ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo

ActiveCampaign is an email marketing and marketing automation platform headquartered in Chicago. Jason VandeBoom founded it in 2003 as on-premises software before it moved to SaaS. Its core job is to send the right email, SMS or WhatsApp message at the right time based on what a contact does, using a visual automation builder with branching logic.

The automation builder handles multi-step journeys with waits, conditions, goals and split tests, triggered by site visits, purchases, form fills, tags or CRM events. Campaigns use 250+ templates and, on Pro, predictive sending, conditional content and attribution. Since 2025 the Active Intelligence layer adds AI agents that build segments, automations and brand kits, a conversational workspace, and a remote MCP server; every plan includes 500 AI credits a month. Plans are priced by contacts: Starter ($19/month for 1,000 contacts billed monthly) covers email and automation, Plus adds landing pages, generative AI and SMS, Pro adds advanced segmentation and three seats, and Enterprise adds SSO, HIPAA support and custom objects. CRM pipelines, WhatsApp and transactional email are add-ons.

ActiveCampaign suits SMBs, ecommerce stores and agencies that need deep automation without HubSpot pricing. Mailchimp is easier for simple newsletters, Brevo and MailerLite are cheaper at large lists, and HubSpot is stronger as an all-in-one CRM.

Buying tip: prices rise steeply with contact count, so clean inactive contacts before upgrading. The 14-day trial needs no card, and annual billing saves roughly 17 to 21%.

Klaviyo is a marketing automation and customer data platform founded in Boston in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange since its 2023 IPO. It became the default email tool for Shopify stores by syncing order, browsing and product data in real time, so brands can send messages based on what each customer actually did. Klaviyo now describes itself as a B2C CRM covering marketing, service and analytics.

Core capabilities are email and SMS campaigns, automated flows such as abandoned cart and post-purchase, signup forms, deep segmentation, predictive analytics for lifetime value and churn risk, reviews, WhatsApp and mobile push. Customer Hub, Helpdesk and the AI Customer Agent extend it into support, and Composer is an AI agent that builds campaigns and flows from a prompt. Pricing is based on active profiles: the free plan covers 250 profiles, Email starts at $20 per month for 500 profiles and rises with list size, and SMS credits are bought on top.

Klaviyo fits Shopify and other ecommerce brands that want revenue attribution and data-driven automation. Mailchimp is simpler and cheaper for general newsletters, Brevo prices by send volume rather than contacts and suits budget-conscious stores, and Customer.io targets product-led SaaS messaging.

Buying tip: Klaviyo bills on active profiles, so suppressing unengaged contacts directly lowers your bill. SMS is available only in supported countries and is priced per credit by destination, and Composer adds $20 per month with usage-based overages.