Klaviyo
The dominant marketing automation platform for e-commerce, deeply integrated with Shopify.
What Klaviyo is
Klaviyo is a publicly traded (NYSE: KVYO) email and marketing automation platform headquartered in Boston, founded in 2012 by Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen. Purpose-built for e-commerce, Klaviyo integrates deeply with Shopify (its dominant channel), plus WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
The platform's differentiation is data: Klaviyo pulls order history, product-view behavior, cart abandonment, and lifetime-value signals directly from the connected commerce platform and uses that data to power segmentation and automation. For e-commerce operators, no other marketing platform gives you as much commercially-relevant data out of the box.
Who uses Klaviyo
Klaviyo's core market is Shopify-based e-commerce brands from ~$500K in annual revenue up to enterprise ($100M+). Above roughly $100M in DTC revenue, Klaviyo competes with Bloomreach and Salesforce Marketing Cloud; below ~$500K, Shopify's built-in email tools or Mailchimp cover the basics adequately.
What Klaviyo costs
Klaviyo is priced by active-profile count. Free up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends/month. Paid Email starts at ~$20/month for 500 contacts and scales with volume — a 10K-contact brand typically pays ~$150/month, 100K contacts ~$1,700/month. SMS is a separate add-on priced per message.
Where Klaviyo sits in the growth-vendor context
Klaviyo shows up on shortlists in The Wall's Automation pillar. Buyers who consider Klaviyo typically also evaluate Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot — the shortlist question is usually not whether Klaviyo is a good product (it generally is, or it wouldn't be on the list), but whether its center of gravity fits the company's shape.
Frequently asked
What is Klaviyo used for?
Klaviyo is used for e-commerce marketing: email campaigns, SMS marketing, automated flows (welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back), segmentation based on purchase behavior, and product-recommendation email content. Deeply integrated with the connected commerce platform.
How much does Klaviyo cost?
Free up to 250 contacts. Paid Email starts at ~$20/month for 500 contacts and scales with volume — approximately $150/month at 10K contacts, $1,700/month at 100K contacts. SMS is priced separately, typically per message sent.
Is Klaviyo better than Mailchimp for e-commerce?
For any serious e-commerce operator on Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce — yes, decisively. Klaviyo's e-commerce integration surfaces order history, product-view data, and behavior signals that Mailchimp does not. For non-e-commerce businesses, Mailchimp is often the better choice.
Does Klaviyo work with Shopify?
Yes — Shopify is Klaviyo's most-supported integration by a wide margin. Real-time sync of orders, customers, products, and behavior. Most Shopify brands that hit ~$500K in revenue eventually migrate from Shopify Email to Klaviyo.
What are the best Klaviyo alternatives?
For e-commerce specifically: Omnisend (cheaper, Shopify-focused), Attentive (SMS-first), Bloomreach (enterprise), Postscript (SMS-only for Shopify). For non-e-commerce: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot.
ALTERNATIVES
Mailchimp — The oldest and most widely-deployed email marketing platform, now owned by Intuit. ActiveCampaign — The strongest all-in-one marketing automation platform for small and mid-market businesses. HubSpot — The dominant all-in-one CRM + marketing + sales platform for the mid-market.RELATED IN THE ATLAS
Automation — the pillar this platform lives in The Wall glossary — 200+ growth-vendor terms defined Data briefings on the US growth-vendor marketThe Wall is an independent directory. This page describes Klaviyo as a market entity for buyer reference; Klaviyo is not a paid inclusion, sponsor, or affiliate. Facts on this page are compiled from public sources including the vendor's own website, SEC filings where applicable, and industry references. Corrections: contact page.