Klaviyo vs Mailchimp: commerce lifecycle versus the SMB email on-ramp

Store flows against campaigns, with two free tiers that are not the same size

Klaviyo versus Mailchimp is a marketing compare for teams deciding whether the next email system should know the store or should know the audience. Mailchimp is the incumbent. Klaviyo is not, and its editorial AI-native score is 7 out of 10, which is below Afterstack's 8-plus line for the independent AI-native crop. Mailchimp is 6 out of 10 on an incumbent. The selective compare in the catalog already says Klaviyo's strength here is commerce data and lifecycle, not a generative studio. This page does not upgrade that label because a pricing FAQ mentions an AI subject-line helper.

Both vendors published a free tier on 21 October 2026, and neither fetch rendered a stable paid-seat dollar I am willing to quote. Klaviyo's pricing page says the free plan allows up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, plus $5 of mobile messages a month and $5 of Composer usage a month. Email support on that tier lasts 60 days, then the help center, community, and academy remain. If you cross 250 profiles or 500 sends, sending can stop until you upgrade or the cycle resets. The page is explicit that the free plan can stay in place with no monthly cost while you remain inside those caps. A stray total of one dollar appeared in the page chrome. It is not cited as a plan price because it was not labeled as one.

Mailchimp's marketing pricing page says that under 250 contacts the plan is free, with a maximum of 500 emails a month or 250 a day, one seat, and one audience. Email support on that column is for the first 30 days. A 14-day trial of Standard or Essentials is described, and the trial terms say a card is required at enrollment for those monthly plans. That is a trial, not the free plan. Standard, Premium, and Essentials dollar amounts did not render in the captured text. This page will not fill them in from memory or from the catalog note, which only says free, then contact-based pricing. The catalog's $0 start and free-plan flag match the free rows. They do not describe the paid cliff.

What the free columns withhold

Klaviyo's FAQ says the free plan includes the drag-and-drop editors, automations, segmentation, and basic reporting, and that you are not blocked from the standard integration library because you are on the free tier. It names ecommerce stores on Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce as a sensible use while the list is small. It also says full email support ends after 60 days. Paid tiers are where branding removal and the reserved support channels live. The page did not print the first paid profile band. A buyer who needs a number for 5,000 profiles has to open the calculator in an account. This check did not.

Mailchimp's comparison table, in the order the columns rendered, gives the richest automation and generative-AI add-on language to the higher plans and marks generative AI as not included on the lower columns. Marketing automation flows show a step cap on one column and not included on the last, which is the shape of the free column next to the 500-send cap. SMS is an add-on on paid plans in select markets, after an application, and is marked not included on the free column. Users run from unlimited on the top column to one seat on the free column. Audiences run from unlimited to one. The page also offers pay-as-you-go email credits for infrequent senders, and a 15 percent discount for nonprofits and charities after you have a free account and you contact billing. None of those sentences produces a Standard price.

Mailchimp's page prints a long footnote block about ROI, order multiples, and customer counts. Those are Mailchimp's marketing footnotes. Afterstack does not adopt them as measurements. Intuit Assist is described as a beta for certain Premium, Standard, and legacy plans, at no additional cost at this time, with a warning that pricing can change. That is a packaging sentence, not a reason to call Mailchimp an AI-native product. Klaviyo's free FAQ mentions an AI-powered subject line generator on the free feature list. A subject line helper is not a commerce data model. The catalog scores already reflect that modesty.

Intuit is the owner named in Mailchimp's catalog price note as packaging that may apply. This check did not open an Intuit investor page. Do not add a deal value. Klaviyo's catalog founding year is 2012 and headquarters Boston. Mailchimp's are 2001 and Atlanta. Age is context. It is not a feature.

Who should move, and what this page could not price

Move toward Klaviyo when the list is a store. The free FAQ is written for ecommerce integrations and for flows that use profile activity. Move when 250 active profiles and 500 sends are a starting test, and you accept that the next band was not visible in this fetch. Stay on Mailchimp when you are under 250 contacts, you send campaigns rather than store-aware flows, and the one-seat free plan matches a founder who does not need SMS. Stay when a 15 percent nonprofit discount and pay-as-you-go credits match how you actually send. Leave Mailchimp only for the job you have. A content studio is a different product. Jasper is the content compare against a MAP, not this pair.

Skip Klaviyo if you needed a public price for 10,000 profiles before a meeting tomorrow. It was not on the page. Skip Mailchimp's paid columns for the same reason. Skip both if you are trying to replace Marketo's lead database. These free tiers are SMB on-ramps. They are not an enterprise MAP migration. The catalog keeps Marketo in the same marketing category and on its own guide.

No Klaviyo import article and no Mailchimp export article was opened for this pair. This page does not describe an audience CSV, a merge-tag map, or whether automations survive. General guidance, not a vendor doc: contacts and a store integration are the objects both pricing pages talk about, and template logic is a rebuild until a help article you open says otherwise. The migration pair in the catalog is Mailchimp to Klaviyo. Use it for the agent. Do not treat this compare as the cutover checklist.

Affiliates are not in this ranking. The useful decision is narrower than a winner. If your free-tier math is 250 people and 500 sends, both pages will let you start, and they will stop you in different ways. Klaviyo stops extra sends when profiles or the monthly cap break. Mailchimp's free column caps the day as well as the month, and it caps you at one seat. Paid plans exist on both sides and were not numerically visible here. Say that in the memo. Do not borrow a price from a review roundup.

Catalog labels for a store tool and a campaign tool

Klaviyo is filed as founded in 2012, not an incumbent, headquarters Boston in the catalog. Editorial scores are 7 for ease of use, 7 for AI-native, 7 for implementation speed, 7 for reporting, 6 for customization, 6 for value, and 6 for data migration. Seven on AI-native is below the 8-plus line this site uses for the independent AI-native crop. A subject-line generator on the free feature list does not move that label. Mailchimp is filed as founded in 2001, an incumbent, headquarters Atlanta, with 8 for ease of use, 6 for AI-native, 8 for implementation speed, 5 for reporting, 4 for customization, 7 for value, and 6 for data migration. Ease at 8 and customization at 4 are the incumbent's shape: familiar campaigns, a shallow model.

Flags: both have marketing automation, an AI assistant, an open API, a mobile app, SSO, and SOC 2. Klaviyo's marketplace flag is true. Mailchimp's is false. Both have custom objects false, calling false, and self-host false. Klaviyo's not-for lines say it is not an enterprise B2B Marketo clone, not self-host, and not a non-commerce scoring religion. Mailchimp's say it is not enterprise B2B scoring, not an AI brand system of record, and not self-host. The cons on Klaviyo say the B2B marketing-automation job is a different product, that usage pricing is the bill, and that AI is assist. The cons on Mailchimp say serious commerce and serious B2B ops outgrow it, that AI is assist, and that contact pricing has cliffs. This compare is the commerce sentence. Jasper is the brand-system sentence, on a different page.

Ownership in the catalog is public-company context, not a feature. Mailchimp's parent line is Intuit. Klaviyo's company record is a public-company line of its own. This check did not open an investor relations page, a share price, or a 10-Q. Do not add a deal value for the Intuit combination. Age is context for a free-tier decision. A product sold since 2001 having a one-seat free plan, and a commerce product sold since 2012 having a 250-profile free plan, is the comparison the pricing pages support. It is not a quality ranking.

The free caps are the only prices this fetch will stand behind

Klaviyo's free plan, as the pricing page stated it, allows up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, plus $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage. Email support lasts 60 days, then the help center, community, and academy. Crossing the caps can stop sending until you upgrade or the cycle resets. The page says the free plan can remain at no monthly cost inside those caps. A chrome total of one dollar was visible and is not a plan price. Paid profile bands did not render. A buyer with 5,000 profiles cannot finish a model from this essay.

Mailchimp's free column is under 250 contacts, a maximum of 500 emails a month or 250 a day, one seat, and one audience. Email support on that column is 30 days, shorter than Klaviyo's 60. A 14-day trial of Standard or Essentials requires a card. That trial is not the free plan. Standard, Essentials, and Premium dollar amounts did not render. Pay-as-you-go credits exist for infrequent senders. Nonprofits and charities can ask billing for 15 percent off after they have a free account. SMS is an add-on on paid plans in select markets, after an application, and is not on the free column. Generative AI is marked off the lower columns. Intuit Assist is described as a beta on certain paid and legacy plans, at no additional cost at this time, with a warning that pricing can change.

Move toward Klaviyo when the list is a store and the free FAQ's ecommerce integrations match the platform you already run, and when 250 active profiles are an acceptable test. Stay on Mailchimp when you are under 250 contacts, you send campaigns, and one seat is the company. Stay when pay-as-you-go or the nonprofit discount matches the real motion. Do not move because a footnote on Mailchimp's page cites an ROI multiple. Those footnotes were not adopted. The migrate pair is Mailchimp to Klaviyo. This compare does not invent a CSV of automations. The marketing quiz can require a commerce-shaped product. Affiliates do not place Klaviyo above the incumbent. The 7 and the 6 are methodology, and the missing paid stickers are the commercial fact.