What is Bento?
Bento is a platform designed to make pitching to brands simple and organized for creators. Instead of manually digging for contact emails, drafting new pitch messages every time, and forgetting whether you followed up, Bento keeps everything in one place.
Here’s what you can do inside the app:
Find brands and contacts → Access a searchable database of companies and contacts
Curate pitch templates → Save time by creating reusable templates you can personalize
Send pitches & follow-ups → Once you connect your gmail account, Bento can send emails on your behalf to brands without bouncing between apps
Track your status → Keep tabs on who you’ve pitched, which ones opened your emails, and whether you need to follow up
Basically, it takes the chaos out of pitching so you can spend more time creating.
In-Depth Look at Bento’s Free Plan
If you’re not sure whether this pitching tool is for you—or if you’re still getting comfortable reaching out to brands—the free plan gives you a low-pressure way to try it. It’s also a smart way to learn how the platform works before committing to a paid subscription.
For creators who only send a handful of pitches each month, the free version might actually be enough.
What’s Included in Bento’s Free Plan?
Here’s what you get access to when you sign up for Bento’s free plan:
Send 20 brand pitches each month: This is enough to get your started but some brand contacts are considered “exclusive”, meaning you may not get access to all the brand contacts. With the Pro plan you can send 1000 emails.
Store pitch templates → Store and customize your pitches so you don’t reinvent the wheel every time. Bento also uses AI to help personalize your pitches.
Automated follow-up tools → Automate follow-up emails for every pitch you send.
Pipeline tracking → Keep a simple view of who you’ve contacted and where you are in the process.
- Get Recommendations → Based on your profile settings, Bento will recommend 20 brands to pitch. You can refresh the recommendations a couple times before hitting a pay wall to upgrade to the paid plan.
While the free plan has limits (limited access to brand data and no access to Bento’s virtual assistant), it’s still a solid option for creators testing the waters with UGC pitching.
Who is Bento For?
UGC creators with a portfolio, social media influencers with an IG or TikTok, and social media managers pitching on behalf of their clients with a gmail account (you must use a gmail account for Bento to send emails on your behalf) .
Getting Started On the Free Plan (Step-by-Step)
Create your account
Head to onbento.com and sign up. You’ll have access to a free tier you can keep using month after month. onbento.comPersonalize your profile (optional but helpful)
The first step is to share some basic information about yourself (your niche, creator type, and location). In your profile, you can also narrow down your brand category preferences and share inputs to help Bento’s AI generate personalized pitch emails for you. Filling this information out will also help Bento recommend the right brands.Build your pitching toolkit inside Bento
Search and save brands: Use Bento’s brand search tool to collect relevant information. Each card will provide information about the brand to include whether they work with influencers, UGC creators, run ads, has a direct contact, and whether or not they’ve been contacted this week.
Templates: Use Bento’s template tool to create one from scratch or use Bento AI.
Connect Your gmail account: Bento can send emails using your gmail account and schedule follow-ups automatically.
Send your first batch of pitches
OnBento is built to send emails and automate follow-ups. When you hit ’email’, your saved templates will appear. From here you can customize and edit it just like you would from your inbox.Automate follow-ups
Most replies come from follow-ups! From the Bento inbox, you can view and/or cancel scheduled follow-up emails.
My Personal Experience with Bento
When I first started using OnBento, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was curious if the platform could actually make the process of finding and pitching to brands easier. Here’s how my overall experience went:
Onboarding
Signing up for a Bento account was straightforward. Despite being new to UGC work and having a micro-influencer following on IG, I was approved for an account without issues.
Ease of Use
The dashboard took a little time to get used to. There was a left-hand navigation menu for Bento’s tools and a right-hand navigation menu for saved templates, brands, and metrics. There’s also more account menu options when you click on your avatar in the top right hand.
Finding Ideal Brands
At first, I wasn’t impressed with the brands Bento recommended as potential pitches. To get better results, I filled out every question in my profile. That made a huge difference in finding more relevant and aligned brand matches.
OnBento’s brand database is comprehensive and they’re continuing to add brands and contacts to their list. I was exposed to a lot of pet and lifestyle brands I was not familiar with.
Emailing Brands
Once you get over the imposter syndrome, sending pitches felt easy. Using the information from my profile, I relied on Bento’s AI template tool to generate a simple yet personalized pitch with ease.
The 20 emails per month limit felt restrictive. Cold pitching usually requires higher volume, since most brands don’t reply (even with follow-ups). I had better luck starting conversations when I reached out through Instagram DMs in addition to using Bento.
Tracking Metrics
Bento offered several metrics to track, but turning on “email open tracking” required adjusting settings manually. I found the open tracking somewhat flawed because it also counted my own Gmail opens. Bento suggested opening emails directly within the platform to avoid this issue, but that workflow wasn’t very intuitive.
Pros & Cons of Bento’s Free Plan
Pros:
- Cost is $0 every month
- Get access to core features
- Perfect for creators getting started in brand partnerships
- Access to brand database which lets you discover brands you may not have found in your niche
Cons:
- Limited to 20 pitches a month: this may not be enough when cold pitching
- Features that require paid account: scheduled emails, virtual assistant that sends 300+ pitches on your behalf
- Some of the contact information may be outdated or incorrect
- Must use a gmail account
Tips to Max Out the Free Plan
Here are some tips to help you maximize your output on Bento:
Pick a Narrow Niche
Concentrate your 20 sends on one niche (e.g., pet/outdoor, skincare, or local tourism) to learn faster which messaging lands.
A/B Test Your Pitch Email
Get Detailed with Your Profile
The more information you provide, the more Bento’s AI template can do for you. This allows you to personalize your pitches efficiently.
Timing Matters
When you send your email matters. The best time to send your pitch to brands is Mon-Thur during 9-5 hours of the brands local timezone.
Final Verdict: Is Bento Right for You?
Bento’s free plan is a legit way to test a real pitching system at zero cost. You quickly hit the cap if you aim for multiple paid deals each month, but the workflow (templates, sending, opens, automated follow-ups) is exactly what creators need to build momentum.
Want to give it a try? Join me on Bento!
