ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo – Which One Is Right for You?
So, you’re stuck choosing between ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo for your email marketing? You’re definitely not alone! It’s kind of like picking between two great playlists — one is full of features, and the other just knows your vibe perfectly.
ActiveCampaign is like your all-in-one powerhouse. It’s packed with automation tools, a built-in CRM, and tons of ways to segment and nurture your audience. If you love diving into data and building complex workflows, this one’s got your name all over it. But fair warning — it can be a little overwhelming if you’re just getting started.
Klaviyo, on the flip side, is the go-to for eCommerce brands. It connects super smoothly with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, and its analytics are all about sales — not just opens and clicks. It’s user-friendly and really shines when it comes to personalized messaging. But if you’re not running an online store, it might feel a little too niche.
Now, I’m not here to crown a winner. Both tools are excellent — they just serve different types of businesses really well. My goal? To help you figure out which one fits your needs right now.
So, ready to find the email marketing tool that’s just right for your business? Let’s dive in!
A Quick Intro to ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo
💡 What is ActiveCampaign?
ActiveCampaign is a powerful all-in-one marketing tool built for businesses that want advanced automation, smart segmentation, and even built-in CRM features. It’s great if you love tinkering with customer journeys and want full control over your marketing.
✅ Best for: Marketers and growing businesses who need deep automation and CRM tools in one place.
✨ What is Klaviyo?
Klaviyo is designed with eCommerce in mind. It connects seamlessly with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, and helps you send personalized emails (and texts) that drive sales. It’s easy to use and super focused on results — especially revenue.
✅ Best for: eCommerce brands that want powerful, revenue-driven email and SMS marketing.
✍️ Email Editor: Crafting Your Perfect Message
💬 Who win For Email Editor:
Klaviyo wins if you want a clean, focused editor that’s tailored for product-driven emails.
ActiveCampaign is better if you want total design freedom with advanced customization options.
ActiveCampaign
Power + Flexibility in One Editor
ActiveCampaign gives you a drag-and-drop email editor that’s both flexible and feature-rich. Want to build a fully custom design? Go for it. Prefer to tweak a pre-built template? You’ve got hundreds to choose from. The editor gives you full control — fonts, colors, spacing, dynamic content, conditional blocks — it’s all there.
Plus, you can insert personalization tokens, product recommendations, countdown timers, and more. It’s designed for marketers who want emails that look great and perform smartly.
Downside? It can feel a bit overwhelming if you just want to get in and send a quick email.
✅ 250+ email templates
✅ Drag-and-drop with deep customization
✅ Personalization, dynamic content, and A/B testing
✅ Perfect for advanced marketers or power users
❌ Not as “simple” or beginner-friendly
❌ Might be too much if you don’t need all the features
Klaviyo
Clean, Focused, and Made for Selling
Klaviyo’s email editor is sleek and straightforward, especially if you’re sending product-based emails. The drag-and-drop builder is modern and easy to use, with just enough flexibility to make things look sharp without getting too complex.
It’s ideal for eCommerce — you can pull in product blocks directly from your store, create abandoned cart flows, and feature dynamic images or pricing. It’s not trying to be the flashiest editor — it’s about speed, clarity, and conversion.
Downside? Design nerds might find it a bit limited compared to more robust builders.
✅ Simple, clean drag-and-drop editor
✅ Built for product-focused emails
✅ Easy to add dynamic content from your store
✅ Great for fast, clean, sales-driven design
❌ Fewer advanced layout/design options
❌ Less control than full-feature editors like ActiveCampaign
Design & Flexibility: Make It Look (and Work) Your Way
ActiveCampaign
💬 Who win For Design and Flexibility:
ActiveCampaign wins if you want complete control over every detail of your email design and layout.
Klaviyo is better if you want a clean, no-fuss builder with eCommerce-ready blocks that just work.
Design With Power and Precision
ActiveCampaign is built for marketers who want to fine-tune every part of their email. Whether you’re starting from scratch or using one of their 250+ templates, you can customize just about everything — padding, spacing, fonts, columns, even conditional content based on contact data.
![ActiveCampaign Review 2025: Pros, Cons & Pricing [Analyzed]](https://moosend.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Activecampaign-email-template-library.png)
If you love experimenting with layout, want to match your exact brand style, or need to run split tests for subject lines and content, ActiveCampaign’s editor gives you the room to do it all.
✅ Tons of pre-designed templates
✅ Full control over structure and style
✅ Add conditional blocks based on subscriber behavior
✅ Supports A/B testing and dynamic personalization
❌ The flexibility can be a little overwhelming for beginners
❌ More features = steeper learning curve
Klaviyo
Clean Designs That Convert
Klaviyo focuses more on simplicity and speed — especially for store owners who want beautiful, product-driven emails without spending hours tweaking layouts. The templates are well-designed, and you can easily plug in product images, prices, and links from your store.
It’s not a playground for design nerds, but that’s kind of the point — Klaviyo helps you move fast and sell more, without getting lost in tiny design details.
✅ Smart, clean templates built for eCommerce
✅ Easy to plug in store content (products, pricing, etc.)
✅ Mobile-friendly and responsive by default
✅ Fast setup with minimal fuss
❌ Not ideal if you want deep layout customization
❌ Fewer options for advanced styling or design experimentation
List Management
💬 Who win For Lists and Segmentation:
ActiveCampaign wins if you want full control with tags, custom fields, and advanced segmentation.
Klaviyo is better if you’re focused on eCommerce and want to organize contacts based on real-time shopping behavior.
ActiveCampaign
Tag It, Segment It, Automate It
ActiveCampaign gives you serious list management power. Instead of relying on just lists, it uses a combination of tags, custom fields, and segments to help you organize and target your audience in super detailed ways. You can track behaviors (like email opens, page visits, purchases) and use that info to trigger automations or create dynamic groups.
It’s perfect for marketers who want to go beyond basic list-building and get really specific with messaging.
✅ Uses lists, tags, and segments for total flexibility
✅ Create dynamic groups based on behavior or data
✅ Tag contacts automatically via automation workflows
✅ Supports multiple lead magnets without duplicate contacts
❌ Might feel complex if you prefer a simpler system
❌ Can take time to fully understand and set up
Klaviyo
Behavior-Based List Magic for Stores
Klaviyo is built for real-time, behavior-driven list management. It tracks what your customers are doing — browsing, purchasing, abandoning carts — and lets you create powerful segments based on those actions. You don’t really deal with lists + tags like in other tools — Klaviyo focuses more on smart, automated segments.
Great if you’re running a store and want your email marketing to react to what shoppers are doing right now.
✅ Automatically segments based on shopping behavior
✅ Syncs with your store to track purchases, views, carts, etc.
✅ Real-time updates — segments stay fresh automatically
✅ Super useful for targeting active vs inactive customers
❌ Less traditional tag-based organization
❌ Not ideal for non-eCommerce list strategies
Forms & Landing Pages: Collecting and Converting Your Audience
💬 Who win For Forms and Landing Pages:
ActiveCampaign wins if you want highly customizable forms and built-in landing page options.
Klaviyo is better if you want quick, product-integrated forms that are super easy to launch — especially for eCommerce.
ActiveCampaign
Flexible Forms + Built-In Landing Pages
ActiveCampaign offers a solid set of tools for collecting leads. You can create inline, floating bar, floating box, and modal pop-up forms. They’re easy to style and can trigger automations instantly (like tagging or follow-up emails). Bonus: ActiveCampaign also gives you a landing page builder, so you can build and host custom pages right inside the platform — no need for a separate tool.
✅ Multiple form types: inline, pop-up, floating
✅ Customizable design + behavior triggers
✅ Built-in landing page builder with templates
✅ Seamless integration with automation workflows
❌ Limited styling compared to standalone landing page tools
❌ Might feel overkill if you just need a basic signup form
Klaviyo
Fast, Focused, and eCommerce-Ready
Klaviyo’s forms are made with conversion in mind — and designed to plug right into your store. Whether it’s a pop-up, flyout, or embedded form, you can easily customize the text, timing, and display rules based on what visitors are doing (like exit intent or scroll depth). While Klaviyo doesn’t have a native landing page builder, it integrates well with tools like Shopify to help drive signups on product pages and checkout.
✅ Easy-to-use form builder
✅ Smart display rules (scroll, exit, time delay, etc.)
✅ Great for collecting emails and phone numbers for SMS
✅ Directly integrates with Shopify/WooCommerce
❌ No built-in landing page builder
❌ Less flexibility for non-eCommerce use cases
Reports: Understanding What’s Working (and What’s Not)
💬 Who win For Reports?
Klaviyo wins if you’re an eCommerce brand and want to tie every email to actual revenue.
ActiveCampaign is better if you want broader, more detailed reporting across your whole marketing funnel.
ActiveCampaign
Detailed Insights Across Your Marketing Universe
ActiveCampaign doesn’t just show you how your emails are performing — it lets you dig into campaign metrics, automation reports, CRM activity, and goal tracking. You’ll see opens, clicks, unsubscribes, plus deeper insights like who’s interacting with automations or converting via a specific workflow.
It’s super helpful if you’re running multi-channel campaigns and want to keep an eye on the big picture.
✅ Campaign reports with opens, clicks, bounces, etc.
✅ Automation and contact journey tracking
✅ Goal tracking and attribution reporting
✅ Great for multi-step funnels and CRM integration
❌ Reports can be data-heavy for newer users
❌ No direct tie-in to sales data unless you integrate with eCommerce or CRM
Klaviyo
Revenue-Focused Reporting That Speaks Your (Sales) Language
Klaviyo’s reporting is all about money in the bank. You’ll see how much revenue each campaign, flow, and segment is bringing in — in real-time. It’s super clear, visual, and directly connected to your store data. For eCommerce brands, this is gold.
You can also break down performance by product, customer segment, time range, and more. It’s less about general engagement stats and more about what’s driving sales.
✅ Real-time revenue tracking for each email and flow
✅ Easy-to-read dashboards and performance summaries
✅ Product, segment, and campaign-specific breakdowns
✅ Integrates deeply with Shopify and other platforms
❌ Not as detailed for non-sales metrics like lead nurturing or funnel tracking
❌ Less flexible if you’re not running an online store
Email Deliverability: Getting Into Inboxes (Not Spam Folders)
💬 Who win For Email Deliverability?
ActiveCampaign wins for consistently strong deliverability backed by advanced tools and list hygiene features.
Klaviyo is solid too — especially for eCommerce — but can require more effort to maintain high inbox placement if you’re scaling fast.
ActiveCampaign
Deliverability Built for the Long Haul
ActiveCampaign has a strong reputation for email deliverability, and it shows. They offer automated list cleaning, engagement tracking, and deliverability reports, helping you keep your sender reputation in check. You can also enable features like custom domains, SPF/DKIM setup, and dedicated IPs (on higher plans) to really optimize performance.
It’s a platform built to help your emails land exactly where they should: in the inbox.
✅ Consistently high deliverability rates
✅ Built-in tools to clean lists and suppress inactive contacts
✅ Custom domain authentication (SPF, DKIM)
✅ Great for long-term sender health
❌ Best deliverability tools are only available on higher-tier plans
❌ Requires some setup to fully optimize
Klaviyo
Good for Stores, but Watch Your Volume
Klaviyo also has solid deliverability — especially if you’re a smaller eCommerce business sending to engaged lists. Their infrastructure supports high inbox placement, and they offer tools like smart sending (to avoid over-emailing) and double opt-in to help improve your sender reputation.
However, users scaling quickly or sending high volumes sometimes see dips in performance, especially if lists aren’t cleaned regularly. So, while strong overall, it may require more maintenance as you grow.
✅ Reliable inbox placement for smaller to mid-sized lists
✅ Smart sending and double opt-in available
✅ Integrates with your store to track engagement and clean lists
❌ May require more effort to maintain high deliverability at scale
❌ Fewer advanced deliverability settings compared to ActiveCampaign
Pricing: What’s the Cost to Grow?
💬 Who win For Pricing?
Klaviyo wins for small eCommerce stores that want to get started for free and scale gradually.
ActiveCampaign is better if you’re a business that needs powerful tools with flexible pricing across tiers.
ActiveCampaign
Scalable Pricing for Serious Marketers
ActiveCampaign uses a tiered pricing model based on both features and contact count. You’ll pay more as your list grows, but you also unlock advanced features like CRM tools, site tracking, SMS, and split automations. The good news? Even the entry-level plans are loaded with powerful features — and there’s a 14-day free trial to test things out.
✅ Starts around $19/month for 1,000 contacts
✅ Tiered pricing based on contact size + features
✅ All plans include automation, forms, and segmentation
✅ Free trial available
❌ No forever-free plan
❌ Pricing climbs quickly as your list grows
🟩 Klaviyo
Free to Start, Built to Scale
Klaviyo offers a generous free plan — up to 500 contacts and 500 monthly email sends, perfect for new eCommerce stores. As you grow, pricing is based on your contact list size, with email-only or email + SMS plans available. It’s flexible, and you only pay for what you use. However, once your list gets big, the cost can ramp up quickly.
✅ Free plan up to 500 contacts
✅ Starts at $30/month for up to 500 contacts (email only)
✅ Pay-as-you-grow model
✅ Email & SMS pricing available
❌ Gets expensive at higher contact tiers
❌ No tiered feature unlocks — all features included, but priced by list size
ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo – Which One Should You Choose?
Choosing between ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo really depends on your business type, goals, and how deep you want to go with automation and data.
✅ Pick ActiveCampaign if:
You run a service-based business, SaaS, or B2B company and need powerful automation plus a built-in CRM.
You want total flexibility in how you build emails, manage contacts, and create customer journeys.
You rely on advanced segmentation, multi-step funnels, or conditional logic in your automations.
You prefer detailed reporting and want to manage everything — email, forms, automation, and landing pages — in one place.
✅ Pick Klaviyo if:
You’re running an eCommerce store and want pre-built automations like abandoned cart, product recommendations, and welcome flows.
You want fast setup with minimal manual work — especially if you use Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce.
You care about real-time performance and want to tie every email or flow directly to revenue.
You like starting for free and only paying more as your list and store grow.
👉 My Suggestion:
If you’re an eCommerce brand looking to drive revenue with smart, plug-and-play automations, Klaviyo is the clear choice. It’s made for online stores and does a great job connecting your marketing to your sales.
But if you’re a service business, coach, B2B company, or digital marketer who needs deeper automation, flexible list management, and a more comprehensive CRM-style platform, ActiveCampaign will serve you better in the long run.
Both tools are excellent — it just comes down to which one fits your business style and growth strategy best.
Contents
- 1 ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo – Which One Is Right for You?
- 2 A Quick Intro to ActiveCampaign and Klaviyo
- 3 ✍️ Email Editor: Crafting Your Perfect Message
- 4 Design & Flexibility: Make It Look (and Work) Your Way
- 4.1 ActiveCampaign
- 4.2 Klaviyo
- 4.3 List Management
- 4.4 ActiveCampaign
- 4.5 Klaviyo
- 4.6 Forms & Landing Pages: Collecting and Converting Your Audience
- 4.7 ActiveCampaign
- 4.8 Klaviyo
- 4.9 Email Automations: Set It, Trigger It, Grow on Autopilot
- 4.10 ActiveCampaign
- 4.11 Klaviyo
- 4.12 Reports: Understanding What’s Working (and What’s Not)
- 4.13 ActiveCampaign
- 4.14 Klaviyo
- 4.15 Email Deliverability: Getting Into Inboxes (Not Spam Folders)
- 4.16 ActiveCampaign
- 4.17 Klaviyo
- 4.18 Pricing: What’s the Cost to Grow?
- 4.19 ActiveCampaign
- 4.20 🟩 Klaviyo
- 5 ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo – Which One Should You Choose?
