Klaviyo vs Litmus (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Klaviyo grades higher than Litmus: 2.4 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Klaviyo grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Klaviyo
Email, text and push marketing built on online-store customer data
Free plan · from $20/mo
Which one is for you
Pick Klaviyo if
- Fits if you run a Shopify shop and want emails driven by what people buy
- Works for brands that want email and texts in the same flows, with revenue shown per campaign
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if your list grows fast, at $150 a month for 10,000 profiles, and the plan moves up by itself
- Skip it if you just want a newsletter, as that's a lot of store tool to pay for
- Tight if you stay free, since 500 sends a month is two emails to a 250-person list, and sending halts past it
- Watch out: texts cost extra per send, Composer AI past the allowance is $10 per 1,000 credits, and support packages start at $500
- Not for you if you want funnel and cohort reports without paying for the Personalization add-on
Pick Litmus if
- Fits if your team already sends from an email platform and needs to check rendering before every send
- Works for groups that put every email through a review and sign-off step
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want one tool that also sends your campaigns, because Litmus doesn't
- Not for you if you need a price before talking to anyone: the site only offers a sales form
- Watch out: the site now calls it part of Validity Engage, so product names and packaging may differ from older material
- Too light for a one-person newsletter, since it's built around teams checking and approving emails
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAKlaviyoFair | 1.6GPALitmusWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CNothing is published, so there's no price to set against what email tools charge (middle of the category: $15 a month). That puts it in the ordinary slot until a quote says otherwise. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, with $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer AI each month. That's room to set up a new shop. Go over and sending stops until the next cycle or an upgrade. | FNo free plan and no trial on the listing. The Pricing link goes to a contact-sales form. |
| Features | 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. | DPreviews, monitoring, review and approval, but it doesn't send campaigns. It works beside Mailchimp, Klaviyo or HubSpot, so on its own it can't do the email job. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Connecting your store and building flows and segments takes real setup in the web app, with templates on every plan. | CNo rating on record. It's a web app that you connect to your email platform, so there's some setting up before the first preview. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, but 350+ integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix, plus ChatGPT and Claude, and an API. No desktop app is listed. | BWeb only, but it ties into Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Marketo, Eloqua and Responsys. |
| Best for | online stores that market from order data | checking how an email looks in 100+ inboxes before it sends |
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: Klaviyo and Litmus. How we grade
Where they differ
- Klaviyo also covers marketing automation, forms and email campaigns.
- Litmus also covers templates.
In commonWebReports
At a glance
| Klaviyo | Litmus | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $20 per month for up to 500 active profiles, billed monthly | Not published |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Klaviyo | Litmus Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | klaviyo.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Litmus
- Prices are not published: the Pricing link leads to a contact-sales form.
- Litmus does not send campaigns; it works with an email service provider such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo or HubSpot.
- The site now describes Litmus as part of Validity Engage, so product names and packaging may differ from older material.
Key features
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.
Litmus
- Email previews
- Preview an email in desktop, mobile and web email clients, including dark-mode versions of many of them.
- Email building
- Build on-brand templates so teams can assemble emails quickly, with testing alongside.
- Live monitoring
- Alerts on problems with deployed emails, such as failing links and broken rendering after a client update.
- Review and approval
- A central place for collecting feedback and sign-off on an email before it goes out.
- Personalization
- Add content such as live polls, personalized images and countdown timers to emails.
- Deliverability
- Inbox placement, domain reputation and engagement insights, presented as part of Validity Engage.
Plans
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.
Litmus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See litmus.com.
Ways to pay less
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.
Litmus
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Klaviyo or Litmus?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Klaviyo starts at $20 per month for up to 500 active profiles, billed monthly, and Litmus has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Klaviyo or Litmus?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Klaviyo has a free plan. Litmus does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.