Brevo vs Klaviyo: A No-BS Comparison for Email Marketing

Brevo and Klaviyo are both solid email marketing platforms, but they're built for different businesses. The short version: Klaviyo is the ecommerce specialist with deep Shopify integration and predictive analytics. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is the budget-friendly generalist with multi-channel capabilities.

Let's break down exactly what you're getting with each so you can make the right call.

The Quick Verdict

Choose Brevo if: You're a small-to-medium business watching your budget, have a large contact list you don't email frequently, or need multi-channel marketing (email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat) in one platform.

Choose Klaviyo if: You run an ecommerce store (especially on Shopify), want advanced segmentation and predictive analytics, and are willing to pay more for deeper data insights and automation.

Pricing: The Biggest Difference

This is where Brevo and Klaviyo fundamentally differ. Brevo charges based on emails sent. Klaviyo charges based on active contacts. This pricing model difference can mean massive cost differences depending on your business.

Brevo Pricing

Key add-on costs to watch:

For more details on Brevo's pricing structure, check out our complete Brevo pricing breakdown.

Klaviyo Pricing

Here's how Klaviyo scales with contact growth:

Important note about Klaviyo's billing changes: As of early 2025, Klaviyo bills based on ALL active profiles in your account, not just the ones you email. If you have a large list but only email a portion of it, your costs may be higher than expected. Your plan will auto-upgrade if you exceed your contact limit.

Real Cost Comparison

Let's say you have 25,000 contacts and send 5 emails per person per month (125,000 total emails):

That's a significant difference. One case study showed a business with 25,000 contacts dropping from $300/month on Klaviyo to $45/month on Brevo—an 85% savings. However, the question is whether Klaviyo's advanced features justify the premium for your specific use case.

Features Comparison

Email Marketing Basics

Both platforms cover the fundamentals well:

Brevo has a slight edge in ease of use with G2 users rating it 9.0 for usability versus Klaviyo's 8.7. Klaviyo has a steeper learning curve but offers more depth once you master it.

Where Klaviyo Excels

Ecommerce Integration: Klaviyo was built for ecommerce from the ground up. It integrates deeply with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and other platforms. The Shopify integration syncs data in real-time—customer profiles, order history, browsing behavior, cart contents—all flowing automatically into Klaviyo for segmentation and automation.

Predictive Analytics: Klaviyo's AI can predict customer lifetime value, expected purchase dates, and churn risk. This lets you target customers who are likely to buy again or reach out before they leave. Brevo doesn't offer this level of predictive capability.

Product Recommendations: Klaviyo automatically analyzes purchase history and browsing behavior to suggest relevant products in your emails. This is table stakes for serious ecommerce operations.

Revenue Attribution: Klaviyo connects email metrics directly to revenue, showing exactly which campaigns and flows drive sales. You can see the dollar value of every email you send.

350+ Integrations: While Brevo has solid integrations (173+), Klaviyo's integration library is deeper, especially for ecommerce tools like loyalty programs, reviews, and subscription platforms.

Where Brevo Excels

Multi-Channel in One Platform: Brevo combines email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, and push notifications in a single dashboard. Klaviyo focuses primarily on email and SMS—you won't get native WhatsApp campaigns or live chat.

Landing Pages: Brevo includes a landing page builder on paid plans. Klaviyo doesn't offer native landing page functionality at all—just basic sign-up forms.

Built-in CRM: Brevo includes a lightweight CRM for managing contacts and sales pipelines. Klaviyo is purely marketing-focused.

Transactional Emails: All Brevo plans include transactional email capabilities with APIs, SMTP, and webhooks. Klaviyo treats transactional emails separately.

Support on Free Plan: Brevo offers email support to all users, including free plan users. Klaviyo only provides email support for the first 60 days on the free plan, then you're limited to community forums and documentation.

Automation Capabilities

Both platforms offer solid automation, but with different strengths:

Klaviyo's automation is ecommerce-centric with pre-built flows for abandoned carts, browse abandonment, post-purchase, winback campaigns, and more. The flows can trigger based on deep behavioral data—like triggering an email when someone views a specific product category three times.

Brevo's automation is more general-purpose but still capable. You get behavior-based triggers, website tracking, and multi-step workflows. The automation limit on lower plans (2,000 contacts for automation on Starter) might restrict some users.

Deliverability

Both platforms have decent deliverability, but dedicated IPs cost extra on each:

Deliverability ultimately depends on your list quality and sending practices more than the platform itself.

SMS Marketing

Both platforms offer SMS, but pricing differs:

Brevo SMS: Pay-as-you-go credits that never expire. Pricing varies by country.

Klaviyo SMS: Credit-based system included with paid plans. The Email + SMS plan starts at $20/month with 1,250 SMS credits. Additional credits scale with your plan.

Klaviyo's SMS integrates more tightly with its email automation for coordinated multi-channel campaigns. Brevo's SMS is capable but less sophisticated.

AI Features

Both platforms have added AI capabilities:

Klaviyo AI focuses on ecommerce performance: content generation, send-time optimization, subject line suggestions, and predictive analytics for customer behavior.

Brevo's Aura AI emphasizes accessibility: content generation, automated segmentation, sales prospecting assistance, and customer support.

Klaviyo's AI is more powerful for driving ecommerce conversions. Brevo's AI helps smaller teams work faster.

Who Should Use Each Platform

Brevo Is Best For:

Klaviyo Is Best For:

The Bottom Line

Brevo is the smart choice if you want solid email marketing without breaking the bank. It's particularly appealing if you have a large list, send emails occasionally, or need multi-channel capabilities like WhatsApp and live chat.

Klaviyo is worth the premium if you're running a serious ecommerce operation and will actually use the advanced features. The predictive analytics, deep Shopify integration, and revenue tracking can pay for themselves if you're selling products online. But if you're just sending newsletters to a B2B list, Klaviyo is overkill—and overpriced.

For more email marketing platform comparisons and pricing guides, check out our best email marketing software roundup and our detailed Brevo review.