Klaviyo pricing: what you really pay in 2026

Is Klaviyo free?

Yes, up to a point. The free plan covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. Go past either limit and you need a paid plan.

That's from Klaviyo's pricing page. It also lists a small monthly allowance for text messages and for its AI writing tool. The page doesn't say the free plan ends after a set time.

Free is enough to test the tool and run a welcome email for a small list. It gets tight fast. 500 sends sounds like a lot until one welcome email plus one weekly update goes to 250 people. (Spoiler: that's already 1,000.)

What is an "active profile"?

An active profile is a contact who can receive your marketing emails. Klaviyo prices by how many of these you have, not by how many emails you send.

Klaviyo defines it as contacts who may receive marketing emails. That means your price follows the size of your list, not how busy you are.

Here's the part people miss: sending more emails doesn't raise your price, but a bigger list does. Two small things can quietly push you up a tier. A list full of people who never open your emails, and a signup form that grabs everyone. Keep your list clean and you keep your tier lower.

How much does Klaviyo cost for a small business?

Most small businesses land between the free plan and about US$100 a month. That covers lists up to roughly 5,000 active profiles on the email plan.

Look at the table at the top of this post. A store with 1,000 profiles pays about US$30 a month. At 2,500 it is about US$60. At 5,000 it is about US$100.

Klaviyo bills in US dollars. What that costs in Canadian dollars depends on the exchange rate on the day you're billed, so I won't pretend to give you a fixed Canadian number.

Does adding SMS change the price?

Yes. Text messages are billed separately, by credit, on top of your email plan. One tracker lists a minimum SMS add-on of about US$15 a month.

The Carly price guide shows an "Email + SMS" column that adds that minimum on top of each email tier. SMS has its own consent rules in Canada, so don't turn it on just because the button exists.

If you're starting out, run email first. You can add texts later when your list and your emails are working.

How do you keep your Klaviyo bill down?

Keep your active profiles clean. Remove people who never open, stop collecting contacts you will never email, and check your count before each billing date.

• Remove or suppress people who have not opened in a long time
• Do not import old lists you do not have permission to email
• Use a signup form that asks for consent clearly (CASL needs it anyway)
• Check your profile count every month, because tiers jump at set sizes
• Turn on automations before you pay for a bigger tier

That last one matters most. A paid plan with no automations switched on is a gym membership with a better logo.

Is Klaviyo worth the money?

It can be, if you run an online store and turn on the automations that make money: welcome, abandoned cart and post-purchase emails. If you only send one newsletter a month, a cheaper tool may do the job.

Not sure which fits you? Read the side-by-sides: Klaviyo vs Mailchimp and Klaviyo vs Omnisend.

Running a Shopify store? Start with abandoned cart emails. They are usually the first automation worth paying for.

How to work out your own Klaviyo price in 2 minutes

Open your Klaviyo account and find your number of active profiles, then match it to the table. That one number is your bill.

If you haven't signed up yet, count the people who have agreed to hear from you: customers, newsletter signups and people who asked a question. That is your starting number. If you are not sure those people said yes, fix that first. In Canada, CASL needs consent before you send.

Common questions