ToolScout
Brevo
Small e-commerce and service businesses in the EU that need email, SMS, and WhatsApp marketing in one GDPR-compliant platform without per-contact pricing
Pros
- Pricing is based on email volume (not contact count), so you can store 100,000 contacts on the free plan and only pay when you send more than 300 emails/day
- Built-in SMS campaigns reach 60+ countries and WhatsApp Business messaging is available natively, unlike Mailchimp which requires a third-party SMS add-on
- Transactional email API handles order confirmations, password resets, and shipping notifications with dedicated IP starting at the Business plan ($18/month)
- GDPR compliance features include EU-hosted servers, double opt-in forms, consent tracking, and automatic unsubscribe list management
- Starter plan at $9/month for 5,000 emails/month undercuts Mailchimp Essentials ($13/month for 500 contacts) for shops with large contact lists but low send frequency
Cons
- Drag-and-drop email editor offers fewer design blocks and template variety than Mailchimp's builder, which includes 100+ pre-styled layouts
- Free plan adds a Brevo logo to the footer of every email, and removing it requires the Starter plan at $9/month
- Deliverability rates on the free and Starter plans use shared IP addresses; dedicated IP requires the $18/month Business plan
- Reporting is limited to opens, clicks, and unsubscribes; click heatmaps, device analytics, and revenue attribution require the Business plan
Key Features
- Drag-and-drop email campaign builder with responsive templates and dynamic personalization tokens
- Marketing automation workflows with triggers for sign-ups, purchases, site visits, and date-based events
- SMS and WhatsApp campaign manager with audience segmentation and scheduling
- Transactional email and SMS API with SMTP relay, webhooks, and real-time delivery logs
- Landing page builder with hosted forms and embedded sign-up widgets
- Built-in CRM with deal pipelines, contact scoring, and task management
- A/B testing for subject lines, sender names, and email content with automatic winner selection