Klaviyo
The only tool on this page you can actually buy shares of — it IPO'd on the NYSE in 2023, and roughly three-quarters of its revenue still runs through Shopify.
What is Klaviyo?
Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen founded Klaviyo in Boston in 2012, both coming out of a data-analytics firm called Applied Predictive Technologies before building a tool that unifies a store's email, SMS, and purchase history into a single customer profile. The company bootstrapped its first few years, then took on investors including Summit Partners, and in August 2022 took a $100 million strategic investment directly from Shopify, which made Klaviyo the recommended email partner for Shopify Plus merchants in the same deal. That relationship became structural: roughly 78% of Klaviyo's revenue is now tied to the Shopify ecosystem, which explains both why it's the default choice for Shopify stores and why merchants on other platforms tend to get a thinner feature set.
Klaviyo went public on the NYSE in September 2023 under the ticker KVYO, pricing at $30 a share for roughly a $9.2 billion valuation and popping 23% on its first day of trading, making billionaires of both co-founders. The financial picture since has been mixed: 2025 revenue reached $1.234 billion, up sharply from prior years, but the company posted a net loss of $31.8 million for the year, and the stock has traded well below its IPO price for stretches since. On the product side, Klaviyo's pricing structure is genuinely unusual for the category — every paid tier includes the identical feature set. The price rises only because active profile count rises, not because a plan unlocks something a lower tier didn't have.
Company and financial history is drawn from Klaviyo's IPO reporting and public 2025 financial results; pricing structure reflects Klaviyo's published rates as of 2026, following its February 2025 shift to billing by active profiles.
Key features
Unified customer profiles
Combines email, SMS, and purchase history into one record per customer.
Predictive CLV & churn risk
Estimates lifetime value and flags customers likely to stop purchasing.
Marketing Agent
Builds campaigns and flows from a prompt, included on every paid tier.
Subject line & SMS assistants
AI drafting help for both email subject lines and SMS copy.
Abandoned cart & win-back flows
Pre-built automation for the highest-value e-commerce triggers.
350+ integrations
Deepest and most native with Shopify; other platforms get thinner support.
Pricing
Free
- 500 emails/month, 150 SMS/MMS credits, Klaviyo branding included
- Email support for the first 60 days only, then community forum
- No A/B testing on campaigns or flows
- All core features unlocked: flows, segmentation, A/B testing, analytics
- 5,000 emails/month at entry, scaling roughly 10x profile count
- ~$130–150/mo at 10,000 profiles, ~$720/mo at 50,000
Email + SMS
- Everything in Email, plus SMS/MMS sending credits
- SMS cost scales separately, roughly $15/mo more per tier
- Heavy SMS campaign volume can add $2,000–3,000/mo on its own
Klaviyo One
- Custom reporting and guaranteed deliverability commitments
- Manual billing negotiated directly rather than a self-serve tier
- Aimed at large-volume e-commerce brands, not SMBs
Klaviyo counts only active profiles toward billing as of a February 2025 change, unlike platforms that bill on total contacts including unsubscribed ones. There's no annual discount on self-serve plans; custom annual contracts are available only through enterprise sales for accounts spending $2,000+/month.
AI features, included on every paid tier
Integrations & platforms
Pros, cons & best for
Pros
- Identical feature set at every paid tier, no AI or automation features locked behind a higher plan
- Deepest native Shopify integration of any tool in this category
- Only billed on active profiles, not total contacts including unsubscribed ones
Cons
- Consistently pricier than contact-based competitors at small to mid list sizes
- SMS costs are billed separately and can add thousands per month at real send volume
- Non-Shopify stores get a noticeably thinner integration experience
Best for
- Shopify stores with real per-customer revenue that will use the predictive features
- E-commerce brands that want SMS and email unified in one customer profile
- Not the pick for a low-revenue newsletter list that doesn't need e-commerce depth
Take a look inside
Alternatives
For a lower cost at small list sizes, or non-Shopify stores:
Our verdict
Klaviyo's pricing logic is the most honest thing about it: every paid account gets the same predictive analytics, the same Marketing Agent, the same flows, and pays only for how many active profiles are on the list. That's a real contrast with tools like ActiveCampaign, where the AI layer sits behind a specific, more expensive tier. The trade-off is that Klaviyo simply costs more at almost every list size than contact-based competitors, and that premium only pays for itself if a store is actually converting on the predictive and behavioral features rather than sending a plain weekly newsletter. The Shopify relationship is the other thing worth sitting with before buying: Shopify is both an investor and Klaviyo's primary distribution channel, which is exactly why it's the default choice for Shopify Plus merchants and exactly why a WooCommerce or BigCommerce store should expect a less native experience. As a public company, Klaviyo's own numbers are unusually visible — 2025 revenue north of $1.2 billion against a real net loss — which is worth knowing regardless of the product decision. Worth the premium for a Shopify store with real revenue per customer. A harder sell for a small list that isn't yet using what makes Klaviyo different from a cheaper contact-based platform.
FAQ
Does Klaviyo lock any features behind higher-priced tiers?
No — every paid Email or Email + SMS tier includes the same feature set. The price changes only with active profile count, not with what the account can do.
Why did my Klaviyo bill change in 2025?
Klaviyo moved to billing by "active profiles" instead of total profiles in February 2025, which changed how costs are calculated and raised bills for some accounts with large inactive lists.
Is Klaviyo a public company?
Yes — it IPO'd on the NYSE under the ticker KVYO in September 2023, making it the only publicly traded company covered in this comparison.
Is Klaviyo only useful for Shopify stores?
It works with WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and other platforms, but its deepest, most native integration is with Shopify, which is also a strategic investor in the company.
Is SMS included in the base price?
No — SMS credits are billed separately from email, either as part of the Email + SMS plan or as an add-on, and heavy SMS volume can add a meaningful cost on top of the email tier.
Who founded Klaviyo?
Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen founded it in Boston in 2012, both previously colleagues at a data-analytics firm called Applied Predictive Technologies.