What is Brevo plugin?
Brevo for WooCommerce (formerly Sendinblue) is the official WordPress plugin for Brevo — a cloud-based email marketing, SMS, CRM, and marketing automation platform. Unlike self-hosted plugins like MailPoet or FluentCRM, the Brevo plugin connects WordPress to Brevo’s cloud infrastructure, with all subscriber data, campaigns, and analytics managed through the Brevo platform. The WordPress plugin handles the connection: syncing WooCommerce customers to Brevo, placing signup forms on WordPress pages, and enabling transactional email sending through Brevo’s SMTP service.
Brevo’s free plan allows sending 300 emails per day with unlimited contacts — a meaningful advantage over Mailchimp’s 500-contact free limit. All contacts are stored in Brevo without a subscriber cap in the free tier. Paid plans remove daily limits and unlock advanced features: marketing automation, A/B testing, predictive sending, and multi-user access. For WooCommerce stores, Brevo’s ecommerce sync captures product data, purchase history, and customer segments, enabling targeted campaigns like win-back sequences and purchase-based recommendations.
For businesses that prefer a managed cloud email platform over a self-hosted WordPress solution, Brevo offers competitive pricing, strong deliverability infrastructure, and EU-based data storage (ISO 27001 certified) for GDPR-conscious sites. The WordPress plugin is primarily a connection layer — the actual email design and campaign management happens in the Brevo dashboard, not in WordPress admin. Teams comfortable managing email marketing outside WordPress will find Brevo a powerful SaaS alternative to fully self-hosted solutions.
Need Help With Brevo Setup, Troubleshooting, or Customization?
Need help with Brevo? Whether you are dealing with errors, broken functionality, styling problems, plugin conflicts, or advanced customization, we can help you fix the issue and get the plugin working properly on your WordPress site.
Get Brevo Expert HelpKey Features
- Cloud-based email marketing — all data managed in Brevo dashboard
- Free plan: 300 emails/day, unlimited contacts
- WooCommerce customer sync: purchase history, order data, product catalog
- Transactional email via Brevo SMTP (order confirmations, password resets)
- Marketing automation workflows
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Unlimited contacts on free plan — no subscriber cap unlike Mailchimp
- 300 emails/day free tier functional for small business needs
- EU-based servers provide GDPR compliance reassurance
Cons
- Free tier daily send limit (300 emails) restricts batch campaigns
- Data lives on Brevo servers — less data ownership than self-hosted solutions
Free vs Premium
Free: 300 emails/day, unlimited contacts, basic templates. Starter (~$9/month): removes daily limit, 5,000+ emails/month, no Brevo branding. Business (~$18/month): automation, A/B testing, predictive sending. Pricing at brevo.com.
Common Problems & Fixes
Brevo plugin WooCommerce customer sync is not working — customers are not appearing in Brevo after purchases. How do I fix this?
Go to Brevo → WooCommerce Sync and verify the sync is enabled. Check the API key in Brevo → Settings → API Connection — an expired or invalid API key will silently fail the sync. After verifying the connection, manually trigger a test sync by placing a test order. If the test customer does not appear in Brevo, check your server’s outbound HTTPS connection to api.brevo.com — some hosting firewalls block outbound API connections. Also ensure your Brevo account is verified and active.
Transactional WooCommerce emails via Brevo SMTP are going to spam — how do I improve deliverability?
Configure SPF and DKIM authentication for your sending domain in Brevo → Senders & IPs → Domains. Brevo provides the DNS records to add to your domain’s DNS settings. Without proper authentication, emails sent through Brevo SMTP may be classified as spam despite using Brevo’s infrastructure. Also confirm your Brevo account is not in a sending limit due to spam complaints — check the account status in Brevo’s dashboard. Ensure the From email address matches a verified domain in your Brevo account.
The Brevo plugin is slowing down my WordPress admin dashboard — how do I reduce its impact?
The Brevo plugin makes API calls to Brevo’s servers when loading certain admin pages. Reduce impact by: (1) disabling the Brevo dashboard widget if not used (WordPress Dashboard → Screen Options → disable Brevo widget); (2) checking if the plugin is making excessive API calls due to a misconfigured WooCommerce sync — review sync settings in Brevo → WooCommerce Sync and reduce sync frequency; (3) updating to the latest plugin version, which may include performance improvements.
Customization & Developer Notes
How do I use Brevo to send WooCommerce abandoned cart emails?
Brevo’s WooCommerce integration can trigger abandoned cart automation workflows. After connecting the Brevo plugin and WooCommerce sync, go to the Brevo platform dashboard → Automation → Create Workflow → WooCommerce Abandoned Cart trigger. Configure the delay (typically 1-3 hours after cart abandonment) and design the recovery email with product images and a cart recovery link. The Brevo plugin passes cart data to Brevo, enabling personalized recovery emails with the abandoned product details.
Can I create subscription forms in Brevo and embed them on WordPress pages?
Yes. Create subscription forms in the Brevo platform (Contacts → Forms) and embed them on WordPress pages using the HTML embed code or the Brevo WordPress shortcode. Forms automatically add subscribers to your selected Brevo list. The plugin also supports adding a Brevo subscription checkbox to WooCommerce checkout, blog comment forms, and WordPress registration pages through the Brevo → Subscription Forms settings in WordPress admin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brevo better than Mailchimp for small business email marketing?
Brevo has meaningful advantages over Mailchimp for many small businesses: unlimited contacts on the free plan (Mailchimp limits to 500), daily send limits instead of monthly caps (more flexible for variable-frequency senders), EU-based servers for GDPR compliance, and lower overall pricing at most usage levels. Mailchimp’s advantages include a larger template library, more established brand recognition, and broader third-party integration ecosystem. For small businesses just getting started with email marketing, Brevo’s free tier is typically more generous.
Does the Brevo WordPress plugin handle SMTP email delivery as well as marketing campaigns?
Yes — the Brevo plugin serves dual purposes: it connects WooCommerce and WordPress to Brevo for marketing campaigns, and it can also configure Brevo as the SMTP provider for all WordPress transactional emails (password resets, order confirmations, contact form notifications). In Brevo → Settings → Sending Email, configure the SMTP credentials to route all WordPress wp_mail() calls through Brevo’s SMTP infrastructure for improved deliverability.
Can Brevo break after updates?
Yes, that can happen, especially on older sites with many plugins. This usually happens when the plugin, theme, and add-ons are updated out of sequence. In most cases, testing on staging catches the issue before it reaches the live site. From experience, backups and changelog reviews save a lot of cleanup time.
What should I check before installing Brevo?
Start by checking whether another plugin already does the same job. In most cases, overlap is what creates avoidable conflicts and performance issues. A common issue is installing a plugin because it looks convenient without checking the stack first. From experience, a short compatibility review avoids most of the pain later.