainly on how many emails you send, so businesses with large lists that email rarely can keep costs low.
• Transactional email through an API and SMTP, outbound webhooks and a Zapier connector are included on every plan, including Free.
• Email, SMS, WhatsApp, push, live chat and a sales CRM are available from one vendor.

Cons

• On Starter and Standard, the lowest send tiers cap contacts at 500 to 2,500, which can force earlier upgrades.
• Pop-ups, contact scoring, WhatsApp, inbound webhooks and phone support all require Professional, which starts at $499 a month.
• Many reviewers on Capterra and Trustpilot report sudden account suspensions with unclear reasons and slow reinstatement.
• SMS and WhatsApp are billed as prepaid credits on top of the plan price, and the CRM is a separate purchase.