If you are searching for Bronto email marketing because you want to use it for your business, there is one fact you need to know before anything else: Bronto no longer exists. In March 2021, Oracle NetSuite announced that Bronto's suite of products was to be retired, with all services discontinued on May 31, 2022. The platform is gone.
That said, understanding what Bronto was, what made it significant in ecommerce email marketing, why it was shut down, and which modern platforms replaced it is genuinely useful context. This guide covers all of it.
Key Takeaways
- Bronto is permanently discontinued. Oracle NetSuite shut down the Bronto Marketing Platform on May 31, 2022.
- Bronto was a mid-market to enterprise ecommerce email platform with strong cart abandonment, lifecycle automation, and segmentation tools.
- Bronto's plans started from around $6,000 per license and were rated more expensive than the industry average for email marketing software.
- Bronto's market share before shutdown was approximately 0.68% and declining.
- The best current alternatives are Klaviyo, Omnisend, and ActiveCampaign, depending on your business size and technical needs.
What Was Bronto Email Marketing?
Bronto Software, later called Oracle Bronto, was an American software company founded in 2002 that provided marketing automation software to mid-market and enterprise organizations. Joe Colopy and Chaz Felix founded the company in Durham, North Carolina, with Colopy naming it after the brontosaurus because of his childhood interest in dinosaurs.
At its peak, Bronto was a serious force in ecommerce email. Bronto was the number one email marketing provider to the Internet Retailer Top 1000, offering advanced marketing automation, shopping cart abandonment solutions, post-purchase campaigns, and ecommerce integrations.
In April 2015, NetSuite signed an agreement to acquire Bronto Software for $200 million. NetSuite was then acquired by Oracle in 2016, making Bronto part of one of the world's largest enterprise software companies. That acquisition ultimately set the stage for the platform's closure.
Core Features the Bronto Platform Offered
Before its shutdown, Bronto email marketing included a feature set built specifically for ecommerce. Here is what it covered:
Cart and Browse Abandonment
Bronto could identify abandoned carts in near real-time, trigger automated personalized cart recovery messages, and track cart recovery metrics including abandonment rates and recovery percentages.
Advanced Segmentation
Bronto's segmentation allowed marketers to target recent purchasers with cross-sell and upsell items, re-engage lapsed purchasers with coupons, focus on first-time buyers to grow customer lifetime value, and target consumers by geographic location.
Marketing Automation
Bronto saved teams time by introducing automated message workflows, including welcome series, birthday emails, post-purchase messages, and transactional emails, all built with drag-and-drop simplicity.
Multi-Channel Messaging
The Bronto Marketing Platform included functionality that let users build flowcharts for advertising campaigns, automate campaigns, and report on results, with the ability to publish advertising via email, SMS, Twitter, and Facebook.
Ecommerce Integrations
After Oracle acquired Bronto, the platform integrated Oracle NetSuite technologies and data sources, with direct connections to major ecommerce platforms including Shopify Plus, Magento, NetSuite, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
Deliverability Tools
Bronto offered an email deliverability tool to help businesses ensure emails reached intended recipients, including monitoring sender reputation, identifying potential deliverability issues, and providing recommendations to improve inbox placement.
Bronto Pricing: What It Cost
Bronto never published transparent pricing. Pricing was available only on a by-quote basis, requiring direct contact with Bronto for detailed pricing information.
What reviews and third-party data show is that it was expensive:
- Plans started from approximately $6,000 per license, and Bronto was more expensive than the industry average for email marketing software.
- Pricing was based on a CPM (cost-per-thousand) logic, and Bronto charged additional fees for each new feature.
- Bronto did not offer a free trial and was contract-only.
While it was less expensive than Salesforce Marketing Cloud, it cost significantly more than platforms like Klaviyo. That pricing gap became a liability as more capable, lower-cost tools entered the market.
Why Did Bronto Shut Down?
Nearly six years after NetSuite acquired Bronto for approximately $200 million, Oracle NetSuite sent an email to customers assigning the Bronto Marketing Platform to "end of life" status, with the last date of service set as May 31, 2022.
Several factors contributed to this outcome:
- Oracle's existing marketing stack. Once Oracle acquired NetSuite in 2016, Bronto's days were effectively numbered. Oracle already owned Eloqua, one of the leading marketing automation platforms, and Bronto's market share was a fraction of Eloqua's. Oracle chose to focus innovation efforts on Eloqua and retire Bronto.
- High costs and poor value perception. Bronto was very expensive compared to platforms like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and ActiveCampaign, which put it in a structurally disadvantaged position.
- Slow integrations. It took significant time and development to integrate an ecommerce platform with Bronto, specifically between 90 and 120 days. Competitors like Klaviyo could connect with Shopify in minutes.
- Stagnant development. Research and development was not Bronto's biggest priority, unlike more focused companies like Drip, ActiveCampaign, and Klaviyo.
Oracle announced it was entering an end-of-life phase, with marketing automation technology and other resources migrating to the Oracle CX Cloud (Responsys).
Who Should Look for a Bronto Alternative?
Anyone researching bronto email marketing today falls into one of two categories: former users who need to migrate, or marketers who encountered the name while evaluating ecommerce email platforms.
Either way, the good news is that the current landscape is significantly stronger than what Bronto offered at the time of its closure.
If you are building an ecommerce email marketing strategy from scratch, or migrating from a legacy platform, there are three categories to consider:
- Best for ecommerce depth and advanced segmentation: Klaviyo
- Best for ease of use and multichannel coverage: Omnisend
- Best for advanced automation beyond ecommerce: ActiveCampaign
Best Bronto Email Marketing Alternatives in 2025
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is the closest functional successor to Bronto for mid-market and scaling ecommerce brands. Klaviyo offers more advanced segmentation, predictive analytics, and deeper data integrations, making it the stronger choice for brands serious about scaling their email program.
Klaviyo offers a free plan up to 250 contacts and 500 emails per month, with paid plans beginning at $20 per month for 500 contacts, rising with list size.
Where Klaviyo particularly stands out is revenue attribution. Klaviyo provides detailed revenue attribution with cohort analysis showing how customer segments perform over time. That is the kind of analytics Bronto users at scale would have needed.
For teams who prioritize email list segmentation strategies, Klaviyo's segmentation engine is the most sophisticated option in this group.
Omnisend
Omnisend stands out for its ecommerce-focused features, offering a user-friendly interface, robust automation, and multichannel capabilities at a lower cost than Klaviyo.
Omnisend's paid plans start at $16 per month for 500 contacts (Standard) up to $59 per month (Pro), with enterprise pricing on request.
Omnisend provides a more user-friendly interface with built-in SMS marketing and multi-channel automation workflows at lower price points. For smaller ecommerce teams that want fast setup and multi-channel reach without the complexity, Omnisend is a strong fit.
Omnisend is more affordable for small-to-mid stores under 10,000 contacts, while Klaviyo suits larger operations willing to invest in analytics ROI.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign sits in a different category. It is better suited for businesses with complex automation needs that extend beyond ecommerce into B2B nurturing, lead scoring, and CRM. Its automation builder is widely considered one of the most flexible available, and it integrates with most major ecommerce platforms.
For teams running multi-step nurturing programs, reviewing email personalization techniques that work within ActiveCampaign's conditional logic is a good starting point.
Quick Comparison
| Platform | Starting Price | Best For | Free Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | $20/month | Advanced ecommerce segmentation | Yes (250 contacts) |
| Omnisend | $16/month | Multichannel ecommerce (SMB) | Yes (250 contacts) |
| ActiveCampaign | $15/month | Complex automation, B2B + ecommerce | No |
| Brevo | $9/month | High-volume, send-based pricing | Yes (300/day) |
What to Prioritize When Choosing a Bronto Replacement
If you are evaluating platforms, the lessons from Bronto's decline point to four practical criteria:
- Transparent pricing with no contract lock-in. Bronto's opaque, volume-commitment pricing frustrated users. Prioritize platforms with clear public pricing.
- Fast, native ecommerce integrations. If connecting your store takes 90 days, that is a product problem, not an implementation one. Klaviyo and Omnisend connect to Shopify in minutes.
- Active product development. Look at a platform's release cadence and changelog before committing. A stagnant platform becomes a liability.
- Scalable automation. Start with pre-built workflows for cart abandonment and welcome series. Ensure the platform can handle more complex multi-step logic as your list and revenue grow.
For a broader framework, the email marketing strategy template guide covers how to align platform selection with your specific channel goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bronto email marketing still available?
No. Oracle NetSuite announced in March 2021 that Bronto's suite of products would be retired, with all services discontinued on May 31, 2022. The platform no longer exists and cannot be purchased or accessed.
Why did Oracle shut down Bronto?
Oracle had already acquired Responsys in 2013, an enterprise-scale B2C marketing automation solution, and already owned the B2B platform Eloqua. Bronto's market share was approximately 0.68% and declining, making the platform redundant within Oracle's portfolio.
What is the best alternative to Bronto for ecommerce?
The choice comes down to what you value most: depth or speed. Klaviyo leans into advanced segmentation and richer customer data, while Omnisend gets ecommerce stores live faster with multichannel marketing features and fewer setup decisions. For most growing stores, Klaviyo or Omnisend are the two strongest replacements.
How much did Bronto email marketing cost?
Bronto's plans started from approximately $6,000 per license, and on a scale of 1 to 10 for implementation cost in email marketing software, it was rated an 8, indicating pricing above industry average. The platform required custom quotes and did not offer a free trial or free version.
