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Transactional Email

Brevo API (Transactional)

Brevo's transactional API for sending automated emails (confirmations, invoices, notifications). Affordable French solution but beware of reliability: occasional bugs and desynchronizations can be problematic for critical transactional emails.

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Who's it for?SalesMarketerOps

Review by a Growth Engineer

My verdict: decent transactional API, but mixed reliability.

Brevo's transactional API does the job for confirmation emails, invoices, or notifications. The price is competitive and docs are clear.

What I like less: occasional bugs and variable stability are a real problem for transactional. When your password reset email doesn't arrive, it's critical. I've had desyncs and unexplained slowdowns.

My advice: acceptable if you already use Brevo for marketing and want to centralize. For critical transactional (order confirmation, password reset), Postmark or SendGrid are more reliable even if more expensive.

Why add it to your stack?

Brevo's transactional API is used by many French SaaS for confirmation emails, invoices, and notifications. The price is fair and the documentation is clear.

But beware: reliability isn't at Postmark or SendGrid's level. If you have critical emails (password reset, order confirmation), occasional bugs can be problematic.

What you can do with it

  • 1Send transactional emails (confirmations, invoices, notifications)
  • 2Manage email marketing campaigns with conversion tracking
  • 3Combine email and SMS for multichannel campaigns
  • 4Centralize customer support with integrated chat
  • 5Create basic marketing automations (welcome series, follow-ups)

What it does

  • High-deliverability transactional emails
  • Email marketing and automation
  • SMS marketing
  • Live chat and WhatsApp
  • CRM and sales pipeline
  • Robust API and webhooks

How much?

Starting at 15 EUR/month

Transactional: starting at 15 EUR/month for 20k emails. Marketing: plans starting at 25 EUR/month. Complete suite with all modules available as bundle. Pricing based on email volume sent.

The detailed verdict

Do I really need this?

Not indispensable at all for pure transactional. Postmark and SendGrid are more reliable if deliverability is critical. Brevo's interest is centralization if you also use marketing and CRM. Otherwise, specialized alternatives are better.

Does it play nice with my stack?

The API is well documented with SDKs in major languages. Webhooks work for reacting to events (opens, bounces). Native integrations with WordPress, Shopify, Zapier, Make. On this point, it's solid.

Is it easy to pick up?

15 minutes to send your first transactional email with the docs, that's decent. Complexity comes from the multiplicity of modules - understanding how everything fits together takes time. Support is responsive on paid plans only.

Is the UX any good?

The interface is dated and navigation between modules (Marketing, Transactional, Conversations) lacks fluidity. Some features are hidden in submenus. We're far from Postmark or Customer.io's UX standards. Usable but frustrating at times.

Is it worth it?

At 15 euros/month for 20k transactional emails, the price is competitive against SendGrid or Postmark. But watch out for confusing pricing with different modules - make sure you understand what's included before committing.

What I like

  • Email marketing and newsletters with reliable transactional emails via API
  • Centralizing email, SMS, and chat in a single platform at affordable price
  • Native GDPR compliance for European companies concerned about regulations

What I like less

  • Teams that demand 100% reliability without bugs or desynchronizations
  • Pure cold email where dedicated tools like Instantly or Lemlist are better
  • Very advanced automation requiring complex and customized workflows

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