Key Takeaways
- Mailblast runs $10-$255/month across a 32-rung ladder (1,000 to 500,000 contacts) plus Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails. Brevo Business starts at $18/month for 5,000 emails and rises to $129/month at 100,000 and roughly $239/month at 250,000 (Brevo, 2026).
- Brevo owns the sending infrastructure; Mailblast hands it to your AWS account. That single architectural choice drives every other difference, including how your sender reputation accrues and whether costs scale linearly or in steps.
- Brevo includes landing pages, A/B testing, SMS, and a CRM. Mailblast deliberately doesn't - it focuses on the email send and lets your SES reputation live in your AWS account.
- Choose Brevo if you want one bill and zero infrastructure setup. Choose Mailblast if you want lower marginal cost per email, portable sender reputation, and unbranded sending from the $10/month rung.
At 50,000 emails per month, Mailblast costs $15 plus roughly $5 in Amazon SES fees, while Brevo Business runs about $129/month (Brevo, 2026). The price gap is real and it widens fast above 20,000 emails per month. The deeper decision isn't only price, though - it's whether you want a hosted email service provider to own the sending infrastructure for you (Brevo), or whether you want to own it yourself through your AWS account (Mailblast).
That architectural difference cascades into everything: how your sender reputation accrues, how costs scale, what features are bundled, and what you do if you ever want to move. This comparison walks through both platforms side by side using current 2026 pricing, so you can pick the model that matches how your business actually sends email. For broader context on platform selection, see our Mailblast vs Mailchimp comparison.
The architectural difference: BYO-SES vs hosted ESP
The single most important difference between Mailblast and Brevo is who owns the sending infrastructure. Brevo is a traditional hosted email service provider - they operate sending IPs, manage ISP relationships, and route every message through their own pipes. Mailblast is a management layer on top of Amazon SES, which means delivery happens through your AWS account and bills come from Amazon, not from Mailblast.
This shapes four practical outcomes:
- Sender reputation. On Brevo, your reputation is bound to Brevo's shared IP pool (or a dedicated IP add-on at extra cost). On Mailblast, your reputation accrues to your AWS account and follows you anywhere that supports SES.
- Cost structure. Brevo charges one monthly fee that bundles platform and delivery. Mailblast charges a flat platform fee while you pay Amazon directly for delivery at $0.10 per 1,000 emails (AWS, 2026).
- Setup complexity. Brevo is sign-up-and-send. Mailblast requires you to create an AWS account, verify your sending domain with SPF and DKIM, and request SES production access (typically a one to two day approval).
- Lock-in. Brevo lock-in lives in the platform and your reputation history on their IPs. Mailblast lock-in is minimal because your sender setup and reputation live in your own AWS account.
Neither model is universally better. Brevo's bundled simplicity is genuinely valuable if you don't want to think about infrastructure. Mailblast's separation gives you cost control and portability if you do.
Pricing at common volume tiers
Mailblast is cheaper than Brevo at every email volume above 5,000 per month, and the gap widens fast at scale. Mailblast prices on contact count with no email send caps on paid plans, then adds Amazon SES delivery at $0.10 per 1,000 emails (AWS, 2026). Brevo prices on monthly send volume regardless of contact count, with Starter at $9/month for 5,000 emails and Business stepping from $18/month at 5,000 emails to $129/month at 100,000 and roughly $239/month at 250,000 (Brevo, 2026).
Here's what total monthly cost looks like across realistic volume tiers, assuming you need marketing automation (which is Business-only on Brevo and included on every Mailblast plan):
A few things to note in the cost shape:
- At 10,000 emails per month (1,000 contacts), Mailblast comes in around $11 against Brevo Business at $35. Brevo Starter is cheaper at $9/month at this volume, but Starter caps marketing automation at 2,000 contacts and excludes A/B testing and landing pages - so most teams comparing serious tools end up on Business.
- At 50,000 emails (5,000 contacts), the gap is already 6x: $20 versus $129. Brevo Business jumps into the $129 bucket at 50,000 because its volume tiers step.
- At 250,000 emails (25,000 contacts, which rounds up to Mailblast's 30,000-contact rung), the divergence is structural: $55 versus $239. Mailblast's ladder pricing plus pay-per-1,000 SES delivery wins decisively at volume.
Brevo's pricing also gates landing pages and A/B testing to the Business plan and keeps the "Sent with Brevo" footer on the free tier - so the apples-to-apples Business plan is where most teams end up. For a full breakdown of Brevo's tier structure, see our Brevo pricing explained guide.
Features head-to-head
Brevo bundles more product surface area than Mailblast - landing pages, A/B testing, SMS, a small CRM, and chat - and Mailblast bundles less by design. The relevant question is whether you'll actually use what Brevo includes or whether you're paying for tools you'll never open.
| Feature | Mailblast | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Sending infrastructure | Your Amazon SES account (BYO) | Brevo-owned shared IPs |
| Free tier | 1,000 contacts, 10,000 emails/mo, no automation sends, Mailblast footer | 300 emails/day, contacts up to 100,000, Brevo footer required |
| Cheapest paid plan | From $10/mo (1,000 contacts) + SES at $0.10 per 1,000 | $9/mo Starter (5,000 emails, capped automation) |
| Drag-and-drop editor | ✓ Yes (BeeFree) | ✓ Yes |
| Marketing automation | ✓ All plans incl. free | Capped at 2,000 contacts on Starter; unlimited on Business |
| A/B testing | ✗ No | ✓ Business plan |
| Landing pages | ✗ No | ✓ Business plan |
| SMS / WhatsApp | ✗ No | ✓ Pay-as-you-go |
| Built-in CRM | ✗ No | Lightweight, included |
| Platform branding on sent email | None on any plan | Free + Starter (Starter removes via $12/mo add-on); Business+ included |
| Multi-brand / agency | ✗ No | Sub-accounts on Enterprise |
| Analytics | Opens, clicks, unsubscribes, per-link CTR, recipient events | Opens, clicks, heatmaps, send-time optimization (Business+) |
Brevo wins the feature checklist. That's the right read for teams that genuinely use landing pages, run A/B tests on subject lines, or need SMS in the same dashboard. For teams that just need newsletters and welcome sequences sent reliably and cheaply, those features are dead weight you're paying for every month.
Deliverability: who owns the sender reputation
In both products, account-level sender reputation is what gets your email to the inbox, but Brevo manages that reputation centrally while Mailblast hands it to your AWS SES account. Brevo's shared IPs serve thousands of customers, which means your domain reputation matters more than the IP, and Brevo's compliance team enforces list-hygiene rules to protect the pool. With Mailblast on your own SES, your reputation lives in AWS where you control the warmup curve, the dedicated IP decision, and the long-term history.
Practical implications:
- On Brevo, if a noisy neighbor in the shared IP pool gets flagged, transient delivery dips can affect you. Brevo's deliverability team works hard to prevent this, and most customers never notice. A dedicated IP is a paid add-on available on Professional and Enterprise plans and runs roughly $251 per year, about $21/month (Brevo, 2026).
- On Mailblast/SES, your domain reputation accrues to you. If you ever leave Mailblast for another SES-based tool, your warmup history travels with you. A standard dedicated IP on SES costs $24.95/month with no plan upgrade required (AWS, 2026).
According to Litmus's State of Email research, authentication setup (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and engagement quality drive inbox placement far more than the underlying ESP. Both platforms support full authentication; the difference is who controls the long-term reputation asset.
When Brevo is the right call
Brevo is the right choice when you want one platform to handle email plus adjacent channels and you don't want to think about sending infrastructure. The bundled landing pages, A/B testing, SMS, and lightweight CRM genuinely save time if you'd otherwise be stitching three tools together. Brevo is also the obvious pick if you can't (or don't want to) set up an AWS account.
Choose Brevo if:
- You want a single dashboard for email, SMS, and a CRM.
- You actively use landing pages and A/B testing.
- You prefer a single monthly bill that includes delivery.
- You value bundled features over marginal cost per email.
- You don't want to manage AWS or SES production access.
When Mailblast is the right call
Mailblast is the right choice when you want lower cost at scale, full ownership of your sender reputation, and unbranded sending once you're on a paid rung. The ladder pricing plus pay-per-1,000 SES delivery is hard to beat economically from 10,000 emails per month upward, and your reputation accrues to an AWS account you control rather than to a vendor's shared pool.
Choose Mailblast if:
- You send more than 10,000 emails per month and care about marginal cost.
- You want sender reputation that's portable across SES-compatible tools.
- You need automation included on every paid plan.
- You want unbranded sending as soon as you go paid, rather than a separate branding-removal fee.
- You're comfortable spending a couple of hours setting up an AWS account and verifying your domain.
You won't get landing pages, A/B testing, or built-in SMS - and that's by design. Mailblast focuses on doing the email send well at a predictable price.
FAQ
What is the main difference between Mailblast and Brevo?
Brevo owns and operates the sending infrastructure on your behalf - you pay a single monthly fee and Brevo handles IPs, warming, and ISP relationships. Mailblast is a management layer on top of your own Amazon SES account, so you own the sending infrastructure and pay AWS directly for delivery. Brevo is simpler; Mailblast is cheaper at scale and gives you portable sender reputation.
Is Mailblast cheaper than Brevo?
Yes at most volumes, and the gap widens fast. At 100,000 emails per month (10,000 contacts), Mailblast costs $20 plus $10 in Amazon SES fees against Brevo Business at about $129/month. At 250,000 emails (25,000 contacts, which rounds up to the 30,000-contact rung), Mailblast is $55 against Brevo Business at about $239 (Brevo, 2026). Mailblast prices on contact count plus per-1,000 delivery; Brevo prices on send volume in stepped tiers.
Did Sendinblue become Brevo?
Yes. Sendinblue rebranded to Brevo in May 2023 to reflect its expansion beyond email into CRM, SMS, and conversations. The underlying platform, sending infrastructure, and pricing model remained the same - only the name and visual identity changed. Existing Sendinblue accounts migrated automatically.
Does Brevo show its branding on free plan emails?
Yes. Brevo's free plan appends a "Sent with Brevo" footer to every email, and the footer cannot be turned off on free. Removing it on the Starter plan requires a "No Brevo logo" add-on at about $12/month; Business and Enterprise plans include logo removal (Brevo, 2026). Mailblast's free plan carries a similar "Sent with Mailblast" footer; every paid rung starting at $10/month sends unbranded.
Can I migrate from Brevo to Mailblast?
Yes. Export your contact lists from Brevo as CSV files and import them into Mailblast. Email templates need to be rebuilt in Mailblast's BeeFree editor since the underlying formats differ. The bigger migration step is setting up your Amazon SES account, verifying your domain with SPF and DKIM, and requesting production access - typically a one to two day process.
Disclosure: This comparison is published by Mailblast. We've tried to represent Brevo's pricing and capabilities fairly using their public documentation and have linked sources throughout. Where you land between the two depends on whether you'd rather rent the sending infrastructure or own it through AWS.