What we know
Tools we've used properly, not just watched a demo of.
Anyone can list logos. Here's the same list with an honest opinion attached to each one, because knowing when not to use something is the useful part.
Email & SMS
Brevo
Brevo quietly does most of what the better known tools do, often for less money, and it charges by sends rather than by how many contacts you're hoarding.
What it's good at
- Send-based pricing, so a big list isn't automatically expensive
- Email, SMS and transactional messages in one account
- A solid transactional API for receipts and notifications
- Enough automation for most small and mid-sized businesses
Where it gets awkward
- The interface can feel less polished than the market leaders
- Advanced segmentation isn't as rich as the specialist tools
- Support and documentation are decent rather than excellent
- Fewer prebuilt integrations, so some joins need building
Our experience with it
We suggest Brevo when someone is paying a lot to store contacts they never email. It's often a straight cost saving with no real loss of capability.
Things we've built or connected
Transactional email wired into apps and internal tools
Marketing and transactional sending kept properly separated
Migrations away from contact-based pricing that had got silly
Usually in the same conversation