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Marketing Automation

Keap vs Klaviyo: Which Marketing Platform Fits Your Business in 2026?

Keap is an all-in-one CRM, marketing and commerce platform for small businesses at a flat price; Klaviyo is the e-commerce email and SMS specialist, priced by active-profile count. Here is what each actually costs.

Keap logoSingle platform plan — $299/mo flat (2 users included, $39/mo per extra user)

Keap

VS
Klaviyo logoEmail — From $20/mo (500 active profiles)

Klaviyo

Bottom line Editorial assessment

Which is better, Keap or Klaviyo?

Choose Klaviyo if you run an e-commerce store and want the cheapest entry price with native revenue attribution; choose Keap if you want CRM, invoicing and payments bundled with your marketing. Klaviyo starts at $20/mo versus Keap's $299/mo flat.

Quick verdict: Klaviyo is far cheaper to start — $20/mo against Keap’s $299/mo flat — but the two are not really substitutes. Klaviyo is purely an email/SMS and revenue-attribution layer bolted onto your existing store; Keap is a full CRM with sales pipeline, invoicing, checkout forms and payment processing built in, with marketing automation as one part of a bigger platform. A pure e-commerce store optimizing send-level revenue wants Klaviyo; a small business wanting to run its whole operation, including non-online sales, from one system wants Keap.
Verified data

Keap vs Klaviyo: quick facts

At a glanceKeapKlaviyo
CategoryMarketing Automation
Entry priceSingle platform plan — $299/mo flat (2 users included, $39/mo per extra user)Email — From $20/mo (500 active profiles)
Free planNo free plan — free trial only (capped at 25 emails, no payments or texting)Free — up to 250 active profiles, 500 emails/mo, $5 of mobile-message credit/mo

Is Keap cheaper than Klaviyo?

Klaviyo, by a wide margin at the entry level: $20/mo (up to 500 active profiles) against Keap’s $299/mo flat (2 users included). Klaviyo’s price does rise with list size, and Keap’s $299 already covers far more than email — CRM, sales pipeline, invoicing and payments are all included, none of which Klaviyo offers.

Verified data

Keap vs Klaviyo at a glance

CategoryKeapKlaviyo
Entry priceKeap $299/mo flat (2 users included)Email $20/mo flat (up to 500 active profiles)
Free planNone — free trial only250 active profiles, 500 emails/mo
CRM includedYes, built inNone — event/profile data only
Invoicing & paymentsIncludedNot offered
Native e-commerce event syncNot a core featureNative Shopify purchase/browse sync
Revenue attributionNot a core featureBuilt into every flow and send
Built forSmall businesses running their whole operationE-commerce stores optimizing email/SMS revenue

Verified September 23, 2026Prices recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page. See sources

Prices in USD from keap.com/pricing and klaviyo.com/pricing, both checked September 23, 2026.

Editorial assessment

How they actually differ

Both automate marketing messages, but they occupy different layers of a business’s stack: Keap is the operating system, Klaviyo is a specialist tool that sits alongside a separate e-commerce platform.

Whole-business platform vs. e-commerce specialist

Keap’s flat $299/mo covers CRM, sales pipeline, invoicing, checkout forms, payment processing and appointment scheduling, alongside its marketing automation. Klaviyo does exactly one job well: sync store data and send highly targeted, revenue-attributed email and SMS. It assumes you already have an e-commerce platform (commonly Shopify) doing the selling.

Who these are actually built for

Keap targets small businesses — coaches, agencies, local service businesses — that need one system for sales, marketing and getting paid, online or offline. Klaviyo targets online stores specifically, where purchase and browsing behavior drives highly automated, revenue-tracked flows.

Moving between them

These serve different enough purposes that most businesses do not “migrate” from one to the other so much as add Klaviyo alongside an existing store while running Keap (or a similar CRM) for the rest of the business — or vice versa. Neither vendor publishes a dedicated importer for the other.

Keap

Pros

  • CRM, invoicing, checkout and payments included in one price
  • Sales pipeline and appointment scheduling built in
  • Works for online and offline sales alike
  • Migration/data-import services included in implementation packages

Cons

  • $299/mo is a high entry price versus Klaviyo’s $20
  • No native e-commerce event sync or revenue attribution
  • No free plan, trial only
  • Less depth in e-commerce-specific automation than Klaviyo

Klaviyo

Pros

  • $20/mo entry price, far cheaper to start
  • Native Shopify purchase and browsing event sync
  • Revenue attribution built into every flow and send
  • Genuine free plan up to 250 active profiles

Cons

  • No CRM, invoicing, checkout or payment processing
  • Not built for non-e-commerce or offline sales
  • Bills on active profiles, which can inflate cost as your list grows
  • Assumes a separate e-commerce platform is already doing the selling
Verified data

Cost calculator: what does your team actually pay?

Keap

 
$0/mo

Klaviyo

 
$0/mo
 

Keap’s $299/mo includes 2 users, then $39/mo per additional user entered above. Klaviyo’s $20/mo is a flat rate for its lowest profile tier and does not change with the number above. Klaviyo, Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign prices shown are each vendor’s flat entry-tier rate and do not scale with the number above; Keap’s $299 includes 2 users, then adds $39/mo per extra user; HubSpot scales per seat. Checked September 23, 2026.

Choose Keap if…

You want one platform for CRM, sales, invoicing, payments and marketing together, including offline or service-business sales.

Choose Klaviyo if…

You run an e-commerce store and want native purchase-event sync and revenue attribution, with your CRM and payments handled elsewhere.

Total cost over time

Uses your selections above. Estimate excludes add-ons, overages, and negotiated discounts.

Ready to pick your marketing platform?

Keap offers a free trial; Klaviyo has a genuine free plan up to 250 profiles. Consider whether you need one whole-business platform or a specialist bolt-on to an existing store.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Klaviyo cheaper than Keap?

At the entry tier, yes, substantially: $20/mo against Keap’s $299/mo flat. Keap’s price includes CRM, invoicing and payments that Klaviyo does not offer at all.

Does Keap do e-commerce revenue attribution like Klaviyo?

No, that is not a core Keap feature. Klaviyo attributes revenue to every flow and send natively; Keap’s strength is combining CRM, sales and payments in one platform.

Can I use both?

Many online stores do — Klaviyo for email/SMS on top of a store platform, and a separate CRM like Keap for sales pipeline, invoicing and offline customer management.

Does Keap include payment processing?

Yes, built in (Keap Pay or third-party processors), along with checkout forms and invoicing — none of which Klaviyo offers.

Migration Guides

Already decided? Here’s how to actually switch.

Step-by-step migration guides covering what transfers automatically, what doesn’t, and how to handle the gap — in both directions.

Editorial assessment

When to Buy — and When to Walk Away

Every “best marketing platform” listicle tells you why to buy. Here’s the other half: the specific conditions under which Keap or Klaviyo is the wrong purchase for your team.

Keap

Buy Keap if:

  • You want CRM, invoicing, payments and marketing in one platform
  • You sell offline or run a service business, not just e-commerce
  • You want appointment scheduling built in

Do NOT buy Keap if:

  • You run a pure e-commerce store and want revenue attribution
  • You want the lowest possible entry price
  • You want a free plan to start on

Klaviyo

Buy Klaviyo if:

  • You run an e-commerce store and want native event sync
  • You want revenue attribution built into every send
  • You already have a CRM and payments handled elsewhere

Do NOT buy Klaviyo if:

  • You need CRM, invoicing or payment processing in the same tool
  • You are not running e-commerce-specific automation
  • You sell primarily offline or through services

Sources

Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.

Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.

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Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
About the author

Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent nine years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 23, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.