Klaviyo or Shopify Email: which should you pick?

Dedicated platform vs built into Shopify. 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
Shopify Email, included: 10,000/mo; Shopify Email, included
Lumail free emails: 3,000/mo; Lumail free emails

TL;DR

If you sell on Shopify and want simple campaigns, Shopify Email is the cheaper start: 10,000 emails a month included with a paid Shopify plan, then $1 per 1,000, with unlimited contacts. Klaviyo costs more as active profiles grow but brings deeper flows, customer data, attribution and SMS.

Klaviyo vs Shopify Email side by side

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

Klaviyo vs Shopify Email comparison with Lumail
	Klaviyo	Shopify Email	Lumail (alternative)
Free plan	250 active profiles and 500 emails/month	10,000 emails/month included with a paid Shopify plan	$0, 3,000 emails/month
Paid from	$20/month	$1 per 1,000 emails after the free 10,000	$20/month, 40,000 included, then $0.60/1,000
Pricing basis	Active profiles plus emails sent; SMS and other channels billed separately	Pay per email sent, unlimited contacts; needs a paid Shopify store	Unlimited subscribers; pricing follows email volume
Automation	Visual flows with store, segment, and date triggers and up to 20 branches	Prebuilt abandoned cart, welcome, post-purchase, and win-back automations	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	Shopify's Sidekick AI helps write and lay out emails in the editor	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 are separate Shopify notifications	Included through API, SMTP, SDK, CLI, and agent tools
Publishing	Signup forms, subscribe pages, and landing pages	Your Shopify store plus pop-up and inline signup forms	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	Shopify merchants who want email and SMS inside their store admin	Teams that want campaigns, workflows and transactional email priced by volume

Choose Klaviyo if

You need flows with store, segment and date triggers and up to 20 branches
You want customer data and revenue attribution
You want SMS, WhatsApp or push in the same automation as email

Choose Shopify Email if

You already pay for Shopify and want 10,000 included emails a month
You want pay-per-email pricing with unlimited contacts
Prebuilt abandoned cart, welcome, post-purchase and win-back automations are enough

Where Lumail fits

Shopify Email requires a paid Shopify store. If you also email people outside your store, or need transactional email from your own app, Lumail is store-independent and priced by volume.

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 Shopify Email breakdowns, or the long-form Klaviyo and Shopify Email articles.

Start for free See Lumail pricing

Sources

Klaviyo pricing, verified on August 17, 2026
Shopify Messaging email pricing, verified on August 17, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify Email free?

It includes 10,000 emails a month with a paid Shopify plan, then costs $1 per 1,000 emails. You need a paid Shopify store to use it.

When is Klaviyo worth it over Shopify Email?

When you need deeper segmentation, branching flows, SMS and revenue attribution. Klaviyo starts at $20 a month and grows with active profiles and emails sent.

Do Klaviyo and Shopify Email include transactional email?

Klaviyo: Paid accounts only; flow emails need Klaviyo approval to count as transactional. Shopify Email: Order and shipping emails are separate Shopify notifications.

Is there an alternative to Klaviyo and Shopify Email 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 Shopify Messaging email pricing), last verified on August 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.

Keep comparing

Not sold on Klaviyo or Shopify Email?

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

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