Klaviyo
Free: up to 250 active profiles / 500 emails/mo. Email paid from ~$20/mo at 251–500 profiles.
- Active-profile billing can spike cost
- Best fit is Shopify/ecommerce, not creators
Best email tools for Shopify stores
Ecommerce ESPs ranked by verified cost ladders: Klaviyo and Omnisend for deep Shopify data (bills climb with profiles); Brevo, ActiveCampaign, and Drip as cross-shop alternatives we price.
| # | Tool | Free contacts | At 1k | At 10k | Note | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Klaviyo | 250 | $30 | $150 | Ecommerce CRM email/SMS; expensive per profile at scale | Visit |
| 2 |  Omnisend | 250 | $20 | $132 | Ecommerce email + SMS | Visit |
| 3 |  Brevo | unlimited | $0 | $0 | Multi-channel (email/SMS); free plan is send-capped not contact-capped | Visit |
| 4 |  ActiveCampaign | — | See vendor | See vendor | Deep marketing automation + CRM; no free plan | Visit |
| 5 |  Drip | — | $39 | $154 | Ecommerce CRM email | Visit |
| 6 |  Mailchimp | 250 | $26.50 | $110 | Well-known ESP; free plan now very limited | Visit |
How we pick. Research shortlist from free-plan headroom and verified price ladders — not a lab test or star rating. Read each tool page for sources and gotchas.
Omnisend
Free: 250 contacts / 500 emails/mo. Paid from ~$16/mo (Standard at 500 contacts per site meta).
- Built for ecommerce — overkill for pure newsletters
- SMS may need higher plan
Brevo
Free: upload contacts free; send up to 300 emails/day after approval. Starter adds volume from ~5,000 emails/mo. Pricing is primarily email-volume based.
- Free daily send cap (300/day) — not contact-limited
- True monthly cost depends on sends more than list size
- Automations require Standard+
ActiveCampaign
No free plan. 14-day trial (no card). Starter max 25,000 contacts.
- No free plan
- New accounts (on/after 2025-11-03) count ALL contacts including unsubscribed
- Starter automations capped at 5 actions
Full ActiveCampaign pricing → · Alternatives · Pricing history
Drip
No free plan; trial. From ~$39/mo up to ~2,500 people (secondary cites).
- Ecommerce-focused
- Confirm live pricing — page often JS-heavy
Mailchimp
Free: 250 contacts, 500 sends/mo, 250/day. Sending paused if contact limit exceeded. Essentials from ~$13/mo (500 contacts); Standard from ~$20/mo.
- Free plan cut to 250 contacts / 500 sends — poorly suited for real newsletters
- Unsubscribed contacts still count toward paid tiers
- Often more expensive than MailerLite/Kit at same list size
FAQ
What is the shortlist for best email tools for shopify stores?
ListCost’s research shortlist leads with Klaviyo, Omnisend, Brevo. Order reflects free headroom and verified price ladders — not lab tests or star ratings.
Do these rankings include affiliate bias?
Commission never fills an unknown cell or changes order. beehiiv CTAs are plain official links (affiliate dropped). Other outbound CTAs use /go redirects when applicable.