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Email Marketing · head to head

Klaviyo vs Listmonk

Klaviyo logo

Klaviyo

Email Marketing

The email and SMS marketing platform for ecommerce

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Listmonk logo

Listmonk

Email Marketing

Self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager that ships as a single Go binary

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Klaviyo the free plan caps active profiles at 250 and sends at 500 emails a month; Listmonk it is not an email service provider. It hands mail to SMTP servers you configure and does nothing about IP warm-up, domain reputation, DKIM, DMARC or inbox placement, so deliverability failures are entirely yours to diagnose and fix.
  • They diverge on capability: Klaviyo covers Email marketing, Listmonk covers Single binary deployment.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Klaviyo and Listmonk actually diverge.

Attributes where Klaviyo and Listmonk differ
AttributeKlaviyoListmonk
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Email Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Klaviyo

  • Email marketing
  • SMS marketing
  • Push notifications
  • Marketing automation
  • Segmentation
  • A/B testing
  • Reporting & analytics
  • Ecommerce integrations

Only in Listmonk

  • Single binary deployment
  • SQL segmentation
  • Multi-SMTP queues
  • Arbitrary subscriber attributes
  • Go templating
  • Transactional API
  • Bounce processing
  • Messenger webhooks

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Klaviyo

  • Email and SMS marketing automation for ecommerce storesnot Listmonk
  • Segmenting customers on purchase and behaviour datanot Listmonk

Listmonk

  • A publisher with hundreds of thousands of subscribers faces a five-figure annual bill from a hosted provider and can send the same volume through Amazon SES for a fraction of it.not Klaviyo
  • A developer wants campaign audiences defined by an arbitrary SQL query against subscriber attributes, which no hosted segment builder will express.not Klaviyo
  • An organisation under privacy or data residency rules needs subscriber data to stay on infrastructure it controls, which rules out every hosted newsletter platform.not Klaviyo
  • An open source project or nonprofit needs a mailing list tool with no per-subscriber cost, where the list will grow faster than any budget for it.not Klaviyo

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Klaviyo

  • The free plan caps active profiles at 250 and sends at 500 emails a month
  • Pricing scales with stored profile count rather than with messages sent, so an unengaged list costs the same as an active one
  • SMS is metered separately, with only $5 of mobile messages included on the free plan
  • Paid tier prices are not published on the pricing page and depend on profile count

Listmonk

  • It is not an email service provider. It hands mail to SMTP servers you configure and does nothing about IP warm-up, domain reputation, DKIM, DMARC or inbox placement, so deliverability failures are entirely yours to diagnose and fix.
  • Running it means running PostgreSQL, backups, upgrades and a mail relay, and the true cost is the engineering time to keep that stack healthy rather than the zero licence fee.
  • The campaign editor and analytics are basic next to Mailchimp or Klaviyo: reporting is limited to opens, clicks and bounces, with no revenue attribution, no ecommerce integration and no deep engagement scoring.
  • SQL-based segmentation puts audience definition beyond a non-technical marketer, so a marketing team without engineering support will be blocked on routine tasks.
  • The AGPLv3 licence obliges you to release source modifications if you offer the software as a network service, which is a real constraint for anyone considering embedding it in a commercial product.

Pricing, plan by plan

Klaviyo

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 500 contacts
    • Unlimited campaigns
    • Basic automation
  • Pro$20/month
    • Unlimited contacts
    • SMS campaigns
    • Advanced automation

Listmonk

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Full AGPLv3 source
    • Unlimited subscribers and campaigns
    • No feature gating and no send limits in the software
  • Third-party managed hosting$undefined/month
    • Several unaffiliated providers offer hosted Listmonk
    • No official hosted service from the maintainer
    • Prices vary by provider and are not published centrally

Which should you pick?

Choose Klaviyo if

  • You need email marketing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want sms marketing.
Klaviyo review

Choose Listmonk if

  • You need single binary deployment.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want sql segmentation.
Listmonk review

Questions people ask

Is Klaviyo or Listmonk better?
Neither clearly leads. Klaviyo starts at Free and Listmonk at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Klaviyo or Listmonk?
Klaviyo starts at Free and Listmonk at Free.
Does Klaviyo or Listmonk run on more platforms?
Klaviyo runs on Web. Listmonk runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Klaviyo for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Klaviyo best used for?
Klaviyo is most often used for email and sms marketing automation for ecommerce stores, segmenting customers on purchase and behaviour data. Of those, email and sms marketing automation for ecommerce stores and segmenting customers on purchase and behaviour data are not what Listmonk is typically brought in for.
What can Klaviyo do that Listmonk cannot?
Klaviyo covers Email marketing, SMS marketing, Push notifications, Marketing automation. Listmonk covers Single binary deployment, SQL segmentation, Multi-SMTP queues, Arbitrary subscriber attributes.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Klaviyo: Is Klaviyo free?

Klaviyo has a free tier covering up to 250 active profiles, 500 email sends per month and $5 of mobile messages per month, with 10,000 Composer credits. Email support on the free tier lasts only the first 60 days.

Source
Listmonk: Does Listmonk send my emails?

No. It composes, queues and tracks campaigns, then hands the messages to SMTP servers you provide, such as Amazon SES, Postmark or your own relay.

Klaviyo: How much does Klaviyo cost?

Klaviyo does not publish a paid rate card on its pricing page. Paid tiers are priced by active profile count and message volume, and a figure is produced through the plan estimator rather than shown as a list price.

Source
Listmonk: What does it cost to run?

The software is free. The real cost is a small server, a PostgreSQL database and per-email SMTP charges, which through SES are a fraction of hosted newsletter pricing at large list sizes.

Klaviyo: What counts as an active profile in Klaviyo?

Klaviyo defines active profiles as the contacts eligible to receive marketing, and the free tier is limited to 250 of them. Profile count is the main input to what a paid plan costs.

Source
Listmonk: What licence is it under?

AGPLv3, which requires you to publish modifications if you offer it as a network service to others.

Listmonk: Is there an official hosted version?

No. Some unaffiliated providers offer managed Listmonk, but the maintainer does not run a hosted service.

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