Campaign Monitor vs Brevo: pay per contact or per email?
By Jean Luc Poitier, SEO and growth marketing strategist · Campaign Monitor Reviews · Updated October 4, 2026 · Prices and review data checked October 4, 2026
Pick Campaign Monitor if you run email for clients, want phone support for less than $499 a month, or send often to the same list. Sub-accounts and private labeling are on every paid plan, phone support starts on Premier, and Essentials never charges more for sending more.
Pick Brevo if price comes first and you send a few campaigns a month, or if you want email, SMS, and WhatsApp in one account. Its free plan and lower volume-based prices make it the cheaper start, and its G2 rating is higher.
Campaign Monitor vs Brevo at a glance
| Compared on | Campaign Monitor | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Plan compared | Essentials | Standard |
| How the price is set | By contacts; unlimited sends | By monthly email volume; each step includes a contact allowance |
| Price at 500 contacts | $31/mo, unlimited sends | $18/mo (5,000 emails) |
| Price at 2,500 contacts | $74/mo, unlimited sends | $49/mo (15,000 emails) |
| Price at 10,000 contacts | $182/mo, unlimited sends | $69/mo at 20,000 emails; $89/mo at 40,000 emails |
| Cheapest paid plan, 500 contacts | Lite, $13/mo (2,500 emails) | Starter, $9/mo (5,000 emails) |
| Annual billing | 10% off (not on agency plans) | 10% off |
| Free plan | No | Yes: 300 emails a day, up to 100,000 stored contacts, Brevo sticker on emails |
| Free trial | 30 days, 500 contacts and 500 emails, no card on signup | None published (free plan instead) |
| Phone support | Premier plan | Professional plan (from $499/mo) |
| Automation on the compared plan | Unlimited automated emails, prebuilt journeys | Unlimited workflows (Free and Starter: up to 2,000 contacts in automations) |
| Agency sub-accounts and white label | Client sub-accounts and private labeling on every paid plan | Sub-accounts on Enterprise (from $2,499/mo); white label not published |
| Trustpilot, organic reviews only | 1.44 average, 18 reviews (Jan 2023 to Sep 2026) | 1.43 average, 30 reviews (Aug 20 to Oct 2, 2026) |
| G2 rating (reviews) | 4.1 (731) | 4.5 (2,621) |
| Owner and base | Marigold; founded in Sydney in 2004 | Private; Paris, founded in 2012 |
Figures checked against each company's published pages and review-platform listings as of 2026-10-04. “Not published” means the company does not publish that figure.
Sources: list prices in USD, billed monthly, from each company's pricing page on October 4, 2026. Brevo sells monthly email volume in steps, so each Brevo price is the nearest step that holds that many contacts. The Trustpilot row counts only reviews Trustpilot labels organic (written without a link or invitation from the company), from our pull that day; samples are small and the windows differ. Overall TrustScores mostly reflect how many reviews a company invites, so we leave them out. Brevo's G2 figure comes from G2's search listing. More on our methodology.
How Campaign Monitor and Brevo charge
Campaign Monitor charges by the size of your list. On Essentials and Premier you can send as many campaigns as you like, and the bill only changes when the list moves into a new tier.
Brevo charges by the number of emails you send each month, and each step comes with a contact allowance. The 5,000-email step holds 500 contacts, 15,000 holds 2,500, and from 20,000 emails you can store up to 500,000 contacts. For a list of 10,000, $69 a month on Standard buys 20,000 emails, which is two sends. Four sends a month take you to the 40,000 step at $89.
At these volumes Brevo costs less. The gap narrows as you send more, because Brevo's price climbs with every volume step and Campaign Monitor's does not. Campaign Monitor's price still rises with list size. Work out your monthly email count (list size times sends) before you compare, and see every Campaign Monitor tier.
Agencies, support, and deliverability
Agency features are where the two differ most. Campaign Monitor gives every paid plan client sub-accounts, client logins, private labeling, and markup billing. Brevokeeps multi-account management on Enterprise, which starts from $2,499 a month, and does not publish a white-label option.
Phone support also sits on a pricier plan at Brevo. It is on Campaign Monitor Premier ($171 a month at 500 contacts) and on Brevo Professional (from $499 a month). Below that, Brevo answers by email, and Campaign Monitor Essentials includes priority support. G2 named Campaign Monitor Best Support (Small Business) for Fall 2026 (see awards).
Campaign Monitor reports an average 99% delivery rate and runs a deliverability team. Long-time and high-volume senders in our review corpus describe its deliverability as good.
“Campaign Monitor has very good deliverability, which was an issue with other newsletter management systems.”Bob B., G2, Nov 2024
One channel or several
Campaign Monitor centers on email: campaigns, journeys, transactional email, and an API that developers describe as stable. Its builder and templates are what reviewers praise most, and new staff and clients pick them up fast. Designers sometimes want more HTML control in the stock templates.
Brevo's G2 reviewers keep returning to having email, SMS, WhatsApp, and a CRM in one place. If text messages are part of your plan, that matters more than any price row above.
“What I like best about the Brevo Marketing Platform is that it brings email, SMS, automation, and CRM together in one easy-to-use tool.”Abhishek S., G2, Jan 2026
Where Brevo wins
- A free plan with 300 emails a day and room for up to 100,000 stored contacts.
- Lower prices on comparable plans at 500, 2,500, and 10,000 contacts for one to four sends a month.
- Email, SMS, WhatsApp, and CRM in one account, a point its G2 reviewers raise again and again.
- A higher G2 rating: 4.5 from 2,621 reviews, against 4.1 from 731.
Try Campaign Monitor free for 30 days
The trial covers 500 contacts and 500 emails with no card at signup. Build a campaign, set up a journey, and check the reports before you decide. Leaving Brevo for another reason? See Brevo alternatives or Mailchimp vs Brevo.
Try Campaign Monitor freeCampaign Monitor vs Brevo FAQ
Is Campaign Monitor or Brevo cheaper?+
Brevo, at the volumes most small senders need. Brevo Standard costs $18 a month for 5,000 emails (500 contacts), $49 for 15,000 emails (2,500 contacts), and $69 for 20,000 emails with up to 500,000 contacts. Campaign Monitor Essentials costs $31, $74, and $182 at 500, 2,500, and 10,000 contacts, with unlimited sends. Brevo's price goes up with each step in email volume; Campaign Monitor's stays the same however often you send.
Does Campaign Monitor or Brevo have a free plan?+
Brevo does: 300 emails a day, up to 100,000 stored contacts, and a Sent with Brevo sticker on every email. Campaign Monitor has no free plan; its 30-day trial covers 500 contacts and 500 emails and asks for no card at signup. Brevo publishes no trial of its paid plans.
Which is better for agencies?+
Campaign Monitor. Client sub-accounts and private labeling are on every paid plan, from Lite at $13 a month. Brevo's sub-account management is on Enterprise, which starts from $2,499 a month, and it does not publish a white-label option.
Which has phone support?+
Campaign Monitor puts phone support on Premier, which costs $171 a month at 500 contacts. Brevo puts it on Professional, which starts at $499 a month for 150,000 emails. Below those plans, Brevo answers by email, and Campaign Monitor Essentials includes priority support.
How do Campaign Monitor and Brevo reviews compare?+
Counting only Trustpilot reviews written without an invitation (organic), the two are level in our October 4, 2026 pull: Campaign Monitor 1.44 from 18 reviews and Brevo 1.43 from 30. On G2, Brevo is rated 4.5 from 2,621 reviews and Campaign Monitor 4.1 from 731.