Brevo vs CiviCRM: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Brevo and CiviCRM to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Brevo
6.9/10
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is a multichannel marketing platform for email, SMS, WhatsApp, automation and transactional messaging, with a built-in sales CRM for small and mid-sized businesses.
CiviCRM
6.6/10
Open-source CRM built for nonprofits and advocacy groups, covering contacts, donations, memberships, events, email marketing and case management.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.9/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 3/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9/mo Starter | $15/mo Spark Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $499/mo Professional | Free Self-hosted (open source) |
| Features | ||
| Collaboration | Not listed | |
| Contact Management | Not listed | |
| Customer Support Management | Not listed | |
| Integrations | Not listed | |
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
| Reporting & Analytics | Not listed | |
| More features | ||
| Landing Pages | Not listed | |
| SMS Marketing | Not listed | |
| E-commerce Features | Not listed | |
| Email Marketing | Not listed | |
| Segmentation | Not listed | |
| A/B Testing | Not listed | |
Brevo vs CiviCRM cost by team size
Brevo and CiviCRM cost the same at 1 user; CiviCRM costs less from 5 to 10 users.
| Team size | Brevo | CiviCRM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 5 users | $499/moProfessional | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 10 users | $499/moProfessional | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | FreeSelf-hosted (open source) |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Brevo
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Support score (5/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for startups (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for small business (9/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose CiviCRM
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $499/mo
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Cost score (9/10 vs 8/10)
Pros & Cons
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.
CiviCRM
Pros
- The core software is free and open source under the AGPL, so there are no licence fees whatever the number of users or contacts.
- Donations, memberships, events, CiviMail email and case management all come in one nonprofit-focused system.
- It runs inside WordPress, Drupal and Joomla, so data is shared between the website and the CRM.
- Every Spark hosted plan allows unlimited users, starting at $15 per month.
- A large extension ecosystem and an active community make it highly customisable.
Cons
- Reviewers consistently describe the interface as dated and clunky.
- Self-hosted setup and customisation usually need a developer, which adds hidden costs.
- The open-source project offers no dedicated vendor customer service. Help comes from community forums or paid partners.
- Spark plans cap contacts at 5,000 to 10,000 and limit integrations and customisation.
- It has no sales pipeline or opportunity tooling for commercial sales teams.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Brevo scores higher on our CRM criteria: 6.9/10 against 6.6/10 for CiviCRM. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 8/10 for Brevo and 3/10 for CiviCRM.
CiviCRM costs less for 10 users: free on its Self-hosted (open source) plan, against about $499/mo on its Professional plan for Brevo, billed monthly.
Yes, both Brevo and CiviCRM have a free plan.
Brevo is the better fit for startups: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 4/10 for CiviCRM.
