Mailchimp and Klaviyo are two of the most common shortlists for an Australian business choosing email marketing, but they are built for different jobs. Mailchimp is the familiar all-rounder that gets a newsletter out the door quickly. Klaviyo is the e-commerce specialist that turns store data into automated, revenue-driving campaigns. The right pick depends far more on whether you run an online store than on which brand you have heard of.
Pricing and plans compared
Mailchimp is the cheaper way in. Its Essentials plan starts at $18 a month for 500 contacts, against Klaviyo's $28 Email plan for the same list size. Both platforms offer a genuine free tier up to 250 contacts, with 500 sends a month, so you can start either at no cost. As your list grows the gap stays in Mailchimp's favour: at 2,500 contacts you are looking at roughly $63 against $70, and at 10,000 contacts about $153 against $209. The calculator above folds your real contact count, monthly send volume and whether you need automation into a single estimated monthly figure for each, so you can compare them on your numbers rather than the headline tier.
There is a billing difference the sticker price hides. Mailchimp counts every contact in your audience, including people who have unsubscribed, so an uncleaned list can quietly push you into a higher tier. Klaviyo bills on active profiles only and excludes suppressed contacts, so opt-outs stop adding to your cost. On a tidy list the two count similarly, but on an older list Mailchimp's contact billing can cost more than the tier table suggests.
Who each one is built for
Mailchimp suits beginners and small senders who want a familiar interface and a broad library of templates to drag campaigns together quickly. If you send a regular newsletter, run a small business list, or just want the lowest entry price, it does that job well and is hard to outgrow early on.
Klaviyo is built for online stores. If your revenue comes from a Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce storefront, Klaviyo is designed around exactly that, with predictive analytics, purchase-behaviour segments and revenue attribution included on every paid plan. It is more than a newsletter tool, so the extra cost only pays off if you actually use the store data it is built to read.
Deliverability and automation
Both platforms post strong deliverability in independent testing and land mail reliably, so neither has a meaningful edge on getting to the inbox. The real difference is automation. Mailchimp keeps basic automation on its Essentials plan, with advanced workflows reserved for Standard and above, so deeper sequences cost more and are less flexible. Klaviyo includes its full automation on every paid plan.
Klaviyo includes advanced flows, triggers and predictive sending on every paid plan, paired with very advanced segmentation that can target on purchase behaviour, predicted demographics and customer lifetime value. For a business that wants abandoned-cart flows, post-purchase series and win-back campaigns running automatically, Klaviyo is the stronger automation engine out of the box, where Mailchimp asks you to step up a tier to match it.
E-commerce and integrations
This is the clearest gap between the two. Klaviyo's Shopify integration is native and deep, syncing orders, products and browsing activity, then attributing revenue back to each campaign and flow so you can see what email actually earns. It also connects to WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento, and carries roughly 350 integrations overall plus its own AU-supported SMS marketing.
Mailchimp connects to the same major store platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce, and offers around 300 integrations, so it is not short of plumbing. The difference is depth: Mailchimp treats store data as one more data source, while Klaviyo is built around it. One practical note for Australian merchants is that Mailchimp's SMS marketing is US only, so if you want email and text in one platform with local sending, Klaviyo is the one that supports it here.
Australian considerations
Both platforms give you the tools to stay on the right side of the Spam Act 2003. Each provides consent capture through signup forms and a working unsubscribe link in every campaign, which covers the core requirements of consent and a clean opt-out. Klaviyo's per-profile billing has a quiet compliance benefit too, since suppressed and unsubscribed people stop counting, which nudges you to honour opt-outs rather than carry dead weight. The SMS point matters locally as well, because only Klaviyo supports Australian text sending, so factor that in if multichannel is on your roadmap.
Pros and cons for this matchup
Mailchimp wins on the lowest entry price, the most familiar editor and a deep template library, which makes it the easy choice for newsletters and small lists. Its weak spots are billing on unsubscribed contacts and shallower automation that needs a higher plan to compete.
Klaviyo wins on deep Shopify integration, advanced automation and segmentation on every paid plan, active-profile billing and AU SMS. Its trade-offs are a higher price at every tier and a feature set that is overkill if you are not running an online store.
The verdict
For an Australian online store, especially one on Shopify, Klaviyo is the pick. Its native integration, included automation and revenue attribution are built to turn store data into sales, and active-profile billing keeps a growing list honest. For a simple newsletter, a small business list or anyone on a tight budget who values a familiar editor over store-grade automation, Mailchimp is the more sensible and cheaper choice. It comes down to one question: do you run an online store that should be earning money from email, or do you just need to send good campaigns at the lowest cost? Answer that and the choice is clear.