Brevo vs Campaigner 2026
Short answer: Brevo wins for virtually every SMB and EU-based business. It scores 4.2/5 against Campaigner's 3.0/5, offers a free plan with no credit card, and unlocks full marketing automation at €15/month versus $649/month on Campaigner.
The nuance: Campaigner's Advanced plan has deeper multivariate testing than anything Brevo offers, and long-term high-volume users with dedicated CSMs report solid results. But the pricing cliff, the documented cancellation nightmare, and the billing disputes make Campaigner a high-stakes pick for most teams.
Free plan, EU-hosted, automation at €15/mo. The SMB default pick.
Try Brevo for free →Read the full Brevo review →Deeper multivariate tests, but automation only unlocks at $649/mo.
Try Campaigner free trial →Read the full Campaigner review →Who wins for you
10k contacts and 20k sends per month costs roughly €15 on Brevo versus $179 on Campaigner. Free plan needs no card.
Try Brevo for free →Brevo is Paris-headquartered with EU data centres in France, Belgium and Ireland. ISO 27001:2022 and DPA included automatically.
Try Brevo for free →Brevo wins on price; Campaigner's 30+ variant tests are deeper but require $649/mo Advanced. Only worth it if that specific depth is a hard requirement.
Try Brevo for free →Campaigner's documented cancellation crisis and $2,000+ disputed charges make long-term commitment risky. Brevo's free plan lets you start without a card.
Try Brevo for free →Brevo vs Campaigner at a glance
Every cell below is grounded in each tool's official pricing and docs, plus third-party sources, as of June 2026. Read the pricing model row first - it explains most of the difference.
| Brevo | Campaigner | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing modelBrevo wins for large lists with moderate send frequency | Pay per email sent; unlimited contacts stored on all plans | Pay per contact stored; unlimited sends | Brevo |
| Free plan | 300 emails/day (~9,000/mo); unlimited contacts; no credit card | No free plan; 30-day trial requires a credit card | Brevo |
| Entry paid pricePrices checked June 2026 | €7/mo (Starter, 5k emails, max 500 contacts since Oct 2025) | $59/mo (Starter, 5k contacts, unlimited sends) | Brevo |
| Automation workflows | Standard plan at €15/mo unlocks full visual automation | Advanced plan at $649/mo only - Starter/Essential have autoresponders only | Brevo |
| EU/GDPR data hosting | Paris HQ; FR, BE, IE data centres; ISO 27001:2022; DPA auto-included | Ziff Davis (USA); no EU data centre confirmed; GDPR compliance unverified | Brevo |
| Template library | 40+ responsive templates | 900+ responsive templates | Campaigner |
| SMS marketing | Included on Starter+ plans; no extra bundle needed | Add-on bundle from $104/mo on top of email plan | Brevo |
| Native integrations | 150+ (Brevo Marketplace); API on Standard+ | Shopify, Magento, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365; API on Advanced ($649) only | Brevo |
| Multivariate testingCampaigner's only clear feature advantage - at $649/mo | Standard A/B testing (subject lines, content) | 30+ variant testing on subject lines, CTAs, delivery times, design simultaneously | Campaigner |
| Deliverability (independent)Campaigner figure unverified by independent testing | 89.1% overall (Encharge June 2025); InboxEagle Grade B Apr 2026; dip to 68% in 2023 recovered | Claimed above 85%; no independent seed-list test found | Brevo |
| Cancellation risk | No documented billing crisis; free plan needs no card | Multiple Trustpilot reports of $2,000+ disputed charges; cancellation flagged as near-impossible | Brevo |
| Ideal user | SMBs, EU businesses, freelancers, multi-channel marketers under 150k emails/mo | Advanced mid-market email teams with $649/mo budget and genuine multivariate needs | — |
Prices checked June 2026 on brevo.com/pricing and campaigner.com. Note: Brevo is priced in EUR, Campaigner in USD.
Criterion by criterion, head to head
The same five criteria scored on each tool's review page. Scores are fixed from those reviews.
01 Round 1: getting the first campaign live.
Brevo takes this clearly at 4.5 versus 3.2. Onboarding SPF/DKIM authentication clears in under 10 minutes; a first campaign with the drag-and-drop builder is live in 30 minutes. Across several client projects, the builder felt genuinely intuitive - mobile preview, AI subject line suggestions, and real-time open-rate estimates all within the same interface. The automation canvas uses drag-and-drop triggers and conditions that any marketer can map without training.
Campaigner's drag-and-drop builder also works, and the 900+ template library is a real head start for visual-heavy teams. The problem is the ceiling: the workflows that justify using Campaigner in the first place require the Advanced plan at $649/month. Third-party migration estimates consistently cite 2 to 4 weeks for a standard SMB. The 2025 UI refresh helped, but legacy interface elements and dashboard overflow on some screen sizes persist.
Choose Brevo if getting productive on day one without a steep learning curve matters.
Choose Campaigner if you are already on the Advanced plan and need the template volume for high-frequency visual campaigns.
02 Round 2: where the bill actually lands.
Brevo wins this 4.5 to 2.4, the widest margin of the five rounds, and the arithmetic is unambiguous. Brevo's pay-per-send model means 10,000 contacts with 20,000 emails per month costs roughly €15. At the same scenario Campaigner Essential costs $179/month. That is a 10x price difference before a single add-on.
The critical October 2025 caveat on Brevo: Starter now caps at 500 contacts and Standard at 1,500 contacts. Anyone expecting unlimited contacts on entry tiers will auto-upgrade the moment they exceed those limits, pushing from €7 to €29 at the 20k-contact Starter tier. It is a gotcha that no competitor page currently covers.
Campaigner's automation cliff makes the value story worse. Essential ($179/month) delivers dynamic content but zero conditional workflow logic. The jump to Advanced ($649/month) for the workflow builder is a near 4x cost increase. Add Reputation Defender (20% of plan) and an SMS bundle and the real Advanced monthly cost approaches $800 to $900. Brevo has a genuine free-forever plan with no card required; Campaigner's trial requires one, and multiple reviewers report $2,000+ in disputed charges when cancellation failed.
Choose Brevo for any business under 150,000 emails/month or with a contact list above 500 but send frequency below weekly.
Choose Campaigner only if Advanced automation is a confirmed hard requirement and the $649+/mo budget is already approved.
03 Round 3: breadth versus email-specific depth.
Brevo wins narrowly at 4.0 versus 3.8, but the character of the feature sets is completely different. Brevo wins on breadth: email, SMS, WhatsApp, push notifications, live chat, CRM, landing pages, and transactional SMTP are all included in one platform. For a team that wants a single-login marketing stack, that is a meaningful advantage.
Campaigner wins on email-specific depth when fully unlocked. Thirty-plus variant multivariate testing across subject lines, CTAs, delivery times, and design simultaneously has no Brevo equivalent at any price. Real-time RFM segmentation, conditional workflow branching with goal tracking, and AI-powered churn prediction are Advanced-plan features that go beyond what Brevo offers. The template library at 900+ versus 40+ is also a real gap for teams that rely on visual variety. Both platforms added AI copy assistance and send-time optimization in 2025 - table stakes now, not a differentiator.
Choose Brevo for multi-channel all-in-one marketing without paying for separate SMS, chat or SMTP tools.
Choose Campaigner Advanced if genuine 30+ variant multivariate testing is a hard, measurable need.
04 Round 4: who answers when it breaks.
Brevo takes this 4.0 to 2.2, and the Campaigner score reflects specific documented failures rather than generic dissatisfaction. Brevo's support is 24 to 48 hour email on paid plans, live chat on Business and Enterprise tiers, and a 200+ article knowledge base. Tickets raised during testing received substantive replies within 18 to 36 hours. The honest bémol: some Brevo reviewers report automated email loops with no resolution, OTP-login outages multiple times a week, and account suspensions for small senders that feel disproportionate. Individual agent quality is generally praised; systemic consistency is the gap.
Campaigner's picture is starker. Long-term Advanced users with dedicated CSMs report genuinely good strategic support, and the individual agent scores in the review dataset are positive when a good rep is reached. But the billing and cancellation pattern is systematic, not anecdotal: one user reports $2,000+ in disputed charges on an inactive account; another's recurring campaign silently stopped sending for 18 months with no platform alert and a refund refused; a third spent a month troubleshooting SMS deliverability, couldn't get it to work, and was denied a $300 refund. The Stevie Awards for Customer Service cited on Campaigner's site date from 2016.
Choose Brevo for standard email and marketing automation support needs.
Choose Campaigner only if an Advanced plan with a named CSM relationship is locked in before signing.
05 Round 5: marketplace breadth versus CRM depth.
Brevo takes this 4.0 to 3.6. The Brevo Marketplace covers 150+ native integrations - WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, WordPress - accessible from Standard+ plans. The REST API has SDKs in PHP, Node.js, Python, and Ruby. For an e-commerce or content-driven team, the breadth covers the most common stack without touching Zapier.
Campaigner's native integration list is shorter but strategically targeted: Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Adobe Analytics, and Google Analytics. For Salesforce-heavy mid-market teams, Campaigner's native connector beats Brevo's Zapier-dependent workaround. The catch: Campaigner's REST API and webhooks require the Advanced plan ($649/month), so teams on Starter or Essential cannot build custom integrations at all. Native WordPress is absent - all WordPress form routing goes through Zapier, introducing an extra failure point. Brevo is also weak on native Salesforce, so for B2B CRM-heavy stacks, both tools have gaps.
Choose Brevo for SMB and e-commerce stacks where 150+ native integrations and API access from Standard cover most needs.
Choose Campaigner for Salesforce-heavy mid-market teams already committed to the Advanced plan.
The real cost, plan by plan
Two billing models that produce very different numbers at scale. Brevo charges per email sent; Campaigner charges per contact stored. The worked examples below use figures from Chatarmin (Brevo), Tekpon (Campaigner), and Sequenzy as of June 2026.
| Brevo | Campaigner | Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | €0: 300 emails/day (~9,000/mo), unlimited contacts stored, no credit card | None. 30-day trial requires a credit card. | Brevo |
| Entry paidBrevo is cheaper; Campaigner allows more contacts at entry | Starter €7/mo: 5k emails, max 500 contacts (post-Oct 2025 cap) | Starter $59/mo: 5k contacts, unlimited sends, autoresponders only | — |
| Automation unlockBrevo automation is 43x cheaper than Campaigner's equivalent | Standard €15/mo: full visual automation, A/B testing, max 1,500 contacts at entry | Advanced $649/mo: conditional workflows, API, full behavioral triggers | Brevo |
| Mid-tier | Standard scales to ~€39/mo at 50k emails; unlimited contacts | Essential $179/mo: 25k contacts, dynamic content, no workflow builder | Brevo |
| High-volumeComparable price at high volume; Brevo adds multi-channel, Campaigner adds deeper tests | Professional from €499/mo: 150k+ emails, AI segmentation, phone support | Advanced $649/mo: 100k contacts, full automation, dedicated IP | — |
| Worked example A: 10k contacts, 20k emails/moBrevo is roughly 10x cheaper at this volume (Sequenzy, June 2026) | Brevo Standard ~€15–18/mo | Campaigner Essential $179/mo ($189 net annual) | Brevo |
| Worked example B: 50k contacts, 50k emails/moBrevo 4-16x cheaper depending on whether automation is needed | Brevo Standard ~€39/mo | Campaigner Essential $179/mo or Advanced $649/mo if workflows needed | Brevo |
| Worked example C: full automation, 25k contacts | Brevo Standard €15–39/mo depending on email volume | Campaigner Advanced $649/mo + Reputation Defender ~$130/mo = ~$780/mo | Brevo |
Prices checked June 2026. Brevo is priced in EUR; Campaigner in USD. October 2025 Brevo restructure added contact caps to entry tiers: Starter max 500 contacts, Standard max 1,500 at base price. Auto-upgrade applies once those limits are exceeded.
Pick by scenario
Choose Brevo if…
- You have a large contact list (10k+) but send fewer than 4 times per month - the pay-per-send model saves $100–$500+/mo versus Campaigner
- You are EU-based with GDPR obligations - Brevo's Paris HQ, FR/BE/IE data centres and automatic DPA remove the compliance headache that Campaigner's US infrastructure creates
- You need multi-channel marketing (email, SMS, WhatsApp, transactional SMTP, live chat) without paying for separate tools
- You want to start free with no credit card before committing - especially important if you have had bad experiences with platforms that make cancellation difficult
- Your budget is under €50/mo and you need real automation - Brevo Standard at €15 unlocks full workflows; Campaigner's automation doesn't unlock until $649/mo
Choose Campaigner if…
- Your primary need is 30+ variant multivariate testing simultaneously across subject lines, CTAs, delivery times and design - this depth does not exist in Brevo at any price
- You send 100k+ contacts reliably every month and need dedicated IP options with the Reputation Defender add-on for deliverability monitoring
- You are already deeply integrated with Salesforce, HubSpot or Dynamics 365 and need native connectors without Zapier as a dependency
- You are already on Campaigner Advanced with a named CSM and getting measurable ROI - switching costs are real for established high-volume senders
- You need TCPA-compliant SMS with automated opt-out logic in a North American context and have the budget for the $694/mo Advanced + SMS bundle
Frequently asked questions
Is Brevo free? Does Campaigner have a free plan?
Brevo has a permanent free plan: 300 emails per day (roughly 9,000 per month), unlimited contacts stored, no credit card required. Campaigner has no free plan. Its 30-day trial requires a credit card to activate. Multiple independent reviewers report that cancellation after the trial is disproportionately difficult, with accounts continuing to charge after verbal cancellation requests. If you want to evaluate an email tool without a billing commitment, Brevo is the safe starting point.How much does Brevo cost for 10,000 contacts?
With 10,000 contacts and 20,000 emails per month, Brevo Standard costs approximately €15 to €18 per month - you pay for emails sent, not contacts stored. Campaigner at 10,000 contacts requires the Essential plan at $179 per month. Brevo is roughly 8 to 10 times cheaper at this scenario. Important caveat since October 2025: Brevo Standard now has a 1,500-contact ceiling at its base €15 price. If you exceed that, you auto-upgrade to the next tier, pushing the monthly cost higher. At 10,000 contacts you would be on a higher Standard tier, around €29 to €39 per month - still well below Campaigner's $179. (Sources: Chatarmin, Sequenzy - June 2026)Brevo vs Campaigner vs Mailchimp - which wins for e-commerce?
For e-commerce under a $100 per month budget, Brevo is the clear pick: email, SMS, abandoned cart, and transactional SMTP all included from Standard at €15. Mailchimp wins on template library and app integrations for Shopify-first stores. Campaigner wins on multivariate testing depth at the Advanced tier, but at $649 per month that is a high bar for most e-commerce teams. For a DTC brand needing Klaviyo-style revenue attribution, neither Brevo nor Campaigner matches Klaviyo's native Shopify depth.Can you migrate from Campaigner to Brevo?
Yes. Brevo supports CSV contact import; 15,000 contacts process in under 2 minutes. Steps: (1) Export your Campaigner contact list as CSV. (2) Import to Brevo with field mapping. (3) Recreate automation workflows in Brevo's visual builder - straightforward if moving from Campaigner Starter or Essential since those only include autoresponders. (4) Authenticate your domain (SPF/DKIM) in Brevo and allow 2 to 4 weeks for sender reputation to warm up. Key risk: if you relied on Campaigner Advanced conditional branching and 30+ variant multivariate tests, Brevo's Standard automation will not replicate that depth exactly.Is Brevo GDPR compliant? Is Campaigner GDPR compliant?
Brevo is fully GDPR compliant: Paris headquarters, data stored in EU data centres in France, Belgium and Ireland, ISO 27001:2022 certified, DPA included automatically in your account, CNIL as the supervisory authority. Double opt-in, consent management and one-click deletion are built in. Campaigner is owned by Ziff Davis, a US company, and no EU data centre is confirmed in their public documentation. EU businesses using Campaigner would need to verify Standard Contractual Clauses for data transfers - that process is not automatic. For any EU-based team with GDPR obligations, Brevo is the structurally safer choice.What is the cheapest Brevo plan that includes automation?
Brevo Standard, starting at €15 per month. This unlocks unlimited automation workflows, A/B testing, advanced analytics and web tracking. One important caveat since October 2025: Standard now caps stored contacts at 1,500 at the base price. Exceeding that triggers an auto-upgrade to the next contact tier. The Starter plan at €7 per month does not include automation - only basic campaign sending and the drag-and-drop builder.Brevo vs Campaigner for small businesses - which is better?
Brevo wins clearly for small businesses. Campaigner's own positioning targets mid-market teams, and the pricing reflects that: real automation starts at $649 per month. Brevo delivers functional automation workflows at €15 per month, a free plan with no card, and no contact-based billing penalty for list growth. The only scenario where Campaigner makes sense for a small business is a specific, confirmed need for 30+ variant multivariate testing - genuinely rare at the small business scale.How do you cancel Campaigner? Is it hard?
Based on documented community evidence: cancellation is disproportionately difficult. Multiple independent Trustpilot reviews report accounts continuing to charge thousands of dollars after verbal cancellation attempts. One reviewer describes $2,000 in charges on an account inactive for years, told after a hung-up call that the cancellation was void. Another reports a recurring campaign that stopped for 18 months with a refund refused. Best practice: request cancellation in writing by email, get a written confirmation number, and monitor your billing statement for at least two cycles after cancellation. Do not rely on phone-only cancellation. (Sources: Trustpilot reviews, Oct 2025 and Mar 2026)Brevo vs Campaigner for high-volume senders (100k emails/month)?
At 100,000 emails per month, Brevo Professional starts from ~€499 per month; Campaigner Advanced is $649 per month (approximately €600). Cost is comparable at that scale. Campaigner's Reputation Defender add-on (20% of plan, roughly $130/mo) provides dedicated deliverability monitoring. Brevo's advantages at this tier: multi-channel (SMS, WhatsApp) included, French and EU data hosting, no documented billing-crisis risk. Campaigner's advantages: deeper multivariate testing, longer track record for committed high-volume senders - one 10-year user reports 140,000 emails per month with minimal issues. Both require careful evaluation and preferably a direct trial before committing at this scale.Does Brevo work for transactional emails like order confirmations?
Yes. Brevo includes SMTP relay and transactional email on all plans including the free tier, up to 300 per day. The API supports dynamic content, attachments and real-time event tracking. Competitive pricing at high transactional volumes versus dedicated services like SendGrid or Postmark. Campaigner also supports transactional email but is not positioned as a transactional-first platform. For WooCommerce or Shopify order flows, Brevo's native plugins make the setup straightforward.
Test both, then decide
Brevo starts free with no card. Campaigner requires a card for its trial - document your cancellation process carefully if you go that route.
Best for SMBs, EU-based businesses and multi-channel marketers. Free plan with no credit card, automation from €15/mo, 150+ integrations.
Try Brevo for free →Read the full Brevo review →Best for Advanced-plan mid-market teams with genuine multivariate testing needs. 30-day trial available - enter payment details only if you are prepared to cancel in writing.
Try Campaigner free trial →Read the full Campaigner review →Affiliate links: if you sign up through them, you support our independent hands-on tests at no extra cost to you. We score both tools the same way and disclose the weak spots on each.
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