Item: Klaviyo
Rating: 4.6
Author: Jack Farrell

Klaviyo was built for ecommerce from the start. Instead of building a general-purpose email tool and adding ecommerce features later, it built one specifically for online stores, with deep Shopify integration, revenue attribution at the individual contact level, and automation flows that respond to purchase behaviour in ways generic tools cannot replicate.

That focus has paid off. Klaviyo is now used by over 130,000 businesses and is the default email recommendation from Shopify itself. The question is whether its ecommerce focus makes it the right tool for your business specifically.

We tested Klaviyo with a live Shopify test store, building welcome flows, an abandoned cart sequence, and a post-purchase campaign. Here is what we found.

Try Klaviyo free for up to 250 contacts and connect your Shopify store to test the full ecommerce integration.

Is Klaviyo worth it for small businesses?

Yes, if you sell products online. For Shopify and WooCommerce merchants, Klaviyo's ecommerce integration, pre-built automation flows, and revenue attribution make it the most capable email tool in this category. The cost is justified by the revenue it can directly help you recover and generate.

For service businesses, consultants, agencies, or content creators without an ecommerce store, Klaviyo's ecommerce focus becomes a disadvantage. You pay for features built around a use case you do not have. MailerLite or GetResponse are better fits.

One note: Klaviyo's Trustpilot score is 1.8, among the lowest in this comparison. That score is almost entirely driven by billing complaints following a change to how Klaviyo counts active profiles. Reviewers who actively use Klaviyo for marketing (on G2 and Capterra) rate it 4.6 and 4.6 respectively. The product is strong; the billing model requires careful attention before signup.

How much does Klaviyo cost?

Klaviyo is free for up to 250 contacts with 500 email sends per month. Paid Email plans start at $20 per month (around £16) for 251 to 500 active profiles, scaling up: $30/month for 501 to 1,000, $45/month for 1,001 to 1,500, and so on. Adding SMS creates a combined Email + SMS plan starting at $35/month.

Pricing escalates significantly with list size. At 5,000 contacts, the Email plan is $100/month. At 25,000 contacts, it is $400/month. There is no annual discount on self-serve plans, so prices are the same whether you pay monthly or commit for a year. That transparency is appreciated, but the absolute cost is higher than alternatives at scale.

One important note: Klaviyo bills on active profiles, not the total number of contacts in your account. Active profiles include anyone who has placed an order, visited your site, or interacted in a defined window. That number is typically larger than your emailable list and can push you into a higher billing tier faster than expected. Count your active profiles accurately before choosing a plan.

What do you get on Klaviyo's free plan?

The free plan covers 250 email contacts and 500 email sends per month, plus 150 SMS messages. It includes full access to all Klaviyo features: flows, segmentation, A/B testing, and Shopify integration. That full-feature access from day one is unusual and genuinely useful for evaluation.

The 250-contact ceiling is very tight for most businesses. A typical Shopify store will exceed that within weeks of connecting Klaviyo to its store data. The free plan is best understood as an extended trial: enough to set up your first flows, test the Shopify sync, and understand how revenue attribution works before spending money.

That evaluation period is more valuable than it sounds on paper. Building a proper abandoned cart flow, connecting Shopify, and seeing real attribution data for your own store in two weeks gives you a clearer picture of ROI than any review can.

Klaviyo is free for up to 250 contacts with full feature access including flows and Shopify integration.

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How easy is Klaviyo to use?

The email editor is modern and ecommerce-focused. Templates are clean and include ecommerce-specific blocks: product recommendation grids, order summary displays, and dynamic pricing that pulls from your Shopify store in real time. Creating a promotional email with live product data takes about 20 minutes once you know the editor.

The interface expects you to know what you want. It is not difficult to use, but it does not hold your hand the way MailerLite does. The broader platform has more configuration options than simpler tools, and understanding how segments, lists, and flows interact takes a few sessions to click.

Mobile preview is built in. You can edit the underlying HTML for full control if needed. For businesses where the standard ecommerce blocks cover the use case, you will rarely need to touch the code.

How powerful is Klaviyo's automation?

Very, specifically for ecommerce scenarios. Klaviyo calls its automations Flows and provides pre-built versions of the sequences every ecommerce business needs: welcome series, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, post-purchase, win-back, and sunset. Each comes ready to customise rather than build from scratch.

Each flow supports conditional splits based on purchase history, predicted lifetime value, product category, and more. A welcome flow for someone who has already bought something runs differently from a welcome flow for a first-time subscriber. That personalisation is difficult or impossible in simpler tools.

We set up an abandoned cart flow using the pre-built template: a reminder at one hour, a follow-up at 24 hours with a 10 percent discount, and a final message at 72 hours. Product images and prices populated automatically from the Shopify connection. Total configuration time was about 45 minutes.

How well does Klaviyo integrate with Shopify?

Better than any other tool in this comparison. Klaviyo was built alongside Shopify's ecosystem and the integration reflects that. The connection syncs every order, every product view, every abandoned cart, and every customer profile in real time. No manual mapping, no webhooks, no third-party connectors.

You can segment your list by what specific products people have bought, how many times they have ordered, when they last purchased, their average order value, and their predicted customer lifetime value. That granularity is not available in most tools at this price range.

Revenue attribution in Klaviyo links every email send and every flow trigger back to the revenue it generated. The reporting shows you exactly which flows are making money and which campaigns are not converting. For a Shopify store, that data is how you prioritise what to build and optimise next.

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What are Klaviyo's deliverability rates like?

Good, with a strong emphasis on list hygiene. Klaviyo monitors engagement rates closely and flags lists with low open rates as a deliverability risk. The platform suppresses unengaged contacts automatically, which keeps sender metrics clean and inbox placement rates strong.

The Deliverability Hub gives you a detailed breakdown of bounces, unsubscribes, and spam complaints per campaign or flow, alongside recommendations for domain authentication and list health. EmailToolTester rates Klaviyo 5/5 for deliverability, the highest in our comparison group.

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup is guided within the platform. In test sends across Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail, emails landed in the primary inbox without filtering. The platform's active-profile suppression model, while controversial for billing, has a secondary benefit: it keeps your sending base engaged and your metrics healthy.

What does Klaviyo integrate with?

Over 350 integrations, concentrated in the ecommerce stack. Alongside Shopify and WooCommerce, there are direct integrations with Recharge for subscription products, Gorgias for customer support, LoyaltyLion for loyalty programmes, Yotpo for reviews, and most major payment and returns tools.

For businesses on platforms beyond Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud are all supported. Zapier covers the remaining long tail. The integration library skews heavily towards ecommerce tools rather than general business software.

For subscription-based ecommerce specifically, Klaviyo's integration with Recharge and other subscription platforms is particularly strong. If your business sells consumables or subscription products with repeat purchase cycles, those integrations unlock powerful re-engagement and churn-prevention flows.

Is Klaviyo good for ecommerce?

It is the best ecommerce email platform in this comparison. The combination of deep purchase data, predictive lifetime value scoring, revenue attribution, and pre-built ecommerce flows creates a platform where the return on investment is measurable in a way most email tools cannot match.

Abandoned cart recovery is the simplest example. A well-configured Klaviyo abandoned cart flow typically recovers 5 to 15 percent of abandoned carts depending on the store and incentive. For a store doing £50,000 per month with a 70 percent cart abandonment rate, that recovery can generate substantial additional monthly revenue directly attributable to email.

The cost scales with list size, but so does the revenue potential. For ecommerce businesses where email is a meaningful revenue channel, Klaviyo's pricing model is easier to justify than it looks compared to cheaper tools that cannot show you what your email programme is actually generating.

Does Klaviyo handle SMS marketing?

Yes, and it is one of the reasons ecommerce businesses in particular choose Klaviyo. The Email + SMS plan bundles both channels at a lower combined price than running them separately. UK SMS is supported. You can build flows that switch between email and SMS based on which channel a contact has opted into.

SMS credits are used per message and UK rates vary. Budget an additional 20 to 40 percent on top of the listed plan price if you send SMS heavily. The opt-in process for SMS is more involved than email (explicit consent is required), so your SMS list will typically be smaller. Engagement rates, however, are considerably higher.

In testing, a flash sale SMS sent to a consented list achieved a click rate well above the equivalent email campaign sent the same day. SMS is most effective for time-sensitive messages where visibility matters: flash sales, limited stock alerts, and order updates.

Klaviyo includes SMS alongside email on a single plan. Start free with 250 contacts.

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What support does Klaviyo offer?

Email support for all plans, with live chat available for paid plans during business hours. Response times in testing were typically under two hours for email and under 10 minutes for chat. The documentation is detailed and ecommerce-specific: most questions about Shopify integration, flow setup, and reporting have a written guide with screenshots.

The onboarding programme covers the key flows with setup guides and pre-built templates. There is also a strong community forum and active groups among Shopify merchants that produce useful peer advice on flow optimisation, segmentation strategies, and deliverability management.

Billing support is where Klaviyo's reputation takes a hit. The active-profile billing model has generated significant frustration, with many Trustpilot reviewers reporting unexpected bill increases as their profile count grew. If you are considering Klaviyo, understanding exactly how active profiles are counted before you set up the Shopify integration will save you a surprise.

How does Klaviyo compare to the alternatives?

Against MailerLite, Klaviyo wins on ecommerce analytics depth and loses on price and simplicity. MailerLite's free plan covers 500 subscribers, is cheaper at most list sizes, and is better for non-ecommerce businesses. For Shopify merchants where email drives revenue, Klaviyo's attribution data makes the cost easier to justify.

Against GetResponse, Klaviyo wins on ecommerce-specific analytics and predictive modelling. GetResponse wins on pricing, landing pages, and webinar hosting. For businesses that run events or education alongside email, GetResponse bundles more for less. For product-focused stores, Klaviyo's data depth is the stronger advantage.

Against ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo wins on ecommerce revenue attribution and Shopify integration depth. ActiveCampaign wins on CRM, automation flexibility for non-ecommerce use cases, and price at comparable list sizes. For a store that also runs direct sales or consultancy, ActiveCampaign's CRM makes it the better combined platform.

Should you use Klaviyo for your business?

Klaviyo earns a 4.6 because for ecommerce businesses, particularly Shopify merchants, it is the most powerful and measurable email marketing tool available at this price point. The gold rating is on the product; the low Trustpilot score is on billing complexity, which you can manage if you understand the active-profile model before you sign up.

Use Klaviyo if you sell products on Shopify or WooCommerce and want to attribute revenue directly to your email programme, if you want SMS and email on one platform without managing two separate tools, or if you want pre-built ecommerce flows you can configure in a day rather than build from scratch.

Look elsewhere if you do not have an ecommerce store (MailerLite or GetResponse are better fits), if you need webinars alongside email (GetResponse), or if you need a built-in sales CRM (ActiveCampaign). Klaviyo's ecommerce focus is its strength and its limitation at the same time.

Klaviyo is free for up to 250 contacts. Paid plans from $20/month with no annual commitment.

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Try Klaviyo free and connect your Shopify store to see how revenue attribution works before committing to a paid plan.

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Is Klaviyo worth it for small businesses?

How much does Klaviyo cost?

What do you get on Klaviyo's free plan?

How easy is Klaviyo to use?

How powerful is Klaviyo's automation?

How well does Klaviyo integrate with Shopify?

Free Forever: up to 1,000 subscribers

What are Klaviyo's deliverability rates like?

What does Klaviyo integrate with?

Is Klaviyo good for ecommerce?

Does Klaviyo handle SMS marketing?

What support does Klaviyo offer?

How does Klaviyo compare to the alternatives?

Should you use Klaviyo for your business?

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Free Plan: up to 250 contacts