Brevo vs Dotdigital (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Brevo grades higher than Dotdigital: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Brevo grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Brevo
Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing priced by emails sent, with a CRM
Dotdigital
Cross-channel marketing automation for ecommerce and B2B teams
Which one is for you
Pick Brevo if
- Fits if you have thousands of contacts but only email them a few times a month
- Works for apps or shops that need receipt and password emails as well as newsletters
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay on Starter, which has 1 seat, no automations and the Brevo logo unless you pay $12 more
- Pricey if you want WhatsApp, popups or push, which start on the $499 Professional plan
- Skip it if you mail a growing list every day, since the price follows the emails you send
- Watch out: Starter and Standard cap contacts by volume, at 500 for 5,000 emails a month and 2,500 for 15,000
- Watch out: the free plan stops at 300 emails a day, and SMS credits are bought separately by destination
Pick Dotdigital if
- Fits if you run an online store on Shopify, BigCommerce or Adobe Commerce
- Makes sense if you want email and other channels from one vendor
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a published price, as we could not confirm one
- Not for you if you want a free plan or trial, because none is shown
- Watch out: loyalty is a separate product from the main platform
- Watch out: the home page does not say which plans include the AI agents
- Skip it if all you send is a monthly newsletter
How we grade them
| 2.6GPABrevoGood | 2.0GPADotdigitalFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BStarter is $9 a month for 5,000 emails, inside the cheaper quarter of email tools, and from 20,000 emails the contact cap jumps to 500,000. Automations and A/B tests need Standard at $18, and taking the Brevo logo off Starter is $12 a month more. | CNo price could be confirmed, because the vendor's pricing pages refused automated reads. Nothing on record to set against the category. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for good with no card: 300 emails a day, campaigns and transactional email by API. Once your list passes 300 people, though, a single newsletter can't all go out on the same day. | FThe pages that could be read state no free plan or trial. |
| Features | BCampaigns, transactional email, automations, SMS, segments, forms, AI writing and a sales CRM, all from one contact list. That covers the whole job. WhatsApp, popups and push wait for the $499 Professional plan. | BMarketing automation, several channels, AI agents and an MCP server. The listing shows no gap in the core job, though loyalty is a separate product. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. It's a big web app with campaigns, automations, a CRM and SMS in it, so you'll be setting things up before it earns its keep. | CWeb, with channels and a catalogue to connect. No rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Shopify, WordPress, Stripe, Zapier, ChatGPT and Claude connections and an API. No desktop or phone app is listed. | BWeb only, with Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, Shopware and Trustpilot connections. |
| Best for | big lists you only email now and then | retail and ecommerce brands with a sales call |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Brevo and Dotdigital. How we grade
Where they differ
- Brevo also covers sales pipeline, forms and live chat.
- Dotdigital also covers sMS marketing and whatsApp messaging.
At a glance
| Brevo | Dotdigital | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $9 per month for 5,000 emails and up to 500 contacts, billed monthly | Not published |
| Free plan | Up to 300 emails a day (campaigns and transactional), 1 marketing seat and transactional email by API and SMTP. No credit card needed. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Brevo | dotdigital EMEA Limited |
| Price read from | brevo.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Brevo
- Starter and Standard cap contacts by email volume: 500 contacts at 5,000 emails a month, 2,500 at 15,000, and 500,000 from 20,000.
- The Free plan is limited to 300 emails a day.
- Starter has a single seat and shows the Brevo logo unless you pay $12 a month; extra seats on Standard cost $12 a month each, up to 3.
- SMS credits are bought separately and priced by volume and destination; WhatsApp campaigns start at the $499 Professional plan.
Dotdigital
- Prices could not be confirmed: the vendor's pricing pages refused automated reads, so none are listed.
- The pages that could be read state no free plan or trial.
- Loyalty is a separate product, and the home page does not say which plans include the AI agents.
Key features
Brevo
- Email campaigns and transactional email
- A drag-and-drop editor and templates for campaigns, plus transactional email over an API and SMTP relay on every plan, Free included.
- Marketing automation
- Standard and above allow unlimited multi-step workflows triggered by sign-ups, website activity and custom events.
- SMS and WhatsApp
- SMS campaigns are sold as credits priced by volume and destination on every plan. WhatsApp, popups and web and mobile push come with Professional.
- Sales CRM
- Sales seats add pipelines, deals and sales automation to the same contact database, sold as a separate monthly charge per seat.
- Segments and forms
- Paid plans can save unlimited segments filtered by website activity, campaign engagement and custom events, and build branded sign-up forms.
- AI tools
- An AI writer drafts subject lines and copy from Starter, send-time optimization comes with Standard, and Aura AI segmentation and data questions come with Professional.
Dotdigital
- Marketing automation
- Customer journeys that trigger messages, such as cart recovery emails and SMS offer reminders, from one platform.
- Channels
- Email, SMS/MMS, WhatsApp, mobile app push, web personalization and ads and retargeting.
- AI agents
- A Segment Agent that builds audiences from a plain description and a Content Agent that writes messaging for any channel.
- MCP server
- A Model Context Protocol server that lets an AI tool read Dotdigital results and add leads to a list.
- Loyalty and retention
- A loyalty product for rewarding and retaining customers, sold alongside the marketing platform.
Plans
Brevo
Free$0
300 emails a day, 1 seat, campaigns and transactional email. Upgrading removes the daily sending limit.
Starter$9
per month for 5,000 emails and up to 500 contacts, billed monthly
1 seat, forms, segmentation and AI writing help; removing the Brevo logo costs $12 a month. Price rises with volume: $17 a month at 10,000 emails.
Standard$18
per month for 5,000 emails and up to 500 contacts, billed monthly
Automation workflows, A/B testing, send-time optimization, no Brevo logo, up to 3 seats. $69 a month at 20,000 emails, where the contact cap rises to 500,000.
Professional$499
per month for 150,000 emails, billed monthly
10 seats, WhatsApp, popups and push, contact scoring, AI segmentation, phone support and up to 2 million contacts.
EnterpriseCustom
For 1 million or more contacts: multiple brands under one account, dedicated IP, SSO and SAML, custom data integrations.
Dotdigital
Pricing could not be confirmed. See dotdigital.com.
Ways to pay less
Brevo
- Annual discount
Save 10% with yearly billing
Brevo's pricing page takes 10% off Starter, Standard and Professional when billed yearly: Starter at 5,000 emails is $97 a year instead of $108.
Dotdigital
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Brevo or Dotdigital?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Brevo starts at $9 per month for 5,000 emails and up to 500 contacts, billed monthly, and Dotdigital has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Brevo or Dotdigital?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Brevo has a free plan. Dotdigital does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.