Klaviyo Vs. Mailchimp (2024 Comparison)

Klaviyo is a powerhouse for data-driven marketers and business owners looking for a detailed approach to customer communication. The platform offers advanced segmentation and sophisticated automation capabilities for finely tuned campaigns, and it integrates seamlessly with an extensive number of business apps and tools. It’s an ideal choice for e-commerce businesses looking to harness real-time analytics and complex data insights to drive their marketing decisions.

Mailchimp has long been a familiar name in the email marketing landscape. Known for its user-friendly interface, it’s particularly favored by beginners and small businesses due to its ease of use and cost-effectiveness. While it may not boast the same level of advanced features as Klaviyo, Mailchimp simplifies email marketing, making it a good choice for businesses seeking an effective, uncomplicated approach.

Klaviyo

Starting price

Free; $20 per month

Free trial

Yes, up to 500 emails to 250 contacts, and 150 SMS credits

Key features

Advanced segmentation, detailed automation, 300-plus integrations, predictive analytics, peer benchmarking

Free; $20 per month

Yes, up to 500 emails to 250 contacts, and 150 SMS credits

Advanced segmentation, detailed automation, 300-plus integrations, predictive analytics, peer benchmarking

Editor's Take

Klaviyo is an advanced email marketing platform known for its robust segmentation and automation—capabilities powered by an extensive range of integrations. Designed to help you do more with your raw customer data, the platform lets you create in-depth customer profiles that help you understand your customers better, a necessity for crafting highly targeted, relevant campaigns.

Klaviyo’s advanced analytics and reporting tools are another feature that sets it apart: Accurate attribution across all your channels gives your conversion metrics more meaning, while real-time segmenting lets you use the right mix of data to reach the specific customers your campaign is targeting. And with built-in personalized benchmarking, you’ll see how you measure up to other businesses in your industry.

Pros & Cons

• 300-plus e-commerce integrations for quick and easy access to your data
• Detailed analytics and reporting to help you make informed, data-driven decisions
• Advanced automation triggers hyper-personalized messages to create unique customer experiences

• May require more time and effort to fully understand and utilize all the features
• Advanced features could be overwhelming for beginners to email marketing
• Can be expensive if you have a large subscriber base

Mailchimp

Starting price

Free; $13 per month

Free trial

Yes, one month

Key features

Customer Journey Builder (automation), 300-plus integrations, pre-built templates, variety of digital channels

Learn More

Read Forbes' Review

Free; $13 per month

Yes, one month

Customer Journey Builder (automation), 300-plus integrations, pre-built templates, variety of digital channels

Editor's Take

Mailchimp, widely recognized as a user-friendly email marketing platform, has long been a go-to choice for businesses starting their digital marketing journey. Its simplicity and ease of use mean you can quickly set up and automate your marketing campaigns without having to tackle a steep learning curve. And its array of pre-built email templates makes it easy to design emails that resonate with your audience—even if you have minimal design experience.

Mailchimp’s multichannel marketing capability lets you craft, manage and track campaigns across multiple channels, including email, social media and the web, and its analytics tools help you better understand your audience for more optimized marketing efforts. These features, combined with its seamless integration with a wide range of business tools and apps, make Mailchimp a compelling package for those who value a balance of simplicity, functionality and affordability.

Learn more: Read our Mailchimp review.

Pros & Cons

• Drag-and-drop simplicity and pre-built templates make it easy to use, even for beginners
• Multichannel marketing platform extends your reach beyond email to social media, web pages and ads
• Connect to your store, accounting tools and more with over 300 apps and integrations

• Limited access to advanced features in lower-price tiers
• Quality and speed of customer support can vary, particularly on free or lower-tier plans
• Free plan comes with limitations in terms of customization and more advanced functionalities

Let’s take a closer look at Klaviyo and Mailchimp and explore how these two powerful platforms measure up against each other.

	Klaviyo	Mailchimp
Starting Price	Free; paid plans start at $20 per month	Free; paid plans start at $13 per month
Free Plan	Yes	Yes
Ease of Use	More complex	Simple
Automations	Advanced	Basic
Digital Channels	Email, SMS, mobile push notifications	Email, SMS, social media, website and landing pages, digital ads, print media (postcards)
Integrations	Yes	Yes
Analytics and Reporting	Advanced	Basic
Mobile App	No	Android/iOS
Customer Service	Email, chat/virtual assistant, knowledge base	Email, chat, phone, knowledge base
Read Reviews	–	Read Mailchimp Review

See MoreSee Less

Starting Price

Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp kick off with a free plan, perfect for testing the waters of each platform. When it’s time to scale up, Klaviyo’s paid plans begin at $20 per month—a nod to its robust features designed for data-driven, e-commerce-focused marketing. Mailchimp’s more affordable starting price of $13 per month aligns with its user-friendly approach, highlighting its appeal to those looking for a more basic, cost-effective entry into email marketing.

Free Plan

Mailchimp’s free plan includes up to 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly email sends (with a daily cap of 500)—perfect for small-scale campaigns. It also comes with 30 days of email support. Klaviyo’s free offering, while smaller in scale with up to 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends, sets itself apart by including 150 SMS credits per month and email support for the first 60 days, making it a good fit if you’re also considering SMS marketing in your strategy.

Ease of Use

Klaviyo offers its users a robust platform packed with sophisticated tools and analytics that, while powerful, can present users with a steep learning curve—so it may be better suited to experienced marketers or those who need detailed data-driven campaign strategies. Mailchimp, in contrast, is designed for ease and simplicity, ideal for those just starting out or businesses looking for basic, effective campaign tools without the complexity.

Automations

When it comes to automations, Klaviyo and Mailchimp cater to different complexity levels and user needs. Klaviyo’s automation platform offers intricate, data-driven workflows that let you create deeply personalized customer journeys based on detailed behavior tracking. Mailchimp’s automation experience is more streamlined, providing essential automated workflows such as welcome emails and abandoned cart reminders—making it a strong contender if you’re seeking a simpler automation solution.

Digital Channels

There’s a marked difference in the two platforms’ digital channel offerings. Klaviyo keeps things streamlined yet powerful with its focus on email, SMS and mobile app push notifications—a combination that resonates well with a mobile-first e-commerce audience.

Mailchimp, on the other hand, serves as a multichannel marketing hub with capabilities that span across email, SMS (available as an add-on), social media, web and landing page creation, digital ads and even postcards—a good option if you want to cast a wide net across various marketing channels.

Integrations

Integration capabilities are key to a seamless marketing experience—and both Klaviyo and Mailchimp clearly understand this, with each boasting over 300 integrations that span a wide array of categories, from e-commerce solutions and CRM platforms to social media tools and analytics services. This extensive integration network means that, whichever platform you choose, you’ll be able to create streamlined workflows that connect your email campaigns with your other business tools and data sources for optimal efficiency and effectiveness.

Analytics and Reporting

Analytics and reporting play a pivotal role in measuring the success of any email marketing campaign. Klaviyo’s analytics are rich and in-depth, giving you a granular view of customer behavior and campaign efficiency as well as specialized reports for e-commerce metrics. Mailchimp offers a more straightforward and accessible reporting interface, making it easy for you to track open rates, click-through rates and audience engagement.

Mobile App

In today’s mobile-centric world, having access to your marketing tools on the go can be a significant advantage. Mailchimp takes the lead here with its mobile app for both Android and iOS, letting you manage campaigns, view reports and send communications directly from your smartphone. Klaviyo does not currently offer a mobile app, which could be a drawback if you prefer the convenience of mobile accessibility for your marketing tasks.

Customer Service

Klaviyo provides its paid plan users with 24/7 email support, ensuring assistance is always at hand regardless of your plan tier. Free plan users also enjoy email support for their first 60 days. Additionally, 24-hour chat/virtual assistant support is available throughout the week and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.

Mailchimp, on the other hand, tailors its support to your plan. Free plan users have chatbot access (plus email support for 30 days), while paid plans offer both chat and email support. And if you’re on the Premium plan, you’ll also have access to weekday phone support.

Email marketing costs can be a crucial factor for many businesses, and beyond their free plan offerings, both Klaviyo and Mailchimp provide diverse pricing tiers to accommodate various marketing budgets.

Klaviyo’s entry-level plan is priced at $20 per month for email services (up to 500 contacts), while its highest publicly advertised plan costs $2,315 per month for up to 250,000 contacts for email and SMS services. Mailchimp provides businesses with a more economical starting point at $13 per month for 500 contacts, and its highest tier is available for $815 per month for 50,000 contacts, making it more budget-friendly for small to midsized businesses.

Klaviyo, known for its advanced segmentation and automation capabilities in e-commerce email marketing, has garnered a Trustpilot score of 3.1 out of 5 stars from 146 reviews. Common criticisms of the platform revolve around customer support and technical issues.

Mailchimp, popular for its accessible and intuitive platform, faces more challenges reputation-wise, scoring 1.4 out of 5 stars based on 712 reviews, mainly due to issues in customer service, technical glitches and billing disputes.

If you’re also considering alternatives to Klaviyo and Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Drip and GetResponse should be on your radar: Our list of the best email marketing software of 2024 ranked Constant Contact as best for customer support options, MailerLite as the best for selling paid subscriptions and ActiveCampaign as the best option for automated email marketing.

	Free Trial	SMS Marketing	Customer Support	Starting Price
Constant Contact	Yes, 60-day free trial	Yes, available as add-on	Phone, live chat	$12 per month (for up to 500 contacts)
MailerLite	Yes, 30-day free trial	No	Email, live chat	Free; $9 per month (for up to 500 contacts)
ActiveCampaign	Yes, 14-day free trial	Yes, available as add-on	Email, live chat	$29 per month (for one user, and up to 1,000 contacts)

See MoreSee Less

Both Klaviyo and Mailchimp offer comprehensive features, but the best choice depends on your business’s specific goals and needs.

Klaviyo is a powerhouse for e-commerce integrations and advanced analytics and segmentation, making it ideal for e-commerce businesses and marketers requiring advanced features for tailoring highly personalized campaigns. Mailchimp, with its affordable, user-friendly platform, is an excellent choice for startups or smaller businesses looking for an accessible, cost-effective email marketing tool.

Klaviyo is best for:

• E-commerce platforms seeking deep integration and targeted campaigns
• Businesses looking for sophisticated automation capabilities
• Data-centric marketers requiring comprehensive analytics and reports

Mailchimp is best for:

• Startups or small businesses with limited budgets
• Businesses that need a straightforward, easy-to-use tool for basic digital marketing
• Newer businesses or those with limited email marketing experience