Klaviyo is the most popular email and SMS marketing platform for ecommerce brands, but understanding its pricing can be confusing. The costs scale with your list size, sending volume, and whether you use SMS — and the total can surprise brands that have not planned ahead.
This guide breaks down exactly how Klaviyo pricing works in 2026, what you should expect to pay at each growth stage, and practical strategies to keep your costs under control. We manage Klaviyo for dozens of UK ecommerce brands through our Klaviyo email marketing services, so this is based on real invoices, not estimates.
How Klaviyo pricing works
Klaviyo uses a profile-based pricing model. You pay based on the number of active profiles in your account — not the number of emails you send (though there are sending limits per tier). An active profile is any contact that is not suppressed, has not unsubscribed, and has not been removed from your lists.
This matters because your Klaviyo bill is primarily driven by your list size. As your list grows, your costs increase — even if you do not send more emails. This makes list hygiene one of the most important cost-control strategies.
What counts as an active profile?
- Any email address on one or more lists or segments
- Any profile that has not been suppressed or unsubscribed
- Profiles imported from Shopify, even if they have never received an email
- SMS-only contacts (if you are on an email + SMS plan)
Profiles that are suppressed, unsubscribed, or have hard bounced do not count towards your active profile total. This is an important distinction — you can reduce your bill by suppressing unengaged contacts without deleting them entirely.
Email plan pricing tiers
Klaviyo's email-only plans cover email campaigns, flows, segmentation, reporting, and all core platform features. SMS is not included. Here are the approximate GBP prices as of early 2026:
| Active profiles | Monthly cost (approx.) | Email sends included |
|---|---|---|
| 0–250 | Free | 500 |
| 251–500 | £16/month | 5,000 |
| 501–1,000 | £24/month | 10,000 |
| 1,001–1,500 | £32/month | 15,000 |
| 1,501–2,500 | £48/month | 25,000 |
| 2,501–5,000 | £64/month | 50,000 |
| 5,001–10,000 | £120/month | 100,000 |
| 10,001–15,000 | £160/month | 150,000 |
| 15,001–25,000 | £280/month | 250,000 |
| 25,001–50,000 | £480/month | 500,000 |
| 50,001–100,000 | £880/month | 1,000,000 |
| 100,001+ | Custom | Custom |
These figures are approximate and Klaviyo adjusts pricing periodically. Always check the current pricing on Klaviyo's website or ask your Klaviyo partner for the latest rates.
Email sending allowances
Each tier includes a generous email sending allowance — typically 10x your active profile count. For example, a 10,000-profile account can send approximately 100,000 emails per month. This is usually sufficient for most brands, even those sending multiple campaigns per week plus automated flows.
If you exceed your sending allowance, Klaviyo charges overage fees. These are relatively small per email, but they can add up during peak periods like Black Friday or Christmas when you are sending more frequently.
SMS pricing explained
Klaviyo's SMS pricing is separate from email and based on message credits. Each SMS or MMS message consumes a set number of credits, and you purchase credit bundles as part of your plan or as add-ons.
UK SMS costs
For UK brands sending to UK phone numbers, a standard SMS typically costs 4 to 6 pence per message. MMS messages (which include images) cost more — approximately 15 to 20 pence per message. The exact cost depends on your plan tier and monthly volume.
| Monthly SMS credits | Approximate cost | Cost per UK SMS |
|---|---|---|
| 1,250 | £12/month | ~5p |
| 5,000 | £40/month | ~4.5p |
| 10,000 | £72/month | ~4p |
| 50,000 | £320/month | ~3.5p |
SMS costs per message decrease as your volume increases, so there is a volume discount built into the pricing structure. For brands sending high volumes of SMS, it is worth negotiating directly with Klaviyo for custom rates.
The free plan: what you get
Klaviyo's free plan is one of the most generous in the industry for small brands. You get access to virtually all features — flows, segments, A/B testing, reporting, and templates — with the following limits:
- Up to 250 active email profiles
- Up to 500 email sends per month
- No SMS included
- Klaviyo branding on emails
- Email support only (no live chat)
The free plan is ideal for new Shopify stores that are just starting to build their email list. You can set up your core flows (welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase), design your templates, and start generating revenue from email before paying anything.
Once you exceed 250 active profiles, you will need to upgrade to a paid plan. For a typical Shopify development store, this usually happens within the first few months of trading.
Hidden costs to watch for
Klaviyo's pricing is relatively transparent, but there are costs that brands often overlook when budgeting:
1. List growth inflation
As your store grows, your email list grows — and your Klaviyo bill grows with it. A brand that starts at 5,000 profiles and grows to 50,000 over 18 months will see their email bill increase from approximately £64 to £480 per month. Budget for this escalation in your financial forecasts.
2. Imported Shopify profiles
When you connect Klaviyo to Shopify, it imports all customer profiles — including past customers who may never open an email. These imported profiles count towards your active profile total and increase your bill. Clean these up early by suppressing profiles with no engagement.
3. SMS overage charges
If you run out of SMS credits mid-month, Klaviyo automatically purchases additional credits at a higher per-credit rate. Monitor your SMS usage, especially during campaign-heavy periods, and top up your credits proactively to avoid overage pricing.
4. Agency or partner fees
Whilst Klaviyo itself is self-serve, many brands work with a Klaviyo partner agency for setup, strategy, and ongoing management. These fees are separate from your Klaviyo subscription. We offer transparent Klaviyo email marketing services packages so you know exactly what you are paying.
5. Template design costs
Klaviyo's built-in templates are a good starting point, but many brands invest in custom email templates designed by a specialist. This is a one-off cost but can be significant depending on the complexity of your brand's design requirements.
Estimated costs by list size
To help you budget, here are realistic monthly Klaviyo costs at common growth stages for a UK Shopify brand using both email and SMS:
| Growth stage | Active profiles | Email cost | SMS cost | Total (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Startup | 500–1,000 | £16–24 | £12 | £28–36 |
| Early growth | 2,500–5,000 | £48–64 | £40 | £88–104 |
| Scaling | 10,000–25,000 | £120–280 | £72–160 | £192–440 |
| Established | 50,000–100,000 | £480–880 | £160–320 | £640–1,200 |
| Enterprise | 100,000+ | Custom | Custom | £1,500+ |
These are realistic ranges based on what we see across our client base. Your actual costs will depend on your sending frequency, SMS volume, and whether you are on annual or monthly billing.
How to reduce your Klaviyo bill
There are several practical strategies to keep your Klaviyo costs under control without sacrificing performance:
1. Clean your list regularly
Suppress profiles that have not opened or clicked an email in the last 90 to 180 days. These unengaged contacts are inflating your profile count (and your bill) without contributing revenue. Run a sunset flow to re-engage them first, then suppress those who do not respond. For a detailed walkthrough, see our Klaviyo list cleaning guide.
2. Suppress non-marketable profiles
Profiles imported from Shopify without marketing consent, profiles with invalid email addresses, and profiles that have never engaged should be suppressed. They count towards your active profile total but generate zero revenue.
3. Review your flow volume
Audit your flows to ensure they are not over-sending. A common issue is having multiple flows that target the same customers simultaneously, sending far more emails than necessary. Consolidate where possible and use flow filters to prevent overlap.
4. Switch to annual billing
Klaviyo offers a discount for annual billing, typically 10 to 20 per cent compared to monthly billing. If you are confident you will use Klaviyo for the next year, annual billing reduces your effective monthly cost.
5. Negotiate at scale
Once you exceed 50,000 profiles, Klaviyo's pricing becomes negotiable. Work with your Klaviyo partner or account manager to secure better rates based on your volume, commitment, and growth trajectory.
Is Klaviyo worth the price?
Klaviyo is more expensive than many email marketing platforms. Mailchimp, Omnisend, and other alternatives offer lower base prices. So why do so many ecommerce brands pay the premium?
The answer is revenue per contact. Klaviyo's superior segmentation, automation, and ecommerce integration typically generate two to five times more revenue per email than alternatives. A brand paying £280 per month for Klaviyo that generates £15,000 per month from email has an ROI of over 50:1. Saving £100 per month by switching to a cheaper platform would not make sense if email revenue dropped by even 10 per cent.
We covered this in detail in our Klaviyo vs Omnisend comparison and our Klaviyo vs Mailchimp analysis. The consistent finding is that Klaviyo's price premium is justified by its revenue generation capabilities for ecommerce.
That said, Klaviyo may not be the right choice for every brand. If you are a very small store with a list under 500 contacts, a cheaper tool may suffice until you grow. If you are not running ecommerce (SaaS, media, services), Klaviyo's ecommerce-specific features offer less value and a general-purpose tool may be better suited.
Klaviyo's pricing is straightforward once you understand the profile-based model. The key is to budget for list growth, keep your list clean, and measure ROI rather than cost in isolation. A well-managed Klaviyo account pays for itself many times over.
If you want help auditing your Klaviyo costs or optimising your account for better ROI, get in touch for a free account review.
