ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo
An honest side-by-side comparison of two of our top email marketing picks — pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and who each one is really for.
ActiveCampaign
Ranked #3 of 17 in this directory
The email marketing, automation, and CRM platform
Klaviyo
Ranked #1 of 17 in this directory
The platform for intelligent marketing automation
Our pick: Klaviyo. Our editors rank Klaviyo higher overall in Email Marketing — but ActiveCampaign can be the better fit depending on your budget and use case below. How we review
Compare the details
| ActiveCampaign | Klaviyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Paid | Freemium |
| Starting price | See website | See website |
| Category | Email Marketing | Email Marketing |
| Editorial rank | #3 of 17 | #1 of 17 |
Strengths
ActiveCampaign
- ✓Most powerful automation builder in class
- ✓CRM and email in one platform
- ✓Advanced conditional logic in automations
- ✓Good B2B and B2C versatility
Klaviyo
- ✓Best-in-class e-commerce data integration
- ✓Powerful abandoned cart and flow automation
- ✓Strong segmentation based on purchase behavior
- ✓SMS and email in one platform
Watch out for
ActiveCampaign
- !No free plan (only 14-day trial)
- !Can be overwhelming to start
- !Expensive at scale
Klaviyo
- !Expensive as list size grows
- !Learning curve for non-marketers
- !Best value only with Shopify
Best use cases
ActiveCampaign
- →B2B email nurture sequences
- →Advanced marketing automation
- →CRM + email for SMBs
- →Sales and marketing alignment
Klaviyo
- →Shopify store email marketing
- →DTC brand automation
- →E-commerce lifecycle email
- →Abandoned cart recovery
About each tool
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a powerful email marketing and marketing automation platform that combines email, SMS, CRM, and sales automation in one tool. Known for its advanced automation builder and deep customer journey capabilities, it's used by over 185,000 businesses who need more power than Mailchimp.
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is the leading email and SMS marketing platform for e-commerce brands, used by over 130,000 businesses. It integrates deeply with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce to power data-driven automation flows — abandoned cart sequences, post-purchase follow-ups, browse abandonment, and more. The standard for DTC e-commerce marketing.
Still deciding? Browse all 17 options with honest pros, cons, and pricing.
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