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AcelleMail vs Brevo

AcelleMail vs Brevo — self-hosted email marketing vs cloud multi-channel SaaS

Side-by-side comparison of AcelleMail (self-hosted PHP application, $80 one-time license, MySQL/MariaDB, plugin SDK, multi-tenant SaaS layer) and Brevo, formerly Sendinblue (Paris-based cloud SaaS founded 2012, multi-channel: Email + Transactional + SMS + WhatsApp + Chat + CRM, REST API + SMTP relay, send-volume-based pricing). Pricing model, sending stack, automation, migration steps.

Auf einen Blick AcelleMail Brevo
License model Commercial license — $80 Regular / $199 Extended on CodeCanyon. Full PHP source included; one-time payment with lifetime point + minor updates. Cloud SaaS subscription. Free tier available; paid Marketing Platform tiers billed monthly per published Free / Starter / Business / Enterprise structure on brevo.com/pricing/.
Hosting Self-hosted on Linux + PHP 8.1+ + MySQL/MariaDB. Single-tenant or multi-tenant on the same install (Extended). Cloud-only — operated by Brevo from Paris-headquartered infrastructure. No self-hosted distribution.
Stack PHP 8.1+ (Laravel-based), MySQL/MariaDB, optional Redis cache. Brevo-managed cloud. Customer surface: REST API at developers.brevo.com + SMTP relay at smtp-relay.brevo.com.
Channels Email-focused. SMS / WhatsApp / chat / CRM are not in core; integrations exist via the plugin SDK or external services. Multi-channel: email marketing, transactional email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, CRM, and meetings. All bundled in the Brevo dashboard.
Pricing model One-time license fee. Recurring cost is your VPS + your sending service (SES, SendGrid, etc.). Send-volume based for marketing email (the model brevo.com/pricing/ documents) — paid tiers price by monthly email volume, not contact-list size.
Multi-tenancy / SaaS Extended License ($199) ships a multi-tenant layer — customer accounts, plans, 6 payment gateways, dunning, white-label. Single-account product per Brevo subscription. Reselling Brevo to end customers is not a packaged feature in core.
Plugin SDK 4-pattern Hook system (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR). Plugins live under storage/app/plugins/. See Plugin SDK. Extension via the public REST API and webhook subscriptions. No in-process plugin runtime in the cloud platform.
Funktionsparität

Funktion-für-Funktion-Vergleich

Rund 30 Attribute in 7 Kategorien gegliedert, aus AcelleMail v4.2 und der öffentlichen Funktionsdokumentation von Mailchimp entnommen. Jedes lässt sich anhand der zitierten Quelle überprüfen.

Email creation

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Drag-and-drop email builder AcelleMail ships a visual block editor with mobile preview. Brevo includes a drag-and-drop editor in the marketing dashboard.
100+ pre-built templates Both platforms bundle a starter template gallery and accept user-imported HTML templates.
Full HTML editor Both let you edit raw HTML/CSS for campaigns and transactional sends.
Spintax / dynamic content AcelleMail includes spintax + per-subscriber merge fields. Brevo Templates support attribute substitution and Liquid-style logic; spintax-style randomization is not in the published Templates API.
A/B testing AcelleMail supports subject-line and content split tests on every license. Brevo includes A/B testing on its paid Marketing Platform tiers.
Multi-language UI AcelleMail ships 18 locales for the admin UI. Brevo offers a multi-locale dashboard.

Lists & segmentation

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Unlimited subscribers (software cap) AcelleMail imposes no software-side cap on subscribers. Brevo's pricing model bills on monthly send volume rather than contact-list size.
Multiple lists Both support unlimited lists.
Advanced segmentation AcelleMail provides a visual segment builder over subscriber fields, behavior, tags, and date logic. Brevo segmentation supports contact attributes, list membership, engagement, and event data.
Tags Both support tag-style subscriber labeling.
Embeddable signup forms Both generate embeddable signup forms and double opt-in flows.
Bulk import (CSV) Both accept CSV bulk import. AcelleMail also supports XLSX and direct DB seed.

Automation & flows

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Visual workflow builder AcelleMail Automation2 ships trigger / wait / condition / send / tag-update / segment-move nodes. Brevo includes a visual marketing automation builder on its paid Marketing Platform tiers.
Customer journey / multi-step flows Both platforms support multi-step journeys.
RSS-to-email AcelleMail can pull RSS feeds into scheduled campaigns. Brevo supports scheduled campaigns and external integrations via REST API; first-party RSS triggers depend on the current plan tier.
Behavioral triggers (opens / clicks) AcelleMail exposes engagement events as automation triggers. Brevo emits open and click events through its event tracking and webhook system.
Date / birthday triggers Both support date-field triggers natively in the automation builder.

Multi-channel

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Email marketing Both are designed for marketing email as the primary channel.
Transactional email AcelleMail can route transactional sends through any of its 8 sending drivers. Brevo offers transactional email through its REST API and SMTP relay.
SMS campaigns AcelleMail core is email-only; SMS would be a custom plugin or external integration. Brevo bundles SMS campaigns as a billable channel.
WhatsApp messaging Not in AcelleMail core. Brevo bundles WhatsApp campaigns and conversations.
Live chat / inbox Not in AcelleMail core. Brevo bundles a live-chat widget and a unified inbox.
CRM (deals + tasks) AcelleMail manages contacts and segments; deal pipelines and tasks are not in core (custom plugin or external CRM). Brevo bundles a CRM module with deals, tasks, and meeting scheduling.

Deliverability

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
SPF / DKIM / DMARC tooling AcelleMail surfaces SPF/DKIM/DMARC record values per sending server. Brevo handles authentication record provisioning for sending domains added in its dashboard.
Custom sending domain AcelleMail supports per-sending-server return path. Brevo authenticates custom sender domains in the Senders & IP section.
Multiple sending services AcelleMail ships 8 native drivers (SES, SendGrid, SparkPost, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Blastengine, Gmail, generic SMTP). Brevo is itself the sending service.
IP warmup AcelleMail supports daily/hourly send caps per sending server for gradual warmup. Brevo provides dedicated IPs on higher plan tiers; warmup is managed by Brevo on those plans.
Bounce / complaint webhook ingestion AcelleMail registers webhook endpoints for SES/SendGrid/Mailgun/etc. (see app/SendingServers/Webhooks/). Brevo emits webhooks for delivered, hard-bounce, soft-bounce, opened, clicked, unsubscribed, complaint, blocked, error.

Integrations

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
REST API AcelleMail's REST API is documented at /api. Brevo's API reference is at developers.brevo.com.
SMTP relay (use as upstream) AcelleMail itself is a marketing platform; outbound SMTP is delegated to your sending server. Brevo offers SMTP relay at smtp-relay.brevo.com — usable from AcelleMail via the Generic SMTP driver if you want to keep Brevo as the sender.
Webhooks Both emit outbound event webhooks for delivery and engagement events.
WordPress / WooCommerce sync AcelleMail provides an official WordPress / WooCommerce plugin. Brevo offers WordPress and WooCommerce plugins that sync subscribers and trigger marketing automation.
Zapier / Make / n8n Both are first-party listed on Zapier / Make / n8n.
Custom plugin SDK AcelleMail ships a four-pattern Hook system (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR) — see Plugin SDK. Brevo extension is via the public REST API + webhooks; there is no in-process plugin runtime.

SaaS / multi-tenancy

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Multi-tenant workspaces AcelleMail Extended ($199) ships a reseller layer with customer accounts, plans, and billing. Brevo is a single-account product per subscription.
Subscription plans + payment gateways AcelleMail bundles 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline) for resellers. Brevo does not include reseller-billing primitives.
White-label / remove vendor branding AcelleMail Extended removes branding for reseller use. Brevo "Remove Brevo logo" is a paid feature on higher plan tiers per its dashboard settings; the dashboard itself remains Brevo-branded.
Reseller billing / dunning AcelleMail's Cashier package covers subscriptions, prorated upgrades, and dunning. Brevo does not provide reseller billing primitives.

Operations

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
Self-hosted on your servers AcelleMail is a PHP application — runs under PHP-FPM + nginx/Apache on hardware you control. Brevo is a Brevo-operated cloud service.
Database — relational AcelleMail uses MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3 — direct SQL access. Brevo data is in Brevo's managed cloud; access is via REST API and CSV export.
On-premise / air-gapped deployment AcelleMail can run fully on-premise or in air-gapped environments. Brevo is cloud-only.
Localization (UI translations) AcelleMail ships 18 locales out of the box. Brevo dashboard offers multiple locales for the admin UI.

Cost & ownership

Funktion AcelleMail Brevo Hinweise
License model AcelleMail Regular is $80 one-time; Extended is $199 (lifetime point/minor updates + 6 months support). Brevo is a recurring monthly subscription per the Free / Starter / Business / Enterprise tiers on brevo.com/pricing/.
Lifetime updates AcelleMail license includes lifetime point + minor releases. Brevo customers receive product updates as part of the subscription.
Data export ownership AcelleMail runs on a database you control — full SQL access, CSV export, and REST API. Brevo offers contact CSV export plus the developers.brevo.com REST API for programmatic export.
Source code visibility AcelleMail ships full unencrypted PHP source. Brevo is a closed-source cloud service; only the published REST/SMTP API surface is documented.
Gesamtbetriebskosten

3-Jahres-Kosten in drei realen Szenarien

Brevo is a cloud subscription billed monthly on send volume per its published Free / Starter / Business / Enterprise tiers; AcelleMail is a one-time license you self-host on a VPS plus a sending service. The dollar values below assume Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails for the AcelleMail rows. Specific Brevo tier prices change — consult brevo.com/pricing for current values.

Small business — 1,000 contacts, 4× sends/month

Brevo — Brevo Free or entry-tier paid plan Brevo Free tier covers a published daily-send cap. 4,000 monthly sends across 1,000 contacts may fit Free or require an entry paid tier — verify against current brevo.com/pricing thresholds.
Recurring monthly subscription if above Free; check current paid-tier cost.
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Regular License + small VPS + Amazon SES $5/mo VPS + $0.40/mo SES (4,000 sends × $0.0001)
$80 license + $180 VPS + $14 SES = $268 total

At 1,000 contacts and 4 sends/month, both models are inexpensive. AcelleMail one-time cost is ~$268 over 3 years; Brevo at this volume may fit Free. Compare against your current Brevo invoice on the published tier.

Growing newsletter — 10,000 contacts, 80,000 sends/month

Brevo — Brevo Business or higher tier covering 80K monthly sends Brevo paid tier billed monthly per the published send-volume tier covering 80K monthly sends. Marketing automation is included on the Business tier per brevo.com/pricing.
Recurring monthly subscription × 36 months — verify against current pricing.
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Regular License + $10 VPS + Amazon SES $10/mo VPS + $8/mo SES (80,000 × $0.0001)
$80 license + $360 VPS + $288 SES = $722 total

At 10K contacts and 80K monthly sends, AcelleMail self-hosted on SES converges to roughly $20/month after the license is amortized. The cost gap depends on the Brevo tier covering this volume.

Agency / SaaS — 50,000 contacts, 400,000 sends/month, 50 client tenants

Brevo — Brevo + custom multi-tenant integration layer Brevo is a single-account product per subscription; agencies typically operate 50 separate Brevo accounts or a custom routing layer over a single Brevo subscription.
50 accounts × subscription, OR aggregate Brevo Business/Enterprise + custom tenant build.
AcelleMail — AcelleMail Extended License + $20 VPS + Amazon SES (multi-tenant on a single instance) $20/mo VPS + $40/mo SES (400,000 × $0.0001) — covers all 50 tenants on one install.
$199 license + $720 VPS + $1,440 SES = $2,359 total

AcelleMail Extended ships a multi-tenant SaaS layer (customer accounts, plans, 6 payment gateways, dunning) bundled. Brevo handles the cloud infrastructure but does not bundle reseller-billing primitives.

Migrations-Leitfaden

Brevo → AcelleMail in sieben Schritten

Die meisten Teams schließen den Umstieg innerhalb einer Woche ab. Das technische Setup dauert einen halben Tag; zeitintensiv ist der Wiederaufbau mehrstufiger Automatisierungen und Vorlagen.

  1. 1. Export from Brevo

    In the Brevo dashboard, export contacts as CSV from Contacts → Lists → Export. For programmatic export, the Contacts API at GET /contacts returns paginated records with attributes and list memberships. Campaign HTML can be retrieved per-campaign via GET /emailCampaigns/{id}. Marketing automation flows are documented in the Brevo dashboard; rebuild logic from those screenshots in AcelleMail Automation2.
  2. 2. Get AcelleMail

    Buy the Regular License — $80 on CodeCanyon. Download the ZIP, upload to your server, run the web installer (5 minutes — sets DB, admin user, cron). PHP 8.1+, MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3, ~512 MB RAM minimum. The installation guide walks through cPanel, DigitalOcean, AWS, and Docker.
  3. 3. Configure your sending service

    In Sending Servers → Add, pick Amazon SES (recommended — cheapest), SendGrid, Mailgun, SparkPost, Postmark, Elastic Email, or any SMTP. If you want to keep Brevo as the sender, configure the Generic SMTP driver pointing at smtp-relay.brevo.com with your Brevo SMTP key. Paste the API key, run the test-send, confirm. The 8 built-in drivers live in app/SendingServers/Drivers/Vendors/.
  4. 4. Import contacts + attributes

    In Lists → Create List, recreate your Brevo lists with their attribute schema (Brevo contact attributes map to AcelleMail subscriber custom fields one-to-one). Use Import → Upload CSV and map columns. For lists over 100K, use the chunked import or seed via the REST API.
  5. 5. Recreate templates and campaigns

    For Templates, paste your Brevo HTML into AcelleMail's template editor. Substitution syntax differs: Brevo Templates use {{ contact.FIRSTNAME }}; AcelleMail uses {{ subscriber.first_name }}. Subscriber-attribute access is equivalent. For automation flows, use Automation → New Workflow — Brevo flows expressed in its visual builder rebuild as AcelleMail visual journeys.
  6. 6. Configure tracking + DKIM

    AcelleMail tracking is enabled by default per campaign (open pixel + link wrapping). DKIM signing is configured at the Sending Server level — paste the DNS records AcelleMail generates into your domain. If you continue using Brevo as the upstream sender via SMTP relay, the existing Brevo DKIM/SPF records keep working unchanged.
  7. 7. Test deliverability + cut over

    Send a test campaign to GlockApps or Mail-Tester (free). Aim for 9.5/10. Run the next live campaign from AcelleMail in parallel for one cycle, watch open/click rates against your prior baseline, then turn off Brevo Marketing Platform. Most teams cut over inside a week. Brevo SMTP relay can stay if you want — AcelleMail uses Generic SMTP with your Brevo credentials.
Operative Eignung

Wann Self-Hosting nicht passt

Selbstgehostetes E-Mail-Marketing ist ein Tradeoff: geringere Kosten und volle Datenhoheit im Gegenzug zu operativer Verantwortung. In den folgenden Situationen kann ein verwaltetes SaaS die bessere Wahl sein.

  • You need SMS, WhatsApp, chat, and CRM in one dashboard

    AcelleMail core is email-focused. SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, the live-chat widget, and the CRM module are not in core — they would be custom plugin work or external integrations. Teams that need a unified marketing-and-sales dashboard with email + SMS + WhatsApp + chat + CRM in one product may find Brevo's bundle a better fit out of the box, accepting the recurring subscription cost.

  • You don't want to operate any server infrastructure

    AcelleMail is a self-hosted PHP application — you provision a VPS, install PHP-FPM + a web server, point a domain, and maintain backups. Teams that prefer a fully managed cloud service with no servers to operate may pick Brevo and accept the recurring subscription cost. The tradeoff is between recurring SaaS spend and one-time license + ops responsibility.

  • You require a managed cloud sender with bundled IP reputation

    Brevo manages IP reputation and sending infrastructure for the cloud service. AcelleMail self-hosted relies on the underlying sending service (SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, etc.) for IP reputation; the application layer doesn't replace the deliverability work that a managed cloud provider does on shared/dedicated IP pools.

  • Your buyer expects EU data residency by default

    Brevo is headquartered in Paris and operates EU data infrastructure per its published terms. Teams whose buyer expects EU-only data residency by default and who don't want to operate the underlying infrastructure may find Brevo a closer policy fit. AcelleMail self-hosted lets you choose the exact data residency by picking the VPS region — but the operational responsibility is yours.

Kosten nach Anwendungsfall

Drei Käufersituationen

Die Kostenzahlen kombinieren die verifizierten Einstiegspreise mit kalkulator-basierten Spannen, sofern verfügbar. Vergleichen Sie die Zahlen; die richtige Wahl hängt davon ab, wie gut Ihr Team die oben genannten operativen Tradeoffs schultert.

  • SaaS team — product newsletter + transactional

    Situation: 8,000 trial signups + 2,000 paid customers, weekly product newsletter (~10,000 sends/week), 4-step onboarding drip, transactional sends for billing + receipts.

    Brevo-Kosten: Brevo Marketing Platform paid tier covering 40K+ monthly sends + transactional volume. Billed monthly; consult brevo.com/pricing for the tier and current price.

    AcelleMail-Kosten: $80 once + $10/mo VPS + ~$5/mo SES (50K total sends × $0.0001). Or keep Brevo SMTP relay and pay Brevo only for the sending volume; the marketing platform layer becomes free after the one-time license.

  • Marketing agency — 50 client lists

    Situation: Email service for 50 small-business clients, average 2,000 subscribers each, monthly newsletter + occasional promo.

    Brevo-Kosten: Brevo: 50 separate accounts (~50× subscription) OR a single aggregate Business/Enterprise plan + custom tenant routing. Reseller-billing primitives are not bundled.

    AcelleMail-Kosten: $199 Extended License once + $40/mo VPS + ~$30/mo SES total across all clients on one install. Built-in SaaS layer: per-client login, plans, dunning, 6 payment gateways.

  • Indie newsletter — 5,000 subscribers

    Situation: Weekly newsletter (~20K sends/month), no automation flows, no SMS or WhatsApp.

    Brevo-Kosten: Brevo paid tier covering 20K+ monthly sends, billed monthly per the published send-volume tier.

    AcelleMail-Kosten: $80 license + $5/mo VPS + ~$2/mo SES (20K × $0.0001). License recovers ~12-24 months of equivalent paid SaaS subscription if previously paying for hosted email.

Operator-Deep-Dives

Für den Operator, der die Migration durchführt

Klicken Sie auf eine Überschrift, um einen technischen Deep-Dive aufzuklappen. Gleicher Inhalt wie die Marketing-Seite oben — hier eingeklappt, damit die Seite schnell überfliegbar bleibt, aber jederzeit verfügbar für die Person, die die eigentliche Arbeit macht.

Vollständige Brevo → AcelleMail-Migration — jeder Schritt im Detail

Der oben behandelte 7-Schritte-Leitfaden, mit jedem Schritt für den Operator ausgeklappt. Gesamtdauer: ~½ Tag technisches Setup, danach 1–5 Tage für den Wiederaufbau von Vorlagen & Automatisierungen, je nach Listenkomplexität.

  1. 1. Export from Brevo. In the Brevo dashboard, export contacts as CSV from Contacts → Lists → Export. For programmatic export, the Contacts API at GET /contacts returns paginated records with attributes and list memberships. Campaign HTML can be retrieved per-campaign via GET /emailCampaigns/{id}. Marketing automation flows are documented in the Brevo dashboard; rebuild logic from those screenshots in AcelleMail Automation2.
  2. 2. Get AcelleMail. Buy the Regular License — $80 on CodeCanyon. Download the ZIP, upload to your server, run the web installer (5 minutes — sets DB, admin user, cron). PHP 8.1+, MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3, ~512 MB RAM minimum. The installation guide walks through cPanel, DigitalOcean, AWS, and Docker.
  3. 3. Configure your sending service. In Sending Servers → Add, pick Amazon SES (recommended — cheapest), SendGrid, Mailgun, SparkPost, Postmark, Elastic Email, or any SMTP. If you want to keep Brevo as the sender, configure the Generic SMTP driver pointing at smtp-relay.brevo.com with your Brevo SMTP key. Paste the API key, run the test-send, confirm. The 8 built-in drivers live in app/SendingServers/Drivers/Vendors/.
  4. 4. Import contacts + attributes. In Lists → Create List, recreate your Brevo lists with their attribute schema (Brevo contact attributes map to AcelleMail subscriber custom fields one-to-one). Use Import → Upload CSV and map columns. For lists over 100K, use the chunked import or seed via the REST API.
  5. 5. Recreate templates and campaigns. For Templates, paste your Brevo HTML into AcelleMail's template editor. Substitution syntax differs: Brevo Templates use {{ contact.FIRSTNAME }}; AcelleMail uses {{ subscriber.first_name }}. Subscriber-attribute access is equivalent. For automation flows, use Automation → New Workflow — Brevo flows expressed in its visual builder rebuild as AcelleMail visual journeys.
  6. 6. Configure tracking + DKIM. AcelleMail tracking is enabled by default per campaign (open pixel + link wrapping). DKIM signing is configured at the Sending Server level — paste the DNS records AcelleMail generates into your domain. If you continue using Brevo as the upstream sender via SMTP relay, the existing Brevo DKIM/SPF records keep working unchanged.
  7. 7. Test deliverability + cut over. Send a test campaign to GlockApps or Mail-Tester (free). Aim for 9.5/10. Run the next live campaign from AcelleMail in parallel for one cycle, watch open/click rates against your prior baseline, then turn off Brevo Marketing Platform. Most teams cut over inside a week. Brevo SMTP relay can stay if you want — AcelleMail uses Generic SMTP with your Brevo credentials.
Detailvergleich pro Funktion — wo sich die zwei Produkte unterscheiden + Workarounds

Die obige Side-by-Side-Tabelle zeigt die Funktionsparität; hier finden Sie den Hintergrundkontext zu jeder Zeile mit nicht-trivialer Anmerkung — nützlich, wenn eine Plattform "teilweise" abdeckt und Sie den Workaround brauchen.

Email creation

  • Spintax / dynamic content: AcelleMail includes spintax + per-subscriber merge fields. Brevo Templates support attribute substitution and Liquid-style logic; spintax-style randomization is not in the published Templates API.

Automation & flows

  • RSS-to-email: AcelleMail can pull RSS feeds into scheduled campaigns. Brevo supports scheduled campaigns and external integrations via REST API; first-party RSS triggers depend on the current plan tier.

Multi-channel

  • SMS campaigns: AcelleMail core is email-only; SMS would be a custom plugin or external integration. Brevo bundles SMS campaigns as a billable channel.
  • WhatsApp messaging: Not in AcelleMail core. Brevo bundles WhatsApp campaigns and conversations.
  • Live chat / inbox: Not in AcelleMail core. Brevo bundles a live-chat widget and a unified inbox.
  • CRM (deals + tasks): AcelleMail manages contacts and segments; deal pipelines and tasks are not in core (custom plugin or external CRM). Brevo bundles a CRM module with deals, tasks, and meeting scheduling.

Deliverability

  • Multiple sending services: AcelleMail ships 8 native drivers (SES, SendGrid, SparkPost, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Blastengine, Gmail, generic SMTP). Brevo is itself the sending service.
  • IP warmup: AcelleMail supports daily/hourly send caps per sending server for gradual warmup. Brevo provides dedicated IPs on higher plan tiers; warmup is managed by Brevo on those plans.

Integrations

  • SMTP relay (use as upstream): AcelleMail itself is a marketing platform; outbound SMTP is delegated to your sending server. Brevo offers SMTP relay at smtp-relay.brevo.com — usable from AcelleMail via the Generic SMTP driver if you want to keep Brevo as the sender.
  • WordPress / WooCommerce sync: AcelleMail provides an official WordPress / WooCommerce plugin. Brevo offers WordPress and WooCommerce plugins that sync subscribers and trigger marketing automation.
  • Custom plugin SDK: AcelleMail ships a four-pattern Hook system (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR) — see <a href="https://acellemail.com/for/developers">Plugin SDK</a>. Brevo extension is via the public REST API + webhooks; there is no in-process plugin runtime.

SaaS / multi-tenancy

  • Multi-tenant workspaces: AcelleMail Extended ($199) ships a reseller layer with customer accounts, plans, and billing. Brevo is a single-account product per subscription.
  • Subscription plans + payment gateways: AcelleMail bundles 6 payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline) for resellers. Brevo does not include reseller-billing primitives.
  • White-label / remove vendor branding: AcelleMail Extended removes branding for reseller use. Brevo "Remove Brevo logo" is a paid feature on higher plan tiers per its dashboard settings; the dashboard itself remains Brevo-branded.
  • Reseller billing / dunning: AcelleMail's Cashier package covers subscriptions, prorated upgrades, and dunning. Brevo does not provide reseller billing primitives.

Operations

  • Self-hosted on your servers: AcelleMail is a PHP application — runs under PHP-FPM + nginx/Apache on hardware you control. Brevo is a Brevo-operated cloud service.
  • Database — relational: AcelleMail uses MySQL ≥ 5.7 or MariaDB ≥ 10.3 — direct SQL access. Brevo data is in Brevo's managed cloud; access is via REST API and CSV export.
  • On-premise / air-gapped deployment: AcelleMail can run fully on-premise or in air-gapped environments. Brevo is cloud-only.

Cost & ownership

  • License model: AcelleMail Regular is $80 one-time; Extended is $199 (lifetime point/minor updates + 6 months support). Brevo is a recurring monthly subscription per the Free / Starter / Business / Enterprise tiers on brevo.com/pricing/.
  • Source code visibility: AcelleMail ships full unencrypted PHP source. Brevo is a closed-source cloud service; only the published REST/SMTP API surface is documented.
Kostenvergleich at scale — drei Käufersituationen nebeneinander

Die TCO-Karte oben zeigt die Einstiegszahlen; diese Ansicht stellt alle drei Käufersituationen übereinander, sodass Sie die nächstliegende Übereinstimmung mit Ihrem Kontaktvolumen und Ihrer Sendefrequenz auswählen können.

SaaS team — product newsletter + transactional

  • Situation: 8,000 trial signups + 2,000 paid customers, weekly product newsletter (~10,000 sends/week), 4-step onboarding drip, transactional sends for billing + receipts.
  • Brevo-Kosten: Brevo Marketing Platform paid tier covering 40K+ monthly sends + transactional volume. Billed monthly; consult brevo.com/pricing for the tier and current price.
  • AcelleMail-Kosten: $80 once + $10/mo VPS + ~$5/mo SES (50K total sends × $0.0001). Or keep Brevo SMTP relay and pay Brevo only for the sending volume; the marketing platform layer becomes free after the one-time license.

Marketing agency — 50 client lists

  • Situation: Email service for 50 small-business clients, average 2,000 subscribers each, monthly newsletter + occasional promo.
  • Brevo-Kosten: Brevo: 50 separate accounts (~50× subscription) OR a single aggregate Business/Enterprise plan + custom tenant routing. Reseller-billing primitives are not bundled.
  • AcelleMail-Kosten: $199 Extended License once + $40/mo VPS + ~$30/mo SES total across all clients on one install. Built-in SaaS layer: per-client login, plans, dunning, 6 payment gateways.

Indie newsletter — 5,000 subscribers

  • Situation: Weekly newsletter (~20K sends/month), no automation flows, no SMS or WhatsApp.
  • Brevo-Kosten: Brevo paid tier covering 20K+ monthly sends, billed monthly per the published send-volume tier.
  • AcelleMail-Kosten: $80 license + $5/mo VPS + ~$2/mo SES (20K × $0.0001). License recovers ~12-24 months of equivalent paid SaaS subscription if previously paying for hosted email.

Nutzen Sie den Kostenersparnisrechner für eine individuelle Zahl auf Basis Ihrer exakten Abonnentenzahl und Sendefrequenz.

Ehrliche Gegenpositionierung — typische Einwände gegen den Wechsel

Vier Einwände, die jeder Operator vor einer Migration weg von Brevo oder einem beliebigen SaaS abwägt. Ohne Schönfärberei beantwortet — das sind reale Tradeoffs, und die richtige Wahl hängt von Ihrem Team ab.

1. "Der Wechsel kostet mehr, als er spart."

Ehrliche Einschätzung: Bei Listen unter ~500 Kontakten kann die kostenlose oder Einstiegsstufe von Brevo günstiger sein als der Betrieb eines VPS für 5–10 $/Monat plus der AcelleMail-Lizenz — noch bevor man die Operator-Zeit einrechnet. Der Break-even liegt typischerweise zwischen 1.000 und 5.000 Kontakten. Rechnen Sie Ihre eigenen Zahlen mit dem Kostenrechner durch, bevor Sie entscheiden.

2. "Self-Hosting wird die Zustellbarkeit ruinieren."

Stimmt, wenn Sie einen selbstverwalteten MTA ohne Warm-up betreiben. Stimmt NICHT, wenn AcelleMail über einen verwalteten Sendedienst weiterleitet (Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark) — diese Anbieter pflegen die IP-Reputation; AcelleMail orchestriert lediglich Kampagnen und Tracking. Mit diesem Setup ist Inbox-Placement-Parität zu Brevo die Regel, nicht die Ausnahme.

3. "Mein Team hat keine Zeit, noch ein Tool zu lernen."

Berechtigtes Anliegen. Die AcelleMail-Oberfläche spiegelt etablierte Muster wider (Kampagnen-Builder, Audience-Listen, Automation-Flows), sodass die meisten Brevo-Nutzer ab Tag eins produktiv sind. Die eigentliche Zeitsenke ist der Wiederaufbau mehrstufiger Automatisierungen und Vorlagenbibliotheken — planen Sie je nach Komplexität 1–5 Tage ein, keine Wochen.

4. "Was, wenn AcelleMail nicht mehr weiterentwickelt wird?"

Self-Hosting dreht das Risiko um: Sie besitzen eine unbefristete Kopie des Quellcodes. Keine Preisänderung, Abkündigung oder Übernahme durch einen Anbieter kann Ihnen die Plattform entziehen. Sollten Updates ausbleiben, läuft Ihre bestehende Installation weiter. Im Vergleich dazu sind bei SaaS Entscheidungen zu Preisen, Funktionen oder Abschaltungen unilateral vom Anbieter getroffen.

Häufig gefragt

Typische Fragen

Kann ich von Brevo (vormals Sendinblue) zu AcelleMail migrieren, ohne Abonnentendaten zu verlieren?
Ja. Brevo exportiert Kontakte als CSV über Contacts → Lists → Export; die Contacts-API unter GET /contacts liefert paginiertes JSON für den vollständigen programmatischen Export. Der Import von AcelleMail akzeptiert CSV mit Custom-Field-Mapping und unterstützt XLSX oder einen direkten DB-Seed für sehr große Listen. Brevo-Kontaktattribute lassen sich 1:1 auf AcelleMail-Subscriber-Custom-Fields abbilden. Rechnen Sie mit einem halben Tag für Listen unter 5.000 Kontakten und mit 2–3 Tagen, wenn umfangreiche Automatisierungen neu aufgebaut werden müssen.
Kann ich Brevo nach dem Wechsel zu AcelleMail weiterhin als Versand-Engine nutzen?
Ja — Brevo bietet ein SMTP-Relay unter smtp-relay.brevo.com, das mit dem Generic-SMTP-Treiber von AcelleMail erreichbar ist. Konfigurieren Sie es unter Sending Servers → Add → Generic SMTP mit Ihrem Brevo-SMTP-Schlüssel. AcelleMail übernimmt dann die Marketing-Plattform-Ebene (Listen, Kampagnen, Automatisierungen), Brevo verarbeitet weiterhin den eigentlichen SMTP-Versand und das Reputationsmanagement.
Wie schneidet die Automatisierung von AcelleMail gegenüber Brevo Marketing Automation ab?
AcelleMail Automation2 bietet einen visuellen Workflow-Builder mit Knoten für Trigger / Wait / Condition / Send / Tag-Update / Segment-Move — mehrstufige Journeys werden in der UI ohne Code konfiguriert. Brevo enthält Marketing-Automatisierung in den kostenpflichtigen Marketing-Platform-Tarifen mit einem ähnlichen visuellen Flow-Builder. Beide Ansätze unterstützen mehrstufige Journeys; der Plattform-Unterschied liegt darin, ob Sie die Marketing-Ebene selbstgehostet (AcelleMail) oder vollständig gemanagt und multichannel (Brevo) bevorzugen.
Warum kostet AcelleMail 80 USD, obwohl Brevo einen Free-Tier anbietet?
Die AcelleMail Regular License (80 USD, Einmalzahlung) ist eine kommerzielle Lizenz, die lebenslange Point- + Minor-Updates, 6 Monate Support und den vollständigen PHP-Quellcode ohne wiederkehrende Gebühren pro E-Mail oder Kontakt enthält. Brevo bietet einen Free-Tier mit veröffentlichtem Tagesversand-Limit; oberhalb dieser Grenze rechnen kostenpflichtige Tarife monatlich nach Versandvolumen ab. Die 80 USD decken ein anderes Paket: visuelle Automatisierung, Plugin-SDK, 8 Versandtreiber, mehrsprachige UI und den Extended-Pfad zu einer mandantenfähigen SaaS-Ebene (199 USD).
Enthält AcelleMail SMS und WhatsApp wie Brevo?
Der AcelleMail-Core ist E-Mail-fokussiert. SMS- und WhatsApp-Kampagnen sind nicht im Core enthalten; eine Integration erfolgt über das Plugin-SDK (REGISTRY-Pattern zum Hinzufügen eines Versandkanals) oder über externe Dienste wie Twilio. Brevo bündelt SMS und WhatsApp als kostenpflichtige Kanäle im selben Dashboard. Teams, deren Hauptanforderung Multichannel-Marketing aus einer Hand ist, finden in Brevo eine bessere Passung; Teams, die E-Mail-Plattform-Hoheit mit separaten Kanälen für SMS/WhatsApp möchten, fahren mit AcelleMail plus einem dedizierten SMS-Anbieter besser.
Kann ich mehrere Kundenkonten unter einer AcelleMail-Installation betreiben?
Ja — genau dafür gibt es die AcelleMail Extended License (199 USD). Sie enthält eine mandantenfähige Ebene: Kundenkonten, Abonnementpläne, 6 Zahlungs-Gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Razorpay, Paystack, Offline), anteilige Upgrades, Dunning und White-Label-Branding. Brevo ist ein Produkt mit einem Konto pro Abonnement. Die Architektur ist auf der Seite For Agencies beschrieben.
Welchen Stack benötigt AcelleMail im Vergleich zu Brevo?
AcelleMail: PHP 8.1+, MySQL ≥ 5.7 oder MariaDB ≥ 10.3, mindestens ~512 MB RAM, empfohlen 1 GB für Listen bis ~50K. Läuft unter PHP-FPM hinter nginx oder Apache. Brevo ist ein von Brevo verwalteter Cloud-Dienst — auf Kundenseite gibt es keinen Stack zu hosten. Die kundenseitige Oberfläche ist die REST API unter developers.brevo.com oder das SMTP-Relay unter smtp-relay.brevo.com.
Bietet AcelleMail ein Plugin-SDK?
Ja. AcelleMail bringt ein Hook-System mit vier Patterns (REGISTRY, EVENT, FILTER, BEHAVIOR) — Plugins liegen unter storage/app/plugins/ und können Versandtreiber, Zahlungs-Gateways, UI-Panels und Lifecycle-Hooks registrieren. Die Plugin-SDK-Dokumentation erläutert die vier Patterns und enthält ausgearbeitete Beispiele (Postal MTA, Paddle-Gateway, AI-Plugin). Brevo-Erweiterungen erfolgen über die öffentliche REST API + Webhooks; eine prozessinterne Plugin-Laufzeit gibt es nicht.
Wo liegen meine Daten bei AcelleMail im Vergleich zu Brevo?
AcelleMail-Daten liegen in der Datenbank auf dem VPS, den Sie selbst bereitstellen. Die Datenresidenz bestimmen Sie über die Wahl der VPS-Region. Brevo wird von Brevo (Sitz in Paris) auf der Brevo-Cloud-Infrastruktur betrieben — gemäß den veröffentlichten Bedingungen; Teams mit strengen EU-Residenzanforderungen sehen darin häufig eine gute Passung. Der Kostenunterschied ist operativ: Die Residenzwahl bei AcelleMail kostet nichts extra, erfordert aber den eigenen Hostbetrieb; Brevo bündelt die Residenz mit dem Abonnement.
Get started

Try AcelleMail before you migrate.

AcelleMail Regular License is $80, one-time. Includes lifetime updates, 6 months of support, full PHP source code, and unlimited subscribers. Brevo SMTP relay stays usable as a sending driver if you want both. Try the live demo before you buy.

Brevo ist eine Marke des jeweiligen Inhabers. Diese Seite ist ein objektiver Produktvergleich, verfasst von AcelleMail; wir sind weder mit Brevo verbunden noch von Brevo unterstützt oder gesponsert. Alle zitierten Fakten stammen aus den oben verlinkten öffentlich zugänglichen Dokumentationen; melden Sie etwaige Ungenauigkeiten bitte an contact@acellemail.com, und wir korrigieren sie.