Klaviyo alternatives come down to one question: what do you actually pay for? Klaviyo charges by active profile, so a store with a large list pays even for people it rarely emails. The six tools below charge differently, and that difference decides which one is cheaper for you.
This guide to Klaviyo alternatives compares Mailchimp, Omnisend, ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, MailerLite and Brevo on the numbers that decide the bill: what each one charges for, where its free plan stops, and what it costs when your list grows. Prices are starting monthly prices from each vendor’s pricing page, as of October 2026 — Klaviyo’s pricing page is one example — and vendors change them, so check the live page before you buy. If you only need one rule from this guide to Klaviyo alternatives, it is this: match the billing model to how you send, and the price usually follows.
Why do stores look for Klaviyo alternatives?
Three reasons come up most often: the bill, the billing model, and the add-ons. Klaviyo’s free plan stops at 250 profiles and 500 emails a month, as of October 2026, according to its pricing page, and paid plans are priced by active profiles. That means the bill rises as the list grows, even if the number of campaigns stays flat. That profile-based bill is the reason most readers start comparing Klaviyo alternatives.
The second reason is the model itself. A store that mails a large list once a month pays for every profile on Klaviyo, while a send-based Klaviyo alternative charges only for the emails actually sent. A store that mails a small list often has the opposite problem, and a contact-based tool with a high send multiple fits better.
The third reason is add-ons. SMS, reviews and analytics sit outside Klaviyo’s base email price, so the monthly total is higher than the plan price alone. None of this makes Klaviyo a bad tool; it makes it the wrong bill for stores whose list size, send frequency or channel mix does not match its model. That is why the best Klaviyo alternatives differ by situation, not by a single ranking. Read the six Klaviyo alternatives below as a shortlist, not a ranking: the right one depends on your list size and send frequency.
What are the best Klaviyo alternatives for Shopify stores?
Shopify stores need three things first: purchase data in the email tool, recovery flows that work out of the box, and a price that does not punish a growing list. The six Klaviyo alternatives below meet those needs in different ways, and the notes under each one name the price and the catch. Shopify’s subscriber list guide and its segments guide set the consent and grouping rules those notes assume.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the general-purpose pick among Klaviyo alternatives. Its free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, Essentials starts at $13 a month for 500 contacts, and Standard starts at $20, as of October 2026, according to its pricing page. Standard allows up to 200 automation flows, while Essentials caps each flow at 4 steps, so Standard is the realistic starting point for a store that runs more than a welcome email. One billing habit matters: unsubscribed contacts count toward your band unless you archive them, so a neglected list costs money here. That habit is the first thing to check when Mailchimp appears on a Klaviyo alternatives shortlist.
Omnisend
Omnisend is the closest Shopify-style pick among Klaviyo alternatives. It is built for ecommerce stores on Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce, with recovery and post-purchase flows as standard features. Its free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, Standard starts at $16 a month with email credits equal to 12 times your contact count, and Pro starts at $59 a month with unlimited emails, as of October 2026, according to its support doc. First-time buyers who pay 3 months upfront get 30% off the first 3 months. If you need SMS, read the SMS section below before choosing Standard, because the SMS terms differ by plan among Klaviyo alternatives.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the automation pick among Klaviyo alternatives, not the cheapest one. Starter starts at $15 a month, Plus at $49 and Pro at $79, all billed annually, as of October 2026, according to its pricing summary. The catch is on Starter: each automation is capped at 5 actions, so a welcome series with branching quickly outgrows it. Plus removes that cap and adds landing pages, which is why Plus, not Starter, is the honest comparison point for a store replacing Klaviyo flows. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, which is normal for automation-first Klaviyo alternatives.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact is the support-first pick among Klaviyo alternatives. Lite starts at $12 a month, Standard at $35 and Premium at $80, as of October 2026, according to its pricing page, and every plan includes live phone and chat support. Send allowances run at 10, 12 and 24 times your contact count across the three plans. Standard adds scheduling, subject-line testing and resend to non-openers, which are the three features most small stores actually use. Premium is the only plan with SMS included, at 500 messages a month, which sets it apart from cheaper Klaviyo alternatives that charge for texts separately.
MailerLite
MailerLite is the budget pick among Klaviyo alternatives for simple sending. Its current plans are Free, Comfort and Power, renamed in June 2026, so ignore older guides that still name Growing Business and Advanced. The free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, Comfort starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 emails, and Power starts at $25 a month for 500 subscribers with unlimited emails, as of October 2026, according to MailerLite’s own pricing page. Comfort suits newsletters and simple automations; Power suits stores that send often and want the send cap removed. For a store weighing Klaviyo alternatives on price alone, MailerLite is usually the first one to test.
Brevo
Brevo is the pick among Klaviyo alternatives for a large list mailed rarely. It bills by emails sent, not by contacts stored: the free plan allows 300 emails a day, Starter starts at $9 a month for 5,000 emails, and Standard starts at $18 a month for 5,000 emails with marketing automation and A/B testing, as of October 2026, according to its pricing page.
The catch is on the cheapest tiers, which cap stored contacts at 500, 1,500 and 2,500 as the email volume rises, so a 4,000-name list can force a bigger tier than the send volume alone suggests. Logo removal is also a paid add-on on Starter, not included. Those two catches are the reason Brevo rewards a careful read of the tier table, unlike simpler Klaviyo alternatives.
Which Klaviyo alternative costs least at your list size?
When you compare Klaviyo alternatives, the answer depends on which of the three billing models you fall into. Contact-based tools charge for the size of your list. Send-based tools charge for the volume you send. Klaviyo charges for active profiles, which is close to contact-based but counts people who never opted into marketing alongside subscribers. Shopify’s own Messaging email pricing, as of October 2026, gives 10,000 free emails a month on store plans, which shows a send-based allowance in practice.
| Tool | Bills by | Free tier | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Active profiles | 250 profiles, 500 emails | Price varies by profiles |
| Mailchimp | Contacts | 250 contacts, 500 sends | $13 a month |
| Omnisend | Billable contacts | 250 contacts, 500 emails | $16 a month |
| ActiveCampaign | Contacts | None | $15 a month, billed annually |
| Constant Contact | Contacts | None | $12 a month |
| MailerLite | Subscribers | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails | $12 a month |
| Brevo | Emails sent | 300 emails a day | $9 a month |
Worked example, labelled illustrative: a store with 500 contacts sending one campaign a week, about 2,000 emails a month. MailerLite Comfort at $12 covers 5,000 emails, Brevo Starter at $9 covers 5,000 emails, Omnisend Standard at $16 allows 6,000 emails (500 contacts times 12), and Mailchimp Essentials at $13 allows 5,000 sends (500 contacts times 10).
At this size the four cheapest Klaviyo alternatives sit within $7 of each other, so the tie-breaker is not price: it is whether you need SMS, how many automation steps your flows need, and whether your list will double in the next year.
At 5,000 contacts the picture changes, because Mailchimp Standard reaches $100 a month at that size, as of October 2026, according to Mailchimp’s pricing page, which is why a tool that looks cheap at 500 contacts can stop being cheap as you grow. That growth test is worth running for every Klaviyo alternative on your shortlist, not just the cheapest one today.
How do you move from Klaviyo without losing subscribers?
Switching to one of these Klaviyo alternatives is a data job first and a design job second. Export the list with consent status intact, and keep unsubscribed and bounced addresses apart from subscribers, so the new tool never mails someone who opted out. For SMS lists, Klaviyo’s SMS import guide requires a consent status for each number, and its Shopify SMS guide covers moving Shopify SMS subscribers across.
- Export the list with consent status intact.
- Switch Klaviyo flows off before the new tool sends anything.
- Rebuild the welcome, abandoned cart and post-purchase flows.
- Warm up with the most engaged subscribers first.
- Send one real campaign and check delivery and unsubscribes.
- Cancel Klaviyo only after that first campaign lands.
Rebuild the three flows that earn their keep before you send any campaign: welcome, abandoned cart and post-purchase. Then warm up sending with your most engaged subscribers first, and only then mail the full list. Keep Klaviyo read-only until the first campaign in the new tool has landed and its unsubscribe handling has been checked. Cancelling before that point is the one mistake that turns a switch into a lost month of email revenue. Klaviyo’s getting-started flows guide, its guide to adding an email to a flow and its flow readiness checklist cover those three flows in that order.
Which Klaviyo alternatives include SMS?
SMS inclusion splits these Klaviyo alternatives cleanly. Omnisend Pro pairs email with SMS, but SMS runs on a separate subscription from $0.007 per message, and Standard does not include SMS for subscriptions started on or after 4 May 2026, as of October 2026, according to its support doc. Constant Contact Premium includes 500 SMS messages a month, while Lite and Standard add SMS from $10 a month, as of October 2026, according to its pricing page.
Brevo sells SMS credits separately on every plan, and Mailchimp offers SMS as a paid add-on rather than including it. MailerLite has no SMS marketing product, so a store that texts customers needs a second tool alongside it.
If texts run inside every flow, shortlist Omnisend Pro and Constant Contact Premium. If texts are occasional, compare the add-on rate per message instead of the headline inclusion, because the cheapest Klaviyo alternative for email is not always the cheapest for SMS.
What should you check before you switch?
Work through this list before you pay for anything:
- Billable count: profiles, contacts, subscribers or sends — and whether unsubscribed people count.
- Free-plan automation limits: which flows are included before you pay, and where they stop.
- Flow rebuild cost: how many flows you run today, and how long each takes to rebuild.
- SMS terms: included, add-on, or absent, and the per-message rate.
- Billing period: monthly versus annual, and what the annual price locks you into.
- Data export: consent status, tags and purchase history, not just email addresses.
- Support channel: phone, chat or email, and whether it is included on your plan.
If two Klaviyo alternatives tie on price, pick the one whose billing model matches how you actually send. A rarely-mailed large list belongs on a send-based tool, a small list mailed often belongs on a contact-based tool with a high send multiple, and a store that lives on flows belongs on the tool whose automation cap fits its longest journey. To see how we would read your current setup before you switch, start with the Klaviyo email marketing service page, or ask for a free audit of the setup you have today. More guides are in general.