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ActiveCampaignKlaviyo's Free Plan at a Glance
Klaviyo has a free plan with no time limit. You can stay on it as long as you keep under its two main limits: 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. Here is everything it includes, as listed on klaviyo.com and in Klaviyo's help center in October 2026.
| What | Free plan limit |
|---|---|
| Active profiles | Up to 250 |
| Email sends | 500 a month (campaigns and flows share them) |
| Mobile messages (SMS, MMS and more) | $5 of messages a month |
| Composer, Klaviyo's AI agent | $5 of usage a month |
| Email support | First 60 days after sign-up |
| Klaviyo logo | In email footers and on pop-up, flyout and full-page forms |
| A/B testing | Not included |
| Price | $0, with no time limit |
The short version: the free plan is good for setting up Klaviyo and running a welcome flow and an abandoned cart flow for a new store. It is not enough for a store that sends a regular newsletter, because 500 sends run out fast.
What the Free Plan Includes
Klaviyo's pricing page lists these features on Free:
- Email campaigns and flows. You can build automations such as a welcome series or abandoned cart. Klaviyo's FAQ says the free plan lets you build automations, segmentation and reports.
- Sign-up forms. Pop-up, flyout, full-page and embedded forms.
- Basic segmentation. Segments built on your profile and store data.
- Basic email templates and the drag-and-drop editor.
- Personalized product recommendations in emails. This is one of the more useful features on Free, and Mailchimp Free has it too.
- Reports and dashboards for campaign performance.
- AI subject lines. Generating content, images and segments with AI needs a paid plan.
- Social auto-replies.
- $5 of mobile messages a month, so you can try SMS.
- $5 of Composer usage a month, Klaviyo's AI agent that drafts campaigns and flows.
- Klaviyo Academy, Community and Help Center, plus email support for the first 60 days.
What the Free Plan Leaves Out
Klaviyo's own feature table marks these as not included on Free:
- A/B testing. You need the Email plan to test subject lines or content.
- Removing the Klaviyo logo from emails. Free accounts show Klaviyo branding in the email footer (you can pick one of 4 logo styles). Upgrading to a paid email plan removes it automatically. Paying only for SMS does not.
- Advanced email templates.
- Audience and conversion dashboards.
- Security features for sender reputation.
- 350+ integrations. The feature table lists these under paid plans, while the FAQ on the same page says the free plan supports Klaviyo's standard integrations. Shopify works on Free: Klaviyo has a free app for it. If your store runs on another platform, connect it during setup and confirm it syncs before you build flows.
- Support after 60 days. After that, free accounts have the Help Center, Academy and Community. Paid accounts get email and chat support.
The Marketing plan adds more on top of Email: Customer Hub, predictive analytics, loyalty rewards, order tracking and onsite personalization. None of these are on Free.
The Limits, Explained
250 active profiles
An active profile is anyone Klaviyo can email. Profiles suppressed from email, such as people who unsubscribed or bounced, do not count toward the 250. That matters: when you sync a store, past buyers who can receive marketing count, but suppressed contacts don't.
If you go over 250 active profiles, sending is blocked. You can get it back by bringing the count to 250 or fewer, or by upgrading.
500 email sends a month
Every email to one person is one send. Campaigns and flows draw from the same 500. A few examples:
- One campaign to 250 subscribers uses 250 sends. Two campaigns use the whole month.
- A weekly newsletter to 250 subscribers uses about 1,000 sends a month, twice the limit.
- A 3-email welcome series for 50 new subscribers uses 150 sends.
When you hit 500, sending stops until your next billing cycle or until you upgrade. Klaviyo's help center warns that flow emails can be skipped when you reach the limit. That means an abandoned cart email might not go out at all, not just go out late. If your flows earn money, watch this number.
$5 of mobile messages a month
Since July 13, 2026, Klaviyo prices texts per message in dollars instead of credits. New accounts and accounts on the free mobile plan moved first. The rate depends on the channel (SMS, MMS, WhatsApp or RCS), the country, and in the US and Canada on whether you send from a toll-free number or a short code. Long texts cost more: an SMS with 2 segments costs twice the per-segment rate.
Klaviyo shows the exact rates only inside your account, under Settings > Billing. So how many texts $5 buys depends on where and how you send. Treat it as a test budget, not a channel you can grow on Free.
$5 of Composer usage a month
Composer is Klaviyo's AI marketing agent. Free gives you $5 of usage a month. The paid Composer plan is $20/month with 4 times that usage.
Extra limits in Klaviyo's Shopify app
If you start through Klaviyo Starter in Shopify, the free app that runs inside your Shopify admin, Klaviyo's help center lists two more limits:
- 3 automated messages live at once, counting automations made at klaviyo.com.
- 1 live sign-up form. Extra forms save as drafts.
Both limits go away on a paid email plan, and lists, forms, automations and history carry over when you upgrade.
When You Outgrow the Free Plan
You have outgrown the free plan when any of these happens:
- Your list passes 250 people who can be emailed. A store that collects a few emails a day can get there in weeks.
- You want to send more than two campaigns a month. At 250 profiles, two campaigns use all 500 sends and leave nothing for flows.
- Your flows earn money. Skipped flow emails at the send limit cost real orders.
- You want A/B tests, or your own brand without Klaviyo's logo.
- You need help after your first 60 days.
What the first paid tiers cost
The Email plan is billed monthly by active profiles. These are the prices on Klaviyo's pricing page in October 2026:
| Active profiles | Email plan | Email sends a month | Marketing plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $20 | 5,000 | $90 |
| 1,000 | $30 | 10,000 | $100 |
| 2,500 | $60 | 25,000 | $130 |
| 5,000 | $100 | 50,000 | $170 |
| 10,000 | $150 | 100,000 | $220 |
The jump from Free to the $20 plan buys you 10 times the sends (5,000 a month), double the profiles, A/B testing, no Klaviyo logo and ongoing support. For most stores that have started selling, that is the first upgrade worth paying for. Klaviyo is also running a limited-time offer of $19 off the first month of the $20 Email plan; check its terms page for the end date.
Texting stays a separate purchase on paid plans too, priced per message.
Free Plans Compared: Klaviyo vs Shopify Email vs Mailchimp vs Omnisend
If you mainly want to pay nothing for as long as possible, the free plans differ more than their headline numbers suggest.
| Klaviyo Free | Shopify Email | Mailchimp Free | Omnisend Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contacts | 250 active profiles | No contact limit | 250 contacts | 250 contacts |
| Free emails a month | 500 | 10,000 | 500 (max 250 a day) | 500 |
| Automated flows | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| SMS on the free plan | $5 of messages a month | Charged separately, select countries | No | No, for accounts created since May 4, 2026 |
| Brand logo in emails | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Support | Email, first 60 days | Through your Shopify plan | Email, first 30 days | 24/7 email and chat |
| Catch | Flow emails can be skipped at the limit | Needs a paid Shopify plan | No automations | SMS needs Pro, from $59/month |
Checked on klaviyo.com, shopify.com, mailchimp.com and omnisend.com in October 2026. Free plan terms change often, so confirm them at signup.
Shopify Email (now Shopify Messaging)
Shopify renamed Shopify Email to Shopify Messaging. Every month you can send up to 10,000 manual or automated emails free, then pay $1 per 1,000 extra emails, with lower rates after the first 300,000 a month. There is no contact limit and no monthly commitment. SMS is charged separately and available in select countries.
The catch is that it only works inside Shopify, on a paid Shopify plan (Basic is $29/month billed yearly or $39 monthly). If you already run a Shopify store, that cost is already paid, which makes Shopify Email the most generous free email allowance here by far: 20 times Klaviyo's 500 sends. What you give up is depth. Klaviyo's segments and flows use far more of your store data.
Mailchimp Free
Mailchimp's free plan matches Klaviyo on contacts (250) and sends (500 a month), with an extra cap of 250 sends a day. The big difference: Mailchimp Free has no marketing automation flows, so no welcome series and no abandoned cart emails. It also has no SMS, no A/B testing and no email scheduling, keeps Mailchimp branding, and gives 1 seat, 1 audience and email support for the first 30 days. If you pass 250 contacts, Mailchimp puts a hold on sending until you upgrade or trim your list.
Mailchimp Free works for a simple newsletter. For a store, Klaviyo Free does more.
Omnisend Free
Omnisend's free plan has the same headline limits as Klaviyo: 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, plus 500 web push notifications. Omnisend says Free includes all the features of its paid plans, including automations such as abandoned cart. Two differences from Klaviyo stand out:
- Support: Omnisend lists 24/7 support, with no 60-day cutoff.
- SMS: Accounts created on or after May 4, 2026 cannot buy SMS on Free or Standard. You need Pro, from $59/month for 2,500 contacts. Klaviyo Free includes $5 of texts a month.
When you pass a limit, Omnisend offers an upgrade and asks you to confirm it before it happens. One thing to watch: Omnisend's billable contacts include non-subscribers who received automated messages, such as buyers who never opted in to marketing.
Which Free Plan Should You Use?
- You run a Shopify store and want the most free sending: Shopify Email. 10,000 free emails a month beats every other free plan here.
- You want store-data flows you will keep as you grow: Klaviyo Free. Set up your welcome and abandoned cart flows now and upgrade to the $20 plan when you pass 250 profiles or 500 sends.
- You want the same flows with support that doesn't end: Omnisend Free.
- You only send a newsletter, not store automations: Mailchimp Free.
A common path for a new Shopify store: send campaigns with Shopify Email while the list is small, and move to Klaviyo when you want segments and flows that use purchase history. The other path is to start on Klaviyo Free from day one, so your flows and data are already in place when you upgrade.
How to Get the Most From Klaviyo's Free Plan
- Spend sends on flows first. A welcome series and an abandoned cart flow usually earn more per email than a campaign to the whole list.
- Send campaigns to engaged segments, not everyone. Two campaigns to the full 250 use all 500 sends.
- Keep your active profile count clean. Suppressed profiles don't count toward 250, so unsubscribes and bounces don't push you over.
- Use an embedded form if you don't want Klaviyo branding on your sign-up form. Klaviyo's help center says embedded forms don't show it; pop-up, flyout and full-page forms do on Free.
- Check your usage before big sends. Klaviyo warns you as you approach the limit, but a flow email that gets skipped is gone.
- Use your 60 days of email support to ask setup questions early.
Verdict
Klaviyo's free plan is a real plan, not a trial: flows, forms, segments, product recommendations and a little texting, for up to 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month. It is best used to set Klaviyo up properly while your store is new. Once you pass 250 people or want to email your list more than twice a month, the $20 Email plan is the natural next step.
If free sending volume is what matters most and you are on Shopify, Shopify Email gives you 10,000 emails a month at no extra cost. Omnisend Free is the closest match to Klaviyo Free, with longer support but no SMS for new accounts. Mailchimp Free is fine for a newsletter but has no automated flows.
Marcus Williams
