Two transactional email providers, compared on price, features and ratings, so you can pick fast.
Brevo wins price and sending APIsCustomer.io wins compliance and support
Updated August 2026
At a glanceBrevoCustomer.io
Cost per 1k @ 100k$0.69—
G2 rating4.54.4
Trustpilot4.33.2
Drag-and-drop editorYesYes
THE VERDICT
Brevo wins on price and sending APIs. Customer.io wins on compliance and support.
Brevo and Customer.io take different pricing approaches. Brevo rates higher with developers (4.5 vs 4.4 on G2). Pick based on volume and team, and the scorecard below breaks down where each one leads.
Which should you choose?
Pick Brevo
✓You want one platform combining transactional email, marketing, SMS, and CRM
✓You're an EU-based or GDPR-sensitive business valuing EU residency and ISO 27001
✓You have large contact lists but moderate send volume
✓You want a low-cost or free entry point with a drag-and-drop editor
Pick Customer.io
✓You need behavior-triggered lifecycle messaging across email, push, and SMS
✓You want journeys driven by real-time user/event data and a unified profile
✓You're consolidating marketing automation and transactional messaging
✓You need EU data residency or HIPAA-grade compliance
Feature by feature
Winner cells are tinted, green where Brevo leads, violet where Customer.io does.
capability
Brevo
Customer.io
Pricing
Starting paid plan
$9/mo
$100/mo
Cost per 1k @ 100k
$0.69
—
Pricing model
Subscription
Subscription
Overage
Email volume is bucketed by plan tier; exceeding the bucket requires moving up a tier rather than per-email overage. Transactional add-on credits ~$0.0014/email referenced by third parties.
Profile-based pricing: additional profiles $0.009 each; additional emails $0.12 per 1,000 over the plan's bundled allowance; AI credits $10/100K. Email volume does not map to a per-email tier.