Starting From
- Free: Up to 250 contacts & 500 monthly email sends
- Email: Starts at $20/month for up to 500 contacts
- Email + SMS: Starts at $35/month for up to 500 contacts
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for advanced brands
PROS
- Deep ecommerce integrations (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce)
- Advanced automation flows with visual editor
- Powerful segmentation and personalization
- Combined Email + SMS marketing from one dashboard
CONS
- Free plan limited to 250 contacts with branding
- Costs increase sharply as lists grow
- Steeper learning curve for beginners
- Phone support only at Enterprise tier
Klaviyo Pricing Review
Heads up: This Klaviyo pricing review contains affiliate links. If you click and purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I’d be comfortable pitching to a friend.
Table of Contents
1. Plans Overview
Klaviyo is one of the most popular email and SMS marketing platforms designed primarily for ecommerce businesses. Its pricing structure reflects its focus on growth-driven brands. Unlike basic tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo is built for advanced segmentation, automation, and personalization at scale. The company offers four tiers: Free, Email, Email + SMS, and Enterprise. The Free plan is essentially a trial with a permanent ceiling, while the paid tiers unlock advanced capabilities for serious ecommerce stores.
The Free Plan includes up to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends. While this is useful for testing, it is too limited for real campaigns. The Email Plan starts at $20/month for 500 contacts and scales as your subscriber base grows. The Email + SMS Plan adds SMS messaging for $35/month (500 contacts included, SMS billed separately based on usage). Finally, Enterprise provides custom solutions, including advanced integrations, dedicated support, and pricing tailored to the size of your audience.
2. Costs & How Pricing Scales
Klaviyo’s costs scale directly with your list size, which means small businesses start affordably but costs can increase quickly. At 1,000 contacts, the Email plan costs about $30/month. At 10,000 contacts, the cost rises to roughly $150/month. At 100,000 contacts, expect pricing to exceed $1,200/month. The addition of SMS incurs further costs, typically around $0.01 to $0.03 per message depending on country.
One of Klaviyo’s biggest differentiators is that its pricing includes access to all features across every plan. Unlike Mailchimp or AWeber, there is no gating of automation, segmentation, or reporting behind higher tiers. Whether you’re on a $20/month plan or a $500/month plan, you’ll have the same tools—your only limit is the size of your list and the number of sends. This transparency appeals to growth-focused businesses that don’t want to constantly upgrade to unlock functionality.
However, businesses with rapid list growth should budget carefully. While Klaviyo’s feature set is powerful, its scaling costs can outpace competitors like GetResponse or ConvertKit. For established ecommerce brands, the ROI often justifies the price tag, but for lean startups, these costs may be harder to sustain.
3. Side-by-Side Feature Comparison
| Feature | Free | Email + SMS | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Email Builder & Templates | Basic access | Full gallery | Full gallery | Custom branding |
| Automation | Limited | Full automation library | Full automation + SMS triggers | Advanced flows |
| Segmentation | Basic | Advanced | Advanced | Enterprise-level |
| SMS Messaging | No | No | Yes | Yes + dedicated account management |
| Support | Email only | Email + chat | Email + chat | Dedicated support team |
4. Which Plan Is Best for You?
The best plan depends on your ecommerce maturity. The Free plan is only suitable for testing—serious brands will quickly outgrow it. The Email plan is best for small-to-mid-sized stores just starting to build an engaged audience. It’s affordable, powerful, and unlocks everything needed to create advanced automations. For businesses already using SMS as part of their marketing strategy, the Email + SMS plan offers the convenience of managing both channels in one platform.
Larger brands with dedicated teams, advanced compliance requirements, or custom reporting needs will benefit from the Enterprise tier. While expensive, it includes dedicated account managers and support resources to help maximize ROI. If you are a Shopify Plus merchant, this plan can be negotiated to include premium integrations.
5. Pros and Cons of Each Plan
Free Plan Pros: Cost-free, full feature access for up to 250 contacts. Great for testing.
Free Plan Cons: Too limited for real campaigns, branding present.
Email Plan Pros: Affordable entry at $20/month, full automation and segmentation, access to analytics.
Email Plan Cons: Costs scale quickly as lists grow.
Email + SMS Plan Pros: Streamlined channel management, advanced triggers, customer lifecycle automation.
Email + SMS Plan Cons: Additional SMS costs make pricing less predictable.
Enterprise Pros: Dedicated support, advanced integrations, scalability.
Enterprise Cons: Expensive and only necessary for very large brands.
6. Free Version or Trial
Klaviyo’s free plan acts as a perpetual trial rather than a true free-forever tier. While you can technically use it indefinitely, the 250 contact and 500 email limits are restrictive. However, unlike AWeber’s free plan, Klaviyo gives full feature access—including advanced automations and reporting. This allows businesses to experience the entire platform before upgrading, making the free plan a robust “try before you buy” option.
7. Ease of Use & Onboarding
Klaviyo is feature-rich, which means onboarding can feel overwhelming for beginners. The dashboard is clean but dense, offering a wide range of analytics and customization options. Fortunately, Klaviyo offers guided setup wizards, extensive documentation, and pre-built flows for ecommerce use cases like cart abandonment, post-purchase follow-ups, and winback campaigns. Shopify merchants, in particular, benefit from seamless integrations and pre-mapped customer data syncing.
8. Deliverability & Sending Policies
Klaviyo’s deliverability is strong, with inbox placement rates above 95% in independent tests. It supports domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and provides detailed deliverability reports. Klaviyo also emphasizes list hygiene by automatically suppressing unengaged subscribers. The company enforces compliance with GDPR and CAN-SPAM, making it suitable for international ecommerce stores. However, due to the high volume of ecommerce sends, marketers should regularly prune inactive contacts to maintain optimal performance.
9. Discounts & Billing Options
Klaviyo does not heavily discount annual contracts like some competitors. Instead, its model is simple: pay monthly based on contacts and SMS usage. Enterprise accounts may receive negotiated rates. Nonprofits occasionally qualify for discounts, but Klaviyo is less aggressive with promotions compared to AWeber or GetResponse. This lack of discounting underscores Klaviyo’s confidence in its ROI-driven feature set but may feel less accommodating for budget-sensitive users.
10. Alternatives to Consider
Mailchimp offers cheaper entry pricing but fewer ecommerce-specific features.
GetResponse is strong in automation and funnels but lacks Klaviyo’s ecommerce depth.
Omnisend competes closely with Klaviyo for Shopify merchants, often at a lower cost.
ActiveCampaign offers sophisticated automations for non-ecommerce businesses but requires more setup.
Klaviyo’s edge remains its tight ecommerce integration and dual-channel Email + SMS approach, which many alternatives still struggle to unify.
Final Summary & Recommendation
Pros
Cons
Final Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.4/5)
Klaviyo stands as one of the best marketing platforms for ecommerce-focused brands. Its deep integrations, powerful segmentation, and ability to combine email + SMS in one platform make it uniquely positioned for high-growth online stores. While it is expensive and can feel overwhelming at first, its return on investment is clear for businesses serious about scaling. If you are running a Shopify or WooCommerce store and want marketing automation designed for ecommerce, Klaviyo should be at the top of your shortlist.