Understand Klaviyo's mobile messaging system

Learn how Klaviyo's mobile messaging rates work, including what makes up a rate, how to calculate the cost of a send, and why rates vary by country and channel.

If you're familiar with Klaviyo's previous credit-based system: instead of credits, you'll now see the cost of each message in dollars. The core model hasn't changed, carrier fees are still built into your rate. Learn more about this update here.

Before you begin

Your rate is the dollar cost of a single text message (SMS or MMS) sent to a single recipient. Rates vary by channel (SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, or RCS), by country, and, for US and Canada SMS, by number type (toll-free vs. short code).

To see the exact rates for your account and plan tier, go to Settings > Billing > Account Usage > View Text Message rates and view your rates.

What a rate is

A rate is what you pay per message, per recipient. For example, if you send 1 SMS to 10 people and your rate for that country is $0.02 per message, that send costs $0.20.

Do rates renew?

Your available plan spend renews on a monthly basis. The exact date depends on your billing cycle.

To view when your billing cycle renews:

1. Click your organization name in the lower-left corner.
2. Click Billing.
3. Review the dates for your cycle, at the top of the Overview tab.

Do unused funds roll over month to month?

No. You have a set amount of plan spend each month, and unused spend doesn't roll over.

You can upgrade or downgrade your plan each month to fit your needs. If you consistently have spend left over at the end of the month, consider downgrading to a lower plan. If you're not planning a big send in the upcoming month, you can downgrade ahead of time so you're not paying for capacity you don't need.

Message character limits

SMS allows up to 160 characters, or 70 characters when there's an emoji or special character. MMS allows up to 1,600 characters (this limit doesn't change with emojis or special characters).

If a send exceeds the character limit, it's automatically split into multiple message segments, even though the recipient sees a single message on their phone. An invisible header of about 7 characters is added to each segment to keep them in order, which brings the effective limit for a split SMS down to 153 characters per segment.

Calculate the total cost of a send

The formula for the total cost of a send is:

Rate x Recipients x Message segments = Total cost

For example, say you're sending to 100 people, 50 in Ireland and 50 in the UK, and your message counts as 2 segments. Your total cost would be:

• (Ireland rate x 50 recipients x 2 segments)
• plus (UK rate x 50 recipients x 2 segments)

Your account's rates table shows your exact rate for each country so you can calculate this precisely for your own sends.

Why is my message costing more than I expected?

This usually comes down to message segments. If your message exceeds the character limit, it's split into multiple segments and billed per segment, even though it displays as one message to the recipient. You can check how many segments a message will use from the i icon on the message creation screen before you send.

Why rates differ by country

Mobile carriers charge differently for SMS and MMS delivery from country to country, based on the carriers available, local network infrastructure, and regulatory factors. Because these underlying costs vary widely by country, Klaviyo's rates vary by country too.

If carrier costs change in a given country over time, the rate for that country may be updated to reflect it. Rate changes are batched where possible and communicated in advance, so you won't be surprised by a change without notice.

Why MMS costs more than SMS

MMS costs more to send than SMS on any platform, because MMS includes multimedia content (an image or GIF), which requires more data and more sending infrastructure than a plain-text message. This is also why MMS has different sending limits than SMS.

With Klaviyo, your MMS rate covers messages with an image or GIF under 600 KB and up to 1,600 characters, including the text.

Why your rate includes carrier fees

Carrier fees
Mobile carriers charge fees to deliver messages to subscribers on their networks. These fees vary by country, carrier, and message type, and can change as carriers update their pricing.

Klaviyo bundles carrier fees into your plan rate. The rate shown for each message type and region is the all-in cost — there are no separate carrier fee line items on your invoice.

Comparing rates across providers
Not all providers include carrier fees in their advertised rates. Some show a base per-message rate and add carrier fees as a separate charge at billing, which means the rate you're quoted may not reflect what you'll actually pay.

When comparing messaging rates across platforms, ask whether the quoted rate includes carrier fees. With Klaviyo, it does.

Which messages are billable

Whether a message counts toward your mobile spend depends on the message type.

Find the cost of a mobile plan

To check the cost of your mobile plan:

1. Navigate to Settings > Billing Overview
2. Click the Dropdown box on Monthly Total
3. View Your Mobile Messaging plan cost

To check the cost of other mobile plans:

1. Select your account name in the bottom left.
2. Navigate to Billing > Change plan.
3. Scroll down to the Mobile Messaging section.
4. Open the dropdown.
5. Select a plan to view its cost and rates.

Legacy Credit Pricing

If your plan has not yet changed to per-message dollar rates, the following credit pricing and calculation applies.

Calculating the total credits for a send

The formula for determining the total number of credits is:

number of credits per message segment x number of message recipients x segments per message

Say you’re sending to 100 recipients, 50 of which are in England and 50 of which are in Ireland. In this case, the calculation would be as follows:

• 9 (credits per segment to Ireland) x 50 msg recipients x 2 segments per message = 900
  +
• 5 (credits per segment to England) x 50 msg recipients x 2 segments per message = 500
  =
• 1400 total credits

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Additional resources

• How Klaviyo billing works

Additional resources