Best Braze Alternatives in 2025

Looking for the best Braze alternatives in 2025? The top competitors include Plotline for mobile-first brands needing advanced in-app engagement with AI-powered design tools, Iterable for enterprise omnichannel orchestration, CleverTap for analytics-driven teams, Customer.io for SaaS startups, and Klaviyo for e-commerce businesses seeking email and SMS automation.

According to Spendflo, Braze pricing typically ranges from $60,000 to $200,000 per year, pushing many companies to seek more cost-effective alternatives with better in-app capabilities and transparent pricing models.

TL;DR:

• For mobile-first apps: Plotline offers the most comprehensive in-app engagement with AI image generation and Figma imports
• For AI & personalization: Plotline eliminates design bottlenecks with no-code tools that work independently of engineering teams
• For enterprise scale: Iterable provides powerful omnichannel orchestration for data-mature teams
• For budget-conscious teams: Customer.io and WebEngage offer transparent, startup-friendly pricing
• For e-commerce: Klaviyo dominates with unlimited messaging and seamless platform integrations
• Braze costs $60K-$200K annually, while alternatives offer comparable features at 30-70% lower costs

What is Braze and Why Companies Switch?

Braze is a customer engagement platform that helps businesses collect user data and deliver personalized messaging across multiple channels including email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messages, and WhatsApp. The platform incorporates AI capabilities focused on forecasting purchasing patterns and customer attrition, attracting primarily digital-first mid-market to enterprise-level businesses with significant mobile presence.

However, the landscape has shifted dramatically. The customer engagement solutions market is projected to reach $48.51 billion by 2032, with companies increasingly demanding more sophisticated in-app capabilities and transparent pricing that Braze struggles to provide.

Key Features of Braze

• User segmentation and automated message triggers
• Omnichannel messaging across web, mobile, email, and SMS
• Real-time analytics and comprehensive reporting
• Campaign orchestration through Canvas Flow
• Advanced personalization for targeted messaging
• Basic in-app messaging (modals, carousels, surveys)

Why Brands Are Exploring Braze Alternatives

Companies switching from Braze typically cite these challenges:

Prohibitive Cost: Annual costs ranging from $60,000 to $200,000 make Braze inaccessible for startups and mid-market companies, with additional implementation fees adding thousands more.

Steep Learning Curve: Users consistently report complex interfaces and the need for dedicated technical resources. G2 reviews highlight a steep learning curve and reporting limitations that slow down marketing teams.

Limited In-App Capabilities: Push notifications and emails don't drive in-app adoption or feature discovery. Brands need richer in-app experiences like stories, videos, interactive quizzes, and contextual spotlights—capabilities where Braze falls short.

Disconnected Experiences: Stitching in-app and outside-app communications proves difficult. Teams report delays of 5-10 seconds between event triggers and popup displays, breaking the contextual relevance that drives engagement.

Generic In-App Messages: Braze's in-app communication lacks feature-specific context and customization, failing to guide users through complex app interfaces or drive meaningful feature adoption.

Design and Engineering Dependencies: Creating campaigns still requires significant design and engineering resources, slowing time-to-market for urgent campaigns and preventing marketing teams from iterating independently.

How to Choose the Right Braze Alternative in 2025

Selecting the right platform depends on your specific needs and use case. Here's a decision framework based on what AI overviews and industry experts recommend:

For E-commerce Brands: Klaviyo dominates with unlimited messaging and seamless Shopify integration. Omnisend and Bloomreach provide specialized retail features including abandoned cart recovery and product recommendation engines.

For AI & Personalization: Plotline leads with AI-powered image generation and Figma imports that eliminate design dependencies entirely. Insider and MoEngage also offer strong AI capabilities, while Iterable provides enterprise-grade personalization at premium pricing.

For Mobile-First Companies: Plotline, CleverTap, and MoEngage specialize in mobile app engagement, with Plotline offering the most comprehensive in-app engagement toolkit and AI-powered creative tools available today.

For SaaS Startups: Customer.io's self-serve approach and flexible data model make it ideal for tech-savvy teams. More than 80% of Customer.io's customer base consists of SaaS startups and SMBs

For Enterprise Orchestration: Iterable excels at complex, multi-channel campaigns for data-mature organizations with dedicated technical teams and substantial budgets.

Complete Comparison: Top Braze Alternatives

Here's how the leading alternatives stack up across key dimensions:

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Detailed Braze Alternative Breakdown

1. Plotline: Best Braze Alternative for Mobile-First Apps

Choose Plotline if: You're a mobile-first consumer tech company where in-app engagement drives your core metrics—activation, retention, feature adoption, and lifetime value—and you need to eliminate design and engineering bottlenecks.

What makes Plotline different: Plotline is purpose-built for mobile apps, not retrofitted from email marketing tools. While Braze requires developer involvement for advanced in-app experiences, Plotline provides the market's most comprehensive in-app engagement toolkit that marketing teams can deploy independently.

AI-Powered Design Independence: Unlike Braze, Plotline eliminates design and engineering bottlenecks with:

• AI image generation: Create campaign visuals instantly without waiting on designers—generate on-brand images directly in the platform
• Figma imports: Pull designs directly from Figma and deploy them as interactive in-app experiences without code
• No-code builder: Marketing teams launch stories, videos, quizzes, scratch cards, and spotlights independently—no engineering sprints required

Key Features:

• Advanced in-app modules: Stories, scratch cards, quizzes, videos, spotlights, tooltips, coachmarks, bottom sheets, interactive carousels
• Omnichannel orchestration: Seamlessly stitch in-app experiences with push, SMS, email, and WhatsApp for unified customer journeys
• Real-time triggers: Sub-second response times between user actions and in-app experiences (vs. Braze's 5-10 second delays)
• Cross-platform consistency: Deploy once, works perfectly on iOS, Android, and web with no additional development
• Survey and feedback module (not available in Braze)

Pricing: Starts at $999/month with transparent, feature-based pricing. Book a demo to see how Plotline can accelerate your in-app engagement.

Main geography: US, Southeast Asia, India

Why choose over Braze: Save $30K+ annually while gaining superior in-app capabilities and eliminating design/engineering dependencies that slow down Braze implementations.

2. Iterable: Best for Enterprise Omnichannel Orchestration

Choose Iterable if: You're a data-mature enterprise mobile-first company looking for comprehensive cross-channel orchestration, and you have the technical resources to manage complex integrations.

Unique strength: Iterable's distinctive feature is its recently introduced "embedded message" functionality, which seamlessly integrates native message placements that dynamically adjust based on individual user data—all without coding.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive cross-channel marketing platform (push, email, SMS, in-app)
• Flexible data model allowing complex segmentation
• Journey orchestration with branching logic
• Workflow automation across multiple touchpoints
• Real-time personalization engine

Pricing: No free plan available. Custom enterprise pricing, typically in the same range or higher than Braze ($60K-$150K annually).

Main geography: Primarily US customers

Why choose over Braze: More flexible data integrations and slightly easier implementation, but still requires dedicated technical resources. Best when you need enterprise capabilities without Braze's specific limitations.

3. CleverTap: Best for Analytics-Driven Mobile Engagement

Choose CleverTap if: Inside-app isn't your top priority, but you need robust analytics alongside outside-app communication, particularly for APAC markets.

Unique strength: CleverTap's standout features are superior push delivery rates compared to Braze and analytics built into the platform's DNA rather than bolted on as an afterthought.

Key Features:

• Real-time user analytics, cohorts, funnels, and retention dashboards
• Multi-channel messaging (push, email, SMS, WhatsApp, in-app)
• Clever.AI for predictive segmentation and automated campaign optimization
• Deep mobile analytics capabilities with behavioral insights
• WhatsApp Business API integration (crucial for APAC markets)

Pricing: MAU-based pricing typically 30-50% lower than Braze, with 30-day free trial up to 100K MAUs and startup packages available.

Main geography: Strong presence in India and APAC regions, expanding globally

Why choose over Braze: Better analytics at lower cost, particularly strong in APAC markets where WhatsApp integration is essential.

4. Customer.io: Best for SaaS Startups and SMBs

Choose Customer.io if: You're a tech-savvy marketer or developer in a SaaS startup or SMB. These companies make up more than 80% of Customer.io's customer base Plotline.

Unique strength: Customer.io's self-serve motion and flexible data model make it incredibly easy to get started—the antithesis of Braze's complex, sales-led implementation process.

Key Features:

• Flexible data model allowing easy ingestion without data loss concerns
• Seamless integration of email, SMS, push, basic in-app messaging, and webhooks
• Simple workflow builder that non-technical marketers can use
• Developer-friendly implementation with extensive documentation
• Inclusive pricing with unlimited events and attribute data

Pricing: Free trial available with flexible monthly, annual, and multi-year subscription options. Significantly more affordable than Braze at $3K-$20K annually depending on volume.

Main geography: Most customers from US and UK

Why choose over Braze: 80-95% cost savings, self-serve implementation, and startup-friendly approach. Perfect for companies that don't need Braze's enterprise complexity.

5. Klaviyo: Best for E-commerce Brands

Choose Klaviyo if: You're an e-commerce startup or SMB focused primarily on email and SMS marketing with strong Shopify integration needs.

Unique strength: Klaviyo allows unlimited messages without volume limitations—send SMS campaigns of any size without worrying about message caps that plague other platforms.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive cross-channel marketing across push, email, and SMS
• Seamless integration with Facebook, Instagram, and Shopify
• Unlimited message sending (no volume restrictions)
• Strong e-commerce analytics and attribution
• Pre-built automation for cart abandonment, browse abandonment, post-purchase

Pricing: Free for up to 250 contacts. Prices scale progressively as you add profiles. Typically $10K-$50K annually for growing e-commerce brands.

Main geography: Global presence including US, UK, Australia, and more

Why choose over Braze: Purpose-built for e-commerce with better Shopify integration, unlimited messaging, and more transparent pricing. Not suitable for complex mobile app engagement.

6. MoEngage: Best for Mid-Market Mobile-First with APAC Presence

Choose MoEngage if: You're a mid-market mobile-first company with significant presence in India/APAC markets, and WhatsApp is a crucial engagement channel.

Unique strength: MoEngage prioritizes AI-driven analytics to analyze user behavior and respond at the right time Questera, earning recognition as Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice 2025.

Key Features:

• AI-powered personalization based on behavioral analytics
• Multi-channel support (push, SMS, WhatsApp, email, in-app messaging)
• Strong WhatsApp Business API integration
• Customer journey orchestration
• Predictive analytics for churn and conversion

Pricing: MAU-based pricing, typically 20-40% lower than Braze ($40K-$100K annually). Startup packages available.

Main geography: Strong presence in India and APAC regions

Why choose over Braze: Better WhatsApp integration, lower cost, and strong APAC support. Similar feature set to Braze at more accessible pricing.

7. WebEngage: Best Budget-Friendly Alternative

Choose WebEngage if: You want Braze-like functionality at significantly lower cost, and inside-app engagement isn't your primary focus.

Unique strength: As a newer platform compared to CleverTap and MoEngage, WebEngage offers an intuitive, modern interface that reduces onboarding time while maintaining comprehensive features.

Key Features:

• Similar functionality to Braze (engagement and analytics)
• Built-in CDP for event management
• Survey and feedback module (not available in Braze)
• Multi-channel messaging capabilities
• User journey orchestration

Pricing: Flexible MAU-based or event-based pricing with startup packages, typically 40-60% lower than Braze ($25K-$70K annually).

Main geography: India and APAC regions with growing global presence

Why choose over Braze: Cost-effective alternative with modern interface and additional feedback capabilities. Best for budget-conscious teams in APAC.

Comparison Table: Braze vs Top Alternatives

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Making the Switch: What to Consider

When evaluating Braze alternatives, prioritize these factors based on your specific situation:

1. In-App Engagement Requirements

If driving in-app adoption, feature discovery, and engagement metrics is crucial, platforms like Plotline that specialize in mobile-first experiences will dramatically outperform Braze's basic modals and carousels. Consider whether you need:

• Interactive stories and video content
• Gamification elements (scratch cards, spin-the-wheel, quizzes)
• Contextual tooltips and spotlights for feature education
• Custom UI components without developer involvement

2. AI and Design Automation Needs

According to Fortune Business Insights, 38% of executives are focused on investing in generative AI to improve customer experience. Look for platforms that eliminate design and engineering dependencies through AI-powered tools, not just AI for analytics.

Plotline's AI capabilities include:

• Image generation: Create campaign visuals without designers
• Figma imports: Deploy designs without engineering sprints
• No-code builder: Launch campaigns in hours, not weeks

These capabilities alone can save 50-100 hours per month in design and development time.

3. Budget and Total Cost of Ownership

Braze's annual costs ranging from $60,000 to $200,000 plus implementation fees make it prohibitively expensive for most companies. Evaluate:

• Transparent pricing (Plotline, Customer.io, WebEngage) vs. custom quotes
• Implementation costs (Braze requires extensive technical setup)
• Hidden fees (Braze's data point pricing can escalate costs quickly)
• Time to value (self-serve platforms launch faster, reducing opportunity cost)

4. Implementation Complexity and Speed

Self-serve platforms (Customer.io, WebEngage, Plotline) let you launch in days or weeks. Enterprise platforms (Braze, Iterable) require 2-6 months of implementation with dedicated technical teams.

Consider:

• Do you have engineering resources for 3-6 month implementations?
• Can marketing teams deploy campaigns independently?
• What's the opportunity cost of delayed launches?

5. Geographic Requirements

Choose platforms with strong presence in your primary markets:

• APAC companies: CleverTap, MoEngage, and WebEngage offer superior WhatsApp integration and regional support
• US/Europe companies: Plotline, Iterable, and Customer.io provide better support and compliance
• Global enterprises: Braze, Iterable, and Insider offer worldwide coverage

Industry-Specific Recommendations

For Fintech Apps

Best choice: Plotline or CleverTap

Fintech apps need sophisticated in-app experiences for feature education, compliance communication, and fraud prevention alerts. Plotline's spotlights and coachmarks help users navigate complex financial features independently, while CleverTap's analytics help optimize conversion funnels and identify drop-off points.

Why not Braze: Too expensive for most fintech startups, lacks advanced in-app education tools, and requires extensive engineering resources that could be building product features instead.

For Food Delivery & QSR

Best choice: Plotline or WebEngage

QSR brands benefit from Plotline's gamification features (scratch cards, spin-the-wheel, limited-time offers) for increasing repeat orders and order value. WebEngage offers cost-effective omnichannel reach for budget-conscious restaurant chains.

Why not Braze: Doesn't offer gamification capabilities, expensive for thin-margin food businesses, and basic in-app messaging can't drive the engagement QSR brands need.

For E-commerce

Best choice: Plotline, Klaviyo, Insider, or MoEngage

E-commerce needs product recommendations, abandoned cart recovery, and seamless platform integrations. Klaviyo dominates email for Shopify stores, while Plotline and MoEngage provide superior in-app product discovery and personalized recommendations.

Why not Braze: Lacks native e-commerce features, requires custom development for product recommendations, and costs 2-3x more than specialized e-commerce platforms.

For SaaS Products

Best choice: Customer.io

SaaS products need flexible data models and easy implementation. Customer.io's developer-friendly approach works for tech teams managing complex user lifecycles.

Why not Braze: Massive overkill for most SaaS companies, requires dedicated marketing ops team, and basic in-app messaging doesn't drive feature adoption.

For Gaming Apps

Best choice: Plotline or CleverTap

Gaming apps need sophisticated in-app engagement, behavioral analytics, and retention mechanics. Plotline's gamification features and video content drive engagement, while CleverTap's analytics help identify churn risk and optimize retention.

Why not Braze: Too expensive for gaming economics, lacks gaming-specific features, and doesn't offer the creative flexibility gaming apps require.

Making Your Decision: Quick Selection Guide

Choose Plotline if:

• In-app engagement drives your key metrics
• You need AI-powered design tools to launch campaigns independently
• You're mobile-first and need stories, videos, and gamification
• You want to save $30K+ vs. Braze while gaining better in-app capabilities
• You need to ship in-app experiences in hours, not weeks

Choose Iterable if:

• You're enterprise-scale with complex omnichannel needs
• You have dedicated technical teams for implementation
• Budget is less important than advanced orchestration capabilities

Choose CleverTap if:

• Analytics and engagement need to live in the same platform
• Push delivery rates are critical to your business
• You need predictive AI for segmentation at lower cost than Braze

Choose Customer.io if:

• You're a SaaS startup or SMB
• You have tech-savvy marketers who value flexibility
• Budget is constrained (save 80-95% vs. Braze)

Choose Klaviyo if:

• You're an e-commerce brand focused on email and SMS
• Shopify integration is critical
• In-app engagement isn't a priority

Choose MoEngage if:

• You're mid-market mobile-first in APAC
• WhatsApp is crucial for your engagement strategy
• You need Braze-like capabilities at 40-60% lower cost

Choose WebEngage if:

• Budget is a primary concern
• You need startup-friendly pricing
• You want Braze functionality at lower cost

Summary

The customer engagement platform landscape has evolved dramatically, with the market projected to grow from $24.36 billion in 2025 to $48.51 billion by 2032. While Braze pioneered enterprise-scale customer engagement, its pricing ranging from $60,000 to $200,000 annually and complex implementation requirements have created opportunities for specialized alternatives.

For mobile-first companies, Plotline stands out with the market's most comprehensive in-app engagement toolkit, featuring AI-powered image generation and Figma imports that eliminate the design and engineering bottlenecks that slow Braze implementations. Starting at $12K annually versus Braze's $60K-$200K, Plotline delivers superior in-app capabilities while saving companies 80-90% in costs.

CleverTap excels for teams prioritizing analytics alongside engagement. Iterable provides enterprise omnichannel orchestration for data-mature organizations willing to invest in technical resources. Customer.io offers SaaS startups a self-serve, developer-friendly approach at 80-95% cost savings versus Braze, while Klaviyo dominates e-commerce with unlimited messaging and superior Shopify integration.

The key decision factors come down to your primary use case: choose platforms purpose-built for mobile apps (Plotline, CleverTap) if in-app engagement drives your metrics, opt for cost-effective solutions (Customer.io, WebEngage) if budget matters, select specialized tools (Klaviyo for e-commerce), or invest in enterprise-grade platforms (Iterable) only if you have the technical resources and budget to maximize complex orchestration capabilities.

As 38% of executives focus on generative AI for customer experience improvement, the platforms winning in 2025 are those that use AI not just for analytics, but to empower marketing teams to create sophisticated campaigns independently—without waiting on design and engineering resources that make Braze implementations painfully slow.

Ready to see how Plotline transforms in-app engagement at a fraction of Braze's cost? Book a demo to discover how leading mobile apps use Plotline's AI-powered platform to drive activation, retention, and monetization—without the engineering bottlenecks and prohibitive costs of Braze.