Brevo
Send a low-volume newsletter and transactional messages with clear consent records
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Brevo, send a low-volume newsletter and transactional messages with clear consent records. The hard boundary is deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, crm, automation, and support, plus deliverability, growth network, and integrations.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support
- inbox-placement expertise
- advanced automations
- commerce integrations
- recommendation and ad networks
Why people still pay
People still pay for Brevo because newsletter operators pay for inbox placement, growth mechanics, and operational confidence on publication day. The recurring cost buys DNS authentication, reputation, bounces, complaints, unsubscribe compliance, templates, queues, analytics, backups, and support, not just the visible interface.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- A verified sending domain, SES account with suitable sending access, DNS ownership and permission-based subscriber records. Provider charges and deliverability work remain.
- Implementation components: Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. React Email templates, an Amazon SES adapter and a bounded outbox worker with provider event ingestion.
- Scope boundary: deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Optional external skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: web-design-guidelines — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: copywriting — Write landing pages and product copy grounded in the intended audience, product value and a clear next action. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Project rule — data model: contacts, consent channels, transactional templates, marketing campaigns, suppressions and delivery callbacks
Project rule — preserve this invariant: Marketing consent is not inferred from a transactional email; suppression policy is checked at dispatch and unsubscribe links remain functional.
Project rule — acceptance evidence: A complaint callback removes a recipient from a queued campaign; retrying an inbound callback does not increment the failure count twice.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Operate one permission-based newsletter and a separate transactional-message API. Preview templates and recipient segments, dispatch bounded batches and report delivery/bounce events independently from unreliable opens. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise
Phase 2
Durable model. Model contacts, consent channels, transactional templates, marketing campaigns, suppressions and delivery callbacks Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Marketing consent is not inferred from a transactional email; suppression policy is checked at dispatch and unsubscribe links remain functional.
Phase 3
Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Snapshot the campaign revision and recipient segment. Persist one delivery record per recipient, use provider-supported reconciliation after unknown outcomes, and pause on high failure rates.
Phase 4
Permissions and integration failure. Keep consent evidence and suppression records, validate signed delivery callbacks, and recheck unsubscribes and complaints immediately before every send. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results.
Phase 5
Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README.
Phase 6
Acceptance scenarios. A complaint callback removes a recipient from a queued campaign; retrying an inbound callback does not increment the failure count twice. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder.
WORKING SLICE Operate one permission-based newsletter and a separate transactional-message API. Preview templates and recipient segments, dispatch bounded batches and report delivery/bounce events independently from unreliable opens. Build this scoped Brevo-inspired workflow with a documented data model and visible failure states. Architecture - Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. - PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. - React Email templates, an Amazon SES adapter and a bounded outbox worker with provider event ingestion. Prerequisites and limits A verified sending domain, SES account with suitable sending access, DNS ownership and permission-based subscriber records. Provider charges and deliverability work remain. Outside this release: deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise Data model and correctness contacts, consent channels, transactional templates, marketing campaigns, suppressions and delivery callbacks Invariant: Marketing consent is not inferred from a transactional email; suppression policy is checked at dispatch and unsubscribe links remain functional. Snapshot the campaign revision and recipient segment. Persist one delivery record per recipient, use provider-supported reconciliation after unknown outcomes, and pause on high failure rates. Security and privacy Keep consent evidence and suppression records, validate signed delivery callbacks, and recheck unsubscribes and complaints immediately before every send. Recovery and export Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Implementation order 1. Phase 1 — Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Operate one permission-based newsletter and a separate transactional-message API. Preview templates and recipient segments, dispatch bounded batches and report delivery/bounce events independently from unreliable opens. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise 2. Phase 2 — Durable model. Model contacts, consent channels, transactional templates, marketing campaigns, suppressions and delivery callbacks Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: Marketing consent is not inferred from a transactional email; suppression policy is checked at dispatch and unsubscribe links remain functional. 3. Phase 3 — Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Snapshot the campaign revision and recipient segment. Persist one delivery record per recipient, use provider-supported reconciliation after unknown outcomes, and pause on high failure rates. 4. Phase 4 — Permissions and integration failure. Keep consent evidence and suppression records, validate signed delivery callbacks, and recheck unsubscribes and complaints immediately before every send. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results. 5. Phase 5 — Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README. 6. Phase 6 — Acceptance scenarios. A complaint callback removes a recipient from a queued campaign; retrying an inbound callback does not increment the failure count twice. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder. Acceptance A complaint callback removes a recipient from a queued campaign; retrying an inbound callback does not increment the failure count twice. Use real source data or clearly labeled fixtures. Explain unsupported input and provider failures; do not fabricate analytics, delivery receipts, accuracy claims or security guarantees. Optional agent guidance Optional external skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [copywriting](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/blob/main/skills/copywriting/SKILL.md) — Write landing pages and product copy grounded in the intended audience, product value and a clear next action. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Project rule — data model: contacts, consent channels, transactional templates, marketing campaigns, suppressions and delivery callbacks Project rule — preserve this invariant: Marketing consent is not inferred from a transactional email; suppression policy is checked at dispatch and unsubscribe links remain functional. Project rule — acceptance evidence: A complaint callback removes a recipient from a queued campaign; retrying an inbound callback does not increment the failure count twice.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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Alternatives to building your own
all 6 free alternatives to Brevo →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Brevo pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/workspace | $0/workspace | 300 email sends/day, up to 100,000 stored contacts, 1 user, automation up to 2,000 contacts, basic reporting. |
| starter | $9/workspace | $8.10/workspace | Starts at 5,000 monthly emails; no daily send limit; contact tiers from 500 to 500,000 depending email volume.Annual price uses official 10% yearly discount. |
| standard | $18/workspace | $16.20/workspace | Starts at 5,000 monthly emails; up to 3 user seats via add-on, 1 landing page, unlimited automation contacts, A/B testing, AI send time.Annual price uses official 10% yearly discount. |
| professional | $499/workspace | $449.10/workspace | Starts at 150,000 monthly emails; up to 2,000,000 contacts, 10 user seats, 10 landing pages, 1 custom object.Annual price uses official 10% yearly discount. |
| enterprise | — | — | Custom volume, unlimited contacts, unlimited seats, 40,000 push target limit, 1 dedicated IP included, SAML, SLA, CSM.Contact sales. |
free tier$0; 300 emails/day, up to 100,000 contacts, 1 user, automation up to 2,000 contacts.
billingmonthly + yearly (-10%); yearly paid upfront; plan credits renew monthly
hidden costsUnused monthly email credits expire; paid contact overages can trigger auto-upgrade; remove-logo add-on $9/mo, extra Standard seats $9/mo, dedicated IP $251/year, SAML $324/mo, SMS/WhatsApp priced separately.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-10 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Brevo
Can you build your own Brevo with AI?
Partly. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Brevo, send a low-volume newsletter and transactional messages with clear consent records. The hard boundary is deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, crm, automation, and support, plus deliverability, growth network, and integrations.
What does the Brevo build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Operate one permission-based newsletter and a separate transactional-message API. Preview templates and recipient segments, dispatch bounded batches and report delivery/bounce events independently from unreliable opens. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise; advanced automations. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Brevo prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Brevo project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Brevo?
deliverability infrastructure, multichannel messaging, CRM, automation, and support; inbox-placement expertise; advanced automations; commerce integrations; recommendation and ad networks. People still pay for Brevo because newsletter operators pay for inbox placement, growth mechanics, and operational confidence on publication day. The recurring cost buys DNS authentication, reputation, bounces, complaints, unsubscribe compliance, templates, queues, analytics, backups, and support, not just the visible interface.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Starter plan is $9/mo (monthly), checked 2026-07-31. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Brevo?
listmonk: Fast campaigns plus a transactional API and explicit subscriber states; the visual polish is utilitarian. Plunk: Transactional and campaign email with workflows; self-hosting is free, sending is not magic. Notifuse: Campaigns, transactional API and subscription records in one compose stack; delivery still needs an SMTP provider. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/brevo/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.