12 Best Bento Alternatives

Our Pick for SaaS Companies

Sequenzy

AI writes your email sequences while Stripe syncs your customer data automatically. Built for SaaS founders who'd rather focus on product than email copy.

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Best for

SaaS founders who want AI to write emails

Pricing

$49/month for 10,000 subscribers

Pros

AI generates entire email sequences -describe what you want, get emails
Native Stripe integration (customers sync automatically)
Half the price of Bento at 10k contacts
Marketing + transactional emails in one platform
Direct founder support

Cons

No chat/messaging features (Bento has this)
No SMS support
Newer platform -less proven at scale
Smaller community

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Customer.io

The heavyweight for PLG companies. Best-in-class behavioral automation with multi-channel support (email, push, SMS, in-app). Expensive but powerful.

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Best for

PLG companies with complex user journeys

Pricing

$100/month for 5,000 profiles (Essentials)

Pros

Most powerful behavioral automation available
Multi-channel: email, push, SMS, in-app messages
Segment by literally any user event
Excellent API and webhook support
Built specifically for product-led growth

Cons

More expensive than Bento at scale
Complex setup -not plug-and-play
Steep learning curve
Overkill for simple email needs

Loops

Clean, modern SaaS email platform. Simpler than Bento but covers the basics well. Good if you want straightforward email without the complexity.

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Best for

SaaS teams wanting simplicity over power

Pricing

$49/mo for 5k, ~$99/mo for 10k

Pros

Genuinely pleasant interface
Built for SaaS from day one
Transactional + marketing together
Good deliverability reputation
Same features on all plans

Cons

Event tracking less sophisticated than Bento
No chat/messaging features
No AI content generation
No native Stripe sync

Userlist

Email automation built for SaaS with company + user relationships. Great if you're B2B and need to message both individual users and account admins differently.

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Best for

B2B SaaS with team-based accounts

Pricing

$99/mo for 5,000 users

Pros

Company + user model built for B2B SaaS
Designed for onboarding sequences
In-app messages included
Good for behavior-based messaging
Thoughtful SaaS-specific features

Cons

More expensive than simpler tools
Smaller community
Not for B2C use cases
Fewer integrations than big players

Encharge

Marketing automation for SaaS with a focus on trial conversion. Strong behavioral triggers, lead scoring, and native integrations with Stripe, Segment, Intercom.

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Best for

SaaS teams focused on trial-to-paid conversion

Pricing

$79/mo for 2,000 subscribers, scales from there

Pros

Powerful visual flow builder
Behavior-based triggers designed for SaaS
Native Stripe, Segment, Intercom integrations
User scoring and lead qualification
Good for trial conversion flows

Cons

More expensive than Bento at lower volumes
No transactional email support
Can be overkill for simple needs
Smaller company = smaller community

Vero

Behavioral email marketing that's been around since 2012. Strong focus on event-triggered campaigns without the complexity of Customer.io.

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Best for

Teams wanting behavioral email without enterprise complexity

Pricing

$54/mo for 10,000 users

Pros

Good event-based automation
Reasonable pricing
Stable and mature platform
Push notifications included
Visual workflow builder

Cons

Less powerful than Customer.io
Interface feels a bit dated
Smaller community
No chat features like Bento

Intercom

Customer messaging platform with email, chat, and product tours. If you want chat + email like Bento but at a bigger scale, Intercom is the enterprise option.

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Best for

Teams wanting chat + email + product tours together

Pricing

$74/mo base + per seat

Pros

Chat, email, product tours in one
Strong user targeting
In-app messaging
Good B2B SaaS focus
Feature-rich platform

Cons

Gets expensive with seat-based pricing
Email is secondary to chat focus
Complex pricing model
Overkill if you mainly need email

ActiveCampaign

The automation powerhouse. Most complex workflows, lead scoring, CRM integration. Overkill for many, but nothing matches its automation depth.

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Best for

Teams needing the most powerful automation

Pricing

$79/mo for 10,000 contacts (Lite)

Pros

Most powerful automation builder, period
Built-in CRM with sales pipeline
Can automate almost anything
Good deliverability
Massive integration library

Cons

Steep learning curve
Not SaaS-specific like Bento
Pricing creeps up with add-ons
No native transactional email

Brevo

The budget option that's surprisingly capable. Unlimited contacts, pay per email. If Bento's per-contact pricing is too much, this is worth considering.

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Best for

Budget-conscious teams

Pricing

$25/mo for unlimited contacts (pay per email)

Pros

Unlimited contacts -no per-contact fees
SMS marketing included
Actually affordable
Transactional included
Basic CRM features

Cons

Pay-per-email can add up at high volume
Interface feels dated
Event tracking not as sophisticated
Support is slow on lower tiers

#10

Resend

Developer's dream for transactional email. Best-in-class DX with React Email templates. But transactional only -you'll need something else for marketing.

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Best for

Developers who only need transactional

Pricing

$20/month for 50,000 emails

Pros

Best developer experience available
React Email for building templates
Modern SDKs for every language
Cheap for transactional volume
Excellent documentation

Cons

Zero marketing features
No event tracking or automation
No subscriber management
Need a second tool for marketing

#11

HubSpot

The all-in-one CRM with marketing automation. Overkill for just email, but if you want CRM + email + sales pipeline in one ecosystem, it's hard to beat.

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Best for

Teams wanting full CRM + marketing in one

Pricing

Free tier, then $20/mo+ for marketing

Pros

Full CRM included
Email, landing pages, forms together
Sales and marketing alignment
Tons of integrations
Good for larger teams

Cons

Can get expensive at scale
Not SaaS-specific
Email is just one part of platform
Complexity increases with features

#12

Postmark

Transactional email with exceptional deliverability. They're picky about who they let on (which is why delivery is so good). Pure transactional -no marketing.

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Best for

Apps needing bulletproof transactional email

Pricing

$15/mo for 10,000 emails

Pros

Exceptional deliverability
Clean, well-documented API
Message streams for organization
Real human support
40-day email history

Cons

No marketing features
Strict about use cases
Need separate tool for campaigns
More expensive than SES at volume

Why Consider Alternatives to Bento

Per-contact pricing adds up fast

Bento charges $0.01 per contact per month. At 10k contacts, that's $100/month. At 50k, it's $500/month. And you're paying for inactive contacts too. Alternatives like Sequenzy offer flat pricing ($49 for 10k) that's more predictable.

Steep learning curve

Bento does things very differently than other email platforms. While powerful, it takes time to understand their unique approach. If you want something more familiar and quicker to set up, alternatives might be easier to get started with.

Simpler alternatives exist

Bento is powerful, but sometimes you don't need all that power. Loops offers a cleaner, simpler experience if you just need basic SaaS email without the complexity.

You might only need transactional

If you're mostly sending password resets, receipts, and notifications, Bento is overkill. Resend or Postmark offer better DX and lower costs for pure transactional use cases.

Feature

Bento

Sequenzy

Customer.io

Loops

Encharge

Brevo

Price at 10k

$100

$49

$150+

~$99

$99+

$25+

Pricing model

Per contact

Flat tiers

Per profile

Flat tiers

Per subscriber

Per email

AI content

Stripe sync

Transactional

Event tracking

Excellent

Good

Best

Basic

Good

Basic

Chat/messaging

Multi-channel

When to Use Each Platform

Choose Sequenzy if...

You want AI to write your email sequences
You use Stripe and want automatic customer sync
You want flat, predictable pricing
You'd rather talk to the founder than file tickets

Choose Stay with Bento if...

You need built-in chat alongside email
You send high volume and unlimited emails matters
You're happy with per-contact pricing
Event tracking is your primary focus

Choose Customer.io if...

You have a complex product with many user touchpoints
You need the most powerful behavioral triggers
You want email, push, SMS, in-app together
You have engineering resources for proper setup

Choose Loops if...

You want simpler than Bento
Event tracking is nice-to-have, not critical
You prefer clean, modern interfaces
Basic SaaS email covers your needs

Choose Brevo if...

Per-contact pricing is too expensive
You'd rather pay per email sent
You need SMS alongside email
Budget is your primary concern

Honest take: Bento vs the alternatives

Bento is a solid product. If you need event-driven email marketing with built-in chat, it's one of the better options for SaaS. But the per-contact pricing model isn't for everyone.

Here's when each alternative makes more sense:

If you hate writing emails: Sequenzy

The biggest difference between Bento and Sequenzy is AI content generation. With Sequenzy, you describe your goal ("a 5-email onboarding sequence for a project management SaaS") and it generates the whole thing. You edit and polish, but you're not starting from scratch.

Sequenzy also has native Stripe integration -customers sync automatically. And at $49/month for 10k subscribers, it's half the price of Bento.

If you need the most powerful behavioral triggers: Customer.io

Customer.io is more expensive than Bento, but it's also more powerful. Multi-channel messaging (email, push, SMS, in-app), sophisticated user segmentation, and the most flexible event-based automation available.

The catch: it's complex to set up and expensive ($100+/month for just 5k profiles). But for PLG companies with intricate user journeys, nothing else matches it.

If you want simpler: Loops

Bento can feel complex if you're just getting started. Loops is cleaner, simpler, and still built for SaaS. You won't get the same depth of event tracking, but if basic automation covers your needs, Loops is worth considering.

If budget is tight: Brevo

Bento's per-contact pricing means you pay whether you email someone or not. Brevo flips this -unlimited contacts, pay per email sent. If you have a big list but don't email frequently, Brevo can be significantly cheaper.

The pricing math

Let's be real about what you'll pay at 10,000 contacts:

Bento: $100/month (but unlimited emails)
Sequenzy: $49/month (AI + Stripe sync included)
Customer.io: $150+/month (most powerful features)
Loops: ~$99/month (simple and clean)
Brevo: $25+/month (depends on email volume)

The "right" choice depends on what you value. Bento's unlimited emails are great if you send a lot. Sequenzy's AI saves time. Customer.io's power is worth it for complex products.

What Bento does better

To be fair to Bento:

Unlimited emails - You never worry about send limits
Built-in chat - Email + chat in one platform is genuinely useful
Event tracking - Purpose-built for tracking user behavior
All features included - No feature gates based on plan tier

If these matter more than price, Bento might still be your best choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sequenzy if you want AI content generation and Stripe integration at $49/mo for 10k (vs Bento's $100). Customer.io if you need the most powerful behavioral automation. Loops if you want something simpler than Bento.

Bento charges $0.01 per contact per month because it includes unlimited emails. This works well if you email frequently, but can be expensive if you have a large list with many inactive contacts. At 10k contacts, you pay $100/month regardless of how many emails you send.

Customer.io is more powerful but more expensive. It offers multi-channel messaging (email, push, SMS, in-app) and more sophisticated automation. Bento is simpler and cheaper, with built-in chat. Choose Customer.io for complex PLG products, Bento for straightforward SaaS email.

Bento has some AI features for analytics and recommendations, but doesn't generate email content. If you want AI to write your email sequences, Sequenzy is currently the best SaaS-focused option.

Yes, Bento supports transactional emails alongside marketing. But if you only need transactional, Resend ($20/mo for 50k emails) or Postmark offer better developer experience at lower cost.

At 10k contacts: Sequenzy ($49/mo) is half the price with AI and Stripe sync. Brevo ($25+/mo) is even cheaper but pay-per-email. Loops (~$99/mo) is similar to Bento pricing but with flat tiers instead of per-contact.

Bento has Stripe integration via Zapier or custom webhooks, but it's not native. Sequenzy and Encharge have native Stripe integrations that sync customer data automatically without additional setup.

Yes. Export your contacts from Bento, import to the new platform, and recreate your automations. Most platforms have CSV import. Budget a weekend for simple setups, a week for complex automations.

Bento has better event tracking and built-in chat. Loops is simpler with a nicer interface. Bento costs $100/mo for 10k contacts; Loops costs ~$99/mo. Choose Bento for power, Loops for simplicity.

At $30/month minimum (3k contacts), Bento is affordable for early-stage startups. But Sequenzy offers more value at $49/mo for 10k contacts with AI included. For very early stage, Brevo's free tier or Loops' free plan might be better starting points.

All Pricing Tiers

0-100 subscribers: Free (Free annually) - 2k emails/month

101-1,000 subscribers: $19/month ($205/year annually) - 20k emails/month

1,001-5,000 subscribers: $29/month ($313/year annually) - 125k emails/month

5,001-10,000 subscribers: $49/month ($529/year annually) - 300k emails/month

10,001-25,000 subscribers: $99/month ($1069/year annually) - 875k emails/month

25,001-50,000 subscribers: $199/month ($2149/year annually) - 2M emails/month

50,001-100,000 subscribers: $349/month ($3769/year annually) - 4.5M emails/month

100,000+ subscribers: Custom pricing (Custom annually) - Unlimited emails/month

Yearly billing: All plans offer a 10% discount when billed annually.

12 Bento Alternatives for SaaS Teams

TL;DR

12 Best Bento Alternatives

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Why Consider Alternatives to Bento

Feature Comparison

When to Use Each Platform

Honest take: Bento vs the alternatives

If you hate writing emails: Sequenzy

If you need the most powerful behavioral triggers: Customer.io

If you want simpler: Loops

If budget is tight: Brevo

The pricing math

What Bento does better

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the best Bento alternative for SaaS?

Why is Bento pricing per contact?

How does Bento compare to Customer.io?

Does Bento have AI features?

Is Bento good for transactional email?

What's cheaper than Bento for email marketing?

Does Bento integrate with Stripe?

Can I migrate from Bento to another platform?

Bento vs Loops for SaaS email?

Is Bento worth it for small startups?

Ready to try Sequenzy?

Related Comparisons

Loops Alternatives

Mailchimp Alternatives

Sequenzy - Complete Pricing Guide

Pricing Model

All Pricing Tiers

Free Plan Features (0-100 subscribers)

Paid Plan Features (1,000 - 100,000 subscribers)

Enterprise Plan Features (100,000+ subscribers)

Important Pricing Notes

Contact