The abandoned cart email earned 400 dollars last month, and the store owner cannot tell which tool sent it. ActiveCampaign‘s automation report shows the flow, Klaviyo‘s revenue report shows the order, and the store runs on Shopify, where Klaviyo reads every purchase, every browse, and every product view in real time. That gap is the moment most store owners start asking how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo, and it is a fair question.
ActiveCampaign is an automation engine with a CRM attached, and a price that climbs with every contact and every tier. Klaviyo is an ecommerce email platform with SMS attached, and a price that climbs with every active profile, but puts every feature on every paid plan. A store with 1,000 contacts who pays for ActiveCampaign Starter spends 15 dollars a month. The same store on Klaviyo Email spends 30 dollars a month, and gets purchase-history triggers, predictive analytics, and product recommendations that ActiveCampaign does not offer at any price on Starter.
The switch is not about which tool is better in general. It is about which price and which data match the way the store actually sells. ActiveCampaign charges per contact and gates branching, CRM, and SMS behind higher tiers. Klaviyo charges per active profile too, but at 30 dollars a month for 1,000 profiles, and puts every flow, every segment, and every predictive metric on that plan. For a store whose revenue depends on Shopify purchase data, the gap is real. For a store that needs a sales CRM and multi-branch B2B automation, Klaviyo can feel thin, and this guide says so plainly.
This guide walks through how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo in seven steps, with a checklist, a cost comparison, and a clear account of what transfers, what does not, and what to test before cancelling ActiveCampaign. Follow the steps in order, run both tools side by side for two weeks, and the move will be boring in the best way. Skip the steps, cancel early, and flows, segments, and revenue attribution can vanish without a trace.
The Price Gap That Starts the Conversation
Cost is the reason most stores switch, and the numbers explain why, even though the gap is not a simple saving. ActiveCampaign Starter costs 15 dollars a month on annual billing at 1,000 contacts, with 10 times the contacts in email sends. Plus costs 49 dollars a month, and adds landing pages, lead scoring, and SMS. Pro costs 79 dollars a month, and adds predictive sending, split testing, and the Shopify Plus integration. Enterprise costs 145 dollars a month, and adds custom reporting and a dedicated manager. There is no free plan, only a 14 day trial.
Klaviyo Free costs nothing, with 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. The Email plan costs 20 dollars a month at 500 active profiles, 30 dollars at 1,000 profiles, 60 dollars at 2,500, 100 dollars at 5,000, and 150 dollars at 10,000. The Marketing plan, which adds SMS, costs 90 dollars a month at 500 profiles. SMS is sold as an add-on from 15 dollars a month, and every feature, including predictive analytics and product recommendations, is available on the paid Email plan.
A store with 1,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Starter pays 15 dollars a month. The same store on Klaviyo Email pays 30 dollars a month, which is 15 dollars more, not less. The saving appears at the tier that runs a real multi-branch flow, because that flow needs ActiveCampaign Plus at 49 dollars a month, while Klaviyo includes every flow on the 30 dollar plan. A store with 5,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Plus pays 145 dollars a month against 100 dollars on Klaviyo, so the saving appears as the list grows, and it widens with it.
A store with 10,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Plus pays 189 dollars a month against 150 dollars on Klaviyo, and on Pro the gap is wider still. The free plans tell the same story. ActiveCampaign has no free plan, so a store pays from day one. Klaviyo Free covers 250 profiles, so a small store can test the Shopify sync with real orders before paying anything. A store that wants to test Klaviyo with real revenue data can do it free, which makes the trial cheap and the decision easy.
ActiveCampaign vs Klaviyo at a Glance
| Feature | ActiveCampaign | Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per contact, tiered by features | Per active profile, all features included |
| Free plan | 14 day trial only | 250 profiles, 500 emails a month |
| Entry paid plan | Starter 15 dollars a month, 1,000 contacts | Email 20 dollars a month, 500 profiles |
| Mid plan | Plus 49 dollars a month, 1,000 contacts | Email 30 dollars a month, 1,000 profiles |
| Full plan | Pro 79 dollars a month, 1,000 contacts | Marketing 90 dollars a month, 500 profiles |
| Shopify data depth | Deep Data sync, order history | Native sync, catalog, browsing, predictive |
| Flows and automations | Branching, gated by tier | Every flow on every paid plan |
| CRM | Full CRM with deals pipeline | Basic customer and order records |
| SMS | Add-on, Plus and above | Add-on, from 15 dollars a month |
| Predictive analytics | Pro and above | Included on paid plans |
| Support | Email and chat, tiered | Email and chat, with onboarding help |
Klaviyo bundles more into each tier, and that bundling is the point of the switch. Every flow, every segment, and every predictive metric lives on the same plan, so a store stops paying a higher tier to unlock a feature it already needs. ActiveCampaign stays deeper on B2B automation, with a full CRM, deal pipelines, and multi-branch logic that Klaviyo does not match, and that depth is worth real money to a store that sells to businesses. Check which side of that trade your store sits on before you move.
The Trade-Offs Nobody Mentions First
A switch guide that only lists the savings is not honest, so this section states the trade plainly. ActiveCampaign is an automation engine. Klaviyo is an ecommerce email platform, and the difference shows in the daily work. A store that runs multi-branch B2B flows, with lead scoring and a sales pipeline, will find Klaviyo thinner, with no real CRM and no deal stages to manage. The first month in Klaviyo feels simpler, even when the bill is lower, and a store that lives in its CRM will feel that gap weekly.
A store that sells to consumers on Shopify will not miss the CRM, because Klaviyo replaces it with purchase data, product recommendations, and revenue attribution that ActiveCampaign cannot match. The question is not which tool is better. The question is whether the store needs a sales pipeline or a purchase history, and learning how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo starts with answering that question honestly.
The Shopify sync deserves a second look, because it decides the saving for stores that sell on Shopify. Klaviyo’s native sync pulls the product catalog, order history, browsing behaviour, and predictive data in real time, and every flow can use it. ActiveCampaign’s Deep Data integration syncs order history and customer attributes too, but the flow builder cannot use the data as deeply. A store whose flows depend on what a customer browsed yesterday will miss Klaviyo’s sync every day. Count the flows that use purchase data before deciding, and the math will make the choice.
The SMS pricing also changes the bill. ActiveCampaign sells SMS as an add-on on Plus and above. Klaviyo sells SMS from 15 dollars a month, with carrier fees on top, and the Marketing plan bundles email and SMS at 90 dollars a month for 500 profiles. A store that sends SMS to 5,000 profiles will pay more on either tool, and the SMS volume, not the email price, will decide the bill. Price the SMS list before you move, because the email saving can vanish in the SMS column.
How to Switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo in 7 Steps
Step 1. Audit the ActiveCampaign account before touching anything
Open ActiveCampaign and list every list, every contact count, every tag, every segment, every automation, and every deal pipeline. Export each list as a CSV file, and note the renewal date and the plan, because cancelling mid term can carry a fee. Pay special attention to automations, lead scoring, and deal stages, because the importer does not move those cleanly. This audit takes an hour and prevents the most common switch failure, which is discovering a workflow only after it was deleted.
Step 2. Set up Klaviyo and map the structure
Create the Klaviyo account, choose the plan that matches the profile count, and decide the structure before importing anything. ActiveCampaign lists become Klaviyo lists, and ActiveCampaign tags become Klaviyo segments or profile properties, your choice during the import. Connect the Shopify store first, because the sync needs time to pull the catalog and the order history, and the flows cannot be tested until it does. Do not import yet. A clean structure decided on paper saves a week of reorganizing later.
Step 3. Run the import on one list first
Open Klaviyo, choose Lists, then Import, and upload the CSV file from one small list first, not the whole account. The importer brings across email addresses, names, tags, and custom fields, and asks you to map each ActiveCampaign column to a Klaviyo property. Check the imported list carefully, count the profiles against the ActiveCampaign original, open a few records to confirm tags and fields survived, and fix the mapping before the big import. A pilot import that takes an afternoon prevents a list wide mess.
Step 4. Import the rest and rebuild what does not transfer
Once the pilot looks clean, import the remaining lists in batches, checking each one as it lands. Then rebuild what the importer leaves behind. Automations do not transfer, so rebuild each one as a Klaviyo flow, starting with abandoned cart, welcome, and post-purchase. Lead scoring and deal pipelines do not transfer at all, so decide whether the store still needs them, and if it does, keep a CRM for that job. This is the largest single task in the switch, so budget a full afternoon for a normal store and do not promise a one hour migration.
Step 5. Move the team and set permissions
Invite the team to Klaviyo and set access levels. Remember that Klaviyo charges per active profile, not per seat, so the team size does not change the bill, but the permissions still matter. Assign each person to the lists and flows they manage, and run a short training session on the flow builder the team will actually use, because Klaviyo’s builder is simpler than ActiveCampaign’s and a new user can miss the triggers that sit in a different place. A teammate who cannot find their flow will fall back to ActiveCampaign, and the switch will stall.
Step 6. Run both tools side by side for two weeks
Work from Klaviyo for two weeks while ActiveCampaign stays open and the old automations finish. Watch the profile counts daily, check that tags and segments match, and confirm the flows you rebuilt actually fire. Send a test campaign to a small segment first, check the revenue attribution against the ActiveCampaign average, and confirm the links and the unsubscribe work. Fix the problems while ActiveCampaign is still available as a fallback, not after it is cancelled. Two quiet weeks of parallel running cost nothing and catch every problem early.
Step 7. Cancel ActiveCampaign and confirm the data is safe
Once two weeks of Klaviyo work look clean, export the final list data and any remaining reports from ActiveCampaign, then cancel the subscription before the renewal date. Confirm the cancellation email arrives, and check that no auto renewal is set. Keep the ActiveCampaign export files for six months, because the importer does not move everything and the old exports are the only record of automations, lead scores, and deal stages. The switch is done when Klaviyo has run cleanly for two weeks and ActiveCampaign is cancelled without a surprise charge.
What Comes Across and What Stays Behind
The Klaviyo CSV importer moves the core list well. Email addresses, names, tags, and custom fields come across, and you map each ActiveCampaign column to a Klaviyo property during the import. The Shopify sync then adds order history, browsing behaviour, and product data on top, which is the data that makes Klaviyo worth the move. For a normal list, that covers most of what a store needs to keep mailing on day one.
What does not transfer is specific, and the team should name it before starting. Automations do not transfer, so list each one and rebuild it as a Klaviyo flow. Lead scoring does not transfer, so note what each score meant and rebuild it as a segment. Deal pipelines do not transfer at all, because Klaviyo has no CRM, so a store that needs a pipeline must keep a separate tool for it. SMS history does not transfer, so note the SMS lists and rebuild them by hand.
It is a one time copy, not a live sync. ActiveCampaign stays as it was, and later changes in either tool do not sync back. Check the import report afterwards, because Klaviyo notes that some records can fail or duplicate. That is the full picture of how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo without losing the revenue that matters.
The Go-Live Checklist
Use this checklist before starting step 1, and do not skip a line.
- List every ActiveCampaign list, contact count, tag, segment, and automation. – Export each list as a CSV file and save the files. – Note the ActiveCampaign renewal date and any contract term. – Flag automations, lead scores, deal pipelines, and SMS lists. – Choose the Klaviyo plan by profile count and SMS volume. – Decide how ActiveCampaign tags map, to lists or segments.
- List the ActiveCampaign integrations the team actually uses. – Count the active profiles, because Klaviyo charges per active profile. – Plan a replacement for any ActiveCampaign feature Klaviyo lacks. – Set a switch date in a quiet week, not during a launch. – Tell the team the switch date and the new workflow before step 1.
What the Switch Saves in Real Money
The saving depends on list size and plan, because the two tools charge different rates for similar work. A store with 1,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Starter pays 15 dollars a month. The same store on Klaviyo Email pays 30 dollars a month, which is 15 dollars more, so at the entry tier Klaviyo costs more, not less. The saving appears when the store needs the Plus tier, because Plus at 49 dollars a month is the tier that runs a real multi-branch flow, while Klaviyo includes every flow on the 30 dollar plan, a saving of about 19 dollars a month.
A store with 5,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Plus pays 145 dollars a month. The same store on Klaviyo Email pays 100 dollars a month, a saving of about 45 dollars a month or 540 dollars a year. A store with 10,000 contacts on ActiveCampaign Plus pays 189 dollars a month against 150 dollars on Klaviyo, a saving of about 39 dollars a month. Those figures use annual billing on ActiveCampaign and monthly billing on Klaviyo, and the gap widens when the store adds SMS, because Klaviyo’s SMS add-on starts at 15 dollars a month while ActiveCampaign gates SMS behind Plus.
The saving shrinks when the store adds a CRM. A store that needs deal pipelines will pay for a separate CRM after the move, and that cost can eat the saving. A store that runs free on Klaviyo, with 250 profiles, saves the whole ActiveCampaign bill. Count the CRM users and the SMS volume, run the two totals, and the answer will be clear. For most Shopify stores without heavy CRM needs, Klaviyo saves money once the list passes 2,500 contacts.
Run the same math for your own store before you commit to how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo, because the totals decide the plan.
Your First Two Weeks in Klaviyo
The parallel run only helps if the team tests the right things, so set the tests before the first Klaviyo flow is turned on. Create flows across every list the team uses, including one abandoned cart flow, one welcome flow, and one post-purchase flow, and confirm each one shows the right triggers and the right revenue. Then compare the Klaviyo profile counts against the ActiveCampaign export from step 1, checking totals by list and by tag. That test plan is the part of the switch that most teams skip, and it is the part that catches the problems while ActiveCampaign is still available as a fallback.
Test the flows and the segments next, because those are the workflows that break quietly. Trigger one rebuilt flow and confirm it fires, open the List, Segment, and Flow views for the same campaign, and have a second teammate confirm they see the same profiles. Also test a flow that needs a predictive trigger, since predictive data must sync first and trips up stores that rely on it. A test that covers flows, segments, and predictive triggers in the first week leaves the second week for fixing what failed, which is exactly how a quiet switch is supposed to work.
Five Mistakes That Stall the Move
The first mistake is cancelling ActiveCampaign before the Klaviyo import is checked. A store that cancels on day one loses the automations, the lead scores, and the deal stages in one move, and the rebuild takes days instead of hours. Keep ActiveCampaign until step 7, and the switch stays boring. The second mistake is importing the whole account at once without a pilot. A mapping error on tags repeats across every list, and fixing it after the fact costs more than the pilot ever did.
The third mistake is forgetting the profile count. A store that imports every contact, including the ones who never open, will pay for profiles it does not need, because Klaviyo charges per active profile. Clean the list before the import, and suppress the contacts who have not opened in six months. The fourth mistake is skipping the two week parallel run. A store that switches overnight discovers the flow gaps during a live sale, when fixing them costs the most. Two quiet weeks of parallel running cost nothing and catch every problem early.
The fifth mistake is underestimating the manual rebuild. Automations, lead scores, and deal pipelines do not transfer, and a store that budgets an hour for the rebuild will run out of time. Budget an afternoon, rebuild the top flows first, and leave the long tail of old automations behind. The switch is a good time to clean the account, not a reason to move every old flow into the new tool.
Life After the Switch
The first month after the move is when the saving becomes real, and it is also when the new habits form. Set a weekly review in Klaviyo, one hour where the team checks flow revenue, clears the inbox, and updates the segments, because a platform with purchase data needs a steadier rhythm than ActiveCampaign did. Tune the rebuilt flows after two weeks, not on day one, because the first fortnight shows which flows earn revenue and which never fire. The work of learning how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo does not end on cancel day. It ends when the team stops opening the old tool out of habit, and that usually takes a full month.
Revisit the plan choice after 90 days. A store that started on Email may find it needs the Marketing plan for SMS, and a store that started on Marketing may find it can drop the SMS add-on it never used. Count the profiles again too, because Klaviyo bills per active profile, and a segment that never opens should be suppressed. The switch saves money once. The habits save it every month after.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo?
Most small stores finish the switch in one to two weeks. The setup takes an afternoon, the pilot import and the manual rebuild take another afternoon, and the two week parallel run catches the problems while ActiveCampaign is still available. A store with many lists or heavy automation should budget three weeks. Do not promise a one day switch, because the manual rebuild and the parallel run are what make the move safe.
Will I lose my contacts when I switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo?
Contacts, tags, and custom fields transfer through the CSV importer, so export each list first and run a pilot import on one list to confirm the mapping. Automations, lead scores, and deal pipelines do not transfer, so flag them in the audit and rebuild them by hand. Keep ActiveCampaign running until the Klaviyo import is checked, and no contact will be lost.
Is Klaviyo really cheaper than ActiveCampaign?
For most Shopify stores that need more than basic sending, yes, by a clear margin. Klaviyo Email costs 30 dollars a month for 1,000 profiles against 49 dollars for ActiveCampaign Plus, so a store that needs multi-branch flows saves about 19 dollars a month. At the entry tier, ActiveCampaign Starter at 15 dollars a month is cheaper than Klaviyo at 30 dollars, so a store that only needs basic automation should stay on Starter. Count the flows the store actually uses before deciding.
Does Klaviyo have the same CRM as ActiveCampaign?
No, and the difference matters. ActiveCampaign has a full CRM with deal pipelines, lead scoring, and sales stages. Klaviyo has basic customer and order records, with no deal pipeline. A store that sells to businesses and manages deals will miss the CRM every day. A store that sells to consumers on Shopify will find Klaviyo’s purchase data and revenue attribution worth the trade.
Can I keep my ActiveCampaign automations when I switch?
No, ActiveCampaign automations do not transfer. ActiveCampaign automation rules must be rebuilt as Klaviyo flows, and Klaviyo includes every flow on every paid plan, so the rebuild is a chance to simplify. List the automations the store actually uses, rebuild the top ones first, and count monthly sends before choosing a plan. A store with heavy automation should check the profile count against its real volume.
The Call
Switch to Klaviyo if the store runs on Shopify, if the store is paying for ActiveCampaign Plus and only using email flows, or if the store wants purchase data, predictive analytics, and product recommendations in the same login. A store with 2,500 to 10,000 contacts will save a clear amount each month, get revenue attribution that ActiveCampaign does not offer, and lose nothing it actually uses, as long as the audit flags the automations and the deal pipelines first. For those stores, learning how to switch from ActiveCampaign to Klaviyo is worth an afternoon, and the saving repeats every month.
Stay on ActiveCampaign if the store needs a full CRM and deal pipelines, if the store is on Starter at 15 dollars a month and does not need multi-branch flows, or if the store is mid sale and cannot afford a week of parallel running. A store that values B2B automation over ecommerce data will feel Klaviyo as thin, and a store with few contacts can find ActiveCampaign Starter cheaper than Klaviyo Email. Stay also if the contract renewal is close and the store is mid launch. A switch during a launch costs more in chaos than it saves in subscription fees.
The decision rule is simple. Count the contacts, count the flows, list the CRM features the store actually opens every week, and run the two totals with SMS and CRM included. If Klaviyo covers the weekly workflow and costs less, switch in a quiet week and follow the seven steps. If ActiveCampaign covers a weekly workflow that Klaviyo cannot match, stay and renegotiate the ActiveCampaign plan instead. The right tool is the one that matches the work, not the one with the lower headline price.
