Braze Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Braze alternatives: OneSignal, Novu, Klaviyo, Mailchimp and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•3 min read•Email Marketing & Newsletters
Verdict:Braze suits larger consumer apps that run cross-channel journeys across push, email, in-app messages and SMS, and that have data teams to feed it. Leave it when the app has a few thousand users, a single channel or a small team, because the enterprise contract is then far more than the job needs. OneSignal is the easiest cut: its free plan covers push and email for a small app, which is enough to test lifecycle messages. Novu fits an engineering team that wants notifications as code, with a free tier of 10,000 workflow runs a month, though marketers will miss the canvas. Klaviyo is built for ecommerce segments, so pick it when your revenue comes from a store and the messages are email and SMS flows. Mailchimp and Brevo cover newsletters and simple sends with free plans, and they stop short of in-app behaviour. The trade-off is plain: the lighter tools cut cost and setup time, and they give up Braze's journey logic, its real-time data links and its enterprise support.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OneSignal | Free (10,000 email sends per month; unlimited mobile push for up to 1,000 monthly active users; 3 active journeys); paid from $19 per month (Growth, plus usage-based sending) | Web browser | Push and email for a small app | Docs only |
| Novu | Free (10,000 workflow runs per month, 20 workflows, 3 team members, 24-hour activity feed retention); paid from $30 per month (Pro, starting from) | Web browser (cloud), Self-hosted (Docker) | Developers sending app notifications | Docs only |
| Klaviyo | Free (250 active profiles and 500 email sends per month) | Web | Ecommerce email and SMS flows | Docs only |
| Mailchimp | Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) | Web browser | Email newsletters for a small list | Docs only |
| Brevo | Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) | Web API | Email and SMS on a free plan | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You run a small app and want push and email on a free plan (OneSignal is the pick)
- You want notifications built into your own code (Novu is the pick)
- You sell products online and need email and SMS flows (Klaviyo is the pick)
- You only need a newsletter or simple sends for a small list (Mailchimp is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Braze features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Braze today: See pricing page (Braze pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Braze alternatives
Braze shows no prices. Pricing scales with monthly active users plus a pool of Action Credits that different actions consume at different rates, and it is sold as one of four platform editions: Go, Select, Pro or Enterprise. Predictive AI and personalized recommendations start at Pro. There is no free plan; the page points to trials, startup programs and tailored entry plans, and quotes come through your account manager.
OneSignal
Compared with Braze: Free plan with 10,000 email sends a month and unlimited mobile push for up to 1,000 monthly active users. Against Braze it is far simpler to start and cheaper at entry, but it is far narrower than Braze's enterprise journey tooling.
Price: Free (10,000 email sends per month; unlimited mobile push for up to 1,000 monthly active users; 3 active journeys); paid from $19 per month (Growth, plus usage-based sending) (OneSignal pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Push and email for a small app.
Worth knowing: Growth includes 20,000 email sends then $1.50 per 1,000; mobile push is $0.012 per monthly active user. Professional and Enterprise are custom.
Novu
Compared with Braze: MIT-licensed notification infrastructure with a free tier of 10,000 workflow runs a month. Compared with Braze it is a developer tool that you wire into your own app, so you gain code control and lose the marketer-facing campaign builder.
Price: Free (10,000 workflow runs per month, 20 workflows, 3 team members, 24-hour activity feed retention); paid from $30 per month (Pro, starting from) (Novu pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser (cloud), Self-hosted (Docker). MIT (core; enterprise folder is commercial) (open source).
Project activity: 40.2k GitHub stars · latest release @novu/framework@v2.14.0 (Sep 28, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers sending app notifications.
Worth knowing: Team starts at $250 per month. One API sends in-app, email, SMS, push and chat notifications.
Klaviyo
Compared with Braze: Free plan covers 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. Against Braze it is built for ecommerce segments and email flows, so you gain a store-first setup and lose the cross-channel journey builder that Braze targets.
Price: Free (250 active profiles and 500 email sends per month) (Klaviyo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Ecommerce email and SMS flows.
Mailchimp
Compared with Braze: Free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month on one audience. Compared with Braze it is a general email tool with a lighter audience model, so you lose cross-channel orchestration and gain a familiar editor.
Price: Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) (Mailchimp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Email newsletters for a small list.
Brevo
Compared with Braze: Free plan sends 300 emails a day with no time limit. Against Braze it is an email and SMS sender for businesses that do not need in-app behaviour rules, so you save on the bill and lose the in-app messaging layer.
Price: Free (300 emails per day, no time limit) (Brevo pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web API. Proprietary.
Best for: Email and SMS on a free plan.
Which one to pick
- You run a small app and want push and email on a free plan: OneSignal
- You want notifications built into your own code: Novu
- You sell products online and need email and SMS flows: Klaviyo
- You only need a newsletter or simple sends for a small list: Mailchimp
Limits of this review
Docs-only for OneSignal, Novu, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Brevo: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Braze. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: Braze, OneSignal, Novu, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Brevo. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.