Overview
Bento is an email marketing platform for businesses that earn money from email; customers named on its site include Laravel News and several indie SaaS products. It includes broadcasts, automation flows, forms and pop-ups, segmentation with a CRM view, an API with webhooks, and pre-send checks for broken links, missing names and spammy content.
Pricing is simple: $29 a month covers up to 5,000 active users, then each extra active user costs $0.01 up to 50,000, with lower rates above that. Marketing sends are unlimited on paid plans under a fair-use policy, and team seats are included.
Transactional email is a separate usage-based product: the first 100 emails are free, then $5 a month through 12,500 emails, plus $0.09 per 1,000 beyond. Bento Chat is a $30 add-on.
There is no free plan. Bento emphasises support from deliverability specialists, including migration help and price-match reviews.
Pricing and plans
checked 28 Sept 2026| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Platform | $29/mo | Up to 5,000 active users; $0.01 per active user 5,001-50,000; $0.009 50,001-250,000; $0.008 above |
| Bento Chat | +$30/mo | Add-on |
| Transactional Email | $5/mo | First 100 emails free, then $5/mo through 12,500 emails, plus $0.09 per 1,000 after; can be used on its own |
What it does
- Broadcasts and flows
- One-off campaigns and automation flows with segmentation and CRM data.
- Pre-send checks
- Automatic checks for broken links, empty personalisation fields and spam trigger phrases, plus send pacing.
- Transactional email
- Usage-based sending with 100 free emails, usable alone or with the marketing platform.
- API and webhooks
- API, webhooks and integrations included on the marketing plan.
- Deliverability tooling
- Authentication setup, list hygiene reports and dedicated IP options.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Published per-user rates make costs easy to model
- Unlimited marketing sends and included seats
- Transactional email at low usage prices
- SOC 2 compliance stated
Limitations
- No free plan
- Unlimited sends are subject to fair use
- No landing page builder listed on the pricing page
- Chat is an extra $30 a month
Who it suits
Good for
- Indie SaaS founders sending product and marketing email
- Online businesses where email drives revenue
- Teams moving off a platform after deliverability problems
Look elsewhere if
- Hobby projects that need a free tier
- Marketers who want built-in landing pages
Alternatives to Bento
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo Email marketing and transactional platform | $9/mo | Free tier | |
| Loops Lifecycle email for SaaS | $49/mo | Free tier | |
| Mailjet Email API, SMTP relay and campaign editor | $9/mo | Free tier | |
| Notifuse Open-source email platform | $19/mo | ||
| Resend Email API for developers | $20/mo | Free tier | |
| ActiveCampaign Marketing automation platform | $15/mo |
Questions
How much does Bento cost for 10,000 subscribers?
About $79 a month: $29 covers 5,000 active users and each additional active user costs $0.01.
Does Bento have a free plan?
No. The marketing platform starts at $29 a month; transactional email includes 100 free emails.
Does Bento limit the number of emails?
Marketing sends are unlimited on paid plans, subject to fair use.
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