Klaviyo vs Mailchimp: which email platform should you use?

Short answer: pick Klaviyo if you run an online store and want email, SMS, WhatsApp and push messages driven by live customer and order data, with AI agents and a helpdesk on the same platform. Pick Mailchimp if you want an easy, all-in-one marketing tool for email, landing pages, a website, social posts and ads, with simple tiered plans and a free trial. Both have a free plan for small lists.

Both are listed on Unloc. Unloc cards: Klaviyo and Mailchimp.

Quick verdict

Plans, limits and prices change often, so check both live pricing pages before you decide. Everything below comes from each company's own site, pricing page and help docs.

What Klaviyo does

Klaviyo calls itself an autonomous B2C CRM: an AI marketing and service platform for consumer brands. It brings customer data together in the Klaviyo Data Platform, so every profile holds browsing, purchase and engagement history, and then uses that data across email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, mobile push and social messaging.

On the marketing side you get campaigns, web forms, email templates, segmentation that updates in real time, and flows, which are Klaviyo's automations. Flows can be built from pre-built templates, created with AI or put together in a drag-and-drop builder with branching logic, and they cover the usual ecommerce journeys such as welcome series, abandoned cart, browse abandonment, back in stock and post-purchase follow-ups.

Klaviyo has also grown beyond marketing. Klaviyo Helpdesk gives support agents order history and marketing activity inside every ticket, Customer Hub adds a self-service area on your site for orders, returns and loyalty, and Klaviyo Reviews collects and shows product reviews for Shopify and WooCommerce stores. Reporting includes multi-touch attribution across channels and benchmarks against similar brands.

What Mailchimp does

Mailchimp describes itself as an email and marketing automations platform for growing businesses, and it is part of Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks. Its aim is to keep things simple: a drag-and-drop email builder, pre-built templates, Content Studio for storing brand assets, signup forms, pop-ups and surveys, all in one account.

Mailchimp goes wider than email in a different direction from Klaviyo. You can build landing pages and a full website with its drag-and-drop website builder, claim a custom domain, schedule organic social posts, and run ads on Facebook, Instagram and Google from the same place. Higher plans add Campaign Manager and a marketing calendar.

For developers and online stores, Mailchimp Transactional, which used to be called Mandrill, sends order confirmations, password resets and other one-to-one emails and texts through an API. It is an add-on, and Mailchimp also offers pay-as-you-go email credits if you only send now and then.

Ecommerce, data and automation

This is where the two differ most. Klaviyo is built around store data. It has native integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Wix, and it syncs customer, product and order data in real time so segments and flows react to what people browse and buy. The advanced data platform adds custom objects, such as subscriptions or bookings, and syncs with data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks.

Mailchimp also connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, Square and many other apps, and you can trigger abandoned cart, welcome and back-in-stock automations from store data. The depth depends on your plan. Behavioural targeting, predictive segmentation, customer lifetime value, branching automations and multiple starting points are on Standard and Premium, while Essentials gets simpler flows and the Free plan only gets a preview of automation flows.

SMS and other channels

Klaviyo treats every channel as part of one platform. SMS, MMS, WhatsApp and RCS share the same profiles, segments and flow builder as email, so one flow can switch channels for each customer. Text messaging is billed separately from your email plan: you commit to a level of spend that is used up as you send, and rates vary by message type and country.

Mailchimp SMS is an add-on for paid plans in select countries. You apply for an SMS programme, get approved and then buy monthly credits, and unused credits do not roll over. MMS needs the Standard or Premium plan and is limited to US and Canadian programmes. Mailchimp's site now flags WhatsApp marketing as new, so check what is available in your country, and its plan pages do not list RCS or mobile push marketing.

AI features

Klaviyo's AI is built around agents. Composer is an AI marketing agent that answers questions about your data, audits your flows, segments and forms, and builds campaigns, flows and audiences from a prompt, with your brand voice built in and a review step before anything goes live. Customer Agent answers customer questions, tracks orders and recommends products around the clock. Klaviyo also connects to AI assistants through a Claude connector, a ChatGPT app and an MCP server.

Mailchimp's AI focuses on helping small teams work faster. Write with AI drafts and rewrites copy in the email editor, the subject line helper gives feedback before you send, and send time optimisation and predicted demographics help with timing and targeting. Analytics AI, part of Mailchimp with Intuit Intelligence, explains which campaigns are driving revenue, and connectors for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Codex and Google Workspace let you build campaigns from those assistants. Generative AI, Analytics AI and the assistant connectors are on the Standard and Premium plans.

Free plans and pricing

Both have a free plan for small lists. Klaviyo's free plan covers email, a small monthly credit for mobile messages and for Composer, web forms, built-in reporting and its integrations, with email support for an initial period. Mailchimp's free plan covers basic email, forms and landing pages for one user and one audience, with Mailchimp branding on emails and email support for an initial period. On both, sending is paused if you go over the free limits.

The pricing models are different. Klaviyo charges by active profiles, meaning people you can actually reach, so unsubscribed and suppressed contacts do not count, and each tier includes a matching amount of email sending. Mailchimp sells Essentials, Standard and Premium plans priced by contact count, and its help docs say subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count. Mailchimp offers a free trial of Essentials and Standard, and higher plans add more users, audiences and support. Check the live Klaviyo pricing page and Mailchimp pricing page for current tiers and limits.

Ease of use and support

Klaviyo itself says it does more than Mailchimp, so there is more to learn, and it points new users to Klaviyo Academy, live training, office hours and its community. Pre-built flows and Composer help you get started faster. Mailchimp is designed so that anyone can send a first campaign without a designer or developer, with guided setup, templates and drag-and-drop editing.

On support, Mailchimp's paid plans include 24/7 email and chat support, Standard and Premium include personalised onboarding, and Premium adds phone and priority support and migration help. Klaviyo offers its Help Center, Academy and community to everyone, with paid support packages and dedicated success managers for larger brands.

Who should pick which

• Pick Klaviyo if you run an online store and want segments and automations that react to what customers browse and buy in real time.
• Pick Klaviyo if you want email, SMS, WhatsApp, push, reviews and customer service on one customer profile, with AI agents doing much of the setup.
• Pick Mailchimp if you want a simple, all-in-one tool for newsletters, landing pages, a website, social posts and ads.
• Pick Mailchimp if you want to try a paid plan for free first, or you already use Intuit tools such as QuickBooks.

Weighing up other marketing platforms? See Mailchimp vs HubSpot and HubSpot vs Sendinblue, or browse our pick of the best AI marketing tools.

FAQ

Is Klaviyo better than Mailchimp for ecommerce?

For most online stores, Klaviyo goes further. It is built around real-time store data from platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, with behavioural segments, multi-channel flows, reviews and a helpdesk. Mailchimp also connects to stores, but its deeper ecommerce automation and segmentation sit on its higher plans.

Is Mailchimp easier to use than Klaviyo?

Generally, yes. Mailchimp is built so anyone can send a campaign quickly with templates and drag-and-drop tools. Klaviyo itself says it has more to learn, though its pre-built flows, Composer AI agent and Klaviyo Academy help new users get going.

Do Klaviyo and Mailchimp have free plans?

Yes. Both have a free plan for small lists, and sending is paused if you go over its limits. Klaviyo's includes a small mobile messaging credit. Mailchimp's covers one user and one audience, and Mailchimp also offers free trials of its Essentials and Standard plans.

Can I send SMS with Klaviyo and Mailchimp?

Yes. Klaviyo includes SMS, MMS, WhatsApp and RCS on the same platform as email, billed as separate committed spend. Mailchimp SMS is an add-on for paid plans in select countries, with credits bought monthly after your SMS application is approved.

Do unsubscribed contacts count towards my bill?

On Klaviyo, no: it bills on active profiles, so unsubscribed and suppressed contacts do not count. On Mailchimp, yes: its help docs say subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count towards your contact total, so it pays to clean your audience.