In this guide
Do you have exploitable customer events?
Klaviyo deserves special attention when orders and behaviors of a shop need to feed segments and sequences. Mailchimp compares itself on the organization of your audience, the campaigns and the necessary routes. No tool automatically corrects the inconsistent status or data you import.
Analysis of official documentation, with no testing on a paid account.
The four points to compare
| Criterion | Klaviyo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|
| Budget base | Active profiles and email sends | Counted contacts and email sends |
| Status to be considered | Active or excluded profile of emails | Subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed or archived |
| First pilot | Order, cancellation and exclusion | Audience, segment and campaign |
| Migration decision | Quality of events and relevance of rules | Clarity of hearing and necessary functions |
Meters that do not designate the same base
Mailchimp Commercially count subscribers, unsubscribers and non-subscribe contacts. Archived, cleaned and deleted contacts are excluded from this total. The cost of your base must therefore be distinguished from the number of people covered by the next campaign.
In Klaviyo, profiles excluded from marketing emails do not count towards active profiles. Do not treat this distinction merely as list cleaning: an exclusion status also helps prevent unwanted emails. Preserve its meaning when exporting or syncing data.
Test Klaviyo on a changing command
Prepare a fictional order, then cancel or refund it. Check which events arrive, when they arrive and which identifiers they carry. Then examine the segment that should exclude this order from a sales follow-up. Check that the event triggers the expected business rule.
Add a test profile excluded from emails, then simulate a new purchase. The aid states that a purchase does not reactivate this profile for marketing. This case is useful for verifying the transmission of the statutes. Do not use a real customer's contact information to artificially force the route.
Test Mailchimp on an understandable audience
Prepare fictitious contacts with several statutes and a source of registration. Define a segment that a colleague can explain the criteria. Before sending, compare the total retained and the exclusions to the expected list. If the result surprises, correct the data or rule before judging the graphic editor.
Then choose a representative campaign and short sequence. Record the features needed in the plan you are considering. Choose a more expensive plan to address an identified limit. First organise the audience and specify the campaign's goal.
The budget after sync
For both products, use the total counted after preparing the contact database. Add automated email sends to manual campaigns. One person may receive several messages during the month, so the number of contacts alone does not represent usage.
With Klaviyo, monitor step changes related to active profiles. For Mailchimp, reread the conditions of the plan, overruns and promotional period. Keep separate channels and additional options. No single price can properly represent all these configurations.
The criteria for deciding
- Reliable data
The events or status are accurate and errors can be reproduced with the demonstration data.
- Explainable Targeting
Another person can justify each inclusion and exclusion without depending on the creator of the journey.
- Verifiable budget
The cost is based on counted contacts, email sends and the options needed, with renewal terms kept in the calculation.
If these three criteria are not met, defer migration. The first project can be to rely on data and campaign responsibility. This preparation compares commercial promises to expected work.
Sources and methodology
Sources consulted on 27 September 2026. Klaviyo: active profiles ; Klaviyo: email exclusions ; Klaviyo : offers ; Mailchimp: contacts and billing ; Mailchimp : rates ; Methodology Logicelio