Why do teams look for a Klaviyo alternative?
Teams look for a Klaviyo alternative because the price follows the size of the list, not the email they send. Klaviyo bills by active profiles. A big list of people you rarely email costs as much as a list you email every day. Once the list grows, so does the bill.
Klaviyo is one of the best email and SMS tools for online stores. The friction is almost always price, and how it is worked out:
- You pay for stored profiles. Any profile that can be emailed counts, whatever its consent status.
- Tiers move up by themselves. When your count passes a tier, the account moves up at the next billing cycle.
- It is built for stores. B2B teams that sell to other firms may not need its store tools.
Every copy of your list is also personal data you must protect. Under the GDPR, fines can reach 4% of yearly global turnover. Keeping your list in one system, on servers you choose, makes that job simpler.
How much does Klaviyo cost?
Klaviyo's free plan covers 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, according to the Klaviyo pricing page. Paid email plans start at $20 a month for 251 to 500 profiles, or $35 a month with SMS. We compared these plans on 26 September 2026.
We found that the price rises with each profile tier, so a growing list means a growing bill. Send limits on paid tiers vary, so check your own quote. SMS is sold as a monthly allowance in dollars, and unused credit does not roll over.
MagpieCRM works the other way round. Contacts cost nothing to store, and you pay when you send. On Magpie Cloud:
- 50,000 emails sent a month comes to £7.50 on Magpie Cloud, within the £10 monthly minimum50,000 emails sent a month comes to $12.50 on Magpie Cloud, within the $15 monthly minimum.
- 250,000 emails sent a month comes to £37.50 on Magpie Cloud250,000 emails sent a month comes to $62.50 on Magpie Cloud.
You choose your monthly email allowance up front. Sending stops when it runs out, and you can upgrade for the rest of the month. Unused allowance does not roll over. Self-hosting MagpieCRM is free.
MagpieCRM vs Klaviyo: feature comparison
MagpieCRM and Klaviyo both send email campaigns, but Klaviyo has far more automation. MagpieCRM is simpler, and adds B2B prospect search with verified emails. The table puts them side by side. Klaviyo details come from the Klaviyo pricing page.
| MagpieCRM | Klaviyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Price model | Per email sent | Per active profile |
| Entry price | £10/month, or free self-hosted$15/month, or free self-hosted | $20 a month for 500 profiles |
| Email campaigns | Yes, with a drag-and-drop builder | Yes |
| Automated flows | No | Yes |
| SMS | No | Yes, as a monthly allowance |
| Segments | Lists and personas, no event-based segments | Yes |
| A/B tests | No | Yes |
| Store integrations | No | One-click Shopify setup |
| B2B prospect search | Yes, with verified emails | No |
| Open source | Yes (AGPL-3.0) | No |
The main difference is purpose. Klaviyo is built to automate store email and SMS. MagpieCRM is built for B2B teams that find contacts and send them simple campaigns. If you need flows, Klaviyo is the right tool.
What does MagpieCRM include for email marketing?
MagpieCRM includes lists, a drag-and-drop email builder, templates, scheduled campaigns and open and click analytics. We built MagpieCRM for small B2B teams, founders and agencies. It also has sign-up forms, surveys and prospect search, so you can grow a list and email it from one tool.
- Contacts. Import from CSV or paste, add custom fields, and export any time.
- Lists and personas. Group contacts for each campaign.
- Campaigns. Build with drag and drop or a template, then send now or schedule.
- Forms and surveys. Collect sign-ups with a form or the signup API, and run surveys with branching.
- AI. Maggy, the copilot, on Cloud (self-hosted, it runs on your own Anthropic or OpenAI key), and an MCP server for tools such as Claude Code and Cursor.
- Sending. On Cloud, email is sent for you. Self-hosted, use SMTP or your own email provider (Amazon SES, Postmark, Resend, SendGrid, Mailgun or Brevo).
MagpieCRM is early access software, at version 0.9.136.
How do you protect deliverability after switching?
You protect deliverability after switching from Klaviyo by setting up your domain before you send, then growing volume slowly. Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your sending domain. Send to your most engaged contacts first. Then add the rest of the list over a few weeks.
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your domain.
- Add one-click unsubscribe to every marketing email.
- Remove hard bounces at once, and suppress anyone who complains.
Watch your spam rate closely. Google's sender guidelines say to keep it below 0.10% and never let it reach 0.30%.
On Magpie Cloud, email goes out through our own sending servers, signed for your domain. You add one DNS record we show you, a DKIM key, and DMARC if you don't have it yet. New IPs are warmed up gradually. Bounced addresses are marked, and people who complain, including through Outlook's and Yahoo's feedback loops, are unsubscribed automatically. We also watch each customer's sending rates.
Where is Klaviyo stronger than MagpieCRM?
Klaviyo is stronger for online stores, and for any team that needs automation. It has email and SMS flows, A/B tests and one-click Shopify setup. It syncs product catalogues for recommendations and predicts values such as expected lifetime value. Few tools match it for store email.
Klaviyo is the better fit if:
- You run a direct-to-consumer store on Shopify.
- Most of your email is cart recovery and post-purchase flows.
- You send SMS, or want to A/B test your emails.
- You rely on its product recommendations and predictions.
MagpieCRM suits B2B teams that send newsletters and announcements to a list they are building. It has no store integrations, webhooks or event triggers, so most online stores should stay with Klaviyo.
