Klaviyo vs Postscript vs Attentive: Which SMS Platform Fits Your Shopify Store?

Klaviyo, Postscript and Attentive are the three SMS platforms Shopify brands compare most. Klaviyo runs email and SMS on one self-serve platform with published prices. Postscript is SMS-first, built only for Shopify, with published self-serve plans. Attentive is SMS-first too, but sells custom packages, including email and push, through its sales team. This comparison covers what each costs, what a US text really costs, how they work with Klaviyo email, and which fits your store.

What's the difference between Klaviyo, Postscript and Attentive?

Klaviyo is an email and SMS platform with published, self-serve pricing. Postscript is a dedicated SMS platform built only for Shopify stores, with published plans and message rates for the US and Canada. Attentive is a dedicated SMS platform that sells custom packages, adding email and push, through its sales team.

Sources: Klaviyo's pricing page; Postscript's pricing page and 2026 breakdowns of it; Attentive's pricing page, which lists packages but no prices. Checked November 2026.

Which SMS platform fits your store?

Decide on two questions: do you want email and SMS on one platform, and do you want published self-serve pricing or a negotiated contract? Klaviyo is one platform with published pricing. Postscript is SMS-first with published pricing. Attentive is SMS-first with custom contracts.

• Choose Klaviyo if Klaviyo already runs your email, or you want one customer profile, one set of flows and one report for both channels.
• Choose Postscript if SMS is your lead channel, you sell on Shopify, most customers are in the US or Canada, and you want a dedicated SMS tool with published pricing.
• Choose Attentive if you're a larger brand, SMS is a primary channel, and you'd rather negotiate a package with a sales team than self-serve.

We build Klaviyo programs for a living, so weigh our view with that in mind.

Klaviyo vs Postscript: which is better?

Klaviyo is better if you want email and SMS on one platform, or you text customers outside the US and Canada. Postscript is better if SMS is your main channel, you sell only on Shopify, and you want a tool built just for texting. On a typical US text, their costs are close once Postscript's carrier fees are added.

Postscript's strength is focus. It's built around one channel on one platform, with SMS-specific features and pricing built around message volume. Its Starter plan has no monthly fee but bills a $49 minimum, and its Growth and Professional plans cost $100 and $500 a month, as reported in 2026 breakdowns of its pricing page.

Klaviyo's strength is consolidation. Email and SMS share one profile per customer, so a text and an email can sit in the same flow, and suppression, consent and reporting live in one place. For Lifelines, SMS launched in Klaviyo alongside an existing email program and earned $10.3K in its first two months, with SMS campaign click rates of 8 to 23%.

Attentive vs Klaviyo: which is better?

Attentive suits larger brands that want a negotiated SMS-first package, with email and push available, and are comfortable with custom pricing. Klaviyo suits brands that want published, self-serve pricing and email and SMS on one platform from day one. Attentive doesn't publish prices, so compare total monthly cost on an itemized quote.

Attentive's pricing page lists packages rather than prices: Text; Text and Email; and a package with SMS, email, RCS and push. A quote is built from a platform fee, message usage, carrier fees and, often, a minimum commitment.

Klaviyo publishes its pricing: Email + SMS starts at $35 a month for 251 to 500 profiles with 1,250 SMS credits, and a US SMS uses 1 credit.

If you run Attentive SMS alongside Klaviyo email, expect some double counting: a customer who clicks a text and an email before buying can be credited in both platforms' reports.

Postscript vs Attentive: which is better?

Postscript is better for Shopify brands that want published self-serve plans and sell mostly in the US and Canada. Attentive is better for larger brands that want SMS with email and push in one negotiated package, or that sell on platforms other than Shopify. Both are SMS-first, so neither replaces a full email program on its own.

The practical difference is how you buy. With Postscript, you can calculate your cost from its pricing page. With Attentive, you request a quote and negotiate. Ask Attentive for each line item separately: platform fee, message rates, carrier fees, minimum commitment and any short code cost.

How much do Klaviyo, Postscript and Attentive cost?

Klaviyo's Email + SMS plan starts at $35 a month with 1,250 SMS credits, and its free plan includes 150 credits. Postscript's plans run from $0 (with a $49 monthly minimum) to $500 a month, plus per-message and carrier fees. Attentive doesn't publish prices; every plan is a custom quote.

Sources: Klaviyo's pricing page; Postscript's pricing page and 2026 breakdowns of it; Attentive's pricing page. Postscript plan prices and rates are as reported in 2026 and change, so confirm before you budget.

What does a US text actually cost on each platform?

Roughly 1 to 1.3 cents on Klaviyo and Postscript, before any platform fee. Klaviyo's SMS credits include carrier fees: about $0.012 per US text on a 1,250-credit pack and about $0.009 at 10,000 credits. Postscript's rates of about $0.009 to $0.007 rise to roughly $0.013 to $0.011 once its separate carrier fees are added.

Postscript's pricing page lists average US carrier fees of a few tenths of a cent per SMS, charged on top of its message rate. Klaviyo's pricing page says carrier fees are included in its credits. Attentive's cost per text depends on your quote.

These are approximations from published rates and reported pack prices, before platform fees. Your real cost per text also depends on message length (one credit covers one SMS segment of up to 160 characters), MMS use and where your customers are.

Does Attentive integrate with Klaviyo?

Yes. Klaviyo is the Attentive integration reviewers cite most often, and many brands run Attentive SMS alongside Klaviyo email. The integration lets the two share subscriber data, but you'll still pay for and maintain two platforms, and both may credit the same sale in their reports.

Running two platforms also means two places to manage consent and two subscriber lists to keep in sync. That's workable for a brand with a dedicated SMS team, and extra overhead for one without.

Should you use one platform or two?

Use one platform unless SMS is big enough to justify its own tool and team. Keeping email and SMS in Klaviyo gives you one customer profile, one consent record, one set of flows and one report. A dedicated SMS platform makes sense when SMS is a primary revenue channel and you want features built only for texting.

For most Shopify brands we work with, one platform wins on simplicity. In September 2026, email and SMS together drove 39% of Lifelines' total site revenue, run entirely in Klaviyo. Our guide to Klaviyo SMS for Shopify covers setup, credit costs by country and the flows to build first.

If you're moving SMS subscribers between platforms, see our Mailchimp to Klaviyo migration guide. The consent steps apply to any SMS move. Our Klaviyo email and SMS marketing team can run the move or the full program.

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