At a thousand subscribers Klaviyo costs $30 a month and Mailchimp Standard costs $45. That is the opposite of what most sellers expect, and the $45 is the number Mailchimp shows you only after you look past the promotional price.
Where these numbers come from
Both figures were read off the companies’ own pricing pages on 15 September 2026, in US dollars, at a thousand subscribers. Klaviyo no longer publishes a price ladder at all — you have to open its plan builder and set the profile count — so the $30 is what its own estimator returns. Mailchimp publishes bands, and a thousand contacts sits in the 501–1,500 band.
I do not run either platform, and this is not a review of how they feel to use. It is a price comparison at one specific list size, which is the question a small shop actually has.
The prices at 1,000 subscribers
| Plan | Monthly price | Monthly email sends included |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo Free | $0 | Up to 250 profiles, 500 emails |
| Klaviyo Email | $30 | 10,000 |
| Klaviyo Marketing | $88 | 10,000, plus social and Customer Hub |
| Mailchimp Free | $0 | Under 250 contacts |
| Mailchimp Essentials | $26.50 | 15,000 |
| Mailchimp Standard | $45 | 18,000 |
| Mailchimp Premium | $350 | 22,500 |
Read the promotional price carefully
Mailchimp’s pricing page leads with $22.50 a month for Standard. Underneath, in smaller type, it says “Then, starts at $45/month”. The discount is 50% for twelve months. So the honest comparison is not $30 against $22.50 — it is $30 against $45 from month thirteen, on a tool you will by then have built every automation inside.
“Starts at” is doing work in that sentence too. The band price rises the moment your list crosses 1,500.
The thing that actually differs is the send allowance
Price is the headline; the sending cap is what will bite. At a thousand subscribers:
| How often you email 1,000 people | Emails per month | Fits Klaviyo Email (10,000)? | Fits Mailchimp Essentials (15,000)? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Once a week | 4,300 | Yes | Yes |
| Twice a week | 8,600 | Yes | Yes |
| Three times a week | 12,900 | No | Yes |
| Every weekday | 21,500 | No | No |
A handmade shop mailing once a week is nowhere near either ceiling, and the send limit is irrelevant to the decision. A shop running a launch, a sale and a weekly letter in the same month is not, and that is where Klaviyo’s 10,000 becomes the binding constraint rather than its price.
What the $18.50 between Essentials and Standard buys
Mailchimp’s two lower plans are not the same product at two prices. The gap is mostly automation, and for a shop that is the whole point of having an email tool at all.
| Feature | Essentials ($26.50) | Standard ($45) |
|---|---|---|
| Automation flows | Up to 4 steps | Up to 200 flows |
| Generative AI features | Not included | Included at no extra cost |
| Branded templates | Not included | Included |
| Custom reports | Not included | Included |
| Dynamic content | Not included | Included |
| Monthly sends | 10× contacts | 12× contacts |
| Audiences / seats | 3 / 3 | 5 / 5 |
A four-step flow is enough for a welcome sequence and nothing else. If the plan is a welcome email, an abandoned-cart nudge, a post-purchase care note and a win-back — four separate journeys, not four steps — Essentials runs out and the real comparison becomes $45 against Klaviyo’s $30.
Note the send formula while you are there: Mailchimp’s allowance is a multiple of your contacts, not a fixed number. Essentials gives 10×, Standard 12×, Premium 15×. It scales as your list does, which Klaviyo’s flat 10,000 on the entry plan does not.
And the $88 tier, briefly
Klaviyo’s Marketing plan costs $88 at a thousand profiles — $58 more than the Email plan — and the extra is not more sending. The allowance stays at 10,000. What it adds is social marketing, mobile push and in-app messages, predictive analytics, onsite personalisation, product recommendations, loyalty rewards and order tracking.
That is a customer-retention suite, and it is aimed at a shop with enough repeat buyers to retain. At a thousand subscribers most handmade shops do not have that yet. It is the right thing to grow into and the wrong thing to start on.
Two smaller traps worth knowing
Mailchimp charges by band, not by headcount. The 501–1,500 band is one price. At 520 contacts you pay the same $45 as someone with 1,480. Klaviyo’s estimator moves with the actual profile count, so a small list is cheaper there and the gap closes as you grow.
Both free plans stop at 250. Mailchimp’s own pricing page says “Under 250 contacts? It’s free” in one block and “fewer than 500 contacts” in another, on the same page, on the same day. Klaviyo’s free plan is 250 profiles and 500 emails a month — which is two sends to a 250-person list. Treat both free tiers as a trial, not a plan.
I use neither of these, and the reason is worth more than the comparison. My silver shop’s entire monthly fixed cost — hosting, ads, phone and internet together — runs ৳3,000 to ৳8,000, about $24 to $65 at 123.30 taka to the dollar. Mailchimp Standard at $45 a month would be most of that, for one tool, before a single piece is sold. At a 6% gross margin I would need roughly 60 extra orders a year just to pay for the software. That arithmetic is why the answer for a small shop is usually the free tier of something, run properly, rather than the right tier of something expensive.
So which one, at a thousand subscribers
If you email once or twice a week and want the lowest real price, Mailchimp Essentials at $26.50 is the cheapest paid option on this table and gives you 15,000 sends. If you want ecommerce automation built around what people actually bought, Klaviyo Email at $30 is four dollars more and a different class of tool. Mailchimp Standard at $45 only makes sense if you specifically need its automation flows and predictive segments.
What none of these prices tell you is whether the list earns anything, and that is the real decision. A thousand subscribers who never open are a $45 monthly bill. Building the list in the first place is the hard part; choosing between two invoices is not.
Three things to do with this
- Price the month-thirteen number, not the promo. Write $45 in your spreadsheet, not $22.50. If the tool does not pay for itself at the real price, the discount has only delayed the decision.
- Work out your monthly send volume before you pick. Subscribers × emails per month. If it is over 10,000, Klaviyo’s entry plan is out on capacity regardless of what you think of the price.
- Put the subscription in your cost of goods. $45 a month is $540 a year. At the kind of margin a handmade shop actually runs — mine was 6% — that is a specific number of extra orders. Work it out before you subscribe, not after.
Sources: Klaviyo’s pricing page and plan builder and Mailchimp’s marketing pricing page, both read 15 September 2026 in US dollars at 1,000 subscribers. Taka conversion at 123.30 BDT to the dollar, the rate on 14 September 2026.
Questions people ask about this
Is Klaviyo more expensive than Mailchimp?
Not at 1,000 subscribers. Klaviyo’s email plan is $30 a month; Mailchimp Standard is $45 once its 12-month half-price offer ends. Mailchimp Essentials, at $26.50, is the cheapest paid plan of the three.
How much is Klaviyo for 1,000 contacts?
$30 a month for the Email plan, including 10,000 email sends, or $88 for the Marketing plan. Klaviyo does not publish a price table — those figures come from its own plan builder.
How much is Mailchimp for 1,000 contacts?
A thousand contacts sits in Mailchimp’s 501–1,500 band: Essentials $26.50, Standard $45, Premium $350 a month at list price, with 15,000, 18,000 and 22,500 monthly sends.
Is there a free plan on either?
Both stop at 250 contacts. Klaviyo’s free plan also caps sending at 500 emails a month, which is two mailings to a full 250-person list.
Does Mailchimp charge by contact or by band?
By band. Everyone between 501 and 1,500 contacts pays the same price, so a list of 520 costs the same as a list of 1,480.
What happens if I go over the send limit?
Both platforms apply overage charges on paid plans. Mailchimp pauses sending instead of charging overages on its free plan.
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