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Klaviyo to Mailchimp migration: sync, suppressions and cost
Last verified against official pricing pages · published 4 Nov 2026
Prices change often. Each price was checked on the platform's official pricing page on the date shown; plans, promos and taxes vary. Confirm on the official site before you buy. Not financial advice.
Mailchimp can sync contacts straight from Klaviyo with a Klaviyo API key, or you can move them as CSV files. Either way, SMS contacts and custom fields are a manual import, and your Klaviyo suppression list should go in as Unsubscribed. Flows, segments and templates you rebuild. On cost, 5,000 contacts with automations run $100/mo on Klaviyo and $75/mo on Mailchimp, but on Mailchimp the unsubscribes you import are billed too.
Prices from Klaviyo and Mailchimp (checked 2026-11-03), monthly billing, email only (Klaviyo SMS is a separate plan). Steps from Mailchimp's Klaviyo migration guide and Klaviyo's help center (checked 2026-11-04). Neither company has an affiliate deal with us.
What it costs on each
| Contacts | Klaviyo | Mailchimp | Mailchimp vs Klaviyo | Mailchimp Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $20 (Email) | $13 (Essentials) | −$7 | $20 |
| 1,000 | $30 (Email) | $26.50 (Essentials) | −$3.50 | $45 |
| 2,500 | $60 (Email) | $45 (Essentials) | −$15 | $60 |
| 5,000 | $100 (Email) | $75 (Essentials) | −$25 | $100 |
| 10,000 | $150 (Email) | $110 (Essentials) | −$40 | $135 |
| 25,000 | $400 (Email) | $270 (Essentials) | −$130 | $310 |
Cheapest plan on each platform with automations that covers the contacts, one send a month, monthly billing. The last column is Mailchimp Standard, the lowest Mailchimp plan that takes custom HTML templates.
Watch the count. Klaviyo bills active profiles: profiles that are suppressed or unsubscribed don't count (Klaviyo help). Mailchimp bills subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts; cleaned and archived contacts don't count (Mailchimp help). So the same list can cost more on Mailchimp than the contact count suggests: 5,000 active profiles plus 1,000 imported suppressions are billed as 6,000 contacts, $110/mo instead of $75/mo. More in every Mailchimp tier.
How often you send
Klaviyo's email tiers include 10 sends per profile a month. Mailchimp includes 10× contacts in sends a month on Essentials, 12× on Standard and 15× on Premium. Same 5,000 contacts, different schedules:
| You send | Emails /month | Klaviyo | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 5,000 | $100 (Email) | $75 (Essentials) |
| Weekly | 20,000 | $100 (Email) | $75 (Essentials) |
| Twice a week | 40,000 | $100 (Email) | $75 (Essentials) |
| 3 times a week | 60,000 | $130 (Email) | $100 (Standard) |
| Daily | 150,000 | $350 (Email) | $180 (Essentials) |
Each platform's cheapest plan with automations whose send limit covers the volume; we price the tier or plan that covers the volume rather than overage. Method: send limits.
Calculate your exact Klaviyo → Mailchimp switching cost → · Klaviyo vs Mailchimp compared · every Klaviyo tier
Before you start
- Write down what you have. Mailchimp's guide asks you to record your contact count (to pick a plan), every list, custom fields, segments with their conditions, templates, flows with their triggers, and connected integrations (Mailchimp help).
- Plan one audience. Mailchimp recommends a single audience, using tags, groups and segments instead of separate lists.
- Keep consent records. Klaviyo suggests exporting Email Marketing Consent and its timestamp with each address (and the SMS consent fields for SMS) (Klaviyo: How to migrate off of Klaviyo). Subscribed contacts you import into Mailchimp skip its sign-up process, so Mailchimp asks you to confirm you have permission to email them (Mailchimp help). Klaviyo also bills and stores shoppers who gave an email at checkout without opting in, so don't import those as subscribed.
- Check your role. Exporting lists needs Owner, Admin or Analyst in Klaviyo (or a custom role with export permission); API keys are visible to Owners, Admins and Managers (Klaviyo help, Klaviyo help).
Route 1: Mailchimp's Klaviyo sync
- Create a private API key in Klaviyo (account name → Settings → API keys). Copy it when you create it: Klaviyo shows the full key only once. Treat it like a password (Klaviyo: Manage API keys).
- In Mailchimp, click Integrations, search for Klaviyo and click Get started. Enter the API key, choose the Klaviyo lists to bring over and the Mailchimp audience to put them in, then click Sync Contacts and check the result under View dashboard (Mailchimp help).
- Import what the sync skips: Mailchimp says SMS contacts and custom data fields must be imported manually, so export those from Klaviyo as CSV (route 2).
- Delete the key in Klaviyo once the move is done. Klaviyo notes that deleting a key can't be undone and that requests using it stop working.
Route 2: CSV export and import
- Export each list in Klaviyo: Audience → Lists & segments → open the list → Manage list → Export to CSV → choose the properties → Start Export. Download it from Settings → Other → Downloads (kept 30 days). A CSV holds up to 700 columns and doesn't include event history, list membership or messages received (Klaviyo help).
- Create one Mailchimp audience and import each file: Audience → Add contacts → Import contacts → Upload a file. Add a tag per old Klaviyo list, map date columns to Date fields (unmatched columns aren't imported), and set the status to Subscribed (Mailchimp help).
- Check the data, including custom field types, before you send.
CSV tips from Mailchimp's format guidelines: European spreadsheet programs that separate with semicolons need commas instead; one email address per contact; text fields are cut at 255 bytes; dates import best as YYYY-MM-DD.
Don't skip: the suppression list
Klaviyo suppresses hard bounces, addresses that soft-bounced 7 times in a row, spam complaints and manual suppressions; global unsubscribes show as an Unsubscribed consent status (Klaviyo help). Klaviyo recommends exporting this list so opt-outs survive the move: Audience → Profiles → View suppressed profiles, clear any reason filters, then Export CSV (Klaviyo help). Import that file into your Mailchimp audience with the status set to Unsubscribed, which Mailchimp calls a suppression list (Mailchimp help). A suppression list applies to one audience only, and the import can't change contacts already in that audience.
Cost trade-off: these contacts count toward your Mailchimp limit, while on Klaviyo they were free. Mailchimp says archived contacts don't count and can't be emailed, and that someone who unsubscribed before you archived them can't be imported as subscribed again (Mailchimp: Archive contacts). Under the GDPR, archiving isn't a substitute for deleting when an EU contact asks to be removed.
What moves and what doesn't
- Moves: email profiles from the lists you pick (sync or CSV), the properties you export, and suppressions (as an Unsubscribed import).
- Manual: SMS contacts and custom data fields. If you keep texting, Klaviyo says your new SMS provider starts any number port; branded sender IDs can't be ported, but you can set up the same sender ID there.
- Rebuild: segments, flows (as a Mailchimp classic automation or flow), sign-up forms and integrations; Mailchimp's guide says to test each one. Export flow analytics and custom reports from Klaviyo first if you want to keep them.
- Templates: export the HTML from Klaviyo (Content → Templates → Email: saved → 3-dot menu → Export) and use Mailchimp's Import a Custom HTML Template, on Standard or higher (Klaviyo help, Mailchimp help). Replace Klaviyo's personalization tags with Mailchimp merge tags and send a test.
Sunsetting Klaviyo
- Flows: set them to Draft rather than deleting (deleted flows and their data can't be recovered), and delete any scheduled status changes so a flow can't switch itself back on.
- Campaigns and forms: cancel scheduled campaigns and set sign-up forms to Draft once the Mailchimp forms are live.
- Integrations: remove your ecommerce integration (Integrations → My apps → Remove integration), which also removes the tracking snippets it added; remove manually added Klaviyo code yourself (Klaviyo help).
- Cancel: account menu → Billing → Overview → Cancel plan. Choose the end of the billing cycle (recommended); an immediate cancellation isn't refunded. After cancellation you can Reactivate to free under Billing → Preferences, or close the account (Owners only), which revokes access and starts data deletion (Klaviyo help). Keep your export files first.
Related: Klaviyo vs Mailchimp · the other way: Mailchimp to Klaviyo · Brevo vs Mailchimp vs Klaviyo · Klaviyo plans · Mailchimp pricing · how much Mailchimp costs · cleaning a list before switching · all Klaviyo alternatives
Sources
- Mailchimp help: Migrate your Klaviyo account to Mailchimp (checked 2026-11-04)
- Mailchimp help: Import contacts, Import suppression lists, Format guidelines for your import file, About your contacts, Archive or unarchive contacts, Import a custom HTML template (checked 2026-11-04)
- Klaviyo help: How to migrate off of Klaviyo, Export a list or segment to CSV, Understanding suppressed email profiles, Manage API keys, Export the HTML for an email template, Downgrade, cancel or close your account (all updated Oct 2026, checked 2026-11-04)
- Klaviyo pricing and Mailchimp pricing (checked 2026-11-03)
Tip: before you import, leave out unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Most platforms bill by list size, so a cleaner list can keep you on a lower tier. How to clean your list before switching
FAQ
Can Mailchimp import contacts directly from Klaviyo?
Yes. Mailchimp's Klaviyo migration guide has an automatic route: in Mailchimp, open Integrations, search for Klaviyo, click Get started, paste a Klaviyo API key, choose the Klaviyo lists and the Mailchimp audience, and click Sync Contacts. The manual route is a CSV export of each Klaviyo list, imported into one Mailchimp audience. Mailchimp says SMS contacts and custom data fields must be imported manually either way.
How do I export contacts from Klaviyo?
Go to Audience > Lists & segments, open the list or segment, choose Manage list (or Manage segment) > Export to CSV, pick the properties and click Start Export. Finished files are under Settings > Other > Downloads for 30 days. To export everyone, Klaviyo says to create a segment containing all profiles first. You need the Owner, Admin or Analyst role, or a custom role allowed to export profiles.
Do Klaviyo unsubscribes and suppressions transfer to Mailchimp?
Plan to move them yourself. Mailchimp's guide doesn't say the sync carries Klaviyo's suppressions, and Klaviyo's own migration guide recommends exporting the suppression list (Audience > Profiles > View suppressed profiles > Export CSV) and importing it as suppressed in the new platform. In Mailchimp that means importing the file with the email marketing status set to Unsubscribed, before your first send.
Do unsubscribed contacts count toward my Mailchimp bill?
Yes, and that is a real difference from Klaviyo. Klaviyo bills active profiles, so suppressed and unsubscribed profiles don't count. Mailchimp counts subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts; only cleaned and archived contacts are free. So 5,000 active profiles plus 1,000 imported suppressions are billed on Mailchimp as 6,000 contacts: $110/mo instead of $75/mo.
Is Mailchimp cheaper than Klaviyo?
At 5,000 contacts with automations, Mailchimp costs $75/mo (Essentials) and Klaviyo $100/mo (Email), monthly billing, so less on Mailchimp. At 1,000 it is $26.50 vs $30, and at 10,000 $110 vs $150. Both free plans cover 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. Klaviyo's tiers include 10 sends per profile a month, so the gap changes with how often you send.
Can I move my Klaviyo email templates to Mailchimp?
As HTML. In Klaviyo, open Content > Templates, the Email: saved tab, the template's 3-dot menu, then Export, and copy the code. In Mailchimp, use Import a Custom HTML Template, which needs Standard or higher, and send yourself a test. Klaviyo's personalization tags aren't Mailchimp merge tags, so replace them before you send.
How do I cancel Klaviyo after switching?
Open the account menu > Billing > Overview > Cancel plan, pick the plans (or Cancel all plans), give a reason, and choose the end of the billing cycle (recommended) or immediately. Klaviyo doesn't refund the rest of the cycle for an immediate cancellation. Canceling all plans stops sending, forms and integrations; you can reactivate as a free account afterwards. Closing the account (Owners only) revokes access and deletes your data, so export first.
Related guides: Klaviyo Free plan limits (2026) · Klaviyo SMS pricing (2026) · Klaviyo vs Omnisend vs Mailchimp (2026) · Klaviyo plans (2026) · Is Omnisend free? Free plan limits (2026) · Mailchimp to Klaviyo migration · Mailchimp SMS pricing (2026) · Brevo SMS pricing (2026) · all guides
Comparisons: Klaviyo vs Mailchimp · Cheapest for 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000 subscribers
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