The roundup’s two highest-rated platforms, built for different kinds of senders. One quietly bills you for contacts you never emailed; the other charges the same way almost everyone expects.
Mailchimp and Klaviyo sit at the top of our Best Email Marketing Software roundup, and most buyers assume the choice comes down to features. It really comes down to how your list is shaped, because Klaviyo’s billing model treats a quiet, unopened subscriber the same as an engaged one, and that single fact changes the math for a lot of e-commerce brands.
Klaviyo bills on active profiles, starting at $20/month for 251 to 500 profiles. Mailchimp bills on contacts, with Essentials from $13/month and Standard from $20/month at a comparable 500-contact tier.
| Feature | Mailchimp | Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid tier (comparable size) | $13-20/mo (500 contacts) | $20/mo (251-500 profiles) |
| Free plan sends/month | 500 | 500 + SMS/AI credit |
| Bills unengaged subscribed contacts | ~ (contact-based) | ✓ (active-profile based) |
| Native Shopify/BigCommerce depth | ~ | ✓ Deeper |
| Unified email + SMS data | ~ | ✓ |
| Highest paid tier (entry price) | $350/mo (Premium, 10K contacts) | $150/mo (10K profiles) |
Billing model: contacts versus active profiles
Why two similarly priced entry tiers can diverge fast as your list grows.
Bottom line: Klaviyo's Email plan runs $20/month for 251 to 500 active profiles, climbing to $60 at 2,500, $150 at 10,000, $720 at 50,000, and $2,300 at 250,000. The word "active" is doing real work here: Klaviyo counts every subscribed profile toward that limit whether or not it received an email that month, so a list that grows through passive integrations (abandoned-cart sync, new account creation, loyalty-program signups) can push your bill up with zero change in sending behavior. Mailchimp's Essentials and Standard plans run $13 and $20/month respectively at a comparable 500-contact tier, and also bill on total contacts rather than pure engagement, but the e-commerce-specific data flows that inflate Klaviyo's profile count don't exist in the same way for most Mailchimp accounts.
Audit your Klaviyo profile count periodically. Passive integrations can quietly add "active" profiles that never open an email, and you'll still pay for them at your next pricing tier.
Who each platform is actually built for
The thing the star ratings alone don’t tell you.
Bottom line: Klaviyo is built around e-commerce data from the ground up. Its integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, and similar platforms sync purchase history, cart behavior, and product catalogs directly into segmentation and flows, letting you target "bought X but not Y in 60 days" without custom development. Mailchimp supports e-commerce integrations too, but its segmentation and automation were designed for general-purpose marketing first, so e-commerce-specific triggers feel comparatively shallow. For a brand that isn't selling physical or digital products directly, this difference mostly disappears, and Mailchimp's broader general marketing toolset (landing pages, social ads, broader template library) becomes the more relevant comparison point.
If your business sells products online, Klaviyo's purchase-based segmentation is the single biggest reason it outranks Mailchimp in this roundup. Outside e-commerce, that advantage mostly evaporates.
Free plan comparison
Nearly identical caps, with one meaningful bonus.
Bottom line: Both free plans cap out at 250 contacts/profiles and 500 email sends per month, an unusually close match between two competitors. Klaviyo's free plan adds a $5/month SMS credit and a $5/month Composer (AI content) credit on top of the matching email allowance, giving new users a small taste of its unified messaging approach at no extra cost. Mailchimp's free plan sticks to email only, with basic templates and limited automation. Neither free plan is built to run a serious campaign long-term, but Klaviyo's bundled credits make it the slightly more generous starting point for brands that know they'll eventually want SMS.
Should I choose Mailchimp or Klaviyo?
Bottom line: Klaviyo suits online sellers who want purchase-based segmentation and can manage active-profile billing; Mailchimp suits general marketers who want simpler, broader-purpose tools.
- You're not running e-commerce specifically, or sell through multiple non-integrated channels
- You want broader marketing tools beyond just email (landing pages, social ads)
- You'd rather avoid active-profile billing surprises as your list grows passively
- You want the lower entry price at $13/month for a comparable list size
- Simpler, general-purpose automation fits your use case better than e-commerce triggers
- You sell products through Shopify, BigCommerce, or a similar platform
- Purchase-based segmentation (bought X, not Y) matters to your marketing
- You want unified email and SMS data in one platform
- You're comfortable monitoring your active-profile count as your list grows
- You want the roundup's highest-rated platform at 4.7/5
For online sellers, Klaviyo earns its top roundup spot through purchase-based segmentation that Mailchimp simply doesn't replicate at the same depth, and that's worth the active-profile billing tradeoff for most e-commerce brands.
For everyone else, Mailchimp remains the steadier choice, a lower entry price, a broader general-purpose toolset, and a contact-billing model less prone to passive inflation from integrations you didn't design around purchase data.
Before committing to Klaviyo, pull your current active-profile count and project where it lands a year out, especially if you're integrating abandoned-cart or loyalty-program data that adds profiles without adding engaged subscribers.
The most common questions teams ask when choosing between Mailchimp and Klaviyo For e-commerce brands, Klaviyo is usually the stronger pick, its deeper Shopify and BigCommerce integrations and unified email/SMS data make it the roundup's top-rated platform at 4.7/5 versus Mailchimp's 4.6/5. For general-purpose marketing outside e-commerce, Mailchimp's broader feature set and simpler pricing structure often make more sense. Klaviyo bills on active profiles, meaning every subscribed contact in your account counts toward your plan limit regardless of whether you actually emailed them that month. If your list grows through signups or integrations without corresponding unsubscribes, your bill can rise even if your send volume stays flat. Mailchimp's contact-based pricing works the same way in principle, but Klaviyo's e-commerce integrations tend to add profiles faster through passive sync. Mailchimp's free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month. Klaviyo's free plan matches that contact and send cap at 250 active profiles and 500 sends per month, but adds a $5/month SMS credit and a $5/month Composer (AI content) credit on top. At the entry paid tier, they land close together, Klaviyo's Email plan is $20/month for 251 to 500 active profiles, while Mailchimp's Standard plan is $20/month at a comparable 500-contact tier (Essentials starts lower at $13/month). The real cost difference shows up at scale: Klaviyo's active-profile billing can inflate costs for list-heavy e-commerce brands faster than Mailchimp's model does for typical SMB senders. Yes, but it's built around e-commerce data and shines most for brands selling products online, where its integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, and similar platforms enable purchase-based segmentation Mailchimp doesn't match as deeply. Non-e-commerce marketers generally get more out of Mailchimp's broader general-purpose toolset.Frequently asked questions: Mailchimp vs Klaviyo
Mailchimp or Klaviyo: which should I pick?
Why did my Klaviyo bill go up without sending more email?
What do Mailchimp and Klaviyo's free plans include?
Is Klaviyo more expensive than Mailchimp?
Does Klaviyo work for businesses that aren't e-commerce?
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