Brevo (renamed from Sendinblue in May 2023) is a marketing platform that also handles transactional email. That ordering matters: Brevo was built for campaigns, newsletters, and automation, with SMTP relay and transactional email added alongside. It is not a transactional email specialist like Postmark or SMTP2GO.
For WordPress sites, this means Brevo can handle both directions: marketing campaigns through its dashboard and transactional email (password resets, order confirmations, form notifications) through its SMTP relay or API. The free tier sends 300 emails per day, which is enough for most low-volume WordPress sites. The trade-off is that marketing and transactional email share the same sending infrastructure and the same daily cap.
SMTP settings
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Host | smtp-relay.brevo.com |
| Port | 587 (TLS, recommended) |
| Encryption | TLS |
| Authentication | Login |
| Username | Your Brevo account email |
| Password | Your SMTP key (not API key; different credential) |
Alternative ports: 465 (SSL) and 2525 (if your host blocks 587).
The old hostname smtp-relay.sendinblue.com is being deprecated; update any existing configurations to smtp-relay.brevo.com.
Before sending production email, add Brevo’s SPF and DKIM records to your domain’s DNS. Brevo provides these in the dashboard under Settings > Senders & IPs > Domains. Without authentication records, messages from your domain are more likely to land in spam. After configuring DNS, verify with swaks that messages authenticate correctly.
Pricing
Brevo’s pricing covers both marketing and transactional email under a single plan structure. There is no separate transactional-only tier.
| Plan | Price | Volume | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 300 emails/day | Full SMTP and API access. No credit card required. |
| Starter | $9/mo | 5,000 emails/mo | Removes daily cap. Basic reporting. |
| Standard | $18/mo | 5,000 emails/mo | Adds automation, A/B testing, advanced reporting. |
| Professional | $499/mo | 150,000 emails/mo | Dedicated IP option. Phone support. |
The free tier’s 300/day cap is shared between marketing campaigns and transactional email. A WooCommerce store sending order confirmations, shipping notifications, and password resets is drawing from the same pool as any Brevo campaigns running on the same account. For a site sending only transactional email, 300/day is generous; a typical small WordPress site sends fewer than 50 transactional emails per day. For a site also running email campaigns through Brevo, the cap can become a constraint.
The jump from free to Starter ($9/month) is worth noting. If a site regularly exceeds 300/day, the next tier costs $108/year for 5,000 emails per month. Comparable transactional-only services offer different value at lower price points: SMTP2GO’s free tier allows 1,000 emails/month (200/day cap), and Postmark starts at $15/month for 10,000 emails with consistently high deliverability. For WordPress-scale transactional volume, dedicated services price more favourably than Brevo’s marketing-first model.
WordPress integration
Three paths to connect Brevo with WordPress:
Brevo’s own WordPress plugin – “
Newsletter, SMTP, Email marketing and Subscribe forms by Brevo” connects via Brevo’s API (not SMTP). This is the simplest path if you want Brevo managing all outbound email from WordPress. The plugin replaces wp_mail() and routes everything through Brevo’s API endpoint. A separate Brevo for WooCommerce plugin adds e-commerce-specific features: abandoned cart emails, product recommendations, order sync.
WP Mail SMTP – WP Mail SMTP includes a native Brevo integration that connects via API key. Select “Brevo (Sendinblue)” as the mailer, paste the API key, and the plugin handles the rest. This is the better choice if you want WP Mail SMTP’s logging and fallback features alongside Brevo’s sending infrastructure.
Generic SMTP – Any mailer plugin (Post SMTP, FluentSMTP, or WP Mail SMTP in “Other SMTP” mode) can connect to Brevo using the SMTP settings above. This works but loses the API-level features (delivery tracking in the Brevo dashboard, automatic list sync). Use this path when Brevo is just the relay and you do not need the marketing platform integration.
When Brevo is the right choice
Brevo fits well when a WordPress site already uses it for email marketing. If campaigns, automation workflows, and contact management are already running through Brevo, routing transactional email through the same platform simplifies the stack: one sender reputation, one set of DNS records, one dashboard. WooCommerce stores benefit from the combined view of marketing and transactional email in a single platform.
The free tier is also a reasonable starting point for low-volume WordPress sites that need SMTP relay without paying anything. At 300/day with full SMTP and API access, it is more generous than several competitors’ free tiers.
When Brevo is not
For WordPress sites that only need transactional email (no campaigns, no marketing automation), Brevo carries more overhead than the job requires. The marketing features are overhead, the transactional email shares infrastructure with marketing sends (which can affect deliverability if a campaign triggers spam complaints), and the pricing model is built for marketers, not for WordPress operators who send 200 password resets a month.
Transactional-only alternatives are better fits for this use case:
- Postmark – transactional-only by design (separate broadcast stream), starts at $15/month for 10,000 emails, consistently high deliverability
- SMTP2GO – free tier with 1,000 emails/month (200/day cap), SMTP relay
- Amazon SES – $0.10/1,000 messages for sites on AWS infrastructure
If the site does not need Brevo’s marketing platform, do not pay for Brevo’s marketing platform.
Pricing and SMTP settings verified June 2026. Brevo was previously known as Sendinblue; the SMTP host changed from smtp-relay.sendinblue.com to smtp-relay.brevo.com with the rebrand.