Braze Alternatives & Competitors: Top 7 Platforms in 2026

Braze is one of the most popular customer engagement platforms on the market. But for many teams, the software just doesn’t suit them because the costs scale faster than their ROI, and the platform requires far more complexity than they can realistically support.

This is especially hard to ignore if you’re a fast-growing company. You’ll quickly hit usage limits, message costs will increase as your audience grows, and workflows that seem simple will require dedicated specialists to maintain.

And if you look at user feedback, you’ll see many of the same issues repeated:

• Pricing is too high: Many users note that prices regularly increase, especially as your business grows. There are no trials or free plans available, and all pricing is custom. Total annual costs typically start around $50-60k.

• Complex and difficult to adopt: Customers report that Braze has a steep learning curve, especially for non-technical users. Even relatively straightforward workflows can require advanced configuration, Liquid logic, or engineering support to implement correctly.

• Slow customer support and poor onboarding experience: Several users note that support responsiveness and onboarding quality depend heavily on contract tier. Larger enterprise customers may receive hands-on guidance, while SMB or mid-market teams have to rely on documentation, ticketing systems, or self-service resources. Plus, response times can feel slow relative to the platform’s cost.

At this point, teams typically start exploring alternatives that offer similar cross-channel capabilities but with more transparent pricing, faster onboarding, and support that actually guides them through implementation.

After six years building and scaling B2C e-commerce businesses to over $50M in revenue, I’ve evaluated nearly every major customer engagement platform. Below are the seven strongest alternatives to Braze, including what they do well, who they’re best for, and why they may be a better fit for your team.

1. Maestra

Maestra is a customer engagement and personalization platform built for fast-growing teams that have outgrown tools like Braze but still need enterprise-level capability.

For many teams, the goal of a customer engagement platform is to unify customer data, orchestrate cross-channel campaigns, and continuously personalize the customer experience as the business scales.

But with Braze, this process often becomes harder over time. Costs rise as engagement increases, workflows require dedicated specialists to maintain, and support can feel limited just when programs become more complex.

Once this happens, teams start searching for alternatives that are easier to use and cheaper to scale with. Maestra supports this by offering:

• A customer data platform that activates real-time behavioral data across all channels
• Cross-channel support for email, SMS, web personalization, loyalty, and referrals
• White-glove onboarding and ongoing support built into the platform
• Cleaner workflows that don’t require heavy engineering involvement
• Predictable pricing designed for teams that are already at scale

Below, we’ll take a closer look at how Maestra works and what it does especially well compared to Braze and other alternatives.

Unified customer data and activation

Maestra includes a real-time Customer Data Platform that connects behavioral, transactional, and engagement data into a single customer profile. Events like page views, purchases, email clicks, SMS interactions, and loyalty activity are updated instantly and can be used immediately in campaigns.

This makes it easier to build precise segments and trigger messaging based on what customers are doing right now, not hours later. For teams used to syncing data between tools or waiting on batch updates, this significantly reduces friction and improves responsiveness across lifecycle programs.

Cross-channel messaging

Maestra supports coordinated campaigns across email, SMS, web personalization, mobile push, paid ads, and loyalty programs from a single workflow builder. Campaigns can be sent across channels, with each step triggered by real-time customer behavior.

For example, a single flow can send an email, follow up with an SMS, display a personalized website banner, and award loyalty points. This can all be done without separate tools or integrations. It also removes added costs that many teams typically face when running multi-channel programs in platforms like Braze.

Real-time website personalization

Unlike many messaging-focused platforms, Maestra allows teams to dynamically personalize on-site experiences. Content such as banners, pop-ups, product recommendations, quizzes, and embedded widgets can change based on who the visitor is and what they’ve done before.

This enables teams to treat the website itself as an engagement channel rather than just a destination. Returning customers can see tailored offers, loyalty rewards, and product suggestions in real time, helping bridge the gap between messaging and conversion.

White-glove onboarding and ongoing support

Maestra includes dedicated customer success support as a core part of the platform. Each customer works with a named Customer Success Manager who helps with onboarding, migrations, integrations, flow setup, experimentation, and ongoing strategy. This hands-on model reduces the need for internal specialists and shortens time-to-value. 

What’s Maestra best for?

Maestra is primarily built for fast-growing brands that want enterprise-grade customer engagement without the escalating costs and operational overhead. 

The platform works especially well for companies that want to consolidate multiple tools (such as email/SMS, loyalty, personalization, promotions, and on-site experiences) into a single unified system.

Teams switching from Braze often do so because they want predictable pricing, less engineering dependency, and support that actually helps them launch faster. Maestra’s customers regularly report improvements like higher retention, stronger repeat purchase rates, and major time savings on campaign setup and journey management.

Pricing and scalability

Maestra pricing typically starts at $3,000 per month and is aimed at mid-market and enterprise teams that have already outgrown entry-level tools. While the entry point is higher than basic email platforms, pricing is transparent and designed to scale more predictably than usage-based enterprise systems.

2. Iterable

Iterable is an enterprise customer engagement platform built for large-scale lifecycle messaging across multiple channels. It’s one of the closest functional alternatives to Braze, with support for complex segmentation and experimentation.

Key features:

• Cross-channel campaigns across email, SMS, push, and in-app
• Advanced segmentation and behavioral targeting
• A/B testing and multivariate experimentation
• Integrations with CDPs and data warehouses
• Scalable infrastructure for high-volume messaging

Where Iterable stands out

• Iterable gives lifecycle teams granular control over how and when messages are triggered across channels.
• The platform’s experimentation framework makes it easier to test messaging strategies at scale and iterate quickly.
• Its data integrations work well for companies that centralize customer data outside their marketing tools.

Things to consider before choosing Iterable

• Iterable is not a lightweight platform and works best for teams with dedicated ownership and technical support.
• Initial setup and ongoing maintenance can require significant time investment.
• Support experience and responsiveness may vary depending on contract level.

Pricing

• Iterable uses custom, enterprise pricing based on audience size, messaging volume, and feature access.

3. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform built primarily for eCommerce brands. It’s often the first step for teams moving beyond basic email tools, but many eventually outgrow it as personalization, data complexity, and cross-channel needs increase.

Key features:

• Email and SMS automation for eCommerce lifecycle campaigns
• Pre-built flows for abandoned cart, browse abandonment, and win-back
• Deep integrations with Shopify and other eCommerce platforms
• Behavior-based segmentation and triggers
• Revenue attribution and performance reporting

Where Klaviyo stands out

• Klaviyo is easy to set up and get value from quickly, even with small teams.
• Its native eCommerce integrations make it simple to tie messaging directly to purchase behavior and revenue.
• The platform works well for email- and SMS-first strategies without heavy technical involvement.

Things to consider before choosing Klaviyo

• Pricing scales rapidly as contact lists and message volume grow.
• Cross-channel capabilities beyond email and SMS are limited.
• More complex lifecycle logic and personalization often require workarounds or additional tools.

Pricing

• Klaviyo has a free plan and then paid tiers that increase primarily based on the number of active profiles rather than message sends.
• Pricing for email starts at $20 or email & SMS at $35/month.

4. Customer.io

Customer.io is a flexible customer messaging platform designed for product-led and technical teams that want precise control over event data and automation logic. It’s often chosen by companies that find Braze overly complex or expensive but still need powerful, behavior-driven lifecycle messaging.

Key features:

• Event-driven messaging across email, SMS, and push notifications
• Advanced workflow logic with conditional branching and delays
• Developer-friendly APIs, webhooks, and SDKs
• Real-time behavioral targeting based on user actions
• Integrations with data warehouses and analytics tools

Where Customer.io stands out

• Customer.io gives teams a high level of control over how events, attributes, and triggers are defined.
• The platform is well-suited to product-led growth strategies where messaging depends on in-app behavior.
• Its API-first approach works well for teams that already have strong engineering support.

Things to consider before choosing Customer.io

• Setup and maintenance typically require technical ownership and ongoing engineering involvement.
• Onboarding and strategic guidance are more limited compared to enterprise platforms.
• Non-technical teams may find advanced workflows harder to manage independently.

Pricing

• Customer.io uses tiered pricing, with plans starting at $100 per month (billed annually) or custom plans for enterprise teams.

5. Cordial

Cordial is a cross-channel customer engagement platform focused on real-time data activation for retail and consumer brands. The platform combines customer data, segmentation, and messaging into a single system that allows teams to trigger campaigns based on live behaviors rather than delayed or batch-processed data. Cordial can support dynamic, event-driven messaging, but its scope is narrower than some enterprise alternatives.

Key features:

• Real-time ingestion of customer and behavioral data
• Cross-channel messaging across email and SMS
• Event-triggered and behavior-based campaigns
• Flexible segmentation using live customer attributes
• Integrations with common retail and eCommerce platforms

Where Cordial stands out

• Cordial processes and activates customer data in real time, which is useful for time-sensitive campaigns.
• The platform is marketer-friendly and doesn’t require heavy engineering involvement to manage day-to-day.
• Campaigns can adapt quickly to customer behavior without complex workflow configuration.

Things to consider before choosing Cordial

• Channel coverage is more limited compared to enterprise platforms like Braze or Iterable.
• The platform is less flexible for non-retail or non-commerce use cases.
• Teams with complex, multi-channel lifecycle strategies may outgrow the tool’s capabilities.

Pricing

• Cordial uses custom pricing based on data volume, messaging usage, and selected features.

6. MoEngage

MoEngage is a customer engagement platform built with a strong emphasis on mobile-first experiences and global scale. It includes push notifications, in-app messaging, and lifecycle automation to help teams engage users based on real-time behavior. While it supports multiple channels, the platform is best suited for businesses where mobile engagement is the primary growth driver.

Key features:

• Mobile push notifications and in-app messaging
• Behavioral analytics and real-time segmentation
• Cross-channel automation and campaign workflows
• Personalization based on user behavior and attributes
• Global infrastructure with localization support

Where MoEngage stands out

• MoEngage is particularly strong when it comes to mobile app engagement and behavioral targeting.
• The platform supports large international user bases with reliable delivery and localization features.
• Teams can trigger campaigns quickly based on in-app actions and user events.

Things to consider before choosing MoEngage

• The platform is less optimized for web-first or email-heavy strategies.
• The interface and feature set can feel complex for teams without mobile expertise.
• Higher pricing tiers are needed to access some advanced features.

Pricing

• MoEngage offers custom pricing based on monthly active users, channels used, and feature access. Enterprise plans are available for larger teams. 

7. OneSignal

OneSignal is a cross-channel customer engagement platform that supports push notifications, email, SMS, and in-app messaging. Teams use OneSignal because the setup is fast and the platform provides excellent mobile capabilities. It’s a much simpler tool for coordinating messaging across various customer channels.

Key features:

• Mobile and web push notifications with high deliverability
• Email and SMS messaging inside the same platform
• In-app messaging for mobile and web apps
• Segmentation based on user behavior, attributes, and real-time events
• A visual journey builder for multi-step messaging flows
• A/B testing, personalization, and delivery optimization tools

Where OneSignal stands out

• OneSignal is easy to implement and requires minimal setup to start sending messages.
• The platform offers reliable push delivery at a relatively low cost.
• Product and engineering teams can manage messaging without heavy operational overhead.

Things to consider before choosing OneSignal

• While it supports multiple channels, its automation capabilities are lighter than Braze, Iterable, or Maestra.
• Advanced personalization, complex branching logic, and enterprise-level experimentation are more limited.
• Some teams will still need additional tools for CDP-level data modeling, loyalty, or deep ecommerce workflows.

Pricing

• OneSignal offers a freemium model with paid plans based on subscriber count and feature usage.

Choosing the best Braze alternative

If you’re a smaller team with simple messaging needs, most platforms on this list will cover the basics like email and SMS flows, automations, and some lightweight personalization. At that stage, Braze’s complexity and cost won’t have as much of an impact.

But once your list starts growing, those downsides become much harder to ignore. Pricing increases quickly, you’ll start to hit your usage caps, and technical overhead is difficult to manage. 

Once you start to spend $3,000 per month or more on customer engagement, it makes sense to switch to Maestra. You’ll get real-time customer data, cross-channel automation, website personalization, and loyalty tools in one unified platform. Plus, the dedicated customer support helps you implement key features more efficiently.