Klaviyo vs Shopify Email (Messaging): which should a small store use?

The short answer: Use Shopify Email, now called Shopify Messaging, if you send fewer than 10,000 emails a month and want the standard automations: it costs nothing on paid Shopify plans. Choose Klaviyo when you will build detailed segments, multi-step flows and SMS yourself, and the extra revenue justifies paid plans that start at $20 a month.

That is the Klaviyo vs Shopify Email decision in one paragraph. The rest of this page gives you the detail behind it: what each tool includes today, what each would cost a store with 500 or 2,500 contacts, how their automations, segments and AI features differ, and the signs that it is time to move from one to the other. Every fact comes from Shopify's or Klaviyo's own pages, linked in the text. We make tinyAlbert, a third option for owners who would rather not write emails at all; it appears briefly near the end and is kept out of the head-to-head.

Klaviyo vs Shopify Email at a glance

	Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email)	Klaviyo
What it is	Shopify's own marketing app, run from the Shopify admin	A separate email, SMS and WhatsApp platform that connects to Shopify
How you pay	By emails sent	By active profiles, with a monthly send capacity per tier
Free allowance	10,000 emails a month on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus	Free plan: up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month
After the free allowance	$1 per 1,000 emails up to 300,000	Paid email plans from $20 a month
Abandoned checkout emails	Always free, outside the 10,000	Flows use your plan's send capacity
Channels	Email, SMS and WhatsApp	Email, SMS, MMS and WhatsApp
Automations	Pre-built templates: browse, cart and checkout recovery, welcome, post-purchase, win-back, birthday	Multi-step flows on every plan, including the free plan
Segments	Shopify customer segments built from filters	Segment builder plus predictive analytics on paid email plans
AI	Sidekick in the editor; Campaign Autopilot can generate emails and automations	Email AI for campaign creation, AI agents, Composer
Best for	Small stores that want simple, low-cost email inside Shopify	Stores that will invest time in segmentation, testing and SMS

Sources: Shopify Messaging email pricing, Shopify Messaging overview, Klaviyo pricing and Klaviyo's Shopify App Store listing.

Shopify Email is now Shopify Messaging: what changed

Many comparisons still describe the old Shopify Email: a simple newsletter tool with a few templates. That is out of date. Shopify's Help Center says Shopify Messaging, formerly known as Shopify Email, now sends email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns from the Shopify admin, plus automations for email and SMS. The Shopify Messaging listing adds that you can use Sidekick, Shopify's AI assistant, to tailor emails to your brand.

The second change is Campaign Autopilot, launched on 17 June 2026. It is free on paid Shopify plans (you pay for the channels it uses) and can generate branded emails and automations, such as abandoned checkout and a welcome series, which appear in the Shopify Messaging app next to the ones you build yourself. Your store's permissions decide whether each tactic waits for your approval. Our Campaign Autopilot review covers what it does for email.

So the gap between the two tools is smaller than it was. Shopify now covers more channels and has AI help built in. Klaviyo's lead is in depth: flows with branches, finer segments, testing and reporting.

What each costs a small store

The two tools charge for different things, so the cheaper one depends on how often you email. Shopify Messaging charges for emails sent. Klaviyo charges for active profiles, meaning people you can market to; unsubscribed and suppressed contacts don't count, according to Klaviyo's guide to its pricing. Each Klaviyo tier includes a monthly send capacity.

Here is the cost at four list sizes, assuming four campaigns a month to every contact. Automations come on top (see below the table).

Your list	Campaign emails a month	Shopify Messaging	Klaviyo	tinyAlbert (third option)
250 contacts	1,000	$0	1,000 sends is over the free plan's 500, so a paid plan is needed	$5 a month
500 contacts	2,000	$0	$20 a month on the Email plan (251 to 500 contacts, per Klaviyo's App Store listing)	$10 a month
2,500 contacts	10,000	$0 (the whole free allowance)	Price for your active profiles is on Klaviyo's pricing page	$45 a month
5,000 contacts	About 20,000	About $10 (10,000 over the allowance at $1 per 1,000)	Price for your active profiles is on Klaviyo's pricing page	$90 a month

Klaviyo publishes its free plan and starting price, and its calculator shows the price for your exact profile count; it does not list a fixed price for every tier, so check klaviyo.com/pricing with your own numbers. tinyAlbert prices are its contact tiers, with unlimited sends and no free plan.

Three details change the sum:

• Automations count on Shopify, except one. Welcome, thank-you and win-back emails count towards Shopify's 10,000 free emails. Abandoned checkout emails never do. At 2,500 contacts with weekly campaigns, any other automation tips you into paid sends, at $1 per 1,000.
• Klaviyo's free plan is tight for a store that emails weekly. 500 sends a month covers two campaigns to 250 people, before any flow sends.
• SMS is priced separately on both. Shopify charges per message by country, for example $0.012 to the United States and $0.06 to the United Kingdom, plus a monthly toll-free number fee for US and Canadian sends (Shopify SMS pricing). Klaviyo's listing shows an SMS plan at $15 a month for up to 1,250 SMS/MMS credits, carrier fees included, and its free plan includes $5 of mobile messages a month.

For a wider cost breakdown across more apps, read how much email marketing costs for a Shopify store.

Automations: templates vs flows

Both tools cover the automations a small store needs first. The difference is how far you can take them.

Shopify Messaging

Shopify's automation templates include:

• Recover abandoned checkout, recover abandoned cart and convert abandoned product browse, by email, SMS or WhatsApp.
• Welcome new subscribers with a discount email, or a discount series of a discount email, two brand emails and a reminder if no purchase is made.
• Post-purchase: a thank-you after the first and second purchase, an upsell after the first purchase, and a win-back after a set time since the last order.
• Customer appreciation: a birthday email with a discount code, and an invitation to visit nearby retail locations.

Welcome, post-purchase and appreciation automations are email only and need a desktop to set up. For full functionality, Shopify says your store needs the Shopify Flow app installed.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo calls automations flows. Its comparison page says multi-step flows are included in every plan, and its free plan includes flows and A/B testing. New stores get a guided setup in the Shopify admin with a signup form, a welcome email and an abandoned-checkout flow. Paid email plans add personalised product recommendations, send-time optimisation, predictive analytics and multi-channel A/B testing, according to the App Store listing.

In practice: if your plan is "welcome, cart, thank you, win-back", Shopify covers it. If you want flows that branch on what a customer bought, how much they spent or which channel they prefer, that is Klaviyo's ground.

Segments, reporting and AI

Segments. Shopify's customer segments are rule-based lists built from filters, operators and values, and they update themselves as customers meet the rules. They include a predicted spend tier, and you can send Shopify Messaging campaigns to any segment. Klaviyo's segment builder works on the data from its 350+ integrations as well as Shopify, and adds predictive analytics on paid email plans. For a store with one sales channel, Shopify's segments go a long way.

Reporting. Shopify reports email results inside the admin, next to your sales. Klaviyo's free plan includes built-in reporting, campaign revenue attribution and engagement metrics, and its SMS plan lists customisable multi-channel attribution. If you run several channels and want to compare them, Klaviyo gives you more to work with.

AI. Both now write for you, in different ways. Shopify offers Sidekick in the editor and Campaign Autopilot to generate emails and automations. Klaviyo's listing names email AI for campaign creation, AI agents for campaigns, segments and workflows, and "reputation repair AI" for deliverability, and the free plan includes $5 of Composer usage a month. Our list of the best AI email marketing tools for Shopify compares the AI options side by side.

Which should a small store use?

Choose Shopify Messaging if

• You send fewer than 10,000 emails a month, or a little over and are happy to pay $1 per 1,000.
• Your automations are the standard set: abandoned checkout, welcome, thank you and win-back.
• You want to stay inside the Shopify admin with nothing new to learn.
• You sell through Shopify only, so Shopify's customer data is all the data you have.

Choose Klaviyo if

• Email or SMS is one of your main revenue channels and someone will spend time each week on it.
• You want flows that branch on behaviour, product recommendations and A/B tests.
• You sell on more than one platform or want data from other tools in your segments.
• You can budget for a plan that grows with your active profiles.

Most small stores start on Shopify Messaging, which costs nothing to try. The question is not which tool is better in general, but whether you will use what Klaviyo adds. A Klaviyo account running three basic flows costs more than Shopify Messaging for the same three jobs.

When to switch from Shopify Email to Klaviyo

Price alone rarely forces the move: on Shopify, 20,000 emails a month costs about $10. Switch when you hit a limit you feel every week:

• You want a flow Shopify's templates don't offer, such as a branch based on a product bought.
• You need segments that use data from outside Shopify.
• You are ready to test subject lines, content and send times systematically.
• You want email and SMS reported together with custom attribution.

When you move, don't run the same automation in both tools. Shopify's own guidance is that two welcome automations mean customers get twice as many emails (Shopify Help Center). Build and test each flow in Klaviyo, switch it on, then turn off the matching automation in Shopify Messaging the same day. Check one test order end to end to confirm only one email arrives.

Can you use Klaviyo and Shopify Messaging together?

Yes, if each job has one owner. Some stores keep Shopify Messaging for abandoned checkout emails, which are free there, and use Klaviyo for campaigns and other flows. The risk is a shopper getting two emails for the same moment, or unsubscribing in one tool and still receiving email from the other. Keep a short list of which tool sends what, and check that unsubscribes sync between them before you split the work.

A third option: if you don't want to write the emails

Both tools assume someone in your business plans the campaigns and writes them. If that is the part you never get to, an AI app that does the planning and writing is a different kind of choice. tinyAlbert, our app, is one. When you install it you pick a layout, a tone of voice (one of seven), a language (one of ten) and describe your store. It then writes a campaign calendar mapped to your store's category and retail moments, six automations including abandoned cart and a welcome series, and four signup forms. Nothing sends until you switch it on, and you can preview, edit, regenerate or test any email first.

It costs $3 a month for up to 100 contacts after a 7-day free trial, $10 at 251 to 500 contacts and $45 at 2,001 to 2,500, with unlimited sends. There is no free plan, it is email only today with SMS coming soon, and if you are happy writing your own emails under 10,000 sends a month, Shopify Messaging is cheaper. See how it lines up in our Shopify Email comparison and Klaviyo comparison, or start with our Shopify email marketing guide if you are setting up email for the first time.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify Email better than Klaviyo?

For most small stores, Shopify Email is the better place to start: it is free up to 10,000 emails a month on paid Shopify plans and covers the core automations. Klaviyo is better when you will use deeper segments, branching flows, testing and SMS reporting. Neither is better in general; the right choice depends on how much time you will spend on email.

Is Shopify Email the same as Shopify Messaging?

Yes. Shopify's Help Center says Shopify Messaging was formerly known as Shopify Email. The renamed app sends email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns and automations from the Shopify admin. Email pricing is unchanged: 10,000 free emails a month on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, then $1 per 1,000, with abandoned checkout emails always free.

How much does Klaviyo cost for 500 contacts?

Klaviyo's Shopify App Store listing shows its Email plan at $20 a month for 251 to 500 contacts. The free plan covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. Above 500 contacts, Klaviyo's pricing page calculator shows the price for your active profile count, and each tier includes a monthly send capacity.

Is Klaviyo worth it for a small Shopify store?

It is worth it when you will use what it adds: branching flows, predictive segments, A/B tests and combined email and SMS reporting. If you only need a welcome series, abandoned checkout and a few campaigns a month, Shopify Messaging does that for free under 10,000 emails, and you can move to Klaviyo later.

Can I switch from Shopify Email to Klaviyo later?

Yes. Klaviyo installs from the Shopify App Store and sets up inside the Shopify admin. Rebuild each automation in Klaviyo, test it, switch it on and then turn off the matching Shopify automation the same day, so no shopper receives two welcome or recovery emails. Check a test order before you finish.