This is the most detailed Bento (bentonow.com) review.
If you’ve never heard of Bento — or only seen it mentioned in niche corners of the internet — you’re not alone.
It’s not one of the big names, but it’s built a small cult following for good reason.
Whether you’re just curious, comparing it to something like Keap or ActiveCampaign, or trying to figure out if it’s worth switching to…
This review covers everything you need to know: the good, the bad, and the stuff most people won’t tell you.
🔍 Can you trust my Bento review? I’ll let you decide
This isn’t a paid review. No affiliate links. Unbiased.
We use tools like Bento in real email marketing campaigns and share what actually works, and also what doesn’t. You’ll only find first-hand experience from actual testing.
Bento Pricing: How Much Does bentonow Cost?
$30
100,000 emails / month
Starter Plan • Up to 3,000 identified users
All features included • Monthly billing • Free trial
$40
4,000 identified users
Growth Plan • Unlimited email sending • All features unlocked
Priority support • Expert onboarding & deliverability
$50
5,000 identified users
Same features • Scales smoothly • Month-to-month
$100
10,000 identified users
Pay-as-you-grow • 1¢ per user per month
Bento charges a flat $0.01 per identified user per month.
You don’t pay more for sending, emails are unlimited.
What matters is how many users you store and track with email addresses.
That means if you have:
- 4,400 users → $44/month
- 7,300 users → $73/month
- 12,000 users → $120/month
There’s no plan jump, so then pricing scales linearly. But that can backfire if you have a large list with lots of inactive users, since you’re paying for every contact, even the cold ones.
Also, while it’s nice that all features are unlocked from the start, there’s no way to scale down the cost unless you actively shrink your user base.
If you’re a SaaS company that sends high-volume emails to a smaller active segment, Encharge might be more cost-efficient. Pricing there is based on how many emails you send, not how many users sit in your database.
Pros & Cons of Bentonow.com
Pros of Bento
Cons of Bento
Bento is powerful once you get it, but it’s not made for people who just want to drag-and-drop a few things email blocks and be done. You’ll need to spend time learning how it works — especially how events and flows connect.
If you’re switching from tools like Hubspot, it’ll feel very different.
That said, once you figure it out, users say it becomes second nature. The flexibility is real, and you can build almost anything, and Bento won’t block advanced features behind a bigger plan.
What’s Great: The support team (including the founder) is fast if you’re stuck.
The flip side? You’ll need to want that flexibility.
- If you’re in a rush or not into tinkering, it might frustrate you.
- One thing we noticed is that even the users who love Bento the most admit it took them a while to get there.
If you want something that’s just easier out of the box, a Bento alternative like Encharge might be a better fit, especially if you don’t want to spend hours figuring out flows or clicking through dark-themed menus.
But if you’re tech-curious and want full control, Bento could be worth the learning curve!
Is Bento the Best Marketing Automation for You?
When to use Bento
When to skip Bento
You like building things and enjoy having full control over your automations.
You’re a solo founder, marketer, or small team that likes digging into the details.
You care a lot about email deliverability and want to know exactly what’s happening.
You want direct support and like being part of a product that’s actively developed.
You’re okay spending a bit of time learning in exchange for flexibility and power.
You want something easy and quick — no learning curve, no deep setup.
You prefer drag-and-drop workflows and visual editors for everything.
You need a lot of built-in templates, guides, or onboarding flows.
You don’t like dark mode — there’s no light mode option in Bento right now.
You get overwhelmed by dashboards that aren’t super polished or visual.
If you’re the type who likes building with Lego blocks instead of buying things pre-made, Bento will probably feel like home. It’s flexible, fast, and surprisingly deep once you learn how it works.
That’s why so many early-stage SaaS founders and indie hackers swear by it.
But if you’re the kind of person who just wants to launch a welcome email and move on with your day, Bento might slow you down:
- There’s a learning curve, and the UI can get messy.
- It rewards patience and curiosity — not speed and simplicity.
If you’re unsure and want something that’s more intuitive and just works out of the box (with fewer headaches), Encharge is worth checking out: it gives you powerful automations too, without asking you to learn a whole new system first.
Rating Details
1. Ease of Use
★★★☆☆
Bento isn’t super beginner-friendly. The layout feels different and might take a bit to get used to. If you’re not technical, expect some confusion at first — but it gets easier once things click.
2. Segmentation & Event Tracking
★★★★☆
This is where Bento shines. You can target based on real behavior — clicks, views, purchases, anything. Great for SaaS, ecommerce, and anyone who wants to go beyond list-based email blasts.
3. Automation & Flows
★★★★☆
You can build really smart flows in Bento. It’s not drag-and-drop, but if you’re comfortable thinking in events and logic, you’ll have no problem setting up complex automations that actually work.
4. Broadcasts & Campaigns
★★★☆☆
You can send email blasts, sure — but there’s no A/B testing or deep personalization baked in. It’s functional, but it’s not a strength. You’ll get it done, but it won’t wow you.
5. Deliverability
★★★★★
This is one of Bento’s biggest wins. Emails land where they should. You have full control over your sending setup, and it shows. Great if you’re done with deliverability headaches.
6. Support & Community
★★★★★
Support is fast, helpful, and personal — often from the founder himself. Plus, their Discord community is super active. You won’t be left hanging.
7. Pricing & Value
★★★★☆
No hidden paywalls or upsells. You get access to everything, and you only pay more as your list grows. It’s a fair deal — especially compared to the pricing games other platforms play.
8. Integrations
★★★☆☆
Bento has the basics (Shopify, WordPress, webhooks), but if you’re looking for deep native integrations or a plug-and-play experience, it’s limited. You might need Zapier or dev help.
SCORE
4.2
★★★★☆
But if you want plug-and-play simplicity, or you don’t have time to figure things out — you might be better off with something like Encharge.
A Closer Look at Bento’s Email Marketing & Automation Features
1. Event-Based Automation
Most platforms make you build automations with random triggers like “tag added” or “form submitted.” Bento goes way deeper.
You can fire off flows based on what users actually do — like finishing a course, starting a quiz, paying, or failing to pay. It works because the events are real-time and tied directly to user behavior, not some marketing shortcut.
We tested flows like:
- “Visited Pricing → Didn’t Buy”
- “Payment Failed → Reminder with Stripe link”
… and they worked without hacks or Zapier chains. Once you get the logic, it’s clean and powerful, especially for SaaS and eCommerce.
2. Deliverability
We’ve had tools where emails silently failed or landed in spam with no warning.
Bento is different.
Before you can even send, they manually approve your account. Then, their system monitors engagement, removes bad signups, and actively protects your domain.
During our tests, we noticed higher open rates compared to the same list sent from other platforms, including on Customer.io and Mailmodo.
The confidence you get from knowing your emails are actually arriving is a game changer — especially if you’re used to Mailchimp-style “send and pray.”
→ Read more about increasing your open rate
3. Live Chat, Email & WhatsApp
This part surprised us.
You’re not just emailing — you’re talking to users across multiple channels.
We set up live chat on a test site, connected a WhatsApp number, and had users replying to email broadcasts right inside Bento.
The unified inbox made it easy to keep track of conversations across all channels. If you’ve ever bolted together Intercom, Braze, and a CRM, this just replaces all of that.
4. Free Real-Time List Cleaning
One of our lists had a few old contacts with typo emails (like “gmai.com”). Bento flagged them automatically before sending.
No bounces, no damage to sender score.
It also blocks spammy signups from hitting your list in the first place. That means less cleaning, better deliverability, and no need to plug in a third-party validation tool.
For high-volume senders, this removes a whole category of headaches — and saves money on cleaning credits.
Conclusion: Is bentonow Worth It?
If you’re the kind of person who likes control, wants to see what’s really happening under the hood, and isn’t afraid of setting things up yourself — Bento is 100% worth it.
You get serious power: event-based automation, clean sending, built-in messaging, and no paywalls for features that should be standard.
But if you’re looking for something you can pick up in 15 minutes and just run with, then I have to say, Bento might slow you down. The learning curve is real, especially if you’re used to drag-and-drop everything.
We’d say this:
- If you want full flexibility and deliverability you can trust, Bento is an amazing pick.
- If you want fast setup and cleaner onboarding, Encharge might be the better fit.
Both can do the job. It just depends on how you like to work.
Bento FAQs
1. Bento deliverability- is it any good?
Short answer: yes — it’s excellent.
Unlike most email tools that leave deliverability up to chance, Bento takes it seriously. Really seriously.
- Every new account is manually reviewed before they let you send. That means you’re not sharing IP space with shady senders — a huge deal if inbox placement matters to you.
- They batch emails by default, so your list isn’t hit all at once, which keeps engagement high and spam complaints low.
- List cleaning is built-in and free — we tested it with a few typo-ridden contacts and Bento flagged them instantly before sending. No extra tools needed.
- Real-time spam/unsubscribe tracking in the dashboard helped us catch patterns fast and stay in the safe zone.
When we sent the same campaign from Bento and another platform side-by-side, open rates were higher from Bento. Not massive — but consistently better.
And more importantly: no mystery bounces, no landing in spam, no guesswork.
If you’ve dealt with delivery issues before, you’ll feel the difference here.
Verdict: If deliverability is your top priority, Bento’s setup is one of the best you’ll find — without needing to bolt on warm-up tools or list scrubbing apps.
That said, if you want great deliverability and a faster setup experience with easier onboarding, Encharge gets you there quicker — with no steep learning curve.
2. Is Bento GDPR compliant?
Yes — Bento is GDPR-compliant. They’ve taken the right steps:
Bottom line: You’re safe to use Bento in the EU — just make sure to request a signed DPA if needed.
3. What about HIPAA compliance?
Yes — Bento is HIPAA-compliant. They’ve made it clear across multiple pages, including their FAQ and trust center. Here’s what that means:
- Your health data is protected — They meet all requirements for storing and handling Personal Health Information (PHI)
- Encryption is in place — Both in transit and at rest
- They follow HIPAA security rules — Access control, audit logs, data integrity, and more
- They’ve passed audits — Bento uses platforms like Secureframe to stay compliant and audit-ready year-round
If you’re in healthcare or deal with PHI, Bento is a safe pick.
Thank you so much for reading this,
David Ch
Head of Marketing at Encharge
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