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Email Marketing · head to head

Klaviyo vs Ortto

Klaviyo logo

Klaviyo

Email Marketing

The email and SMS marketing platform for ecommerce

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ortto logo

Ortto

Email Marketing

Australian marketing automation with a customer data platform and analytics included rather than sold separately

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Klaviyo has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Klaviyo the free plan caps active profiles at 250 and sends at 500 emails a month; Ortto contact-based pricing counts everyone stored, including unsubscribed and long-inactive records, so the bill rises with list decay unless someone owns a pruning routine.
  • They diverge on capability: Klaviyo covers Email marketing, Ortto covers Customer data platform.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Klaviyo and Ortto actually diverge.

Attributes where Klaviyo and Ortto differ
AttributeKlaviyoOrtto
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, REST API
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Ortto

  • Customer data platform
  • Journeys
  • Talk
  • Dashboards and reports
  • Playbooks
  • Capture

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 Ortto
  • Segmenting customers on purchase and behaviour datanot Ortto

Ortto

  • A SaaS company that wants trial and onboarding lifecycle plus product analytics without buying two toolsnot Klaviyo
  • A small team replacing a stack of email tool, chat widget and dashboard product with one subscriptionnot Klaviyo
  • Reporting on revenue by campaign and cohort without exporting events to a warehouse firstnot Klaviyo
  • Teams already on Autopilot that need a supported migration path rather than a replatform to a US vendornot 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

Ortto

  • Contact-based pricing counts everyone stored, including unsubscribed and long-inactive records, so the bill rises with list decay unless someone owns a pruning routine.
  • Each bundled component is shallower than the specialist it replaces, and the email template editor in particular is behind the ecommerce-focused competitors.
  • Deliverability guidance and reputation tooling are thinner than at dedicated email providers, which matters most in the first months of a sending domain.
  • The partner and agency ecosystem outside Australia and New Zealand is small, so hiring contractors with real Ortto experience is harder than for the larger platforms.
  • Support hours follow Australian business time, so European and American teams often wait a working day for a substantive answer on complex issues.

Pricing, plan by plan

Klaviyo

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

Ortto

On request
  • Ortto$undefined/month
    • Priced by number of contacts held, with separate email and SMS send allowances
    • Talk live chat and additional seats charged separately
    • Monthly and annual terms available

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 Ortto if

  • You need customer data platform.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want journeys.
Ortto review

Questions people ask

Is Klaviyo or Ortto better?
Neither clearly leads. Klaviyo starts at Free and Ortto at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Klaviyo or Ortto?
Klaviyo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Klaviyo and On request for Ortto.
Does Klaviyo or Ortto run on more platforms?
Klaviyo runs on Web. Ortto runs on Web, REST API.
Can I use Klaviyo for free?
Yes. Klaviyo has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ortto starts at On request.
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 Ortto is typically brought in for.
What can Klaviyo do that Ortto cannot?
Klaviyo covers Email marketing, SMS marketing, Push notifications, Marketing automation. Ortto covers Customer data platform, Journeys, Talk, Dashboards and reports.

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
Ortto: Is Ortto the same product as Autopilot?

It is the successor from the same company, rebranded in 2022 and substantially rebuilt. Older Autopilot tutorials no longer match the interface.

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
Ortto: Do inactive contacts cost money?

Yes. Pricing counts contacts stored, so unsubscribed and dormant records consume allowance until they are deleted.

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
Ortto: Can it replace a BI tool?

For campaign, funnel and cohort reporting on its own event data, usually yes. For joins against finance or support data it cannot.

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