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Mailchimp vs Klaviyo pricing
Mailchimp and Klaviyo both price by contact count, which makes a straight comparison tricky. This page lines up their free plans and published tiers, using StackScope's email marketing report, last verified October 2026.
At the 500-contact entry tier Mailchimp Standard is $17/month (annual or $20 monthly) against $20/month for Klaviyo Email. At 10,000 contacts Mailchimp lists $115/month against $150/month for Klaviyo, though Mailchimp's vendor presents that figure as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses, not a guaranteed renewal rate. Klaviyo's middle tier is 1,000 profiles while Mailchimp's is 2,500 contacts, so those two rows are not like-for-like. Klaviyo bills on active profiles, so every contactable subscriber counts, and its self-serve plans have no annual-prepay discount. Both offer a 250-contact free plan with 500 sends a month.
| Tool | Free plan | Entry | Mid | Highest | Aggregated sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp | 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo1 seat, 1 audience, 250 sends/day cap — sending pauses if you exceed it, doesn't trigger a charge | $17/moStandard · 500 contacts · $20/mo billed monthly | $51/moStandard · 2,500 contacts · $60/mo billed monthly | $115/moStandard · 10,000 contacts · $135/mo billed monthly — vendor currently presents this as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses, not a guaranteed renewal rate | Catch: the bill scales fast with contact count, and lower tiers cap automation. Praised for a drag-and-drop builder that makes professional campaigns easy even for non-technical users. G2 reviewers repeatedly flag "expensive" as a recurring theme. A real billing trap: Mailchimp bills for every contact in your audience — including unsubscribed ones — unless you manually archive them. Monthly send allowances are capped at a multiple of contact count (10× Essentials, 12× Standard, 15× Premium); exceeding them can trigger overage charges. |
| Klaviyo | 250 active profiles, 500 sends/moGenuinely ongoing, not a trial — also includes a $5/mo mobile-message allowance and a $5/mo Composer AI allowance | $20/moEmail plan · 500 profiles · billed monthly — no annual-prepay discount on self-serve plans | $30/moEmail plan · 1,000 profiles · billed monthly | $150/moEmail plan · 10,000 profiles · billed monthly | Catch: bills on "active profiles," not just people you actually email — every contactable subscriber counts. Praised for deep, ecommerce-native segmentation and behavior-based personalization without a steep learning curve. Composer AI now runs on an ongoing usage/credit system rather than a trial-credit model — the Free tier includes a $5/month Composer allowance, and usage on paid plans varies by task complexity rather than one flat per-credit price. |
Figures are aggregated from vendor pricing pages and independent third-party pricing research as of October 2026 and reflect published list prices. This page shows two of the four tools in the full Email Marketing Software report, which carries the complete footnotes and every source conflict we flagged. Confirm current pricing directly with each vendor before purchasing. This is not a recommendation to buy any specific product.
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FAQ
Common questions
Is Mailchimp cheaper than Klaviyo?
At the entry tier (500 contacts) Mailchimp Standard is $17 per month versus $20 for Klaviyo. At 10,000 contacts Mailchimp lists $115 versus $150 for Klaviyo, but Mailchimp's figure is presented as a first-year promotional rate for eligible businesses. The middle tiers cover different contact counts (2,500 for Mailchimp, 1,000 for Klaviyo), so they can't be compared directly.
Do Mailchimp and Klaviyo have free plans?
Yes. Both free plans cover 250 contacts (Klaviyo counts active profiles) and 500 sends per month. Mailchimp's free plan also caps sending at 250 per day, and pauses sending rather than charging if exceeded.
How does Klaviyo bill?
Klaviyo bills on active profiles, not just people you actually email, so every contactable subscriber counts. Its self-serve plans are billed monthly with no annual-prepay discount.
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Vendor pricing: Mailchimp pricing · Klaviyo pricing