Customer.io vs Klaviyo
We give Customer.io a 2.2 GPA and Klaviyo a 2.4, out of 4.0. Klaviyo grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Customer.io
Data-driven email, SMS, push and in-app messaging for product teams
Klaviyo
Email, text and push marketing built on online-store customer data
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACustomer.ioFair | 2.4GPAKlaviyoFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$100 a month for 5,000 profiles, many times what email tools start at and well into the dearest tenth. It does include 1 million emails, unlimited users and unlimited push and in-app messages. Premium jumps to $1,000 a month billed yearly. | C$20 a month for 500 active profiles, at the dearer end of what email tools start at, and $150 a month at 10,000. Texts and other mobile messages are billed per send on top, and the plan moves up by itself as your list grows. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but there's a 14-day trial with up to 5,000 messages across every channel. Startups that raised under $10 million can get up to a year of Essentials free, which is a real deal if that's you. | CFree for 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, with $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer AI each month. Fine for setting up a new shop. Go over and sending stops until the next cycle or an upgrade. |
| Features | BVisual journeys across email, SMS, push, in-app, WhatsApp, LINE and webhooks, custom objects, an AI segment builder, warehouse syncs, transactional email and a design studio with version history. It covers the job across more channels than most, built around product data. | BShopper profiles fed by 350+ integrations, flows, campaigns, forms, product picks, SMS, WhatsApp and push, revenue reports and benchmarks. It covers the whole job for a store. Funnels and cohort reports need the Personalization add-on. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Before the first message your product has to send people and events through the API, SDKs or a warehouse sync, and every account is checked by hand before it can send. | CNo App Store rating on record. Connecting your store and building flows and segments takes real setup in the web app, though the templates on every plan help. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Segment, Snowflake, Salesforce, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Twilio, Google Ads and Facebook Lead Ads, an API, mobile SDKs and an MCP server. There's no desktop app, so B is the top. | BWeb only, but 350+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix, plus ChatGPT and Claude, and an API. No desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | product teams messaging users from app data | online stores that market from order data |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Customer.io and Klaviyo. How we grade
Price against what you get
Customer.io starts at $100 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Klaviyo starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Klaviyo starts $80 a month lower. Of the other email marketing and newsletter tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Customer.io for less, and 3 score higher than Klaviyo for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Customer.io starts at $100 per month for up to 5,000 profiles, billed monthly. Klaviyo starts at $20 per month for up to 500 active profiles, billed monthly.
- Klaviyo has a free plan. Customer.io does not, though it has a free trial.
- Customer.io also covers business texting.
- Klaviyo also covers forms and reports.
At a glance
| Customer.io | Klaviyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $100 per month for up to 5,000 profiles, billed monthly | $20 per month for up to 500 active profiles, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | Up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage a month, and email support for the first 60 days. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with up to 5,000 messages across all channels | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Peaberry Software, Inc. | Klaviyo |
| Price read from | customer.io | klaviyo.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Customer.io
- Software and app companies sending messages from product data
- Teams wanting transactional and marketing messages in one tool
- Startups under $10 million raised, through its free-year program
Klaviyo
- Online stores, especially on Shopify, that market from order data
- Brands sending email and text messages from the same flows
- Teams that want segments and reports built on purchase history
Worth knowing
Customer.io
- Usage beyond the plan costs extra: $0.12 per 1,000 emails on every plan, and AI credits at $10 per 100,000 on Essentials and Premium.
- Every account is reviewed by hand before it can send messages.
- SMS volume is priced on request on every plan.
- Chat support, onboarding help and custom roles start with Premium, which is billed yearly from $1,000 a month.
Klaviyo
- The Free plan stops at 250 active profiles and 500 sends a month; sending halts until the next cycle or an upgrade.
- Price follows active profiles, and accounts move automatically to a higher plan as the list grows.
- Text and other mobile messages cost extra per send, priced by destination with carrier fees included.
- Composer usage beyond the plan allowance is billed at $10 per 1,000 credits; paid support packages start at $500 a month.
Key features
Customer.io
- Journeys and workflow builder
- Cross-channel campaigns built in a visual workflow builder, with send-time optimization, LLM actions and API-triggered broadcasts.
- Many channels
- Email, transactional email, SMS, push, in-app messages, WhatsApp, LINE and webhooks from one account; push and in-app are unlimited.
- Profiles and custom objects
- Store people and objects such as accounts or courses with unlimited attributes, then segment on them, including an AI segment builder.
- Data in and out
- Unlimited API calls, mobile SDKs, reverse ETL from a data warehouse and an MCP server; warehouse destinations need Premium.
- Design Studio
- Drag-and-drop and code editors with reusable components, version history, AI translation and 25 inbox previews.
- AI Agent
- A beta agent that carries out tasks in the account, with scheduled routines: one weekly task on Essentials and five daily on Premium.
Klaviyo
- Unified customer profiles
- Each shopper's browsing, order and engagement history sits in one profile, synced from more than 350 integrations and used for real-time segments.
- Flows and campaigns
- Email and flow templates, web sign-up forms and personalized product recommendations are on every plan, including Free.
- Mobile messaging
- SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, RCS and mobile push sit alongside email in the same flows, billed per message on top of the email plan.
- Composer AI agent
- Composer reviews flows, segments and forms and drafts campaigns from a prompt. Free accounts get $5 of usage a month; a $20 monthly add-on gives four times as much.
- Reports and benchmarks
- Dashboards, campaign revenue attribution and peer benchmarks on every plan. Funnels, cohort reports and custom attribution need the Personalization add-on.
- Customer service tools
- Customer Agent answers shopper questions with AI (first 50 resolutions free) and Helpdesk handles tickets, with a 30-day free trial.
Plans
Customer.io
Essentials$100
per month for up to 5,000 profiles, billed monthly
1 million emails a month, unlimited users, 2 object types, visual workflows and the AI Agent. Extra profiles cost $0.009 each and extra emails $0.12 per 1,000.
Premium$1,000
per month and up, billed yearly
Custom profile and email volume, 10 object types, chat support, 90-day onboarding, managed deliverability and HIPAA compliance at extra cost.
EnterpriseCustom
Dedicated hardware, audit logging, a customer success manager, priority technical support and a shared Slack channel.
Klaviyo
Free$0
250 active profiles, 500 email sends a month, $5 of mobile messages a month. Emails carry the Klaviyo logo.
Email$20
per month for up to 500 active profiles, billed monthly
5,000 sends a month, logo removed, generative AI and predictive analytics. Price rises with the list: $150 a month at 10,000 profiles.
EnterpriseCustom
Standard and Advanced packages priced by active profiles through sales, with sends bought separately by usage.
Ways to pay less
Customer.io
- Startups
Up to 12 months free for startups
Startups new to Customer.io that have raised less than $10 million can get up to 12 months of Essentials features free, with up to 30,000 profiles.
Klaviyo
- Other savings
$19 off the first month of the Email plan
A one-time $19 credit on the first month of the $20 Email plan for accounts with no paid Klaviyo plan in the past 12 months. Valid through November 30, 2026.
