Mailchimp vs Klaviyo: Which Is Better for Shopify in 2026?

Mailchimp and Klaviyo cost about the same for most Shopify lists: both start at $20 a month for 500 contacts on their main paid plans. The differences are in what you're billed for and what you get. Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts toward your plan; Klaviyo doesn't. Klaviyo goes deeper on Shopify data, flows and predictions; Mailchimp is simpler and has a cheaper entry plan. This comparison covers pricing, billing, automation, SMS and when to switch, with a real migration.

Is Klaviyo similar to Mailchimp?

Yes, on the surface: both send email and SMS, both have free plans for 250 contacts, and both connect to Shopify through an official app. Underneath, Klaviyo is built around ecommerce data, with flows triggered by shopping behavior, revenue reported per message, and predictions such as each customer's next order date.

Mailchimp started as a general email tool for any kind of business, and many people know its editor and templates. Klaviyo was built for online stores, so its features center on product views, carts, orders and repeat purchases.

What are the main differences between Mailchimp and Klaviyo?

Klaviyo bills only for contacts you can reach, goes deeper on Shopify data, and includes SMS credits on every plan. Mailchimp has a cheaper entry plan, counts unsubscribed contacts toward your bill, caps automation flows by plan, and sells SMS as an add-on. Main paid plans start at $20 a month on both.

Sources: Mailchimp's Shopify integration page, Shopify App Store listing and pricing FAQ; Klaviyo's pricing page and help center. Checked November 2026.

Is Klaviyo better than Mailchimp?

For Shopify brands where email and SMS drive real revenue, usually yes. Klaviyo uses Shopify browsing and order data to trigger flows, reports revenue per message, predicts customer behavior, and doesn't bill for unsubscribed contacts. For a small store sending simple newsletters, Mailchimp's $13 Essentials plan can be the better value.

Why Klaviyo usually wins for ecommerce:

• Shopify data drives everything. Product views, carts, checkouts and orders trigger flows and build segments automatically.
• Predictions. Once you have 500+ customers with orders and 180 days of history, Klaviyo predicts lifetime value, churn risk and next order date.
• You don't pay for people you can't email. Suppressed and unsubscribed profiles don't count toward the bill.

When Mailchimp is the better choice:

• You send a newsletter or occasional campaigns, not behavior-based flows.
• Your list is small, and the $13 Essentials plan covers what you need.
• Your team already knows Mailchimp, and email is a minor sales channel.

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

How much does Mailchimp cost compared with Klaviyo?

At 500 contacts, Mailchimp Standard and Klaviyo's Email plan both cost $20 a month, and Mailchimp Essentials $13. At 5,000 contacts, Standard and Klaviyo both cost about $100. At 10,000, Mailchimp Standard is about $135 and Klaviyo about $150. Mailchimp counts unsubscribed contacts, so your billable list may be bigger there.

Monthly prices by list size:

• 500 contacts: Mailchimp Essentials $13, Mailchimp Standard $20, Klaviyo Email $20.
• 5,000 contacts: Mailchimp Essentials $75, Mailchimp Standard $100, Klaviyo Email about $100.
• 10,000 contacts: Mailchimp Essentials $110, Mailchimp Standard $135, Klaviyo Email about $150.

Mailchimp prices at 5,000 and 10,000 contacts and Klaviyo prices above 500 come from third-party breakdowns of each pricing calculator, checked in September to November 2026. Confirm in each calculator before you budget. Essentials is the cheapest option, but it has the tightest automation limits.

Why does Mailchimp charge for unsubscribed contacts?

Because Mailchimp bills on everyone in your audience, not just people you can email. Its pricing FAQ says subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count. Only cleaned, pending, archived and deleted contacts are excluded. Klaviyo works the other way: suppressed and unsubscribed profiles don't count toward its bill.

That's why list cleanup matters so much in a move from Mailchimp. When Vertigo Vinyl moved to Klaviyo, about 70,000 unreachable contacts (unsubscribes, bounces and spam complaints) came off its roughly 250,000-contact list. It now pays only for people it can reach, and inbox placement improved with a smaller, healthier list.

In Mailchimp, you can archive contacts to stop paying for them. Mailchimp's pricing FAQ explains which contact types are charged.

Source for Vertigo Vinyl figures: SMG account team, October 2026 migration.

Does Mailchimp work with Shopify?

Yes. Intuit Mailchimp publishes an official Shopify app that syncs customers, products and orders, and supports welcome, abandoned cart and back-in-stock automations. Automation flows require a paid Mailchimp plan. Klaviyo's Shopify app goes further, using browsing and order data for predictions and revenue reporting per message.

Mailchimp's Shopify integration page notes that automation flows are only on paid plans and that features vary by plan. Both apps install from the Shopify App Store in a few minutes.

For Klaviyo's setup steps, see our guide to Klaviyo email marketing for Shopify.

Which is better for SMS: Mailchimp or Klaviyo?

Klaviyo. It includes 150 SMS/MMS credits a month on its free and email plans, sends SMS in 19 countries, and uses the same customer profiles for email and SMS. Mailchimp offers SMS as an add-on to paid plans, available in select countries, so you pay for a paid email plan first.

In Klaviyo, a US SMS uses 1 credit and a US MMS uses 3. For Lifelines, we launched Klaviyo SMS from zero, and it earned $10.3K in its first two months.

Our guide to Klaviyo SMS for Shopify covers credit costs by country, setup and the flows to build first.

Which has better automation: Mailchimp or Klaviyo?

Klaviyo, for ecommerce. Its flows trigger on Shopify events such as viewed products, started checkouts and placed orders, with conditional splits and predictive triggers. Mailchimp's flow builder covers the essentials, but limits flows by plan, with none on Free.

What deeper automation looks like in practice: when we moved Lifelines to Klaviyo from its previous provider, it had one basic welcome flow. Four months later it had 11+ live automations, and flows produced 63% of its Klaviyo-attributed revenue in August 2026.

Klaviyo's benchmarks show the same pattern across its customers: flows generate nearly 41% of email revenue from 5.3% of sends.

When should you switch from Mailchimp to Klaviyo?

When email is a real sales channel and Mailchimp is holding it back: you need flows triggered by shopping behavior, you're paying for many unsubscribed contacts, or you can't see which emails earn revenue. Plan the move before your Mailchimp renewal date, so you don't pay for both longer than necessary.

Vertigo Vinyl hit all three. It's a drop-based record store with about 250,000 email and 16,000 SMS contacts on Mailchimp, and its Mailchimp revenue tracking had broken after a site migration. We moved it to Klaviyo in 9 days, from first send to full list:

• Every drop went out on time, and nobody got the same email twice.
• About 70,000 unreachable contacts were removed.
• The store earned $40K+ in email revenue in its first 10 days on Klaviyo.
• Every drop's email revenue is tracked again.

The step-by-step process is in our Mailchimp to Klaviyo migration guide.

Source: Solo Media Group’s account team, October 2026 migration.

Do you need an agency to switch to or run Klaviyo?

Not to start: Klaviyo's free plan and pre-built flows are enough to test it. An agency earns its fee when a missed send costs real money, when you have SMS subscribers to move, or when email becomes a major channel that needs strategy, testing and deeper segmentation.

Our Klaviyo email and SMS marketing program handles migrations and ongoing programs. For Lifelines, Klaviyo-attributed revenue grew from $5.1K to $106.6K a month in four months.

Frequently asked questions

Summarize with AI

Summarize in ChatGPT · Summarize in Claude · Summarize in Perplexity