SendKernel vs Brevo
Brevo has the most useful free tier in this category — around 300 messages a day, roughly 9,000 a month, with API access — and it bills by volume rather than by contact, which makes it excellent value for a large list you mail occasionally. It is also a much broader product than ours, with automation, SMS, and a light CRM. We are narrower, cheaper at higher transactional volume, and stricter about what we will let you send.
Competitor pricing verified September 4, 2026 from public pages. Check before switching — everyone's pricing moves.
Choose Brevo if
- You want the most generous free tier available, including API access.
- You need marketing automation, SMS, WhatsApp, or a CRM alongside email.
- You have a large list you mail infrequently, where volume pricing beats contact pricing.
- You want landing pages and signup forms, which we do not build.
Choose SendKernel if
- Your transactional volume is high enough that the per-message gap matters.
- You want deliverability enforced as a gate rather than offered as advice.
- You want a small operating surface instead of a suite you use a fifth of.
- You want suppression that is permanent, account-wide, and free to store.
Side by side
| Brevo | SendKernel | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ~300/day, ~9,000/mo, API included | 2,000 emails + 500 contacts |
| Paid plans start | ~$9/mo | $18/mo for 50,000 |
| 100,000 transactional emails | ~$65/mo | $32/mo |
| Billing model | Volume | Volume for sending, contacts for marketing |
| Automation, SMS, CRM | Yes | No |
| Landing pages and forms | Yes | No |
| DMARC required before sending | No | Yes |
| Automatic pause on complaints | Provider managed | Published thresholds, hard gate |
Questions people actually ask
- Is Brevo's free tier better than yours?
- For transactional volume, yes — around 9,000 messages a month against our 2,000, and that is a straightforward win for them. Ours includes 500 stored contacts with broadcasts, which theirs handles differently. If a free tier is the deciding factor and you only need to send, start with Brevo.
- Which is cheaper at scale?
- We are, for pure transactional volume: roughly $32 against about $65 at 100,000 messages a month. Brevo is better value if you would otherwise buy automation, SMS, or CRM separately, because those are included rather than added.
- Can I use both?
- Yes, and it is a sensible arrangement while you evaluate. A domain can carry multiple DKIM selectors, so you can authenticate both providers at once, move transactional traffic here, and leave campaigns where they are until you are satisfied with delivery.
Try it before you migrate anything
The free plan does not expire. Verify a domain, import a small segment, and send one campaign before you move your list.
Start free