Klaviyo or Omnisend: which should you pick?

Two store platforms, two price points. Free plans, pricing basis, automation and transactional email from each vendor's pricing page, plus who should pick which.

Klaviyo free emails: 500/mo; Klaviyo free emails
Omnisend free emails: 500/mo; Omnisend free emails
Lumail free emails: 3,000/mo; Lumail free emails

TL;DR

Same free box: 250 contacts or profiles and 500 emails a month. Omnisend starts cheaper (Standard from $16 vs Klaviyo from $20 a month) with SMS and web push built into ecommerce presets. Klaviyo goes deeper on customer data, attribution and AI tooling. Smaller stores that want ready-made flows: Omnisend. Data-heavy Shopify brands: Klaviyo.

Klaviyo vs Omnisend side by side

Every Klaviyo and Omnisend cell comes from the vendor's public pricing page, verified on August 17, 2026. Lumail is the third column, as the alternative.

Klaviyo vs Omnisend comparison with Lumail
	Klaviyo	Omnisend	Lumail (alternative)
Free plan	250 active profiles and 500 emails/month	250 contacts and 500 emails/month, with Omnisend branding	$0, 3,000 emails/month
Paid from	$20/month	Standard from $16/month	$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
Pricing basis	Active profiles plus emails sent; SMS and other channels billed separately	Billable contacts; Standard sends up to 12× contacts, Pro is unlimited	Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
Automation	Visual flows with store, segment, and date triggers and up to 20 branches	Visual workflows with 15+ ecommerce presets, like cart and browse recovery	Graph workflows with triggers, branches, goals, exits, and A/B paths
AI and developer access	Built-in AI agents, a remote MCP server, and ChatGPT and Claude apps	In-app AI for copy and segments, plus a small remote MCP	ChatGPT OAuth, MCP, skills, CLI, SDK, REST API, and visual editor
Transactional email	Paid accounts only; flow emails need Klaviyo approval to count as transactional	Order and shipping emails as store-triggered automations; no SMTP or send API	Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
Publishing	Signup forms, subscribe pages, and landing pages	Popups, embedded forms, and landing pages; no website builder	Capture pages and custom web domains; not a general website builder
Best for	Ecommerce brands, especially on Shopify, that want store-triggered email and SMS	Online stores that want email, SMS, and push with store-triggered automations	Teams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume

Choose Klaviyo if

You want Klaviyo's customer data and revenue attribution
You want built-in AI agents, a remote MCP and ChatGPT and Claude apps
You need flows with up to 20 branches

Choose Omnisend if

You want a lower entry price, from $16 a month
You want 15+ ecommerce presets like cart and browse recovery
You want Omnisend's team to migrate your lists and flows

Where Lumail fits

Both bill by contacts or active profiles. Stores with large customer lists and occasional campaigns can pay less on a send-based plan.

Lumail prices by emails sent, with unlimited subscribers on every plan: $0 for 3,000 emails a month, Premium at $20 a month for 40,000 emails then $0.60 per 1,000, and Business at $200 a month for 400,000 emails then $0.40 per 1,000. Campaigns, graph workflows and transactional email (API and SMTP) live in one account, and agents can run it through MCP, the CLI or the SDK.

Read the full Lumail vs Klaviyo and Lumail vs Omnisend breakdowns, or the long-form Klaviyo and Omnisend articles.

Start for free See Lumail pricing

Sources

Klaviyo pricing, verified on August 17, 2026
Omnisend pricing, verified on August 17, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is Omnisend cheaper than Klaviyo?

At entry, yes: Omnisend Standard starts at $16 a month and Klaviyo at $20. Omnisend Standard caps sends at 12 times contacts; Pro is unlimited.

Do Klaviyo and Omnisend send transactional email?

Klaviyo supports it on paid accounts, with approval for flow emails to count as transactional. Omnisend sends order and shipping emails as store-triggered automations, with no SMTP or send API.

Do Klaviyo and Omnisend include transactional email?

Klaviyo: Paid accounts only; flow emails need Klaviyo approval to count as transactional. Omnisend: Order and shipping emails as store-triggered automations; no SMTP or send API.

Is there an alternative to Klaviyo and Omnisend that prices by emails sent?

Lumail. It is $0 for 3,000 emails a month, then $20 a month for 40,000 emails and $0.60 per extra 1,000, with unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, workflows and transactional email share one account.

Where do these numbers come from?

From each vendor's public pricing page (Klaviyo pricing and Omnisend pricing), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

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3,000 emails a month free. Unlimited subscribers on every plan. Campaigns, automations and transactional email on one domain.

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