The important difference is not “contacts versus contacts.” It is which records each platform uses to set the bill and what must happen to stop a record from counting.
At 250 contacts, the free plans are nearly symmetrical
Both current free plans allow up to 250 marketable profiles or contacts and 500 email sends per month. That is enough to build basic forms, flows, segments, and a campaign, but only two complete full-list sends in the simplest case. Automations consume the allowance too.
The paid audience definition changes the economics
Omnisend sets its tier from subscribers plus non-subscribers in the account on the billing day. Klaviyo bills email around active profiles—records eligible to receive email—while suppressed profiles are excluded from pricing. Neither definition is automatically cheaper. The result depends on list hygiene, consent state, customer imports, and how each integration creates records.
Count Omnisend billable contacts and Klaviyo active profiles separately. A single exported audience total is not an apples-to-apples quote.
Compare the send multiple, not campaign count
Omnisend Standard currently provides 12 email credits per billable contact each cycle. Klaviyo says email plans include 10 times the maximum profiles in the selected plan. A merchant sending two campaigns per week can still use a large share of either allowance once welcome, browse, cart, checkout, post-purchase, and win-back flows are active.
Forecast campaign and automation volume separately. Then add a buffer for resend tests, seasonal peaks, and list growth. If the planned volume exceeds a tier, compare the actual upgrade—not the homepage starting price.
SMS is no longer a footnote
For Omnisend subscriptions started on or after May 4, 2026, Standard does not include SMS. New Pro subscriptions can buy SMS with volume pricing. Klaviyo prices mobile messaging through credits affected by destination and carrier fees. If SMS matters this quarter, request a matched-country quote from both vendors rather than treating an included dollar amount as equivalent reach.
When Omnisend is the stronger first choice
Choose Omnisend first when the team wants to stand up the core ecommerce lifecycle quickly, values the 12× Standard email allowance, and does not have a specific Klaviyo-only workflow driving the decision. A larger feature surface is only valuable when the team will operate it.
When Klaviyo deserves the extra evaluation
Shortlist Klaviyo when customer-event depth, profile management, segmentation, reporting, or its broader customer-platform tools will be used by the team—not merely admired during the demo. At this list size, paying for capability that nobody operates is usually more expensive than choosing the supposedly less advanced tool.
A fair 90-minute trial
- Use the same clean, consented test audience in both platforms.
- Connect Shopify and verify the same core events arrive.
- Build welcome, abandoned-checkout, and post-purchase flows.
- Recreate one segmented campaign and inspect mobile editing.
- Record build time, missing fields, reporting clarity, and the current plus next-tier quote.
Model Omnisend before importing.
Understand billable contacts, Standard credits, Pro email, and the 2026 SMS change.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper below 5,000 contacts?
There is no honest universal answer. The current bill depends on each platform’s countable audience, the exact tier boundary, email volume, SMS mix, and promotions. Price the same cleaned audience in both live calculators.
Can I stay on either free plan?
Yes, while remaining at or below 250 eligible contacts or active profiles and 500 monthly email sends. That allowance is best treated as evaluation capacity rather than a normal growth plan.
Should I suppress inactive contacts just to cut cost?
Do not make suppression decisions from cost alone. Preserve consent history, follow applicable rules, and account for the future value of re-engagement. Use engagement and permission—not a blunt age cutoff—as the decision input.
Sources and disclosure
MerchantTrim has no active commercial relationship with either vendor and receives nothing from these direct links. We have not performed a deliverability test and make no claim that one platform produces better inbox placement.
Omnisend: 2026 plan documentation ↗. Klaviyo: pricing page ↗ and active-profile documentation ↗.