beehiiv vs Brevo: newsletter platform or email/SMS CRM?

How are beehiiv and Brevo really different?

What will beehiiv or Brevo cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

beehiiv vs Brevo side by side

I compare email/CRM platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier contact ceiling before you must pay anything; Team seats included, and the seat price past that; List segmentation depth; Automation workflow depth and any step/action limits; Deliverability and sending limits (emails per month, per day, or per rolling window); CRM and ecommerce integration depth; What happens past your plan's contact ceiling (overage pricing vs a forced upgrade).

Who should pick beehiiv, and who should pick Brevo?

beehiiv

Desk research

• Best for solo marketers and small businesses
• Best for small teams sharing one account

beehiiv is a newsletter platform with a free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, but that plan is a starter kit: no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations. Lite, from $59/month billed monthly, adds all three, and beehiiv takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue on top of Stripe's fees. It suits a creator who wants to grow and charge readers without running their own site.

Best for: Creators who want growth and monetization tools beyond a plain newsletter, and expect to pay for Lite once they charge readers or want their own domain.

Strengths

• A permanent free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, enough to test the editor and grow a first list.
• 0% take rate on paid subscriptions on every paid plan; only Stripe's processing fee applies.
• Lite ($59/month billed monthly, or $49/month billed annually) already includes paid subscriptions, a custom domain, automations and 3 publications.

Limits

• Free stops at 2,500 subscribers, 1 seat and 1 publication, with no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations.
• Lite includes 2 seats and caps live automations; a team of three or unlimited automations means Pro, from $109/month billed monthly.
• Lite and Pro are priced by subscriber count, so the entry price only covers the smallest list band and the bill rises in steps as the list grows.

Skip it if you want to charge readers or use your own domain without paying anything; beehiiv's Free plan allows neither, so Substack's free model fits better.

beehiiv reviewbeehiiv pricingbeehiiv alternatives

Brevo

Hands-on

• Best for growing lists sending regularly

Brevo starts free with no credit card (up to 100,000 contacts stored, 300 emails a day), then moves to paid plans starting at $9/month billed monthly. It's built for small businesses and teams who want automations, multi-channel campaigns, and sales tools in one platform, but the Professional plan at $499/month billed monthly jumps sharply in price and targets mid-market teams.

Best for: Small businesses that want email, SMS, and automation bundled together, plus the flexibility to add sales features when they grow. Works well for solopreneurs starting free, then scaling to Starter or Standard.

Strengths

• A real free plan that stores up to 100,000 contacts, no card required.
• Automations, A/B testing, and contact scoring by Standard ($18/month billed monthly), not hidden behind enterprise pricing.
• 10 team seats included on Professional.

Limits

• Free plan stores up to 100,000 contacts but sends only 300 emails a day; Starter is priced by email volume, with published prices up to 500,000 contacts.
• No published money-back guarantee visible on the pricing page.
• Professional at $499/month billed monthly is a steep jump from Standard ($18/month billed monthly); mid-market features are bundled, not à la carte.

Skip it if you're a pure email-only shop (Mailchimp or MailerLite are simpler), or your budget caps out below $18/month billed monthly. If you need white-label reports or heavy custom integrations, Enterprise is the only option, and its pricing is quoted by sales.

Brevo reviewBrevo pricingBrevo alternatives

Neither beehiiv nor Brevo? Try these

• 

  MailerLite

  From $10.80/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you want Brevo's automation-and-list-management job at a simpler price ladder, without Brevo's SMS/multi-channel add-ons or beehiiv's publishing tools.

  MailerLite reviewMailerLite alternatives

• 

  Kit

  From $33/mo billed annually

  Pick it if you're a solo creator or publisher first, with a subscriber-focused workflow closer to beehiiv's model (newsletters, paid subscriptions) than Brevo's general marketing CRM.

  Kit reviewKit alternatives

• 

  Mailchimp

  From $13/mo billed monthly

  Pick it if you want the name most people already know in general email marketing, though cheaper, more automation-focused alternatives like MailerLite or Brevo itself are worth checking first.

  Mailchimp reviewMailchimp alternatives

beehiiv vs Brevo: questions people ask

Is beehiiv cheaper than Brevo?

It depends on your list size. At 500 subscribers both are free: beehiiv's Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers, and Brevo's stores up to 100,000 contacts with sending capped at 300 emails a day. Once you're paying, Brevo is cheaper as the list grows. At 5,000 subscribers Brevo Starter costs $32/month billed monthly. beehiiv Lite costs $109/month billed monthly.

Does beehiiv have a free plan?

Yes, permanent: up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 seat and 1 publication. It has no paid subscriptions, no custom domain and no automations; those start on Lite.

Does Brevo have a free plan?

Yes, permanent and with no credit card: it stores up to 100,000 contacts and sends up to 300 emails a day.

Which is cheaper for a growing list of a few thousand subscribers?

Brevo. At 5,000 subscribers, Brevo's Starter plan costs $32/month billed monthly, or $28.75/month billed annually. beehiiv's Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers, so that list needs Lite, which costs $109/month billed monthly, or $95/month billed annually.

Which is cheaper for a 3-person team account?

beehiiv. At 1,000 subscribers with 3 seats, beehiiv Lite's 2 seats fall short, so the team needs Pro, which includes 10 seats and costs $109/month billed monthly. Brevo's Free, Starter and Standard plans include 1 seat each, so 3 logins need Professional (10 seats at $499/month billed monthly), which costs far more.

Does either tool take a cut of my revenue?

beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions, on every plan that offers them (Lite and up); Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction applies; beehiiv takes 0%. Brevo doesn't run a paid-subscription model at all, so there's no comparable revenue share to state.

Is beehiiv a substitute for Brevo?

Not really. beehiiv is built for publishing a newsletter and monetizing readers directly. Brevo is a general email, SMS, and CRM platform built for marketing campaigns, not reader monetization. If your job is running campaigns and managing contacts across channels, Brevo's category is the closer fit; if your job is growing and monetizing a readership, beehiiv's is.