TL;DR

Klaviyo now counts more than 193,000 paying customers with 32% annual revenue growth, but its per-profile billing model — the top complaint in its own G2 reviews — pushes its Email plan to roughly $45/month at 1,001-1,500 profiles and $60/month with SMS/MMS bundled in. Omnisend matches Klaviyo's free tier (250 contacts, 500 emails/month) but undercuts it on paid plans, starting at $16/month for Standard and $59/month for Pro with no send cap, while offering the same full feature set on every paid tier.

Brevo instead prices by emails sent rather than contacts stored, which can be materially cheaper for large, infrequently-emailed lists, and bundles in CRM and live chat that the other two don't include natively. Omnisend and Klaviyo both hold a 4.6/5 G2 rating, edging out Brevo's 4.5/5. For large or rarely-purged contact lists, Brevo's send-based pricing avoids the fast-climbing costs of Klaviyo's per-profile model.

Best Klaviyo Alternative for 2026: Omnisend vs. Brevo vs. Klaviyo Compared

Direct answer: Klaviyo is the default email and SMS platform for Shopify brands, and it has the growth numbers to prove it: the company reported more than 193,000 paying customers at the end of fiscal 2025, up from over 167,000 a year earlier, alongside 32% annual revenue growth (Klaviyo Investor Relations). But Klaviyo's per-profile billing model — you pay for every contact in your account, not just the ones you email — means costs climb fast for large or infrequently-purged lists. That's the single most common complaint in Klaviyo's own G2 reviews (G2).

This guide compares Klaviyo against two genuine, verifiable alternatives — Omnisend and Brevo — using vendor pricing pages and independent review data, not marketing copy.

Product Overview

Direct answer: Klaviyo is an ecommerce-native email, SMS, and now customer-service platform, built around a two-way Shopify data sync that most competitors can't match. Klaviyo's own marketplace listing describes it as having "the richest, two-way Shopify integration," syncing customer profiles, subscription status, and events in both directions (Klaviyo Shopify App Listing). In 2025–2026 Klaviyo expanded beyond marketing into a Customer Hub, an AI Customer Agent, and a multichannel Helpdesk, all sold as add-ons to a marketing plan.

Omnisend is a contact-based email, SMS, and push-notification platform built specifically for ecommerce, with every paid tier including the same full feature set rather than gating automation or segmentation behind higher plans (Omnisend Pricing Support Article).

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) takes a different approach entirely: it prices by emails sent per month rather than contacts stored, which can make it materially cheaper for large lists that are emailed infrequently. Brevo also bundles CRM, live chat, and transactional email into the same account (Brevo Pricing Overview via EmailToolTester).

Quick Answer

  • If you have a large list you rarely email → Brevo, because it prices by emails sent rather than contacts stored, avoiding the cost climb built into Klaviyo's per-profile billing.
  • If you're on Shopify and want the deepest native two-way data sync → Klaviyo, because its marketplace listing describes "the richest, two-way Shopify integration," syncing profiles and events bidirectionally.
  • If you want every feature unlocked regardless of plan tier at a lower cost → Omnisend, because its Standard plan starts at $16/month with the same full feature set as every other paid tier, versus Klaviyo's roughly $45/month equivalent.
  • If you need built-in CRM and live chat in the same account → Brevo, because it bundles those in rather than requiring the add-ons Klaviyo and Omnisend rely on.

Feature Comparison Matrix

FeatureKlaviyoOmnisendBrevo
Pricing modelPer active profile storedPer contact storedPer email sent (contacts mostly unlimited)
Free plan250 profiles, 500 emails/mo250 contacts, 500 emails/mo300 emails/day, unlimited contacts
SMS/MMSBuilt-in, bundled "Email + Mobile" plansAdd-on from $0.007/SMS (as of May 2026 pricing update)Metered separately by country, not bundled
Native Shopify two-way syncYes, deep native integrationYes, native integrationVia third-party/Zapier-style connectors
Feature parity across tiersNo — features gated by planYes — full feature set on every paid planNo — automation/A-B testing gated to higher tiers
Built-in CRM/helpdeskYes (Customer Hub, Helpdesk add-ons, 2025-26)NoYes (built-in CRM, live chat)
G2 rating4.6/5 (1,356 reviews)4.6/5 (1,185 reviews)4.5/5 (2,510 reviews, Marketing Platform)

Sources: Omnisend Pricing Support Article, G2 – Klaviyo, G2 – Omnisend, G2 – Brevo Marketing Platform

Pricing Comparison

Direct answer: Klaviyo: The free plan covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails per month. Paid "Email" plans bill by total active profiles regardless of engagement — at 1,001–1,500 profiles, the Email plan runs about $45/month, with the combined Email + Mobile plan (which adds SMS/MMS/WhatsApp) at roughly $60/month for that same tier. A price-protection feature caps any single increase at 25% when you cross into a higher tier. Once monthly spend exceeds $10,000, Klaviyo requires moving to the "Klaviyo One" tier, which adds a 20% surcharge on top of total spend (Klaviyo Pricing Breakdown).

Omnisend: The free plan matches Klaviyo's entry point almost exactly — 250 contacts, 500 emails/month. The Standard plan starts at $16/month and includes roughly 12x your contact count in monthly email sends. The Pro plan starts at $59/month and removes the email send cap entirely. As of a May 4, 2026 pricing change, SMS is no longer bundled into any plan for new subscribers — it's now billed as a volume-based add-on starting at $0.007 per message, with existing customers on paid plans grandfathered at prior rates (Omnisend Pricing Support Article).

Brevo: Brevo's free plan allows 300 emails per day with no cap on stored contacts. The Starter plan begins around $9/month for 5,000 emails/month, scaling with send volume rather than list size. The plan most people actually need — the one with automation and A/B testing — starts around $18/month, but jumping to the full Professional/Business tier (150,000+ monthly sends) starts at $499/month. SMS and WhatsApp are billed separately by country and aren't included in any email plan (Brevo Pricing Overview via EmailToolTester).

The practical takeaway: Klaviyo and Omnisend punish list bloat because every stored profile counts toward your bill, even unengaged ones. Brevo punishes send frequency instead — a large, rarely-emailed list is cheap on Brevo but a frequently-emailed list gets expensive fast at the higher tiers.

Who Should Choose What

Direct answer: Stick with Klaviyo if you're a Shopify-first ecommerce brand that needs the deepest native two-way data sync, plans to consolidate email, SMS, and customer service into one vendor, and can tolerate profile-based billing as your list grows.

Choose Omnisend if you want ecommerce-specific automation and full feature access on every paid tier (no feature-gating games), plus a contact-based pricing model that's typically cheaper than Klaviyo's at comparable list sizes, and don't mind SMS as a separate line item.

Choose Brevo if your list is large but you don't email daily, you want built-in CRM and live chat bundled with email, or you're not ecommerce-first and want a general-purpose marketing platform rather than a Shopify-native one. Be aware the jump from the ~$18/month tier to the $499/month Professional tier is steep if you outgrow send limits.

Sources