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E-Commerce · head to head

Braze vs CleverTap

Braze logo

Braze

E-Commerce

Customer engagement platform built for the modern marketer

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
CleverTap logo

CleverTap

Marketing

Mobile-first engagement and retention analytics billed on monthly active users

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Braze no free tier or monthly billing, requiring annual enterprise contracts with no flexibility; CleverTap the platform assumes the mobile app is the main surface, so teams whose lifecycle runs mostly through the browser or through long B2B email sequences pay for capability they will not use.
  • They diverge on capability: Braze covers Cross-channel messaging, CleverTap covers Cross-channel journeys.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Braze and CleverTap actually diverge.

Attributes where Braze and CleverTap differ
AttributeBrazeCleverTap
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiWeb, iOS, Android, REST API
CategoryE-CommerceMarketing
Founded2011Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Braze

  • Cross-channel messaging
  • Customer journey orchestration
  • Real-time personalization
  • A/B testing
  • Predictive analytics
  • Audience segmentation
  • Campaign analytics
  • Content cards

Only in CleverTap

  • Cross-channel journeys
  • Product analytics
  • TesseractDB
  • Clever.AI
  • Experiments
  • Web and app personalisation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Braze

  • Customer engagementnot CleverTap
  • Marketing automationnot CleverTap
  • Personalizationnot CleverTap
  • Retention campaignsnot CleverTap
  • Cross-channel messagingnot CleverTap

CleverTap

  • A consumer app with millions of installs but low monthly activity that does not want to pay for dormant profilesnot Braze
  • Reactivating lapsed users with push and WhatsApp sequences triggered by behaviour rather than by list membershipnot Braze
  • Running holdout tests to prove that lifecycle messaging causes retention rather than correlating with itnot Braze
  • Consolidating a separate analytics tool and a separate messaging tool into a single event pipelinenot Braze

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Braze

  • No free tier or monthly billing, requiring annual enterprise contracts with no flexibility
  • Implementation costs of $20k-$100k+ significantly increase total cost of ownership

CleverTap

  • The platform assumes the mobile app is the main surface, so teams whose lifecycle runs mostly through the browser or through long B2B email sequences pay for capability they will not use.
  • Billing on monthly active users is cheaper for dormant-heavy bases but more expensive for products with high activity rates, and the definition of an active user is set in the contract rather than by you.
  • Event volume caps sit alongside the user caps, so a chatty instrumentation plan can trigger overage charges that are negotiated rather than published.
  • Deliverability support for email is thinner than at dedicated email providers, and teams sending high email volumes often keep a separate ESP for the largest campaigns.
  • Segmentation quality depends entirely on the event taxonomy, so without an owner who governs event naming the reports and segments diverge from reality within a couple of releases.

Pricing, plan by plan

Braze

On request
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • Core messaging channels
    • Basic segmentation
    • Campaign analytics
  • Plus$undefined/month
    • Advanced features
    • Predictive suite
    • Canvas Flow
  • Premier$undefined/month
    • All features
    • Dedicated CSM
    • Custom integrations

CleverTap

On request
  • Essentials$undefined/year
    • Billed on monthly active users rather than stored profiles
    • Push, in-app and web messaging
    • Standard segmentation and analytics
  • Advanced$undefined/year
    • Adds email, SMS and WhatsApp channels
    • Journey orchestration and experiments
    • Higher event and MAU allowances
  • Cutting Edge$undefined/year
    • Full AI and personalisation modules
    • Extended data retention
    • Dedicated technical account management

Which should you pick?

Choose Braze if

  • You need cross-channel messaging.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want customer journey orchestration.
Braze review

Choose CleverTap if

  • You need cross-channel journeys.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
  • You also want product analytics.
CleverTap review

Questions people ask

Is Braze or CleverTap better?
Neither clearly leads. Braze starts at On request and CleverTap at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Braze or CleverTap?
Braze starts at On request and CleverTap at On request.
Does Braze or CleverTap run on more platforms?
Braze runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. CleverTap runs on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
What is Braze best used for?
Braze is most often used for customer engagement, marketing automation, personalization, retention campaigns. Of those, customer engagement and marketing automation are not what CleverTap is typically brought in for.
What can Braze do that CleverTap cannot?
Braze covers Cross-channel messaging, Customer journey orchestration, Real-time personalization, A/B testing. CleverTap covers Cross-channel journeys, Product analytics, TesseractDB, Clever.AI.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Braze: What is Braze's pricing model?

Braze uses a usage-based pricing model with custom annual contracts. There is no free plan or monthly billing. Typical contracts range from $60,000 to $200,000 per year for mid-market deployments.

Source
CleverTap: Does CleverTap charge for users who stopped opening the app?

No. Billing is on monthly active users, so a dormant account stops counting without you deleting anything, which is the opposite of contact-based email pricing.

Braze: Does Braze offer implementation support?

Implementation through a Braze Solutions Partner typically costs $20,000 to $100,000 or more, as Braze is an enterprise platform requiring custom configuration.

Source
CleverTap: Can it replace a product analytics tool?

For funnels, cohorts and retention it usually can. For exploratory analysis across many custom properties, teams tend to keep a warehouse copy and query it directly.

Braze: What messaging channels does Braze support?

Braze supports push notifications, in-app messaging, email, SMS, and web messaging across mobile apps and web platforms.

Source
CleverTap: What happened to Leanplum customers?

CleverTap acquired Leanplum in 2022 and migrated customers onto its own platform, so Leanplum contracts are not a live option.

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