Klaviyo vs Mailchimp

Written head to head: Mailchimp vs Klaviyo, with when to choose each side.

Compared on	Klaviyo Free plan · from $20/mo VisitRemove	Mailchimp Free plan · from $13/mo VisitRemove
What it is	B2C CRM for ecommerce email and SMS, billed by active profiles, with a free plan and the Composer AI agent	Intuit's email and SMS marketing platform, free for 250 contacts, with AI writing on Standard and Premium
Free plan	Up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month; $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage a month; web forms, templates, segmentation, flows and reporting; Klaviyo logo stays on emails; email support for the first 60 days only. Sending is blocked once either limit is exceeded until you upgrade.	Up to 250 contacts; 500 email sends a month with no more than 250 a day; 1 user seat and 1 audience; limited pre-built templates; no automation flows, email scheduling or A/B testing; Mailchimp branding stays on; email support for the first 30 days only. Sending pauses if the contact or send limit is exceeded.
Cheapest paid plan	$20/mo (Email)Klaviyo pricing	$13/mo (Essentials)Mailchimp pricing
What it covers	For 500 active profiles with 5,000 emails a month. The price rises with active profiles, and accounts move to a profile-compliant tier automatically as they grow. A limited-time offer takes $19 off the first month at 500 profiles. No annual price is listed.	Starting price for the 0-500 contacts tier; email sends up to 10x the contact count (5,000 a month at 500 contacts); 3 user seats. The price rises with the contact tier, up to $385/month for 50,000 contacts. Overages are billed if contact or send limits are exceeded. Annual plans exist only for Standard and Premium at 10,000+ contacts, through sales.
Free trial	None stated	14-day free trial of Essentials or Standard (payment details required at sign-up); a 1-month Premium trial for qualified new customers through sales
Platforms	Web, API	Web, iOS, Android, API
Integrations (vendor's figure)	350+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, ChatGPT and Claude	300+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce, Canva, Zapier, Square, Stripe and Salesforce
Open source	No	No
Good for	Ecommerce brands on Shopify or WooCommerce running behavior-triggered email flows Combining email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing on one customer profile Using an AI agent to draft and launch campaigns from store data	Small businesses sending regular newsletters to a few thousand contacts Ecommerce stores that want automated flows tied to Shopify or WooCommerce data Trying email marketing free with a list under 250 contacts
Watch out for	The free plan stops at 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month Generative AI, predictive analytics and logo removal need a paid plan SMS, Composer usage beyond the free allowance, Customer Hub, Social and Reviews cost extra	The free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with no automation flows or scheduling Essentials automation flows are limited to 4 steps; generative AI features need Standard or Premium Overage charges apply on paid plans when contact or send limits are exceeded
Made by	Klaviyo, Inc.	The Rocket Science Group LLC d/b/a Mailchimp (part of Intuit)

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in email marketing tools is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.