Brevo Not Sending Emails? Common Problems and How to Fix Them

You hit send. You wait. Nothing happens. Your customer never gets the order confirmation. Your subscriber never sees the welcome email. And you’re sitting there wondering what went wrong.

It’s frustrating. Especially when you’ve set everything up and it was working fine before. But here’s the good news — Brevo email sending problems are almost always fixable. And usually faster than you’d expect.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through every common reason Brevo stops sending emails. We’ll cover SMTP issues, domain problems, account limits, and delivery failures. Each section includes the exact steps to fix it. By the end, your emails will be flowing again.

Why Brevo Emails Stop Sending

When Brevo emails stop sending, there’s always a reason. The platform doesn’t just randomly fail. Something specific is blocking your messages. And once you identify it, the fix is usually straightforward.

Here’s what I want you to know upfront. About 99% of Brevo sending problems get resolved through simple troubleshooting. You don’t need to contact support for most issues. You just need to know where to look.

So what causes emails to stop sending? Let me break down the main categories.

SMTP configuration problems are the most common culprit. Wrong credentials, blocked ports, or incorrect settings prevent emails from leaving your system. If you recently changed something in your WordPress setup or email plugin, start here.

Domain authentication issues come next. Brevo requires you to verify your sending domain. Without proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, your emails might get rejected or replaced with a Brevo address. Gmail and Yahoo got stricter about this in 2024, and those rules still apply in 2026.

Account and credit limits catch people off guard. The free plan only allows 300 emails per day. Once you hit that limit, emails queue until the next day. Paid plans have monthly limits too. If you’re not tracking usage, you might max out without realizing.

Delivery problems happen after emails leave Brevo. Hard bounces from invalid addresses, spam complaints from recipients, or ISP blocking can all stop your messages from arriving. These aren’t Brevo’s fault exactly, but they still need fixing.

System incidents occasionally affect everyone. Brevo’s infrastructure is reliable, but delays happen. Checking the status page rules this out quickly.

The troubleshooting process is simple. Start with the most likely cause based on your symptoms. Check one thing at a time. Most people find the problem within 10 minutes.

Don’t panic if emails aren’t sending right now. We’ll work through each possibility step by step.

SMTP Configuration Problems and Fixes

If you’re using Brevo’s SMTP relay to send emails — especially through WordPress or another platform — configuration errors are the first place to check. One wrong setting and nothing sends.

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It’s how your website or app communicates with Brevo’s email servers. When this connection breaks, emails pile up unsent.

The symptoms are pretty clear. You see errors like “authentication failed” or “connection timed out.” Or emails just silently fail without any message at all. Your email logs might show attempts that never complete.

Here’s the thing about SMTP problems. They’re almost always caused by one of two issues: wrong credentials or wrong port settings. That’s it. Fix those, and you’re back in business.

Let me walk you through both.

Wrong SMTP Credentials or Port

This is the number one reason SMTP emails fail. And it’s the easiest to fix once you know what to look for.

First, let’s talk credentials. Brevo SMTP requires a username and password. But here’s where people mess up — the password isn’t your Brevo account login password. It’s a separate SMTP key that you generate in your dashboard.

If you’re using your regular Brevo password, that’s the problem. You need the SMTP key instead.

Here’s how to get the correct credentials:

1. Log into your Brevo account
2. Go to SMTP & API in the settings menu
3. Find the SMTP section
4. Generate a new SMTP key if you don’t have one
5. Copy it immediately — you can’t view it again later

Now update your settings with these values:

Port issues trip people up too. Brevo recommends port 587 with TLS encryption. But some hosting providers block this port. If 587 doesn’t work, try port 465 with SSL. Or port 2525 as a last resort.

How do you know if your port is blocked? You’ll see timeout errors. The connection just hangs without completing. Contact your hosting provider and ask them to open port 587 for outgoing SMTP traffic.

One more thing. If your SMTP was working before and suddenly stopped, your key might have been regenerated or expired. Go back to Brevo, create a fresh SMTP key, and update your settings.

After making changes, send a test email. Most SMTP plugins have a test feature built in. Use it before assuming everything works.

Sender Domain Not Verified

Even with correct SMTP settings, emails can fail if your sending domain isn’t properly authenticated. This is a big deal in 2026. Email providers like Gmail and Yahoo reject messages from unverified domains.

Here’s what happens. You try to send from yourname@yourdomain.com. But Brevo doesn’t recognize that domain as yours. So it either blocks the send or replaces your address with something like yourname@brevosend.com. Neither is good.

Domain authentication involves three DNS records: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These prove to email providers that you’re allowed to send from your domain. Without them, your emails look suspicious.

Let me explain each one simply.

SPF tells receiving servers which services can send email on your behalf. You add a DNS record that includes Brevo’s servers. The value looks something like: v=spf1 include:spf.brevo.com ~all

DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails. Brevo gives you a specific code to add to your DNS. This lets recipients verify the email wasn’t tampered with during delivery.

DMARC tells servers what to do with emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks. It’s the final layer of authentication.

Here’s how to set this up:

1. Log into Brevo and go to Senders & Domains
2. Add your domain if it’s not listed
3. Brevo shows you the exact DNS records to add
4. Copy each record and add them to your domain’s DNS settings
5. Wait for propagation (can take a few hours)
6. Return to Brevo and click Verify

You also need to verify your sender email address. Brevo sends a 6-digit code to confirm you own that email. Check your inbox (and spam folder) for the verification message.

After authentication, your emails come from your actual domain. Deliverability improves dramatically. Brevo reports 99% inbox rates for properly authenticated domains.

If you skip this step, expect problems. Gmail and Yahoo specifically started blocking unauthenticated senders in February 2024. Those rules haven’t relaxed.

Account and Credit Issues

Sometimes the problem isn’t technical at all. It’s just that you’ve hit a limit. Brevo has sending caps on every plan, and when you reach them, emails stop going out.

This catches people off guard because there’s no dramatic error message. Emails just quietly queue instead of sending. You might not notice until customers complain they never got their confirmation.

Account issues also include activation problems. Certain Brevo features need to be turned on before they work. If you never activated transactional email sending, for example, those emails won’t send no matter what.

The good news is these problems have obvious fixes. Check your limits. Check your activation status. Upgrade if needed. Let’s dig into the specifics.

Email Quota Exceeded

Every Brevo plan has a sending limit. Exceed it, and your emails queue until the limit resets.

The free plan allows 300 emails per day. That counter resets at midnight UTC. If you send 300 emails by noon, you’re done until tomorrow. Additional emails wait in a queue for up to 36 hours.

Paid plans have monthly limits instead of daily ones. The Starter plan at $9 per month gives you 5,000 emails. The Business plan at $65 gives you 20,000 or more depending on your tier. Once you hit your monthly cap, same thing happens — emails queue.

Here’s how to check your usage:

1. Log into your Brevo dashboard
2. Look at the top right or go to Account settings
3. Find your current usage stats
4. Compare sent emails to your plan limit

If you’re consistently hitting limits, you have a few options.

Wait for reset. Daily limits reset at midnight UTC. Monthly limits reset on your billing date. If it’s almost reset time, just wait.

Upgrade your plan. Moving from Free to Starter ($9/month) jumps you from 300/day to 5,000/month. That’s a big increase for not much money.

Buy prepaid credits. Brevo sells additional email credits on top of your plan. This works for temporary spikes without committing to a higher plan.

For transactional emails specifically, running out of credits means order confirmations and password resets stop sending. That’s bad for customer experience. Keep an eye on usage if your store has variable traffic.

Transactional Platform Not Activated

Here’s an issue that confuses new users. You’ve set everything up, but transactional emails just won’t send. You might see a “permission_denied” error in your logs.

The cause? Your Brevo account’s transactional email platform isn’t activated. Some accounts require manual activation before this feature works.

Transactional emails are different from marketing emails in Brevo’s system. Marketing emails go to your subscriber lists. Transactional emails are triggered by actions — purchases, password resets, account confirmations. They run through a separate system.

If you see “permission_denied” or “SMTP account is not activated,” here’s what to do:

1. Contact Brevo support through your dashboard
2. Request transactional email activation
3. Wait for confirmation (usually within 24 hours)
4. Test sending again

There’s another scenario to consider. If Brevo detects suspicious activity on your account — like a sudden spike in sends or spam complaints — they might temporarily suspend transactional sending. This protects their infrastructure and your sender reputation.

Signs this happened include:

• Emails that were working suddenly stop
• No clear error message
• Account otherwise looks normal

If you suspect a suspension, reach out to support. Explain the situation. If it was a false flag (like a legitimate product launch causing higher volume), they’ll usually restore access quickly.

Bot attacks on your website forms can also trigger suspensions. If spam bots are submitting your contact forms thousands of times, that floods your email queue. Brevo might pause your account to investigate. Adding CAPTCHA to your forms prevents this.

Delivery Problems and Bounces

Sometimes emails send successfully from Brevo but never reach the inbox. The problem happens after the email leaves Brevo’s servers. This is frustrating because your logs show “sent” but recipients never see the message.

Delivery failures fall into two main categories. Bounces happen when the receiving server rejects your email. Spam filtering happens when the email arrives but gets buried in junk folders.

Both problems hurt your sender reputation over time. If too many emails bounce or get marked as spam, future emails become even harder to deliver. It’s a downward spiral.

The fix involves cleaning your list, improving authentication, and monitoring your reputation. Let’s look at specific issues.

Hard Bounces and Blocked Contacts

A hard bounce means the email address doesn’t exist. Maybe it’s a typo. Maybe the person closed their account. Either way, the email can’t be delivered — ever.

Brevo tracks these automatically. When an address hard bounces, Brevo blocks it. Future emails to that address won’t even attempt to send. This protects your sender reputation.

But if you have a lot of hard bounces, it signals a problem with your list quality. Email providers notice this. Too many bounces, and they start treating all your emails as suspicious.

Soft bounces are different. These are temporary failures — the inbox was full, or the server was down. Brevo retries soft bounces a few times before giving up.

Here’s what gets contacts blocked:

• Hard bounces (invalid address)
• Spam complaints (recipient clicked “report spam”)
• Unsubscribes (recipient opted out)

Once blocked, these contacts won’t receive your emails unless you manually unblock them. And honestly, you usually shouldn’t unblock them. If they complained or bounced, sending again just makes things worse.

How to fix and prevent bounce problems:

Clean your list regularly. Remove contacts who haven’t engaged in 90 days or more. They’re more likely to bounce or complain.

Use double opt-in. When someone subscribes, send a confirmation email first. This verifies the address is real and the person actually wants your emails.

Remove obvious fakes. Email addresses like test@test.com or asdf@gmail.com are garbage. Delete them before they bounce.

Check your list source. If you imported contacts from an old list, many addresses might be dead. Consider running them through an email verification service first.

Aim for less than 2% bounce rate. Higher than that, and you need to seriously clean your list.

ISP Blocking and Spam Filters

Your emails can leave Brevo successfully but get blocked by the recipient’s email provider. Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft — they all have aggressive spam filters. And they got stricter in 2024.

The new rules require proper authentication. If you don’t have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up correctly, major providers might block you outright. We covered authentication earlier, but I want to emphasize it again here.

Beyond authentication, reputation matters. Email providers track:

• How often your emails get marked as spam
• Your bounce rates
• Engagement rates (opens, clicks)
• Sending patterns

If too many recipients mark you as spam, that damages your reputation. Future emails get filtered more aggressively. Keep your spam complaint rate below 0.1%. That means less than 1 complaint per 1,000 emails.

Here are signs your emails are hitting spam filters:

• Low open rates (under 10%)
• Recipients saying they never got your email
• Messages found in spam/junk folder

What to do about ISP blocking:

Check blacklists. Use MX Toolbox or similar tools to see if your sending IP is blacklisted. Brevo handles this for shared IPs, but it’s worth checking.

Monitor with Google Postmaster. If you send to lots of Gmail addresses, set up Google Postmaster Tools. It shows your domain reputation and spam rates.

Ask recipients to whitelist. For important contacts (especially corporate ones), ask them to add your email to their address book. This helps bypass filters.

Warm up new domains. If you’re sending from a brand new domain, start slow. Send 50 emails per day, then gradually increase. Sudden high volume from new domains looks spammy.

Add DMARC. Beyond SPF and DKIM, DMARC is now expected by major providers. It tells them what to do when authentication fails.

Corporate email systems are especially strict. If your recipients use company email with custom filters, those filters might block third-party senders automatically. The recipient’s IT team needs to whitelist Brevo’s sending IPs.

How to Check Brevo System Status

Sometimes the problem isn’t on your end at all. Brevo’s servers occasionally experience delays or outages. Before spending hours troubleshooting your settings, check if Brevo itself is having issues.

The official status page is status.brevo.com. Bookmark it. When emails stop sending unexpectedly, this should be your first stop. It takes 10 seconds to rule out a system-wide problem.

The status page shows real-time information about all Brevo services. You’ll see separate indicators for:

• Marketing email campaigns
• Transactional emails
• API services
• SMTP relay
• Website and dashboard

Green means everything works normally. Yellow indicates partial issues. Red means a full outage. If you see anything other than green, the problem might not be your configuration.

Past incidents tell the story too

Scroll down on the status page to see recent incidents. Brevo logs every disruption with timestamps and resolution notes. This history helps you understand patterns.

Looking at 2025 data, there were a few notable incidents:

• Outbound delivery delays caused emails to queue for several hours
• Batch sending delays affected large campaigns temporarily
• Brief interruptions hit both transactional and marketing emails

Most incidents resolved within three hours. Brevo’s infrastructure is generally reliable, but hiccups happen. Knowing this saves you from chasing phantom configuration problems.

What to do during an outage

If the status page shows an active incident, there’s not much you can do except wait. Don’t start changing your settings — that might create new problems once service restores.

For queued emails, Brevo holds them for up to 36 hours. Once the system recovers, queued messages send automatically. You don’t lose anything.

If you need to send urgently during an outage, consider a backup plan. Some businesses keep a secondary email service for emergencies. But honestly, Brevo outages are rare and short. For most users, waiting is the practical choice.

Subscribe to status updates

The status page lets you subscribe to notifications. You’ll get alerts when incidents start and resolve. This keeps you informed without constantly refreshing the page.

Check the status page before troubleshooting. It could save you a lot of unnecessary work.

Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

When emails aren’t sending, work through this checklist step by step. Start at the top and move down. Most problems reveal themselves within the first few items.

Step 1: Check Brevo system status

Visit status.brevo.com first. If there’s an active incident, wait for resolution. Don’t change settings during an outage.

Step 2: Verify your sending limits

Log into Brevo and check your usage dashboard. Have you hit your daily or monthly email cap? Free plans allow 300 emails per day. Paid plans have monthly limits. If you’re maxed out, wait for reset or upgrade.

Step 3: Confirm SMTP credentials

Using SMTP? Verify these exact settings:

• Server: smtp-relay.brevo.com
• Port: 587 (or 465 if blocked)
• Encryption: TLS
• Username: Your verified Brevo email
• Password: SMTP key (not your account password)

If unsure, regenerate your SMTP key in the Brevo dashboard and update your settings.

Step 4: Check domain authentication

Go to Senders & Domains in Brevo. Is your domain verified? Are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records properly configured? Missing authentication causes Gmail and Yahoo to reject emails.

Step 5: Verify sender email address

Your “from” address must be verified with Brevo. Check for the 6-digit verification code in your inbox. Unverified senders can’t send.

Step 6: Review email logs for errors

In Brevo, go to Campaigns or Transactional logs. Filter by errors, bounces, or deferred messages. The error details often point directly to the problem.

Step 7: Check for blocked contacts

If specific recipients aren’t getting emails, they might be blocked. Look for hard bounces, spam complaints, or unsubscribes in their contact record.

Step 8: Test with a fresh email

Create a new simple email. Send it to yourself at a different email address. If the test works, the problem is specific to your original campaign or recipient list.

Step 9: Check blacklists

Use MX Toolbox to see if your sending domain or IP is blacklisted. This affects deliverability across all recipients.

Step 10: Contact Brevo support

If nothing above works, reach out to support. Free plans get email support. Paid plans get faster responses. Include your troubleshooting steps so they don’t repeat what you’ve already tried.

Work through this list systematically. Jumping around usually wastes time.

FAQs About Brevo Email Sending Problems