Brevo vs SendGrid: Which is the best platform for email marketing and automation campaigns?

When looking for a good email marketing and automation platform, sooner or later two names come up: Brevo (formerly known as Sendinblue) and SendGrid. And no, it's not a coincidence. Both have been competing for years to be the favorite option for small and medium businesses that want to send campaigns, automate communications, and improve the relationship with their customers.

We often wonder whether it’s better to choose an all-in-one tool, like Brevo, or if it’s better to pick a solution focused on reliable and large-scale email delivery, like SendGrid. These two solutions promise to make email marketing management easier, but they approach it very differently, and that makes a difference in day-to-day use.

Both platforms excel in their areas and are very much alive in the market, but not everyone needs the same thing; depending on your type of business, your team, and how you use emails, one of the two will be more practical for you. In this article, we will help you see which one fits you better.

Brevo and SendGrid: What Each Marketing Automation Tool Is and What It’s For

Brevo is an email marketing and automation platform designed for businesses looking to manage all their digital communications from a single place. It was previously called Sendinblue, so you might know it by that name. With Brevo, you can create email campaigns, automate sending, manage contacts, and even work with SMS, WhatsApp, forms, or chat on the website, being mainly oriented towards small and medium-sized businesses that want to save time and simplify processes. Brevo integrates CRM, automation features, support, and customizable templates, positioning itself as a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution to manage different communication channels.

On the other hand, SendGrid is a solution originally developed to send large volumes of transactional emails with total reliability. The solution was born in 2019 and since then has been part of the Twilio group, a powerful technology company specializing in communications for businesses. SendGrid became very popular because it ensures that important emails always reach the inbox, something critical for online stores, platforms, and digital services.

What is each one for? Brevo stands out when we want to centralize marketing, sales, and customer service, because it does everything in a single platform, including campaigns, automations, CRM, chats, and more. Additionally, it facilitates the management and strengthening of customer relationships, allowing a more effective and personalized follow-up. Therefore, if you have a non-technical team or prefer "all-in-one" solutions, Brevo is very visually accessible and designed to save time from day one, even if you have no prior experience in digital marketing.

SendGrid, on the other hand, is widely used among technical teams and developers, especially when sending automated emails is a crucial aspect of the business. Its strength lies in the robustness of its API and its ability to manage millions of emails each month, with very reliable delivery metrics and many customization tools, but without getting distracted by extras that are not essential for mass sending.

Brevo: All-in-one platform for marketing, sales, and automation

Brevo aims to simplify digital marketing and customer management in one place. Its drag-and-drop editor is very intuitive and allows easy creation of email campaigns. It includes more than 40 email templates, A/B testing, and optimized sending by schedule. Additionally, it enables advanced content personalization, including dynamic content to tailor each message to the recipient's interests. Brevo’s applications are cloud-hosted, allowing campaign and communication management from anywhere. It also offers visual automations ranging from reactive emails to personalized sequences based on user behavior.

One of the major strengths of the former Sendinblue is that it integrates different channels at no additional cost in many plans, such as transactional emails (via SMTP), SMS, WhatsApp, website chat, and even a basic CRM to keep track of contacts and sales opportunities. All of this is managed from a simple and well-organized dashboard, designed for small and medium teams.

User experience stands out for its low learning curve, according to most reviews on portals like SoftwareReviews and Research.com, where Brevo achieves a 9 out of 10 average rating. Many users particularly appreciate how easy it is to unify email marketing, CRM, and other features without needing to be a technical expert.

As a new feature in 2025, Brevo has incorporated artificial intelligence capabilities to create more effective subject lines and marketing texts, and its integration system with WordPress, Shopify, Prestashop, and other services is increasingly comprehensive. Its goal is to let you manage all your digital marketing with the fewest clicks possible.

Pros and cons of Brevo

SendGrid: Deliverability and Reliability Guarantee for Your Transactional Emails

SendGrid excels when the priority is that emails definitely reach the inbox. Its specialty is transactional email, managing automatic messages such as order confirmations, password resets, and critical notifications. SendGrid allows sending transactional emails and automated emails efficiently, facilitating communication with users in key processes.

In addition to the API, SendGrid offers a visual editor with more than 60 adaptive templates for email marketing campaigns, although here it does not reach the level of flexibility or automation of Brevo. Even so, it allows A/B testing and offers basic segmentation functions, but what truly sets it apart is the quality and reliability of its sending infrastructure.

The platform is highly rated for its scalability and support for companies with advanced technical needs. In rankings from portals like Moosend or SoftwareReviews, it usually scores around 8.7 out of 10, with positive comments regarding its robustness and deliverability analysis. Additionally, reports on deliveries, bounces, or spam problems help maintain control at all times.

SendGrid also shines in critical email delivery, advanced authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and integration with systems through API, allowing the sending of automatic updates and notifications to users. Furthermore, recent updates to the platform have improved the user experience and added new functionalities, making the service even more competitive. Therefore, if your priority is to ensure that millions of messages reach recipients every month without issues, SendGrid is for you.

Pros and cons of SendGrid

Subscription Plans and Pricing

Choosing the right platform always involves taking a good look at its subscription plans and pricing, as each business has very different needs and budgets.

Below we clearly provide all the information about plans, pricing, and subscriptions for Brevo and SendGrid in 2025. Here you will find out what you get in each plan, from the most basic to the most complete.

Brevo Plans and Pricing

SendGrid Plans and Pricing

Other considerations

Brevo continues to stand out by offering a quite generous free plan that allows sending up to 300 emails per day and has no contact limits. This option is ideal for businesses that are just starting or for those who send emails occasionally. SendGrid, on the other hand, no longer offers a permanent free plan, and you can only access a 30-day free trial that allows sending up to 2,000 emails during that first month. Afterwards, you need to switch to one of their paid plans.

Regarding payment mode, both platforms offer the possibility to pay monthly or annually. Choosing an annual payment usually means a small discount in both cases, although with nuances: while Brevo's website makes it quite clear, in SendGrid it depends on the type of solution contracted and must be checked for advanced or customized plans.

About refund or return guarantees, the difference is clear: Brevo does not grant refunds except in very specific cases, although European law allows withdrawal in the first 14 days if the service has not been started. SendGrid, for its part, only accepts refunds if the service has not been used that month and you meet several technical conditions, without a fixed deadline and needing to request it case by case.

Brevo vs SendGrid: Direct Comparison

What do both tools do well?

Before going into details about what distinguishes them, it is worth recognizing that both Brevo and SendGrid effectively address several key needs of any company working with email marketing and automation:

• Mass email sending: Both allow managing large volumes of emails, both in campaigns and automatic sends, including email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Ads.
• High deliverability: Both have a solid reputation for getting emails into the inbox and avoiding spam.
• Visual campaign editor: They include intuitive editors that facilitate the creation of attractive emails without programming knowledge, allowing the design of personalized campaigns.
• A/B testing: They allow experimenting with subject lines, content, and timing to improve campaign results.
• Contact segmentation: They offer options to organize and customize sends based on audience or behavior.
• Results analysis and click tracking: They provide detailed reports on campaign performance, including tracking clicks on email links to analyze contact interaction.
• Integrations with external tools: Both easily connect with popular platforms such as CRMs, ecommerce, or analytics systems, and allow customizing campaigns and automations according to user behavior on the website.
• Multichannel support: They provide technical support through various channels (ticket, chat, or phone, depending on the plan).

In what way does one clearly surpass the other?

Why look for alternatives to Brevo or Sendgrid?

Although both Brevo and SendGrid address many needs of modern email marketing, no software is perfect. There are reasons why some users might consider looking for alternatives, whether due to specific limitations, the type of team, or simply because they expect more from their platform. Let's look at the main drawbacks of each option.

Brevo: Limits in Advanced Reporting and CRM

One of the most common comments about Brevo is that, although its dashboard is very intuitive, the advanced reporting section can be somewhat limited for those looking for very detailed analysis. If you manage large volumes of campaigns or need to break down data thoroughly, Brevo may not offer the granularity of other more specialized tools, like SendGrid, especially in technical deliverability metrics.

On the other hand, the CRM included in Brevo is very practical for small teams, but it has a very basic approach, as it does not reach the depth or segmentation and automation options provided by dedicated CRMs, so if your company needs thorough tracking of opportunities and clients, Brevo’s CRM will probably fall short. Additionally, the mobile experience is not as complete as the desktop version, which can be very frustrating if you usually work from mobile.

Regarding pricing, although the free plan is quite generous, some key features (such as removing the Brevo logo, SMS, or WhatsApp) require paying extras. Also, some users have pointed out that support is slower on entry-level plans, which can be an issue if you depend on the service for important campaigns and have low tolerance for waiting.

SendGrid: Less visual experience and technical barrier

Although SendGrid is unbeatable in volume and deliverability, it is clearly aimed at technical profiles and companies with developers. This means that, to get the most out of it, you will need certain integration and API knowledge. Therefore, if your team does not have this profile, the day-to-day can be more difficult and less intuitive than with platforms like Brevo, where everything is more visual and guided.

The other big challenge lies in marketing automation. In SendGrid, automations are very basic and do not offer complex visual flows or multichannel options like Brevo does, thus limiting creativity or the ability to customize more sophisticated campaigns. Also, CRM or customer management options simply do not exist, so you will need external integrations if you seek that level of control.

Finally, SendGrid's pricing model can scale quickly if your sending volume grows or if you need premium options like dedicated IPs. Added to this is the disappearance of the free plan, which makes the platform less accessible for those who just want to try it or start slowly, and forces payment even to run tests.

Alternatives to Brevo and SendGrid

If Brevo or SendGrid don’t quite fit what you’re looking for, there are various marketing tools on the market that can be an option compared to these platforms. Below we share the alternatives we like the most in the world of email marketing and automation:

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is usually the most popular option for those who value ease of use and creativity, as its interface is designed for anyone, with very attractive templates and visual automations that encourage you to experiment without fear. Many also choose it because it integrates wonderfully with online stores, social networks, and a bunch of applications, so you can set up a pretty complete ecosystem effortlessly.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is the favorite for those who want to take automation and personalization a step further, allowing the creation of advanced workflows and highly detailed segmentations to reach exactly the audience you are looking for. If your thing is coordinating emails, SMS, and other actions in a single tool, with this solution you will find much more flexibility than with Brevo or SendGrid, although you will likely need to invest some time at the beginning to learn how to use it.

Mailjet

Mailjet stands out among those who need to collaborate in teams and want very detailed control over deliverability, but without the technical complications of SendGrid. The solution features a real-time collaborative editor which is a great advantage and makes managing permissions or reviews among several people easy. It is also often favored by those looking for a European platform, with competitive prices and good compatibility with privacy and GDPR, something that is of vital importance for some companies.

Brevo / SendGrid: Which one is better for you?

The choice between Brevo and SendGrid largely depends on how you work and what you really need in your day-to-day. If you have a marketing team, a 360 agency, or you create content campaigns and want a centralized environment, Brevo fits perfectly because it allows you to manage emails, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, and even a simple CRM without complicating your life or relying on a technical profile. On the other hand, if your case is more technical and you need to send notifications, transactional emails, or automatic invoices from your website or app, SendGrid will give you much more reliability and control.

Budget also plays an important role. If you have tight resources or simply don't want to overspend initially, Brevo lets you start for free and keep costs low even on the first paid plans, and you can scale up only when you need to. SendGrid, on the other hand, requires moving to a paid plan from the start, and although it scales well, extras can make the bill grow quickly as volume increases.

Team size or technical level is another key factor. For small teams, startups, or businesses without a developer profile, Brevo is much more accessible and less intimidating because almost everything works by dragging and dropping elements, without codes or complex setups. However, if your company has developers or a strong IT team, SendGrid allows customization and automation of sends with its API, reaching a level of control hard to match by other platforms.

Finally, if you have big growth goals and want to scale quickly in different areas, the decision depends on which channel will be the heart of your business. If you expect to grow a lot in marketing, sales, and multichannel communication, Brevo supports you throughout that journey and saves you from having separate tools. But if your biggest challenge is ensuring delivery of millions of critical emails and you seek a solution for large volumes, SendGrid is the safe bet to avoid failures in the inbox.

Verdict: Brevo or SendGrid?

Choosing between Brevo and SendGrid is not a matter of which is more "powerful," but which fits better with your way of working. We have tested and analyzed both, and the overall impression is that, although both perform well, each has its favorite field and ideal audience.

Brevo seems like a very user-friendly tool for marketing and sales teams that want to centralize everything without confusion, because it makes things easy, is visual, and allows you to do a lot on a small budget. If you’re looking for a solution that doesn’t require technical knowledge, this option is hard to go wrong with.

SendGrid, on the other hand, is more designed for those who need to send emails at large scale, with maximum reliability and advanced integration options. If your company has technical profiles or depends on critical emails, you will likely find it very convenient and have the extra peace of mind that everything arrives where it should.

Even so, if you still have doubts, our advice is very simple: try them, even if just with their entry plans or free trials/plans. In the end, every project and every team is unique, and the important thing is to find the platform that makes your life easier and helps you grow with confidence. Let’s go for it!