Klaviyo has officially announced a major change to its pricing structure, set to take effect on February 18, 2025. This update is a game-changer for businesses using Klaviyo’s email and SMS marketing platform, as it fundamentally shifts the way users are billed. Previously, businesses only paid for profiles they actively emailed, but with this update, Klaviyo will start charging for all active profiles in the system—even those who haven’t been emailed recently.
This means that if your Klaviyo account has inactive or unengaged contacts, your costs could rise significantly unless you take immediate action. One of the biggest takeaways from this update is the critical need for profile suppression—businesses must now be proactive in removing unengaged contacts from their active lists to avoid unnecessary charges.
With automatic plan upgrades, suppression rules, and a capped first-month billing increase, this change could have a huge financial impact if not handled correctly. In this blog, we’ll break down how Klaviyo’s new pricing model works, what it means for your business, and how you can optimize your account to stay ahead of rising costs.
How Klaviyo’s New Pricing Model Works
Klaviyo’s 2025 pricing update is a fundamental shift in how businesses are billed for their email and SMS marketing. Previously, Klaviyo users were only charged for profiles they actively emailed, allowing businesses to maintain larger contact lists without incurring unnecessary costs. However, starting February 18, 2025, Klaviyo will now bill for every active profile in the system, regardless of whether they receive emails or not.
Key Changes in Klaviyo’s Billing Model
-
All Active Profiles Are Now Billable
-
If a contact is in your system and not suppressed, Klaviyo will count it toward your billing plan.
-
Suppressed profiles do not count toward your bill, making suppression an essential cost-saving strategy.
-
-
90-Day Suppression Jail
-
Once a contact is unsuppressed, you cannot suppress them again for 90 days.
-
This means that if you reactivate an inactive profile, you’re committed to paying for them for at least three months, even if they don’t engage.
-
-
Automatic Plan Upgrades
-
If your number of active profiles exceeds your current plan’s limit, Klaviyo will automatically upgrade you to a higher plan.
-
There is no way to prevent auto-upgrades, meaning businesses could see unexpected cost increases.
-
However, auto-downgrades are OFF by default, so businesses must manually enable them to ensure they aren’t overpaying when their list size decreases.
-
-
First-Month Billing Cap at 25%
-
While the pricing change could significantly impact monthly costs, Klaviyo has capped the first month’s increase at 25%.
-
This provides some buffer time, but after the first month, bills will continue increasing unless businesses take action.
-
How This Affects Your Business
These changes mean that businesses must actively manage their contact lists to avoid unnecessary costs. If your Klaviyo account includes thousands of inactive or unengaged contacts, your email marketing expenses could skyrocket. The key takeaway from this update is that list hygiene is more important than ever—brands need to regularly suppress or remove inactive profiles to maintain an optimized and cost-efficient Klaviyo account.
In the next section, we’ll outline the exact steps you need to take to avoid overpaying under Klaviyo’s new pricing model.
Want To Take Your Email Marketing To The Next Level?
With our expert audit, you’ll receive comprehensive insights into your email performance, tailored strategies for Klaviyo optimisation, and actionable recommendations to boost engagement and conversion rates.
What You MUST Do to Optimize Your Klaviyo Account
With Klaviyo’s new pricing model taking effect, businesses must take immediate action to avoid unnecessary costs. Since you’ll now be billed for every active profile, the key to keeping your costs under control is regularly suppressing unengaged contacts. Here’s a step-by-step action plan to optimize your Klaviyo account and ensure you’re only paying for engaged, valuable subscribers.
1. Enable Auto-Downgrade in Billing Preferences
By default, Klaviyo automatically upgrades your plan if your active profiles exceed your current tier. However, auto-downgrades are turned off, meaning you won’t automatically move to a lower plan if your list shrinks.
✅ Go to your Klaviyo Billing Preferences and turn on auto-downgrade to ensure you aren’t overpaying if your active profiles decrease.
2. Schedule Monthly Profile Suppression
Klaviyo now charges for all active profiles, even if they aren’t emailed, so keeping inactive contacts in your account could drastically increase your bill.
✅ Set a recurring reminder to review and suppress inactive profiles before your billing cycle renews.
3. Suppress These Segments to Lower Your Bill
To optimize your account and reduce costs, regularly suppress contacts that are not engaging with your emails. Focus on these four key segments:
🔹 Never Active Profiles
-
Subscribers who have received 20+ emails but never engaged (no opens or clicks).
-
These contacts aren’t adding value to your business and should be suppressed.
🔹 Bounced Emails
-
Contacts with hard bounces or 3+ soft bounces are unlikely to ever engage.
-
Keeping them in your list hurts your email deliverability and increases costs.
🔹 1+ Yr Old Emails That Have Received No Emails
-
If someone has purchased from you, but never received any emails from you, it is probably too late to engage with them and you should suppress them immediately.
-
If you are happy to keep the data in the account, then you can leave these profiles, however you will be paying for them if they are not supressed.
🔹 Long-Term Inactive Profiles
-
Subscribers who haven’t engaged in 180+ days are unlikely to re-engage.
-
Keep your list lean and engaged by suppressing these contacts.
4. Be Cautious with the 90-Day Suppression Rule
Klaviyo’s new suppression jail means that once you unsuppress a contact, you cannot suppress them again for 90 days. If you reactivate an inactive subscriber and they still don’t engage, you’ll be stuck paying for them for three months.
✅ Only unsuppress contacts when you’re certain they’ll engage.
Final Thoughts: Stay Ahead of Klaviyo’s Pricing Shift
Klaviyo’s pricing update is a wake-up call for businesses to start actively managing their email lists. If you don’t take action now, your marketing costs could increase dramatically. However, by following these strategic steps, you can minimize unnecessary costs and continue to leverage Klaviyo for powerful email marketing:
-
Enable auto-downgrade to prevent overpaying.
-
Regularly suppress inactive contacts before your billing cycle.
-
Be mindful of the 90-day suppression rule to avoid unexpected charges.
By keeping your email list clean, lean, and engaged, you can stay ahead of Klaviyo’s pricing changes and ensure your marketing budget is spent efficiently.
