This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up through them, Digital Consulting may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools we use ourselves.
Our Brevo review in short: Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is the email platform Digital Consulting uses for its own email marketing and lead follow-up. It suits small businesses that email a growing list once or twice a month, from about R150 a month before VAT. Its gaps are dollar billing and WhatsApp campaigns that need the $499 plan.
Digital Consulting is a Cape Town agency for web design, SEO and AI visibility. We moved our own email marketing to Brevo in June 2026, and clients often ask which email tool they should use. This review answers that for business owners, with prices checked on 27 October 2026.
What Brevo does
Brevo is email marketing software with a few extra channels added. You build a contact list, design newsletters in a drag-and-drop editor, and send them on a schedule or automatically when someone joins your list. The same account also gives you SMS campaigns, WhatsApp campaigns on the Professional plan, a free live chat for your website, a simple sales CRM, and order and booking emails sent from your website.
The main difference from Mailchimp is how you pay. Mailchimp prices its plans by the number of contacts you store. Brevo prices mainly by the emails you send each month. The smallest tiers do cap your contacts, but from 20,000 emails a month you can store up to 500,000 contacts, so a large list you email once a month stays affordable.
How South African businesses can use it
A monthly newsletter
The Starter plan includes 5,000 emails a month for up to 500 contacts, enough for a weekly newsletter to a small list. A list of 2,000 people that you email twice a month needs the 15,000-email tier, at $25 a month (about R416).
Following up leads automatically
Every enquiry from your website or a Facebook lead ad can land in a Brevo list, tagged with where it came from. At Digital Consulting, new leads are added once a week, after a two-week wait, so nobody gets a newsletter while we are still busy quoting them.
SMS and WhatsApp
SMS campaigns work on every plan, including the free one. You buy credits upfront: a text message to a South African number costs about $0.11, roughly R1.85 before VAT, and SMS credits never expire. WhatsApp campaigns cost less per message, about R0.81 for a marketing message to a South African number, but Brevo only offers them on the Professional plan at $499 a month.
Order and booking emails
Brevo also sends transactional emails, such as order confirmations and booking reminders, from your website or online shop. They are included on every plan, through Brevo's API or SMTP.
What we use it for at Digital Consulting
We chose Brevo in June 2026 because it prices by emails sent, which suits a growing list that we email once or twice a month, and because it has an official connection for AI assistants. That connection lets our assistant add and tag contacts in Brevo directly. Brevo's Claude connector is free on all plans. Our previous email tool, Sender, had no such connection when we switched.
We send from a separate subdomain, mail.digitalconsulting.co.za, so the reputation of our marketing emails never affects the email our team sends every day.
Why Brevo emails go to spam, and how to fix it
Start with your sending domain. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo expect bulk senders to send from their own domain, authenticate it with DKIM and DMARC, and keep spam complaints under 0.3%. Microsoft followed in May 2025. Brevo walks you through adding the DNS records: a Brevo code, DKIM and DMARC.
Our tips from setting this up:
- Send from a subdomain such as mail.yourbusiness.co.za, so a bad campaign never hurts your everyday email.
- If your domain is hosted with xneelo and the subdomain is set up as its own DNS zone, enter Brevo's DKIM records as full addresses ending in a dot, for example
...dkim.brevo.com.. Without the dot, the records point to the wrong place. - Warm up a new domain by sending your first campaign to the people most likely to open it.
Brevo pricing in rand
Brevo charges in US dollars and adds 15% VAT to invoices for South African customers. The rand amounts below use R16.65 to the dollar (Xe mid-market rate, 27 October 2026) and exclude VAT.
| Plan | Price a month | Emails | Main extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 300 a day | Brevo logo on emails |
| Starter | $9 (about R150) | 5,000 a month | Email, SMS, forms |
| Standard | $18 (about R300) | 5,000 a month | Automations, no logo |
| Professional | $499 (about R8,306) | 150,000 a month | WhatsApp, 10 users |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 1 million+ contacts |
Source: Brevo pricing. Yearly billing gives you 10% off.
On Starter and Standard, the email tier you choose also sets how many contacts you can store:
| Emails a month | Contacts you can store | Starter price | Standard price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 500 | $9 | $18 |
| 10,000 | 1,500 | $17 | $35 |
| 15,000 | 2,500 | $25 | $49 |
| 20,000 | 500,000 | $32 | $69 |
Source: Brevo help centre and Brevo pricing.
You pay by card or PayPal; prepaid debit cards are not accepted. Brevo's terms do not refund fees you have paid, so test the free plan before you commit.
If you run a small business, start on the free plan, then move to Starter once you need more than 300 emails a day. Move to Standard when you want automated emails, such as a welcome series for new subscribers.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. The free plan lets you send 300 emails a day and store up to 100,000 contacts. Every email carries Brevo's logo, unused daily sends don't roll over, and a campaign to more than 300 people has to be queued again by hand each day. It is fine for testing and for very small lists.
POPIA and your mailing list
South Africa's privacy law, POPIA, sets rules for direct marketing by email. Section 69 says you may only send electronic direct marketing to people who have given consent, or to existing customers about similar products, and every message must let them opt out. Brevo's own rules point the same way: it forbids bought, rented and scraped lists and expects consent from within the last two years.
In practice:
- Only email people who signed up, or existing customers who bought something similar from you.
- Put an unsubscribe link in every email (Brevo adds one automatically).
- Never import a bought list.
Brevo stores your data in the EU and holds ISO 27001 certification, but it publishes no statement about POPIA.
Brevo vs Mailchimp: pricing in rand
Here is how Brevo compares with Mailchimp. We haven't used Mailchimp ourselves, so its column uses Mailchimp's published plans.
| Brevo | Mailchimp | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 300 emails a day, up to 100,000 contacts | 500 emails a month, 250 contacts |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9 a month (about R150 before VAT): 5,000 emails, 500 contacts | R200 a month: up to 500 contacts |
| Price based on | Emails you send | Contacts you store |
| Prices in rand | No, US dollars | Yes |
Sender, the tool Digital Consulting used before Brevo, has a bigger free plan: 15,000 emails a month for up to 2,500 subscribers. Its cheapest paid plan is also $9 a month. We left it because it had no AI assistant connection when we switched.
Limits, and who should skip it
Brevo is the wrong tool if:
- you want to pay in rand: Brevo bills in US dollars and adds 15% VAT
- you need WhatsApp campaigns on a small budget: they start on the $499 Professional plan
- you want automations for a large list on the free or Starter plan: those are limited to 2,000 contacts
- you only need a free plan for a list of a few thousand people: Sender's free plan sends more email a month
- you need your email provider to publish a POPIA statement
Frequently asked questions
Is Brevo free?
Yes, Brevo has a free plan that lets you send 300 emails a day and store up to 100,000 contacts. Every email carries Brevo's logo, and automations are limited to 2,000 contacts. It is enough to test Brevo or run a small newsletter. Paid plans start at $9 a month.
How much does Brevo cost in South Africa?
Brevo's Starter plan costs $9 a month, about R150 at R16.65 to the dollar, for 5,000 emails and up to 500 contacts. Brevo adds 15% VAT for South African customers, which brings it to about R172. You pay in US dollars by card or PayPal.
Is Brevo better than Mailchimp?
For most South African small businesses, Brevo costs less. Its cheapest plan is about R172 including VAT, against R200 for Mailchimp's cheapest paid plan, and its free plan sends far more email. Mailchimp's advantage is that it shows its prices in rand.
Is Brevo POPIA compliant?
Brevo does not publish a POPIA statement. It stores data in the EU and holds ISO 27001 certification. Under POPIA, consent and opt-outs are your responsibility as the sender: only email people who agreed to hear from you, and include an unsubscribe link in every email.
Want it done for you?
Digital Consulting can set Brevo up for you: authenticate your sending domain, import and tag your list, connect your website forms, and build your first automated emails.
- AI consulting and automation: lead follow-up and other automations for South African businesses.
If you'd rather do it yourself, start with Brevo's free plan.
Last updated: 27 October 2026. Prices checked on 27 October 2026 at R16.65 to the US dollar.
