Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue) vs SendGrid: All-in-One Marketing Platform or Developer Email API?
Sendinblue is now called Brevo: the company announced the rebrand from Sendinblue to Brevo on 4 May 2023, and sendinblue.com now redirects to brevo.com. Most people still search for Sendinblue vs SendGrid or SendGrid vs Sendinblue, so this guide uses both names. The two tools are less alike than the search suggests. Brevo is a marketing platform for non-technical teams: email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, push, a free CRM and transactional email in one account, priced by the emails you send. Twilio SendGrid is email infrastructure for developers: an Email API and SMTP relay that your product uses to send receipts, password resets and alerts, with newsletters sold as a separate Marketing Campaigns product. We checked plans, prices, free options and features on brevo.com and on Twilio's SendGrid pricing pages in November 2026.
Quick answer: pick Brevo if you are a founder or a small marketing team that wants newsletters, automations, SMS and a light CRM without a developer, plus your app's transactional emails in the same account: the free plan sends up to 300 emails a day with no time limit, and Starter costs $9 a month on monthly billing. Pick SendGrid if a developer is wiring email into your product and you need volume, dedicated IPs, email validation and detailed sending logs: the Email API has a 60-day free trial (100 emails a day), then Essentials from $19.95 a month and Pro from $89.95. SendGrid no longer shows a permanent free plan among its plans, which is the biggest change since this comparison was first written.
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Brevo vs SendGrid Pricing and Features Compared
Sources: brevo.com/pricing (default Yearly view, euros shown from our location), Brevo's official pricing.md for US dollar list prices (generated 29 September 2026), brevo.com/pricing/see-all-features, twilio.com Email API and Marketing Campaigns pricing pages (default view, US dollars), checked 12 November 2026. Prices exclude VAT or sales tax.
Brevo is cheaper to start, and it keeps a free plan after the first two months, while SendGrid's free option ends after 60 days. The comparison is not quite like for like, though: one Brevo plan covers campaigns and transactional email, while SendGrid sells the Email API and Marketing Campaigns separately and counts their sends separately. A startup that needs both from SendGrid pays for two plans, for example $15 plus $19.95 a month at the entry level. Move the sliders on both pricing pages to your own volume before you decide.
Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue): Marketing, Messaging and CRM in One Account
Brevo calls itself one AI-powered customer platform for marketing and sales, covering email marketing, SMS, WhatsApp and more, and says more than 600,000 customers use it. For a SendGrid comparison the key point is that every Brevo plan, including Free, also sends transactional email: its transactional email service offers a REST API with official SDKs for PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, Go, Java and C#, an SMTP relay, webhooks and inbound parsing, and can send order updates by SMS and WhatsApp too.
Plans (checked November 2026; default view Yearly, in euros from our location; US list prices on monthly billing in brackets):
- Free: free forever with no credit card. Once Brevo approves your account you can send up to 300 emails a day and store up to 100,000 contacts, with 1 user, email support, SMS campaigns (credits extra) and transactional email by API or SMTP.
- Starter, EUR 6.33 a month billed yearly ($9 monthly): from 5,000 emails a month, email and SMS campaigns, drag-and-drop editor, templates, AI content generator, MCP for ChatGPT and Claude, advanced segmentation, forms and basic reports. One user.
- Standard, EUR 13.50 ($18): unlimited automated workflows, A/B testing, click heatmaps and device reports, AI send-time optimisation, web and event tracking and 1 landing page; up to 3 users as an add-on. Brevo marks it most popular.
- Professional, EUR 449.08 ($499): from 150,000 emails a month, WhatsApp campaigns and transactional WhatsApp, popups, mobile and web push, 10 seats, contact scoring, phone support and a dedicated IP as an add-on.
- Enterprise: custom price for companies with 1M+ contacts, with several brands under one account, a dedicated IP included and SSO.
What the Brevo pricing page, the full feature list and Brevo's official pricing file add: automations on Free and Starter work for up to 2,000 contacts, and the unlimited version starts on Standard. On paid plans the number of contacts you may store depends on your email tier: the pricing file lists 500 contacts at the 5,000-email tier, 1,500 at 10,000 emails, 2,500 at 15,000 emails and up to 500,000 from 20,000 emails a month on Starter and Standard. Pay-as-you-go email credits are also available and do not expire, which suits founders who send rarely.
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Twilio SendGrid: Email API and SMTP Relay for Developers
SendGrid is part of Twilio, and sendgrid.com now redirects to Twilio's site with the message that SendGrid and Twilio have moved in together on twilio.com. Twilio says the platform delivers more than 200 billion emails every month. SendGrid is built to be called from code: your app or website hands each email to the API or SMTP relay, and SendGrid handles authentication (SPF and DKIM), bounces, suppressions, IP warm-up and statistics. There is no CRM, SMS or WhatsApp inside SendGrid's plans; those are separate Twilio products.
Email API plans (checked November 2026; default view, US dollars):
- Free Trial, $0 a month for 60 days: send 100 emails a day with no credit card; analytics, deliverability tools and the dynamic template editor are included, with 1 teammate, 1 event webhook and 3 days of searchable email activity.
- Essentials, from $19.95 a month: core sending, tracking and deliverability tools; Twilio points senders of 50,000 to 100,000 emails a month here. 1 teammate, 2 event webhooks, 3 days of email activity.
- Pro, from $89.95 a month: 1 dedicated IP included (more as an add-on), subuser management, single sign-on, 2,500 email validations, 60 email testing credits a month, up to 1,000 teammates and 7 days of email activity.
- Premier: custom pricing for custom volume, with 5,000 email validations and expert program management.
Marketing Campaigns plans (bought separately): the Marketing Campaigns pricing page lists a 60-day Free Trial (100 contacts and 100 emails a day, which cannot be exceeded), Basic from $15 a month (5,000 contacts and 15,000 emails, no automation), Advanced from $60 a month (10,000 contacts and 50,000 emails, with automation and dedicated IP access) and Custom. Emails sent through Marketing Campaigns are counted separately from Email API sends. The Email API pricing page adds that overage charges may apply if you send past your plan, and lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliance and EU data residency in its security table. One older FAQ answer on the Marketing Campaigns page still describes a free plan with 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month; the plan table itself now shows the 60-day trial.
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SendGrid vs Brevo: Feature by Feature
Free plan or free trial
Brevo's free plan has no end date: up to 300 emails a day after account approval, 100,000 stored contacts and transactional email included. SendGrid's free option is a 60-day trial at 100 emails a day for the Email API, and another 60-day trial with 100 contacts for Marketing Campaigns. For a side project or a pre-launch waitlist, Brevo Free lasts longer.
Transactional email from your app
Both send password resets, receipts and sign-up confirmations through an API or SMTP. SendGrid goes deeper for engineering teams: client libraries, event webhooks on every plan, an email validation API, subusers and dedicated IPs on Pro. Brevo covers the basics on every plan, adds transactional SMS and, from Professional, transactional WhatsApp, and lets a marketer edit the same templates in its editor.
Newsletters and automation
This is Brevo's home ground: campaigns, segments, forms and, from Standard, unlimited multi-step workflows across email and SMS. SendGrid's Marketing Campaigns tool sends newsletters too, but it is sold separately and automation starts on the Advanced plan at $60 a month.
Channels and CRM
Brevo includes SMS on every plan (credits bought separately), WhatsApp and push from Professional, and a free sales pipeline with up to 50 open deals. SendGrid stays with email; Twilio sells SMS and WhatsApp as different products with their own pricing.
Deliverability and scale
SendGrid is built for volume: Twilio points senders scaling into the millions to Pro, which includes a dedicated IP and 2,500 email validations, and its deliverability table lists dedicated IP pooling and automated IP warm-up. Brevo offers a dedicated IP as an add-on on Professional and includes one on Enterprise. Neither number tells you your inbox rate: authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) on whichever tool you choose and watch your bounce and complaint rates.
What Changed Since the 2026 Version of This Comparison
- The name: the old title said Sendinblue. The company has been Brevo since May 2023, and its plans now cover SMS, WhatsApp, push and a CRM next to email.
- SendGrid's free plan: the old text promised 100 free emails a day for good. The plan table now shows a 60-day Free Trial at 100 emails a day.
- Prices: the old text quoted Brevo from $25 a month for 40,000 emails. Brevo Starter is now $9 a month for 5,000 emails (EUR 6.33 billed yearly from Europe); SendGrid Email API Essentials starts at $19.95 and Marketing Campaigns Basic at $15.
- SendGrid's home: sendgrid.com now redirects to twilio.com, where the pricing pages live.
- Removed: the unsourced "deliverability of nearly 80%" figure, "winner" verdicts, generic "common mistakes" filler and third-party review links.
Brevo or SendGrid: Which Should You Choose?
- You have no developer and want newsletters, automations and a simple CRM: Brevo.
- Your app needs password resets, receipts and alerts, and a developer will integrate it: SendGrid Email API, or Brevo if volumes are small and you want one account for everything.
- You need SMS or WhatsApp next to email: Brevo, or Twilio's separate messaging products if your team already builds on Twilio.
- You send hundreds of thousands of app emails a month and care about dedicated IPs and validation: SendGrid Pro.
- You want a free option that does not expire: Brevo Free.
- You run an online shop: compare Omnisend vs Brevo and Omnisend vs SendGrid.
- You want automation-first marketing with a CRM priced by contacts: read ActiveCampaign vs Brevo.
More Brevo and SendGrid Comparisons
More Brevo (Sendinblue) comparisons: Brevo vs MailerLite, Omnisend vs Brevo, ActiveCampaign vs Brevo, Sendinblue vs Mailgun and HubSpot vs Sendinblue. More SendGrid comparisons: SendGrid vs Constant Contact, Omnisend vs SendGrid, SendGrid vs Mailgun, SendGrid vs MailerLite, HubSpot vs SendGrid and SendGrid vs Sendinblue (2026 version). For another developer email API, see Mailchimp vs Mailgun; for B2B automation tied to Salesforce, Mailchimp vs Pardot. Other head-to-heads: Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo vs Constant Contact and Constant Contact vs MailerLite. For more free options see the free Mailchimp alternatives, and to run email on your own server, the open-source Mailchimp alternatives.
How Founders Use Brevo or SendGrid to Get Customers
Most early startups need two kinds of email: the ones a person writes (a launch announcement, a weekly update, a sales follow-up) and the ones the product sends on its own (a welcome email, a login code, a receipt). Brevo puts both in one place for a non-technical founder; SendGrid gives a technical founder the sending engine and leaves the marketing side to another tool. Our email marketing tips for startups and the list of email marketing tools for startups cover the first steps. Before you spend on promotion, validate your startup idea.
Grow the list from social media with the schedulers in Loomly vs Sendible, and keep track of which AI assistants mention you with the AI visibility tracking tools. Newsletters are easier to fill when they point to good articles. The F/MS AI SEO Tool writes articles from your keywords that are built to rank on Google and to be cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity; link them from your Brevo campaigns or SendGrid Marketing Campaigns. F/MS Marketing Services help you get backlinks and guest posts that build your authority.
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FAQ: Brevo (Sendinblue) vs SendGrid
Is Sendinblue the same as Brevo?
Yes. Sendinblue announced its rebrand to Brevo on 4 May 2023, and sendinblue.com now redirects to brevo.com. The product kept growing from email into SMS, WhatsApp, push and a CRM.
Where can I submit a guest post about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Get a quality backlink.
Does SendGrid still have a free plan?
Its pricing pages now show a 60-day Free Trial: 100 emails a day on the Email API, and 100 contacts and 100 emails a day on Marketing Campaigns, with no credit card (checked November 2026). An older FAQ answer on the Marketing Campaigns page still mentions a free plan of 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails a month, but the plan table shows the trial.
Which is cheaper, Brevo or SendGrid?
To start, Brevo: the free plan does not expire and Starter costs $9 a month on monthly billing, while SendGrid's Email API Essentials starts at $19.95 and Marketing Campaigns Basic at $15. If you need both newsletters and app emails, Brevo covers them in one plan and SendGrid needs two.
Can Brevo send transactional emails like SendGrid?
Yes. Every Brevo plan, including Free, includes transactional email through a REST API with official SDKs, an SMTP relay and webhooks. SendGrid adds more tools for engineering teams, such as email validation, subusers and dedicated IPs on Pro.
Is SendGrid good for email marketing for small businesses?
It can be, through its separate Marketing Campaigns product, but automation starts on the $60 Advanced plan and there is no CRM, SMS or WhatsApp. Small businesses without a developer usually find Brevo easier.
Which is better for developers?
SendGrid. It is built around the Email API and SMTP relay, with client libraries, event webhooks, an email validation API, subuser management and single sign-on on Pro.
Does either include SMS or WhatsApp?
Brevo does: SMS campaigns on every plan with credits bought separately, and WhatsApp from Professional. SendGrid's plans are email only; Twilio sells SMS and WhatsApp as separate products.
Do I need a credit card to try them?
No. Brevo's free plan needs only an email address and an organisation name. SendGrid's 60-day trials also need no credit card.
What other tools should I compare?
For app emails, Mailgun; for automation and a CRM priced by contacts, ActiveCampaign; for ecommerce, Omnisend or Klaviyo; for simple newsletters, MailerLite or Constant Contact; for free and self-hosted options, our free and open-source Mailchimp alternatives lists.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
