Most small businesses should start on the Brevo Business plan at 18 dollars a month, not the cheaper Starter plan at 9 dollars. That is the verdict up front, and the reason is simple. Starter does not include automation, and automation is the feature that turns email from a chore into a system. A business that buys Starter to save 9 dollars a month ends up sending every campaign by hand, with no welcome sequence, no behaviour based follow up, and no A/B testing to learn what works. The 9 dollar saving costs far more in lost results than it saves on the bill. The sections below work out cost of Brevo for small business monthly plan by plan, so the saving on Starter does not turn into hand-sent campaigns.
That does not make Starter useless. It makes it a narrow tool for a specific sender, namely a business that sends straightforward broadcasts to a list and wants nothing more. If that describes you, Starter at 9 dollars a month is genuine value. If you want your email to work while you do other things, Business at 18 dollars a month is the real starting price, and everything in this guide is built around that distinction.
The cost of Brevo for small business monthly is also unusual in one important way. Brevo charges by how many emails you send, not by how many contacts you store. Every plan stores unlimited contacts, so a large list does not raise your bill on its own. What raises your bill is sending volume. That makes Brevo cheap for a business with a big list that emails rarely, and more expensive for a business that emails often. Understanding that single fact is the key to budgeting for Brevo correctly.
This guide covers the Free, Starter, and Business plans, the volume pricing ladder, worked monthly totals for a newsletter sender and a campaign heavy sender, and the add ons that sit outside the subscription. Prices are in US dollars and exclude taxes. Some 2026 pages label the Business plan as Standard, which appears to be a naming variation rather than a different plan, and this guide uses the Business name throughout. Confirm the live pricing page before paying, since Brevo adjusts its volume ladder from time to time.
The Cost of Brevo for Small Business Monthly at a Glance
Brevo sells four plans. Free costs nothing and sends up to 300 emails a day. Starter starts at 9 dollars a month for 5,000 emails a month. Business starts at 18 dollars a month for 5,000 emails a month. Enterprise is custom priced for very large senders. The entry tiers for Starter and Business both include 5,000 emails a month, and the price rises as you select a higher monthly volume.
Annual billing saves about 10 percent on Starter and Business, which brings Starter to about 8 dollars and 8 cents a month and Business to about 16 dollars and 17 cents a month at the entry tier. Those are the per month figures when billed yearly, with yearly totals of about 97 dollars for Starter and 194 dollars for Business. Monthly billing is the higher price and keeps you free to leave, which suits a business still testing whether Brevo fits.
| Monthly emails | Starter, monthly | Business, monthly |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 9 dollars | 18 dollars |
| 20,000 | 18 dollars | 29 dollars |
| 40,000 | 29 dollars | 45 dollars |
| 100,000 | 65 dollars | 80 dollars |
That ladder deserves a careful read. The step from 5,000 to 20,000 emails costs 9 dollars more on Starter and 11 dollars more on Business. The step from 20,000 to 40,000 emails costs 11 dollars more on Starter and 16 dollars more on Business. The step from 40,000 to 100,000 emails costs 36 dollars more on Starter and 35 dollars more on Business. The price per email falls as volume rises, which is normal, but the total bill still rises with every step, so a sender whose volume grows should expect the bill to grow with it.
Unlimited contacts is the feature that sets Brevo apart from subscriber based tools. A business with 50,000 contacts that emails once a month pays for 50,000 emails, not for 50,000 subscribers on a higher tier. A business with 2,000 contacts that emails daily pays for far more volume than its list size suggests. Before comparing Brevo against a subscriber based tool, work out your monthly email volume, not just your list size. That single number decides which tool is cheaper for you.
Brevo also sells pay as you go email credits for senders who do not want a monthly subscription. Credit packs never expire, and a 5,000 credit pack costs around 32 dollars, while a 10,000 credit pack costs around 59 dollars. Pay as you go suits irregular senders, like a business that emails heavily around a launch and then goes quiet. For steady monthly sending, a subscription is usually cheaper per email.
What the Free Plan Covers and Where It Stops
The free plan is genuinely free, with no time limit and no credit card required, though accounts go through an approval step before sending. It sends up to 300 emails a day, which works out to about 9,000 emails a month, and it stores unlimited contacts up to a high stored contact ceiling reported around 100,000. It includes templates, a drag and drop editor, email and SMS campaigns, and basic reporting. Every email carries Brevo branding, and automation, A/B testing, landing pages, and phone support are excluded.
The daily cap is the defining limit. Three hundred emails a day is plenty for a small list. A list of 1,000 contacts receiving a weekly newsletter fits comfortably. But a launch sequence of several emails in a week will hit the cap, because the cap is daily, not monthly. A sender who needs to reach a large list in a single day cannot do it on the free plan.
The missing automation is the second defining limit. Without automation, there is no welcome sequence for new subscribers, no follow up based on what a subscriber clicked, and no abandoned cart recovery for shops. Every email is a manual send. For a business testing whether email works at all, that is acceptable. For a business that already knows email works, it is a reason to pay.
The free plan is best used as a genuine trial of the sending experience. Test the editor, test deliverability to your own inbox, send a few real campaigns, and learn whether you like the tool. Do not build a business process on the free plan, because the daily cap and the missing automation will limit you within weeks if your list grows. The moment you need automation or a single large send, you are paying 18 dollars a month for Business, since Starter does not include automation either.
What Starter Gives a Broadcast Sender
Starter is the broadcast plan. At 9 dollars a month for 5,000 emails, it removes the daily sending limit and removes Brevo branding from your emails, and it adds advanced segmentation, forms, and basic reporting. It does not add automation, A/B testing, landing pages, or phone support. Those wait on Business.
The sender who fits Starter is easy to describe. You send a regular newsletter to a list, you do not run sequences, and you already have landing pages elsewhere. For that sender, Starter is good value, and the 9 dollar entry price is one of the lowest in the category.
Volume is where Starter gets interesting. At 20,000 emails a month, Starter costs 18 dollars. At 40,000 emails, it costs 29 dollars. At 100,000 emails, it costs 65 dollars. Those are competitive figures for a broadcast sender, and they stay competitive because the price is tied to volume rather than contacts. A business with a large list that emails monthly will find Starter cheaper than a subscriber based tool that charges for the whole list regardless of sending frequency.
Starter also includes transactional email through API and SMTP on every plan, which matters for businesses that send order confirmations, password resets, or booking confirmations as well as marketing emails. That is a useful inclusion, since some tools charge separately for transactional sending or require a different product entirely.
The honest limit of Starter is that it does not grow with your ambitions. The day you want a welcome sequence, you need Business. The day you want to test two subject lines, you need Business. The day you want a landing page inside Brevo, you need Business. Starter is a fine plan for a business whose email needs are settled and simple. It is a frustrating plan for a business whose needs are growing, because every new ambition requires a plan change.
What Business Adds and Why It Is the Default
Business starts at 18 dollars a month for 5,000 emails, then 29 dollars at 20,000 emails, 45 dollars at 40,000 emails, and 80 dollars at 100,000 emails. Annual billing cuts about 10 percent, bringing the entry tier to about 16 dollars and 17 cents a month. The gap between Starter and Business is 9 dollars a month at the entry tier, 11 dollars at 20,000 emails, 16 dollars at 40,000 emails, and 15 dollars at 100,000 emails.
Business adds marketing automation, A/B testing, advanced reporting, landing pages, and phone support, and it includes removal of Brevo branding without a separate add on. Marketing automation is the headline addition. It lets you build welcome sequences, behaviour based follow ups, and multi step campaigns that run without you touching them. A new subscriber gets a welcome series automatically. A subscriber who clicks a link gets a follow up automatically. A shop customer who abandons a cart gets a reminder automatically. That is the difference between email as a task and email as a system.
A/B testing is the second addition that earns its keep quietly. Testing two subject lines on a portion of the list before sending to everyone improves open rates over time, and the improvement compounds across every campaign. Advanced reporting shows which campaigns, segments, and links perform, which turns email from guesswork into a measurable channel. Landing pages give you a place to send ad traffic and capture signups without a separate tool. Phone support gives you a person when something goes wrong at a critical moment, like the hour before a big send.
Business includes one landing page and one marketing user at the entry tier. Extra users and extra landing pages are paid add ons, which are covered in the next section. For a small team, one marketing user can be a constraint, so check whether your team needs more seats before committing. For a solo sender or a two person team sharing access sensibly, it is rarely a problem.
Business is the default recommendation for most small businesses because automation is not a luxury feature in email marketing. It is the feature that makes email scalable. A business without automation can send campaigns. A business with automation can run sequences, recover carts, welcome subscribers, and follow up on behaviour, all while the owner does other work. The 9 dollar gap at the entry tier buys that difference, and it is the best 9 dollars in the Brevo range.
Here are worked totals for the two sender shapes this guide promised, using monthly list prices, with annual equivalents alongside. Taxes are excluded, since they vary by billing location.
A newsletter sender is the lighter case. Suppose a business sends a weekly newsletter to 1,250 contacts, which is 5,000 emails a month, since four weekly sends of 1,250 emails each total 5,000. On Starter, the bill is 9 dollars a month, or about 8 dollars and 8 cents a month on annual billing. On Business, the bill is 18 dollars a month, or about 16 dollars and 17 cents a month on annual billing. The annual totals are about 97 dollars for Starter and 194 dollars for Business.
That newsletter sender is the case where Starter looks tempting, because the saving is 9 dollars a month and the sending is simple. But even a newsletter sender benefits from a welcome sequence for new subscribers, and that alone requires Business. A newsletter sender who never automates anything can stay on Starter happily. A newsletter sender who wants new subscribers welcomed automatically should budget for Business from the start.
A campaign heavy sender is the heavier case. Suppose a business sends a weekly newsletter to 2,500 contacts, plus two promotional campaigns a month to the same list, plus a welcome sequence and follow ups that together add another 20,000 emails, for a total of about 40,000 emails a month. On Starter, the bill is 29 dollars a month. On Business, it is 45 dollars a month. Annual billing brings those figures to roughly 26 dollars and 40 dollars a month respectively, using the 10 percent annual saving as a guide, though exact annual volume prices should be confirmed at checkout.
| Sender shape | Monthly emails | Starter, monthly | Business, monthly | Annual saving guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newsletter sender | 5,000 | 9 dollars | 18 dollars | About 10 percent |
| Campaign heavy sender | 40,000 | 29 dollars | 45 dollars | About 10 percent |
The gap between the two senders is instructive. Moving from 5,000 to 40,000 emails a month multiplies volume by eight, but the Starter bill only rises from 9 to 29 dollars, and the Business bill only rises from 18 to 45 dollars. Volume based pricing rewards heavy senders more gently than subscriber based pricing rewards large lists. A business that emails often gets a better deal on Brevo than a business with a large list that emails rarely gets on a subscriber based tool, and vice versa.
Per email, the newsletter sender on Business pays about 0.36 cents per email. The campaign heavy sender on Business pays about 0.11 cents per email. Those figures show the volume discount clearly, but they should not drive the decision on their own. The decision should be driven by the total bill and by whether automation is included, because a cheap per email price on a plan without automation is still a plan that makes you do everything by hand.
The Costs That Sit Outside the Subscription
Add ons are the first extra. Removing the Brevo logo on Starter costs 12 dollars a month as an add on, while Business includes removal at no extra charge. That single add on wipes out the Starter saving and more, since Starter plus logo removal costs 21 dollars a month against Business at 18 dollars. A sender who cares about branding should compare Starter plus the add on against Business directly, not against the bare Starter price.
Extra marketing seats cost 12 dollars a month each on Starter and Business, with Starter capped at one seat and Business allowing up to three seats at the entry tier. A team that needs several seats should budget for them explicitly. A solo sender does not need to. Landing pages beyond the one included on Business are also paid, with additional page bundles priced separately, so a business that runs many landing pages should check that cost before committing.
SMS and WhatsApp credits are sold separately on every plan, priced by recipient country and message type. Email plans do not include SMS volume, so a business that wants to add text messaging to its marketing should budget for credits as a separate line. Web push notifications are free up to a small subscriber threshold, then priced in steps by subscriber count. A dedicated IP address, which larger senders use to protect sender reputation, is an add on on higher plans and included on Enterprise.
Pay as you go credits deserve a note here too, because they are an alternative to a subscription rather than an add on. A 5,000 credit pack costs around 32 dollars and a 10,000 credit pack around 59 dollars, with credits that never expire. For a business that sends irregularly, credits can be cheaper than a subscription over a year, since quiet months cost nothing. For a business that sends every month, a subscription is cheaper per email, and the subscription also unlocks the plan features that credits alone do not fully replicate.
Taxes may add to the bill depending on location, and Brevo quotes prices excluding tax. Account approval is a process cost rather than a money cost, but it is worth knowing. New Brevo accounts go through a review before sending, and that review can delay a first campaign. It is a fraud prevention measure, not a flaw, but a business with a launch date should create the account early enough to clear approval before the send matters.
How to Pay Less Without Losing What You Need
Pick the plan by automation need, not by headline price. The most expensive mistake on Brevo is buying Starter, discovering you need automation, and then upgrading mid year after weeks of manual sending. If there is any chance you will want a welcome sequence, behaviour follow up, or cart recovery within the next six months, start on Business. The 9 dollar monthly gap is smaller than the cost of rebuilding your email setup midstream.
Pick the volume tier by real sending, not by list size. Work out your monthly emails by multiplying sends per month by recipients per send, then add a margin for sequences and follow ups. A business that sends weekly to 1,000 contacts sends about 4,000 to 5,000 emails a month, not 1,000. A business that sends daily to 1,000 contacts sends 30,000 emails a month. The volume number, not the list number, decides your tier, and getting it right avoids both overpaying for an unused tier and hitting a limit mid month.
Use annual billing once you are committed. The saving is about 10 percent, which is about 11 dollars a year at the Starter entry tier and about 22 dollars a year at the Business entry tier, growing with volume. Pay monthly while testing, then switch to annual once the tool has proved itself. The saving is modest at low volume and meaningful at high volume, which is when it matters most.
Consider pay as you go credits if your sending is irregular. A business that sends heavily for three months around a product launch and then goes quiet for months will waste subscription months on quiet periods. Credits never expire, so they match irregular sending better. Compare a year of subscription against a year of credits at your real volume before deciding, because the cheaper option depends entirely on your sending pattern.
Avoid the logo removal trap on Starter. If branding matters to you, Starter plus logo removal at 21 dollars a month costs more than Business at 18 dollars, and Business adds automation, testing, landing pages, and phone support on top. The only sender who should pay for logo removal on Starter is one who is certain they will never need automation, which is a small group. Those five habits keep the cost of Brevo for small business monthly close to the volume tier you actually use.
Who Should Pick Which Plan
Free fits a business testing email, building its first list, or sending small campaigns to a modest list, with sending that fits inside 300 emails a day. It does not fit a business that needs automation, large single sends, or unbranded emails, because all three require a paid plan.
Starter fits a broadcast sender with simple needs. You send newsletters or announcements, you do not run sequences, you do not test formally, and you do not need landing pages inside Brevo. You want the lowest honest price for reaching your list each month, and you are happy doing everything by hand. That is a real use case, and Starter serves it well.
Business fits most small businesses. You want automation, A/B testing, landing pages, advanced reporting, and phone support. You want new subscribers welcomed automatically and behaviour followed up without manual work. You send regular campaigns and you want email to scale without adding hours to your week. If that describes you, Business is the plan, and the 18 dollar entry price is the number to budget for.
Enterprise fits very large senders with custom volume, dedicated infrastructure, multi user needs at scale, or specific compliance requirements. It is priced on application, so there is no list price to budget against. If your sending reaches that scale, the conversation with Brevo will be about your specific setup, not about the published volume ladder.
A quick way to choose is to ask one question. Do you want email to run sequences on its own? If the answer is yes, pick Business. If the answer is no, and you are sure it will stay no, pick Starter. If you are not sure, pick Business, because the cost of upgrading later is higher than the 9 dollar monthly gap. Whichever plan you pick, recheck the cost of Brevo for small business monthly when your sending pattern changes, since volume drives the bill.
Verdict
A newsletter sender sending 5,000 emails a month should budget 9 dollars a month for Starter or 18 dollars for Business, falling to about 8 and 16 dollars on annual billing. A campaign heavy sender sending 40,000 emails a month should budget 29 dollars for Starter or 45 dollars for Business. Logo removal on Starter costs 12 dollars a month extra and wipes out the Starter saving, which is another reason Business is the default for most buyers.
Our recommendation is Business for most small businesses, bought monthly while you test and switched to annual billing once you commit. Starter is a good plan for a genuinely simple broadcast sender, but it is not the plan most businesses end up keeping, because automation is the feature that makes email marketing scale. The free plan is a useful trial, not a long term home, after the daily cap and the missing automation are taken into account.
The cost of Brevo for small business monthly is therefore best quoted by volume, not by list size. The range runs from zero on the free plan, through 9 dollars for Starter and 18 dollars for Business at 5,000 emails, to 29 and 45 dollars at 40,000 emails. Work out your monthly email volume, budget for Business unless your needs are truly broadcast only, and the bill will match your expectations.
Mistakes That Inflate the Cost of Brevo for Small Business Monthly
The most common mistake is buying Starter and then discovering you need automation. Starter at 9 dollars a month looks like a saving against Business at 18 dollars, but the day you want a welcome sequence, behaviour follow up, or cart recovery, you need Business anyway, and the weeks spent sending by hand are lost. If there is any chance you will want automation within six months, start on Business. The cost of Brevo for small business monthly should be set by the plan you will need soon, not just the plan you need today.
The second mistake is paying for logo removal on Starter. Logo removal costs 12 dollars a month as an add on, which brings Starter to 21 dollars a month against Business at 18 dollars, and Business adds automation, testing, landing pages, and phone support on top. A sender who cares about branding should compare Starter plus the add on against Business directly, not against the bare Starter price. The cost of Brevo for small business monthly is lowest on the plan that includes what you need, not on the plan with the lowest headline figure.
The third mistake is budgeting by list size instead of sending volume. Brevo charges by emails sent, not contacts stored, so a business with 1,000 contacts sending daily pays for 30,000 emails a month, while a business with 10,000 contacts sending monthly pays for 10,000 emails. Work out monthly volume by multiplying sends per month by recipients per send, then add a margin for sequences and follow ups, and pick the tier from that number. The cost of Brevo for small business monthly follows volume, and a budget built on list size will be wrong in both directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Brevo cost per month for a small business?
The free plan costs nothing and sends up to 300 emails a day. Starter starts at 9 dollars a month for 5,000 emails. Business starts at 18 dollars a month for 5,000 emails. At 20,000 emails, the figures are 18 and 29 dollars. At 40,000 emails, they are 29 and 45 dollars. At 100,000 emails, they are 65 and 80 dollars. Annual billing saves about 10 percent.
Does Brevo charge by contacts or by emails sent?
By emails sent. Every plan stores unlimited contacts, so a large list does not raise your bill on its own. What raises your bill is sending volume. A business with a large list that emails rarely pays less on Brevo than on a subscriber based tool, while a business that emails daily pays for that volume regardless of list size.
Does the Starter plan include automation?
No. Automation, A/B testing, landing pages, and phone support are Business features. Starter covers broadcasts, advanced segmentation, forms, and basic reporting, with no daily sending limit and no Brevo branding. A business that wants a welcome sequence or behaviour based follow up needs Business.
What does logo removal cost on Brevo?
Removing the Brevo logo costs 12 dollars a month as an add on on Starter. Business includes logo removal at no extra charge. Starter plus logo removal costs 21 dollars a month, which is more than Business at 18 dollars, so a sender who cares about branding should compare those two totals directly.
Does Brevo offer pay as you go pricing?
Yes. Pay as you go email credits never expire, with a 5,000 credit pack costing around 32 dollars and a 10,000 credit pack around 59 dollars. Credits suit irregular senders. Steady monthly senders usually pay less per email on a subscription.
Which Brevo plan is best for a small business?
Business, in most cases. At 18 dollars a month for 5,000 emails, it adds automation, A/B testing, landing pages, advanced reporting, and phone support. Starter suits a broadcast only sender with simple needs. Free suits testing and very small lists within the 300 email daily cap.