If you sell products online and email brings in a serious share of your revenue, you have probably looked at Klaviyo. Klaviyo pricing explained: plans and costs is the question every store owner asks before signing up, because the answer is not a single flat rate. Your bill depends on how many active profiles you hold, which channels you use, and which add-ons you switch on. For the latest figures, check the official Klaviyo pricing page before you commit, because tiers change from time to time.
Quick answer: Klaviyo is free for up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. The Email plan starts at $20 a month for 500 active profiles and 5,000 emails, as listed on Klaviyo’s pricing page on 12 November 2026. The Marketing plan starts at $25 a month at the same list size, and SMS is billed separately through a credit system.
What Is Klaviyo?
Klaviyo is a marketing platform built for ecommerce brands. It started as an email tool for online stores and has grown into a wider B2C CRM covering email, SMS, mobile push, reviews, customer service, and analytics. More than 200,000 brands use it, and it is the most widely used third-party marketing tool in the Shopify ecosystem.
What sets Klaviyo apart from a basic newsletter tool is the depth of its data. It connects to your store and pulls in purchase history, browsing behavior, and order value. That data powers segmentation and automated flows such as welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups. If you only send a weekly newsletter to a small list, Klaviyo is more platform than you need. If email drives a large share of your sales, the depth is the point.
How Klaviyo Pricing Works
Klaviyo does not charge a flat monthly fee. Your price is set by your active profile count, the plan you choose, and the add-ons and message volume you use.
An active profile is any contact in your account who can receive email. Since 18 February 2025, you pay for every active profile, even if you have not emailed that person in months. A customer who bought from you two years ago still counts until you suppress or delete them. Suppressed contacts, hard-bounced addresses, and deleted contacts do not count.
Each paid tier also includes a monthly send limit of roughly ten times your active profile count. Klaviyo automatically upgrades your plan when your profile count passes your current tier, starting from the next billing cycle. It does not automatically downgrade you when your list shrinks. Auto-downgrade is off by default, so switch it on under Settings, Billing, Preferences if you want your plan to step down in quiet months.
Klaviyo Email Plans
The Email plan is the core paid tier and the one most small and mid-sized stores start with. It includes campaigns, automated flows, segmentation, A/B testing, and predictive analytics. At every tier, the feature set is the same. You pay more as your list grows, not to unlock extra features.
As listed on Klaviyo’s pricing page on 12 November 2026, the Email plan starts at $20 a month for 500 active profiles with 5,000 emails a month. Typical figures from pricing guides tracking Klaviyo’s calculator are around $30 a month at 1,000 profiles, $60 at 2,500, $100 at 5,000, and $150 at 10,000. The curve steepens after 10,000 profiles, reaching roughly $400 at 25,000, $720 at 50,000, and close to $1,955 at 150,000. Above 150,000 profiles, pricing becomes custom.
Notice the jump just above 10,000 profiles, where the cost per 1,000 profiles starts rising again. If you are near a tier boundary, a few hundred new profiles can push you into the next band, so check where you sit before a big import or a holiday signup drive.
Klaviyo SMS and Mobile Messaging Plans
SMS is not included in the base Email plan beyond a small credit. The free plan includes $5 of mobile messages a month. For real SMS volume, add SMS as a separate add-on or choose a combined plan that bundles it in.
SMS runs on a credit system. You buy a monthly credit allocation, and credits are spent per message based on the destination country and message type. A text to a US number typically costs 1 credit, while texts to other countries cost more. Carrier fees are included in the credit price, and credits reset each month with no rollover. Typical US rates in 2026 are around $0.009 to $0.012 per message.
That sounds cheap until you multiply it by a busy month. A store sending 25,000 US texts in a month can add roughly $225 to its bill on top of the email plan. The combined Email + SMS option typically starts at around $35 a month at the 500-profile tier, roughly $15 more than the Email plan alone, and includes about 1,250 credits. WhatsApp is billed through the same credit pool.
Klaviyo Marketing and Combined Plans
The newer Marketing plan is the bundled option for stores that want more than email. As listed on Klaviyo’s pricing page on 12 November 2026, it starts at $25 a month for 500 active profiles and 5,000 emails, with a limited-time first month offer of $1 for eligible new accounts. It includes everything in the Email plan, plus Social marketing, Reviews with no order limit, and Customer Hub at the 500-profile level. Typical prices are around $40 a month at 1,000 profiles and $195 at 10,000.
For very large stores, Klaviyo offers a Custom plan for accounts over 150,000 active profiles, with volume pricing and enterprise-grade security. Separate add-ons include Reviews from $25 a month, Personalization from $100 a month, and the Advanced Data Platform from $500 a month. Customer Hub starts at $30 a month, Customer Agent at $75 a month, and Helpdesk at $15 a month.
Klaviyo Plans Compared
Entry-tier comparison. Figures are as listed on Klaviyo’s pricing page on 12 November 2026, and higher tiers scale with your profile count.
| Plan | Typical starting price | Active profiles | Monthly emails | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 250 | 500 | Testing Klaviyo on a new store |
| $20/month | From 500 | 5,000 | Stores that only need email and flows | |
| Marketing | $25/month | From 500 | 5,000 | Stores that want Reviews, Social, and Customer Hub |
| Email + SMS | Typically around $35/month | From 500 | 5,000 | Stores that text customers regularly |
| Custom | Custom quote | Over 150,000 | Custom | Large brands and multi-brand accounts |
All paid plans include the same core email features. The difference between plans is which channels and products are bundled.
What Affects Your Klaviyo Bill
Four factors decide what you pay each month. Active profile count is the biggest driver. Every contactable profile counts, including people who signed up at checkout without ticking the marketing box. Your bill rises in steps, so crossing a tier boundary matters more than adding a handful of profiles.
Email send volume is the second factor. Each tier includes a send cap of roughly ten times your profile count. Most stores never hit it, but heavy senders can.
SMS and WhatsApp volume is a second budget line. It is easy to underestimate because flows send texts automatically, and a busy sales month can burn through credits faster than planned. Add-ons are the fourth factor. Reviews, Personalization, Customer Hub, and the other add-ons are each priced separately and stack up quickly. Klaviyo also bills in US dollars in every market.
Klaviyo Free Plan: Limits and Who It Suits
Klaviyo has a genuine free plan. It covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month, with $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage a month. It also includes Social marketing, Reviews for 50 orders a month, Customer Hub, 10 Customer Agent resolutions a month, and 10 Helpdesk tickets a month.
The limits are real, though. A/B testing is not included, and email support is available for the first 60 days only. Klaviyo branding stays on your emails. The moment you pass 250 active profiles, you move to a paid plan automatically. The free plan suits a brand-new store setting up its first welcome flow. It does not suit a store with a list of more than 250 people or anyone who needs A/B testing and full support.
Klaviyo vs Alternatives
Klaviyo is consistently more expensive than most rivals at small and mid-sized list sizes, and the gap only closes if you actually use its advanced features. At 1,000 contacts, Klaviyo’s Email plan typically runs around $30 a month, while budget tools such as MailerLite can cost roughly half that. At 10,000 contacts, Klaviyo typically runs around $150 a month, well above cheaper ecommerce options such as Omnisend.
Omnisend is the closest ecommerce alternative, with similar flows at a lower price for most lists under 25,000 contacts. Mailchimp can be cheaper but its analytics are less deep for ecommerce. ActiveCampaign suits businesses that mix ecommerce with services, though it has no free plan. MailerLite is the budget pick for simple newsletters, but it lacks Klaviyo’s predictive depth. Shopify’s own guide to what Klaviyo is and how it works is a useful second opinion.
Our guide to the best email marketing platforms for beginners compares the main tools side by side. The honest test is simple: if your store earns real revenue per contact and you use segmentation and flows every week, Klaviyo’s price is defensible. If you send a simple newsletter and never touch the advanced features, a cheaper tool covers the same work for less.
How to Keep Your Klaviyo Costs Down
Most Klaviyo bills can be reduced without losing any marketing power. These are the steps that make the biggest difference.
- Clean your list every quarter. Suppress or delete contacts who have not engaged in months. Every dormant profile you remove lowers your tier.
- Turn on auto-downgrade under Settings, Billing, Preferences. It stops you overpaying in quiet months when your list shrinks.
- Watch the tier boundary. Before a big import or a holiday signup push, check how close you are to the next tier.
- Cap your SMS sends. Set limits on automated text flows and review credit usage weekly during busy periods.
- Audit your add-ons. If you pay for Reviews, analytics, or a helpdesk tool elsewhere, compare the cost of running both against consolidating.
- Plan your sending cadence. If you are close to your monthly send cap, spread campaigns across the month. Our guide on how to schedule posts in Buffer shows a simple workflow for planning content ahead of time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Klaviyo cost per month?
Klaviyo is free for up to 250 active profiles. The Email plan starts at $20 a month for 500 active profiles and 5,000 emails, as listed on Klaviyo’s pricing page on 12 November 2026. Typical prices rise to around $100 a month at 5,000 profiles and $150 at 10,000. SMS and add-ons are billed separately.
Is Klaviyo really free?
Yes, up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month, with $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage included. It also includes basic Reviews and Customer Hub. It does not include A/B testing, and email support lasts for the first 60 days only. Once you pass 250 profiles, you move to a paid plan automatically.
Does Klaviyo charge per email or per contact?
Klaviyo charges per active profile, not per email sent. Since February 2025, your bill is based on every contact in your account who can receive email, whether or not you emailed them that month. Each tier includes a send cap of roughly ten times your profile count. That is why cleaning inactive contacts is the fastest way to lower your bill.
How much does Klaviyo SMS cost?
SMS is billed through a credit system on top of your email plan. A combined Email + SMS plan typically starts at around $35 a month at the 500-profile tier and includes about 1,250 credits. Typical US rates are around $0.009 to $0.012 per message. Texts to other countries cost more credits per message.
Is Klaviyo worth the price?
It depends on your store’s stage. Klaviyo is worth it for ecommerce brands where email drives a large share of sales and automated flows already run every day. It is harder to justify for a small store, a simple newsletter sender, or anyone with a large cold list. Run a free trial first and measure what the flows earn before you commit.
What happens if I go over my plan limit?
If your active profile count passes your current tier, Klaviyo automatically upgrades your plan from the next billing cycle, and you will get notification emails as you approach the limit. If you exceed your monthly send cap, you will need to upgrade or wait for the next billing cycle. If your list shrinks, your plan does not step down on its own, so switch on auto-downgrade.
Conclusion
Klaviyo pricing is simple once you understand the logic: you pay for active profiles, not for emails sent, with SMS and add-ons billed on top. The free plan covers a new store’s first steps, the Email plan starts at $20 a month, and the Marketing plan adds bundled products from $25 a month. Keep your list clean and switch on auto-downgrade.
