--- title: "Best Brevo Alternatives in 2026: Cheaper, Developer-Friendly and Open-Source Options" description: "The best Brevo (Sendinblue) alternatives of 2026 compared: Reloop, Mailchimp, Mailjet, Loops, Customer.io, Elastic Email and Listmonk on pricing, free tiers, automations, deliverability, inbound and self-hosting." canonical: "https://reloop.sh/blog/best-brevo-alternatives" last-updated: "2026-10-25" --- # Best Brevo Alternatives in 2026: Cheaper, Developer-Friendly and Open-Source Options > For the site documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Docs index: [llms-docs.txt](/llms-docs.txt). Marketing corpus: [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). Docs corpus: [llms-full-docs.txt](/llms-full-docs.txt). Product skill: [skill.md](/skill.md). Prefer markdown URLs (append `.md`) when available. > The best Brevo (Sendinblue) alternatives of 2026 compared: Reloop, Mailchimp, Mailjet, Loops, Customer.io, Elastic Email and Listmonk on pricing, free tiers, automations, deliverability, inbound and self-hosting. Source: https://reloop.sh/blog/best-brevo-alternatives Published: 2026-10-25 **The short version:** if developers own your email and you send real volume, **Reloop** is the best Brevo alternative: $10 for 50,000 emails where Brevo's entry plan is $9 for 5,000, automations on every plan, a dedicated IP at $20, and open source. If you want to stay with a marketer-first suite, **Mailjet** has a 6,000-a-month free tier and a strong editor. If you only need newsletters and can host them, **Listmonk** is free. We build Reloop, so factor that in. Every competitor fact below comes from our researched head-to-head posts, which link each provider's own pricing page, and each section says where that tool beats us. --- ## Why teams leave Brevo Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a capable all-in-one marketing suite. People usually look elsewhere for one of these reasons: 1. **The price climbs with volume.** Starter begins at $9 for 5,000 emails, and larger volumes are set on a slider. Professional starts at $499 a month for 150,000 emails. 2. **Automations need a higher plan.** Automations, A/B testing and advanced stats start on Standard, from $18. 3. **Dedicated IPs sit on the higher tiers**, and Brevo's shared IPs carry a lot of marketing mail alongside your password resets. 4. **It's built for marketers, not developers.** Inbound mail arrives as a webhook, not a mailbox, and there's no self-hosted option. If your team needs SMS, WhatsApp, live chat and a CRM in one bill, Brevo is still a good fit. We say when to stay at the end. --- ## Top picks at a glance | Category | Pick | Why | |---|---|---| | **Best overall for developer-led teams** | Reloop | $10 for 50k, automations on every plan, open source | | **Best for marketers on a free plan** | Mailjet | 6,000 emails a month free, strong editor | | **Best for marketers with small lists** | Mailchimp | Huge template library and integrations | | **Best lifecycle tool for SaaS** | Loops | Focused, polished onboarding flows | | **Best multi-channel engagement** | Customer.io | Journeys across email, push, in-app and SMS | | **Best budget no-code newsletters** | Elastic Email | Paid newsletters and checkouts built in | | **Best free self-hosted newsletter tool** | Listmonk | Single Go binary, bring your own SMTP | --- ## The comparison table | | Reloop | Mailjet | Mailchimp | Loops | Customer.io | Elastic Email (Marketing) | Listmonk | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | **Pricing basis** | Emails sent | Emails sent | Contacts stored | Contacts stored | Profiles stored | Contacts + emails | Free software + your SMTP | | **Free tier** | 6,000 / mo (200 / day) | 6,000 / mo (200 / day) | 250 contacts, 500 sends | 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends | No free plan listed | 1,000 contacts, 3,000 emails | Free (self-host) | | **Entry paid plan** | **$10 for 50,000 emails** | Starter $9 | $13 for 500 contacts | $49 / mo | $100 / mo (5,000 profiles) | $29 (2,500 contacts, 37,500 emails) | Server + SMTP cost | | **Automations** | Every plan | Premium plan | Yes | Yes (core focus) | Yes (Journeys) | Starter and Pro | No drip sequences | | **SMS** | No | No | No | No | Yes (priced separately) | No | No | | **Transactional API** | Yes | Yes | Mandrill add-on | Limited | Yes | Separate Email API product | Yes (`/api/tx`) | | **Inbound email** | Mailboxes, API, MCP, IMAP | Parse API | Via Mandrill routes | No | No | On the Email API Pro plan | No | | **Dedicated IP** | Included on Growth ($20) | Premium, on request | Mandrill add-on | No | Not listed | Email API add-on | Your SMTP provider's | | **Open source / self-host** | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No | No | No | No | No | Yes (AGPLv3) | Reloop's prices are on [reloop.sh/pricing](/pricing). Competitor prices come from each provider's pricing page, linked in our head-to-head posts. They all change; check before you commit. --- ## 1. Reloop: best overall for developer-led teams Reloop is open-source email infrastructure: a transactional API, SMTP relay, contacts, broadcast campaigns, event-triggered automations and inbound mailboxes in one product. Like Brevo, it charges for emails sent, not contacts stored, but each dollar goes much further. **Pricing:** Free is 6,000 emails a month (200 a day). Pro is $10 for 50,000. Growth is $20 for 100,000 and includes a dedicated IP. Extra mail costs $0.50 per 1,000, and pay-as-you-go credits cost the same $0.50 per 1,000 and stay valid for 6 months. Self-hosting is free under Apache 2.0. **Strengths** - **$10 buys 50,000 emails**, where $9 buys 5,000 on Brevo's Starter. - **Automations on every plan**, driven by events from your app: ```typescript const { automationError } = await reloop.automations.start({ event: "user.signed_up", email: user.email, firstName: user.name, properties: { plan: user.plan }, }); ``` - A dedicated IP included at $20 a month, so product mail doesn't share a pool with other senders' newsletters. - **Inbound mail as real mailboxes** with threads, readable over the API, the [MCP server](/docs/integrations/ai-tools/mcp-server) or IMAP, which suits support inboxes and AI agents. - Errors return `message`, `why` and `fix`, and there are SDKs in nine languages. - Reloop Cloud runs on Hetzner, a German hosting company, with EU data centers, which matters to many Brevo customers. Or [self-host](/self-host) it. **Weaknesses** - No SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, landing pages or sales CRM. - Brevo's visual builder and templates are more mature for marketers. - The free tier is smaller per day (200 vs 300). **Best for:** product teams that send from code and want lower prices, automations without a plan upgrade, and the option to self-host. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Brevo](/blog/reloop-vs-brevo) --- ## 2. Mailjet: best for marketers on a free plan [Mailjet](https://www.mailjet.com/) is the closest like-for-like swap for Brevo: a French-born platform, now owned by Sinch, doing marketing and transactional mail with a strong drag-and-drop editor. **Pricing:** free for 6,000 emails a month (200 a day). Starter is $9. Essential is $19 for 15,000 and $40 for 50,000; Premium is $29 for 15,000, $59 for 50,000, $112 for 100,000 and $265 for 250,000. **Strengths** - A 6,000-a-month free tier, the same as Reloop's, with a marketer-friendly editor. - A polished editor, brand kit, forms and landing pages. - Subaccounts for agencies and multi-brand teams. **Weaknesses** - Automations, team management and dedicated IPs need Premium. - No SMS or WhatsApp, unlike Brevo. - Inbound arrives through the Parse API as a webhook. **Best for:** marketers who want a Brevo-style editor with a larger free allowance. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Mailjet](/blog/reloop-vs-mailjet) --- ## 3. Mailchimp: best for marketers with small lists [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/) is the best-known marketing platform, with a mature builder, a huge template library and integrations with most small-business tools. **Pricing:** free for 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts, with monthly sends capped at 10× your contacts. Transactional email (Mandrill) is an add-on to Standard or Premium, billed in blocks of 25,000 emails. **Strengths** - The most extensive templates, landing pages, forms and integrations here. - Easy for non-technical teams. **Weaknesses** - Priced by contacts, so a large, quiet list gets expensive. Brevo's per-email model is often cheaper. - Transactional mail needs a separate add-on on a higher plan. - Hosted only. **Best for:** marketing teams with small lists who value integrations over price. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Mailchimp](/blog/reloop-vs-mailchimp) · [Best Mailchimp alternatives](/blog/best-mailchimp-alternatives) --- ## 4. Loops: best lifecycle tool for SaaS [Loops](https://loops.so/) is a focused tool for SaaS lifecycle email: onboarding flows, announcements and newsletters. **Pricing:** free for 1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends a month. Paid plans start at $49 a month, and 100,000 contacts costs $399 a month. **Strengths** - Lifecycle email is its whole product, and it shows. - Built around SaaS use cases rather than generic small business. **Weaknesses** - Priced by contacts. - Limited transactional API, no SMTP relay, no inbound email. - Hosted only. **Best for:** SaaS marketers with transactional mail already handled elsewhere. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Loops](/blog/reloop-vs-loops) --- ## 5. Customer.io: best multi-channel engagement [Customer.io](https://customer.io/) runs journeys across email, push, in-app messages and SMS, with deep segmentation. If you use Brevo for its multi-channel reach, this is the more powerful (and pricier) step up. **Pricing:** Essentials starts at $100 a month for 5,000 profiles and 1 million emails, then $0.009 per extra profile. Premium starts at $1,000 a month, billed annually. No free plan is listed. **Strengths** - Cross-channel journeys and deep segmentation. - A visual builder and Liquid templates that lifecycle teams can run alone. **Weaknesses** - Priced by profiles, and much more expensive than Brevo for large lists. - No SMTP relay and no inboxes for replies. **Best for:** growth teams with complex, multi-channel programs and the budget for them. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Customer.io](/blog/reloop-vs-customer-io) --- ## 6. Elastic Email: best budget no-code newsletters [Elastic Email](https://elasticemail.com/) sells an Email API and a separate Email Marketing app. **Pricing (Email Marketing):** free for up to 1,000 contacts and 3,000 emails a month. Starter is $29 for up to 2,500 contacts and 37,500 emails, with automations, paid newsletters and checkouts. Pro is $49 with unlimited automations, webhooks and sub-accounts. **Strengths** - A drag-and-drop designer and template gallery for non-technical users. - Paid newsletters and checkouts. **Weaknesses** - Marketing and transactional are separate products with separate plans. - Hosted only. **Best for:** creators and small businesses who want cheap newsletters, maybe paid ones. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Elastic Email](/blog/reloop-vs-elastic-email) --- ## 7. Listmonk: best free self-hosted newsletter tool [Listmonk](https://listmonk.app/) is an open-source newsletter manager (AGPLv3), a single Go binary plus Postgres that sends through an SMTP server you configure. **Pricing:** free software. You pay for a small server and your SMTP provider. **Strengths** - Very light, with SQL segmentation and several editors. - No per-contact or per-email software fees. **Weaknesses** - Needs an external SMTP provider for delivery. - No drip sequences, no inbound email, and you maintain it. **Best for:** technical teams that want free newsletters. Pair it with Reloop's SMTP relay for delivery. Full breakdown: [Reloop vs Listmonk](/blog/reloop-vs-listmonk) --- ## How to choose 1. **Do developers own your email, and do you send more than a few thousand a month?** → Reloop. 2. **Do you need SMS or push in the same journey, with deep segmentation?** → Customer.io (or stay on Brevo for SMS and WhatsApp on a smaller budget). 3. **Do you want a Brevo-style marketer suite with a bigger free tier?** → Mailjet. 4. **Is your list small and do you rely on integrations?** → Mailchimp. 5. **Do you want a focused SaaS lifecycle tool?** → Loops. 6. **Do you want cheap no-code newsletters with paid subscriptions?** → Elastic Email. 7. **Do you want free, self-hosted newsletters?** → Listmonk. ### When to stay on Brevo - You need email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat and a CRM in one bill. - Your marketing team runs everything visually without engineers. - You send a few hundred emails a day and the free plan's 300 a day covers you. --- ## Switching from Brevo 1. **Export contacts and suppressions**, including unsubscribed and blocklisted addresses, and import them as suppressed. 2. **Verify your domain** with the new provider. Merge its include into your existing SPF record rather than adding a second one. See our [SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide](/blog/spf-dkim-dmarc-setup-guide). 3. **Move templates.** Brevo uses `{{ params.first_name }}`. In Reloop, placeholders use triple braces: `{{{first_name}}}`. 4. **Recreate automations**, ideally triggered by events from your app. 5. **Ramp traffic** over one to two weeks and watch bounce and complaint rates. --- ## FAQ Yes. Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in 2023. Everything in this post applies to both names. At real volume, Reloop: $10 for 50,000 emails and $20 for 100,000 with a dedicated IP. Self-hosted Reloop or Listmonk cost only the server (plus an SMTP provider for Listmonk). Yes. Reloop (Apache 2.0) covers transactional mail, campaigns, automations and inbound mailboxes, hosted or self-hosted. Listmonk (AGPLv3) is a self-hosted newsletter manager. Customer.io supports SMS alongside email, push and in-app messages, with SMS priced separately. Reloop, Mailjet, Mailchimp, Loops, Elastic Email and Listmonk in this list are email-only. Yes. Reloop Cloud runs on Hetzner, a German hosting company, with EU data centers, and you can also self-host it on any EU server. Mailjet stores data in EU data centers too. See [best EU-hosted email APIs](/blog/eu-email-api-providers-2026).