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Klaviyo's New Billing Changes – What You Need to Know & How to Save Money

Author

Max Sturtevant
February 17, 2025

The Inbox Newsletter

Hey, it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Today, we need to talk about something that will impact every Klaviyo user starting TOMORROW February 18, 2025.

Klaviyo just announced a major shift in how they bill users. And if you’re not careful, you could see your costs skyrocket.

But don’t worry, I’ll break it down for you and give you actionable steps to keep your costs low.

🚀 The Big Change: Billing Based on Active Profiles

Before:

You were only billed for the profiles you actively emailed. For example, if you had 88k active profiles but only emailed 40k, you’d only be charged for 40k.

Now:

You will be billed for ALL active profiles in your account, even if you never email them. That means if you have 88k active profiles, you're paying for all 88k.

👉 Takeaway: This change means your bill could increase significantly overnight if you’re not proactively managing your list.

🚨 90-Day Unsuppressed Profile Jail

Klaviyo is also introducing a strict suppression rule:

  • Once you unsuppress a profile, you cannot suppress it again for 90 days.

  • If you reactivate an old customer for a seasonal promo, you must keep them active for 3 months.

  • This makes list cleaning and suppression strategy necessary

👉 Takeaway: Be very strategic when unsuppressing profiles, especially before big sales events becuase you won’t be able to suppress them for 90 days,

⚠️ Automatic Plan Upgrades (No Option to Decline)

  • If your active profiles exceed your plan limit, Klaviyo will automatically upgrade your plan at the start of the billing cycle.

  • No option to opt out.

👉 Takeaway: If your list unexpectedly grows, your bill could jump without warning. This makes list maintenance crucial.

✅ Auto-Downgrade Option (But You Have to Enable It)

  • Klaviyo is introducing an auto-downgrade feature, but it’s not enabled by default.

  • If your profile count drops below your plan’s threshold, you’ll only be downgraded if you turn this feature on.

👉 Action Item: Go to Billing Preferences and enable auto-downgrade ASAP to ensure you don’t overpay.

📉 First-Month Billing Increase Cap

  • To soften the impact, Klaviyo is capping the first month’s upgrade increase at 25%.

  • But if your profile count remains high, expect more upgrades in future months.

👉 Takeaway: This doesn’t mean your bill won’t go up—just that the increase is phased in. If your list is bloated, you need to act now.

🛠️ Action Steps to Save on Klaviyo Costs

To prevent unnecessary billing increases, follow these proven cost-saving strategies:

1️⃣ Enable Auto-Downgrade

  • Head to Billing Preferences and turn on auto-downgrade so you move to a lower plan when eligible.

2️⃣ Schedule Recurring Profile Suppression

  • You are NOT billed on suppressed profiles, so set up a routine suppression task before each billing cycle.

  • Find your billing date in Klaviyo and clean up your list right before that date every month.

3️⃣ Suppress These Segments Every 30 Days

Use the following Klaviyo segments to clean your list before your billing cycle:

Never Active Profiles (These are dead weight)

  • Person has received 20+ emails over all time

  • Never opened an email

  • Never clicked an email

  • Never placed an order

  • Can receive email marketing

Bounces to Suppress

  • Person has bounced at least once over all time

  • Bounce type = Hard Bounce

Marked as Spam

  • Person has Marked Email as Spam at least once over all time

Long Term Inactive

  • Person can receive email marketing

  • Profile Created is at least 180 days old

  • Has Received Email at least once in the last 72 weeks

  • Has Opened Email zero times in the last 72 weeks

    • (Excludes Apple Privacy Opened emails)

  • Has Clicked Email zero times in the last 72 weeks

  • Has Been Active on Site zero times in the last 72 weeks

  • Has Viewed Product zero times in the last 72 weeks

  • Has Started Checkout zero times in the last 72 weeks

  • Has Placed Order zero times in the last 72 weeks

👉 Takeaway: Keeping your list lean and engaged is now more important than ever to avoid overpaying.

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Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max

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