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.

Once your account moves from credits to per-message pricing, you'll see message costs in your billing currency. Carrier fees are still built into your rate. Learn more about this update here.

Before you begin

Your rate is the cost of sending a message to a single recipient. For SMS, the rate applies to each message segment. Rates vary by channel (SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, or RCS), by country, and by sending number type, including toll-free and short code numbers in the US and Canada.

To see the exact rates for your account and plan tier, go to Settings > Billing, then follow the path shown in your account:

• If you have an Account usage tab, open it and click View text message ratios below the text message usage chart.
• If usage appears on Overview, click View on the Mobile messaging card. In Historical, click See rates on the Text messaging card, or See ratios if your plan uses credits.

Find the country and message type you want to check. On a plan with per-message pricing, use Total rate, which includes carrier fees.

What a rate is

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

When does plan spend 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 under Billing cycle on 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

A single SMS segment allows up to 160 characters, or 70 characters when there's an emoji or special character. Some symbols and emojis count as more than 1 character. MMS allows up to 1,600 characters (this limit doesn't change with emojis or special characters).

If an SMS exceeds the single-segment limit, it's automatically split into multiple segments, which usually appear as a single message on the recipient's phone. A header keeps the segments in order and reduces each segment's capacity to 153 characters, or 67 characters when the SMS contains an emoji or special character. MMS is billed as 1 message rather than split into SMS segments.

Calculate the total cost of an SMS send

The formula for the total cost of an SMS send is:

Rate per segment 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 SMS costing more than I expected?

This usually comes down to message segments. If your SMS exceeds the single-segment character limit, it's split into multiple segments and billed per segment, even though it usually displays as one message to the recipient. Check the estimated segment count in the message preview before you send. Shortened links and personalized content can change the final character count for each recipient.

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 has a higher rate than a single SMS segment because it 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 SMS and MMS messages are billable

Whether an SMS or MMS 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. Expand the amount beside Monthly total.
3. Find Mobile messaging plan in the breakdown to view its cost.

To check the cost of other mobile plans:

1. Select your account name in the bottom left.
2. Click Billing, select Overview, then click Change plan (or View plan if shown).
3. Scroll down to the Mobile messaging section.
4. Open the dropdown.
5. Select a plan to view its subscription cost.

Legacy credit pricing

If your plan has not yet changed to per-message pricing, use credits to calculate the cost of a send. Check your account's credit rates in Billing using the steps above. The tables below show legacy credit values; use your account's values if they differ.

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 a 2-segment SMS to 100 recipients, 50 in the UK and 50 in Ireland. Using the legacy credit values below, the calculation is:

• 9 (credits per segment to Ireland) x 50 recipients x 2 segments = 900
  +
• 5 (credits per segment to the UK) x 50 recipients x 2 segments = 500
  =
• 1,400 total credits

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Additional resources

• How Klaviyo billing works

Additional resources