ActiveCampaign vs Brevo: EU pricing versus US features

ActiveCampaign holds a bad send for review; Brevo just bolts on a footer and lets it go

ActiveCampaign holds a campaign for manual review when the recipient address or unsubscribe link fails validation, and refuses any third-party link outright, while Brevo lets the same send through by patching in a default footer, leaving CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, and the CCPA as contract clauses rather than a technical gate. Scope compared, criterion by criterion. Checked 7 September 2026.

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ActiveCampaign

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ActiveCampaign vs Brevo: scope compared, criterion by criterion — checked September 7, 2026
ActiveCampaign	Brevo
What the tool answers
What it measures or produces
Contacts, lists, campaigns, event-triggered automations, and deals arranged into pipelines with stages and tasks	Outbound messages — email, SMS, WhatsApp, push, chat, chatbot, phone — and the open, click and conversion statistics attached to each
The job it equips
The marketing automation manager who builds triggered multichannel journeys, rather than the CRM admin who structures records and cross-team visibility	The email marketing manager at a small company, who builds campaigns personally in a drag-and-drop editor without a developer, and reads results in the same place
What it cannot tell you
Opens on plain-text emails are not measured, and the Campaign Overview report stays non-exportable according to the published help pages	What happened more than two years ago: past ten million events, those older than twenty-four months are deleted, with the extension reserved for Enterprise
Send, deliver, measure
Deliverability
A dedicated IP at $750 each, open on every tier — but conditional on at least one hundred thousand engaged contacts. Volume is the barrier, not the plan	One dedicated IP included on Enterprise, otherwise a $251-per-year add-on, open only to Professional and Enterprise. Gradual warm-up is mandatory, authentication via Brevo code, DKIM and DMARC
Editor and templates
Drag-and-drop with image, text, button, video, timer, menu and free HTML blocks; over one hundred and twenty-five templates; conditional content on all four tiers	Three editors — drag-and-drop, rich text, HTML — over forty free responsive templates, and conditional block display through content visibility or an if statement
Segmentation
Dynamic segments recomputed in real time, with and/or logic and groups. Official cap of twenty conditions per segment, five of them action-type and three uses of the contains operator	An explicit ceiling of one hundred combinable conditions per segment, across attributes, email and SMS activity, conversations, web tracking, commerce, custom events, deals and companies
Automated journeys
Entry from Starter, but capped at five actions per automation. If/Else branches start at Plus; random splits and automation chaining require Professional	Triggers across contacts, forms, email, ecommerce, deals, meetings, phone, push, WhatsApp and web, with four rules including a conditional split. Some triggers require a paid package
A/B testing
Up to five variations on subject, sender and full content, with a per-variation list percentage and a winner picked automatically after two days by default	Subject line or content, with a fifty per cent test group by default, twenty-five per version, and a fifty per cent maximum per version. Automatic winner by open or click rate
Billing unit
Dual: a plan priced by contact count, plus a monthly send cap of ten to fifteen times that number. Past it, $0.005 per email, then a hard stop at three times the cap	By volume of emails sent, not per contact — but that volume also caps stored contacts, and exceeding it triggers an automatic, chargeable move to the next tier
GDPR compliance
Double opt-in on by default for list signup forms. The data processing agreement binds nothing until it has been executed from the account itself	A data processing agreement is available, breach notification within seventy-two hours, and exportable proof of consent carrying the timestamp and form ID
CAN-SPAM and state-law compliance
ActiveCampaign blocks a non-compliant send: the campaign is held for review if the address or unsub link is invalid, third-party links refused. The 10-day deadline is only in the glossary, not a platform rule. No state law named.	Brevo names CAN-SPAM (AUP), requires an unsubscribe link; the Terms also cite the TCPA and CCPA, the only state law named. The tool doesn't block, it patches: lacking a link, it adds a footer — the sanction is only contractual.
What comes out of it
Export formats
Campaign reports export to CSV, but the Campaigns Performance report is limited to Plus, Professional and Enterprise: it does not exist on Starter	Contacts as CSV with a selectable separator, campaign report as PDF and CSV. But the CSV breakdown by domain starts only at the Standard tier
Shareable reports
The vendor states no share link exists for a custom report. Distribution is limited to three internal visibility levels, restricted to account users	A campaign report is shared by entering addresses: recipients get a link to a read-only page. No scheduled report and no white-labeling in that article
API access
The v3 REST API is included on all four tiers at no extra cost, capped at five requests per second per account, returning a 429 beyond	A REST API stated as included on every plan, with quotas counted per hour and per second, up to two thousand per second on transactional sending at Professional
What it connects to
Native integrations
Over a thousand apps advertised, but the CRM connectors that matter — Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zendesk Sell — are reserved for the Enterprise tier	Over one hundred and fifty advertised, the vendor citing Shopify, WordPress, Stripe and Zapier as examples. The detailed catalogue renders in JavaScript and could not be counted
Google tools it connects to
Six help articles cover Google Ads, Google Contacts for import and sync, Google Sheets, and Google Analytics attached to campaigns	Google Analytics through automatic UTM tagging, and Google Ads receiving Brevo segments as audiences, a sync advertised as free
Bringing your existing data across
A free migration exists, but a bounded one: lists, plus at most ten items per category across templates, automations and forms, and only for paying customers	A Brevo-built Mailchimp integration imports up to a million contacts, with attribute matching chosen field by field. Mailchimp tags, though, are not carried over
Getting started, and the fine print
Support
Live chat is English only, Monday to Friday, 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. US Central. The help center, for its part, exists in French	Support answers in French, by ticket on every tier. Phone is reserved for Professional and Enterprise, Monday to Friday — with no published hours or time zone
Where the data is hosted
Three named regions: United States, European Union, Asia-Pacific. But assignment follows the account's GEO IP and the vendor writes that it cannot be changed	OVH in France and Germany only, plus Google Cloud in Belgium, with at least three copies across two distinct locations. It is the only vendor in this grid naming its hosts
What happens if you leave
Two vendor pages contradict each other on refunds: one states there are none, the other grants one within thirty days. On an annual commitment, cancellation takes effect only at term	The terms of service state that customer content is immediately and permanently deleted on termination, with retrieval possible for at most twenty-four hours
Minimum seats billed
One seat included on Starter and Plus, three on Professional, five on Enterprise. Starter caps additional purchases at one extra seat	One seat, the account owner, on Free and Starter. Standard includes one, Professional ten, Enterprise caps none
Data residency and regulated cloud
ActiveCampaign auto-assigns a region (EU/US/APAC) by GEO IP, no location or host named. Own SOC 2 Type 2 (annual report on request). Enterprise ships “HIPAA features”; FedRAMP, StateRAMP, GovCloud, BAA absent, tier undocumented.	Brevo doesn't host in the US (OVH, Google Cloud): no US region. Its only self-claimed certification is ISO 27001:2022. No SOC 2, HIPAA BAA, FedRAMP, StateRAMP, or GovCloud as of 2026-09-07; US data is a transfer, not hosting.
Interface languages shipped
ActiveCampaign advertises 14 fully supported languages (Czech, Dutch, English...), English not distinguished. 5 more are contradicted: discontinued per help center, partial per site FAQ. No excluded screen documented.	Brevo ships six interface languages, English in two variants (US and UK) among them, plus Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. As of 2026-09-07, no screen, menu, or system email is flagged as untranslated.
What it costs
The entry price and what it includes
$15 per month for a thousand contacts on Starter, CRM and automations included. But Starter caps at twenty-five thousand contacts and five actions per automation	Two figures coexist in the vendor's own pages for Starter: $9 per month excluding tax in the help centre, and 7 € per month for five thousand emails on a French comparison page. Neither pricing grid could be read at source
What pushes the bill up
Send volume, not contact count: ten times the contacts on Starter and Plus, then $0.005 per email. Sending is switched off at three times the cap	Monthly email volume first, then separately billed add-ons: SAML single sign-on at $324 per month, a dedicated IP at $251 per year, and extra seats
Sales tax and nexus
ActiveCampaign charges US sales tax by billing address, as a separate line item (page dated 2025-03-17), no published state list. Exemption via documentation, approval at sole discretion. Nexus and per-state/local calc absent.	Brevo charges US sales tax in twelve named states (Florida, New York, Texas...) based on billing address, at each state's rate. Exemption needs documentation. No economic nexus or local calculation; the page shows no update date.
Procurement and invoicing
Non-card billing opens at USD 2,500 annual commitment (wire/check); resold accounts excluded. FAQ states no threshold and ties PayPal to annual plans, help center sets the threshold without it. PO, net-30, ACH, W-9 absent.	Contradiction on the US entity: 'SIB INC. US' (Terms) vs 'Sendinblue, Inc. dba Brevo USA' (Privacy Policy). Card is the default; ACH is open to US customers except the first payment. Payment is due at signup, no net-30. No W-9.

Key takeaways

One editor reviews the send by hand before it goes out

ActiveCampaign holds a campaign for manual review whenever the recipient address or the unsubscribe link fails validation, and it refuses any third-party link outright. The ten-day deadline sometimes quoted for opt-outs lives only in ActiveCampaign’s own glossary — it is not enforced as a platform rule — and no state law is named anywhere near the policy.

Brevo names three laws, then answers all three the same way

Brevo cites CAN-SPAM under its Acceptable Use Policy and requires an unsubscribe link, while its Terms separately name the TCPA and the CCPA, the only state law appearing anywhere in this pair. Whichever law is triggered by a missing link, the fix is identical: Brevo inserts a default footer and the campaign still sends. The sanction sits in the contract, not in a technical gate.

Neither certification tells you which cloud is actually regulated

ActiveCampaign auto-assigns a region — Europe, the United States, or Asia-Pacific — by the account’s GEO IP, naming no location or host, and holds its own SOC 2 Type 2 report, available on request; Enterprise ships what the vendor calls “HIPAA features,” but FedRAMP, StateRAMP, GovCloud, and a business associate agreement are all absent, with no tier documented for any of them. Brevo does not host in the United States at all: its infrastructure runs on OVH and Google Cloud, and its only self-claimed certification is ISO 27001:2022, with no SOC 2, HIPAA BAA, FedRAMP, StateRAMP, or GovCloud as of the seventh of September, twenty twenty-six.

Fourteen advertised languages against six that actually hold up

ActiveCampaign advertises fourteen fully supported languages without distinguishing US from UK English, yet five more are contradicted on the vendor’s own site: discontinued according to the help center, only partial according to the site’s own FAQ. Brevo instead ships six interface languages cleanly, English in two variants, US and UK, among them, with no screen, menu, or system email flagged as untranslated as of the seventh of September.

One vendor names twelve states, the other names none

Brevo charges US sales tax in twelve named states — Florida, New York, and Texas among them — at each state’s own rate, based on the billing address, with exemption requiring documentation. ActiveCampaign charges tax the same way, by billing address, as a separate line item on a page dated the seventeenth of March, twenty twenty-five, but never publishes which states, and grants exemption only through documentation approved at its own sole discretion.

Frequently asked questions

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How much does a dedicated IP cost as an add-on at Brevo?

Brevo includes one dedicated IP on Enterprise only; on every other paid tier it is a $251-per-year add-on, open just to Professional and Enterprise, with mandatory gradual warm-up. ActiveCampaign, for its part, prices a dedicated IP at $750 on every tier, but only once an account holds at least one hundred thousand engaged contacts. For a buyer needing sender reputation control, both vendors gate a dedicated IP behind a tier or a volume condition.

Is Brevo’s CSV breakdown by domain available on every tier?

No: Brevo’s CSV breakdown by domain starts only at the Standard tier; contacts export as CSV with a selectable separator, and campaign reports also export as PDF. ActiveCampaign, for its part, exports campaign reports to CSV, but its Campaigns Performance report is limited to Plus, Professional and Enterprise, absent on Starter. For a buyer on an entry tier, both vendors withhold some export detail until a higher plan.

Does Brevo host customer data in the United States?

No: Brevo hosts only on OVH in France and Germany, plus Google Cloud in Belgium, with at least 3 copies across two distinct locations, making it the only vendor in this grid naming its hosts. ActiveCampaign, for its part, names 3 regions, United States, European Union, Asia-Pacific, but assignment follows the account’s GEO IP and cannot be changed. For a buyer required to keep data out of the United States, Brevo’s stated hosting locations answer that directly.