Klaviyo

This Klaviyo review covers what the platform is used for, its key features, Klaviyo pricing and the active-profile billing model, how it works with Shopify, where it shines and falls short, and the Klaviyo alternatives worth a look. Klaviyo connects to your online store, pulls in orders, products and browsing events, and turns that customer data into segments, email and SMS campaigns and automated flows. It was founded in Boston in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen and has been listed on the NYSE since 2023. The company calls itself a B2C CRM: marketing, customer data and, more recently, AI agents for marketing and service in one platform.

What is Klaviyo used for?

Klaviyo is used by ecommerce stores to grow repeat revenue from the customers they already have. Typical uses are welcome series for new subscribers, abandoned cart and browse abandonment flows, post-purchase emails that ask for a review, win-back campaigns for lapsed buyers, and SMS campaigns for launches and sales. Because every order and click is stored on the customer profile, you can target campaigns at segments such as "bought twice, not in 90 days" or "high predicted lifetime value" without exporting lists.

Klaviyo is built for ecommerce brands and ecommerce stores first, and brings email marketing, SMS and customer data together across marketing channels. Small businesses on Shopify often start on the free plan, and large brands use it with a customer data platform and advanced analytics on top. It also sends order confirmations and other transactional email through its integrations, so marketing and service messages come from one place.

Key features

• Email marketing: a drag and drop email editor, templates, product blocks filled from your catalog, A/B tests and send-time optimization.
• SMS marketing and push: text message marketing, mobile push and web push notifications from the same flows and segments, paid with SMS credits (mobile messages).
• Flows: a visual automation builder for welcome, cart, browse, post-purchase and win-back flows, triggered by store events.
• Segmentation and predictive analytics: advanced segmentation on any profile property or event, with Klaviyo's predictive analytics for expected next order date, predicted lifetime value and churn risk.
• Signup forms: pop-ups, flyouts and embedded forms that grow your contact list and collect consent for email and SMS.
• Revenue attribution and reporting: built-in reporting shows the revenue each campaign and flow drove, with advanced analytics in the Marketing Analytics add-on.
• Customer data platform: the CDP add-on unifies customer data from other sources and syncs it back out.
• Reviews: Klaviyo Reviews sends review requests after purchase so you can collect product reviews and reuse them in emails.
• AI tools: Composer, an AI marketing agent that drafts campaigns in your brand voice, and Customer Agent for 24/7 customer service.
• Integrations: more than 350 prebuilt integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento.

Klaviyo pricing

Klaviyo prices by active profile count: every profile you can email counts, whether or not you emailed it this month. The details below come from the Klaviyo pricing page and the billing FAQ as of September 2026. Tier prices are from Email Tool Tester, because the vendor page shows them only in a calculator.

• Free plan: Klaviyo's free plan covers up to 250 profiles, 500 emails a month, $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage a month, and email support for the first 60 days.
• Email plan: the first paid tier, $20 a month at 500 profiles, $30 at 1,000, $100 at 5,000 and $150 at 10,000, with 5,000 email sends a month at the first tier and email and chat support.
• Email and SMS plan: the paid tier with SMS, $35 at 500 profiles, $45 at 1,000, $115 at 5,000 and $165 at 10,000, with SMS credits included.
• Add-ons: Marketing Analytics, the customer data platform (from about $500 a month), Klaviyo Reviews (from $25 a month), Composer and Customer Agent.
• Enterprise pricing: Klaviyo offers custom quotes for large brands, with professional services for migration and setup.

Klaviyo free plan users who pass 250 active profiles or 500 sends can't send again until the next billing cycle or an upgrade to one of the paid plans.

The cost surprise to check is the active profile count, which is what Klaviyo users complain about most. Since February 18, 2025, Klaviyo charges for every active profile, not only for the profiles you emailed that month, and your plan upgrades automatically at the next billing cycle when you pass your tier. Suppressed and unsubscribed profiles don't count (Klaviyo Help Center), so cleaning a large contact list of unengaged profiles is the main way to keep the monthly bill down. Suppressions take up to 72 hours to show in the count, and SMS credits cost more in some countries than in the US.

Klaviyo vs Shopify Email, Mailchimp and Brevo: where Klaviyo wins for ecommerce stores

Shopify Email is built into Shopify and is cheaper for simple newsletters, but it has far fewer flows, segments and predictive features. Klaviyo is a separate platform that reads the same Shopify data more deeply, which is why many Shopify stores move to it as they grow. Shopify has been an investor since 2022, and the two companies deepened their integration in March 2026. Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp offer email marketing and marketing automation, but Klaviyo wins on ecommerce flows and revenue reporting, while Mailchimp is broader for non-store businesses and cheaper at the low end. Brevo prices by send volume rather than contacts, which suits a large list that you email rarely.

Getting started with Klaviyo email marketing: account, email editor and contact management

To sign up, create a Klaviyo account, connect the store and import your contact list; Klaviyo lets you add profiles from a CSV or sync them from your tech stack. The basics take a few days: turn on the pre-built flows in the workflow builder, design a template in the email editor and send a first campaign. Contact management works through lists for consent and segments for targeting, and suppression keeps unengaged profiles off the bill. Segmentation, predictive analytics and SMS compliance take longer. Klaviyo Academy courses, the help center and the community resources cover most questions, and many brands hire an agency or freelancer for setup.

Where Klaviyo shines — and where it falls short

Strengths:

• Deep ecommerce integrations and store events in every flow.
• Email, SMS, mobile push and web push from one platform.
• Revenue attribution that shows which campaigns earn money and how email engagement turns into orders.
• Predictive analytics and advanced segmentation without a data team.

Trade-offs:

• Active-profile billing gets expensive for a large list.
• SMS credits and add-ons such as Marketing Analytics and the CDP come on top.
• The free tier has only 500 emails a month and 60 days of email support.
• Less suited to businesses that are not online stores.

How Klaviyo compares

• Mailchimp: broader email marketing for all business types, cheaper for small lists.
• Brevo: email and SMS priced by send volume, with unlimited contacts.
• ActiveCampaign: marketing automation with a built-in sales CRM.
• MailerLite: simple, low-cost email for creators and small businesses.
• Kit (ConvertKit): email marketing for creators and newsletters.
• HubSpot: CRM-driven marketing for B2B and larger teams.
• Flodesk: design-first email with simpler automation.

Is Klaviyo worth it?

Klaviyo is worth it for ecommerce brands that sell online and want email and SMS to drive repeat revenue from their customer data. The flows, segmentation and revenue attribution usually pay for the plan once a store has a few thousand engaged customers. It is harder to justify for a business that is not a store, for a large list you rarely email, or when the budget is tight and a simpler tool will do. If you need help to set up flows, migrate from another platform or clean your contact list, email marketing agencies and developers on LowCodeDevs can take it on.

Sources

• Klaviyo pricing: plans, free plan limits and what happens when you exceed them.
• FAQ: Feb 18 billing changes: active-profile billing and automatic upgrades.
• Understanding active profile management: which profiles count and how suppression works.
• Klaviyo and Shopify deepen integration: the March 2026 integration news.
• Klaviyo, Wikipedia: founding, founders and listing.
• Klaviyo pricing, Email Tool Tester: prices per profile tier and add-on prices (third-party, updated August 2026).
• Klaviyo pricing, Omnisend: cost scenarios and the 2025 billing change (written by a competitor).