Understanding manual billing

You will learn

Learn about manual billing (also called “contract billing” or “contracted accounts”) with Klaviyo.

Before you begin

Manual billing is not available to request from within Klaviyo. It is only available if:

• An Owner, Admin, or Manager contacts their success representative.
• Your Klaviyo plans total $2,000 or more per month.

Note that Klaviyo does not allow manual billing if you only need it for a temporary reason (e.g., waiting to receive a new credit card). There’s also no hybrid option with manual and automatic billing.

How manual billing works

When you are a manually billed customer, you have a contract that determines everything about your plans and billing information, including:

• Billing cycle (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual)
• Usage cycle / period (monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual)
• Plan limits and usage
• Payment method and terms
• Overage rates and terms

This means manual billing may work differently for each customer.

Viewing plan limits

To view your plan's limits:

1. Select your account name in the bottom left.
2. Click Billing.
3. Review the Overview tab for your contract details, plan limits, and current usage. In the updated billing view, each usage card shows a product’s contracted limit and usage cycle.

Why can’t I change plans in Klaviyo?

To change your contracted plan, contact your success representative (for example, your customer success manager) to amend your contract. Manually billed accounts cannot change contracted plans directly in Klaviyo.

Billing cycles

Note that billing cycles for manually billed customers are not necessarily the same as the plan usage cycle.

Plan limits and usage cycle

Plan limits for manually billed customers are determined by the contract:

• All invoices are based on the contract.
• Usage resets at the start of the usage cycle defined in your contract. For example, a monthly usage cycle resets each month, and a quarterly usage cycle resets each quarter. The reset date is based on your contract start date, so it is not necessarily the 1st of the month.

View your current usage under Billing > Overview. If your billing view includes an Account usage tab, you can also view usage there. For more information, see our article on understanding your account usage.

If your contract does not include a certain product (e.g., Mobile Messaging, Reviews, Helpdesk), you are automatically on the free tier where available. To access other products, you’ll need to contact your Klaviyo success representative.

Your usage cycle runs on Eastern Standard Time

Manually billed accounts use Eastern Standard Time (EST, UTC-05:00) for usage cycles year-round. This time zone does not change for daylight saving time and does not follow your account’s time zone setting. Usage resets at the start of the usage cycle defined in your contract.

Viewing historical usage

In the updated billing view, click View on a usage card to open its detail page. Historical usage shows the last 3, 6, or 12 usage cycles. Check the dates shown, especially if your contract has quarterly or annual usage cycles. If your billing view includes an Account usage tab, open that tab to review historical usage.

Payment options

Manually billed companies might pay in different ways, including:

• ACH
• Wire transfer

The payment method is defined in the contract.

Overages

For products that support contracted overages, you can continue using the product beyond your contracted limit and pay for the additional usage at your contracted rate. Email and mobile messaging require overages to be enabled; some other products have overages that cannot be turned off.

Your contract identifies which products are subject to overages and the rates for additional usage. A CPM (cost per mille) rate is the cost per 1,000 units. Consumption-based products, such as email and mobile messaging, can accrue overages when usage exceeds contracted limits and overages are enabled.

For example, suppose your contract costs $2,070 per month and includes 1,700,000 emails per monthly usage cycle. If you send 2,000,000 emails with email overages enabled, the overage fee applies to the additional 300,000 emails. In the updated billing view, an “In overages” badge and a red segment on the email usage card indicate that you have exceeded the limit.

How overage settings work

You can manage editable overage preferences under Billing > Preferences.

When email or mobile messaging overages are enabled, you can keep sending beyond your contracted limit at the agreed overage rate. If you turn these settings off, additional sends are blocked once you reach the limit.

Overages let you use additional usage while you discuss a plan change with your Klaviyo representative. They do not change your contracted plan.

Overage settings differ by product:

• Email and mobile messaging overages are enabled when paid contracted usage is first set up. You can turn them off in your billing preferences.
• Active profile, Customer Agent conversation, Helpdesk ticket, and Composer AI credit overages cannot be turned off for paid contracted usage (see the table below).
• Overages are billed at your contracted rates and limits.

Open Billing > Preferences to change editable overage settings. In the updated billing view, open Billing > Overview to see the overage status on your usage cards.

Klaviyo’s self-serve billing preferences, Auto-upgrade and Flexible overages, are not available for manually billed accounts. Contracted overage settings are separate.

What products have overages?

The table shows which types of paid contracted usage can accrue overages. For email and mobile messaging, the result depends on the overage setting. For the other products listed, overages cannot be turned off. These rules apply to products available to your account and covered by your contract.

*Active profile, Customer Agent conversation, Helpdesk ticket, and Composer AI credit overages remain on for paid contracted usage. You cannot turn them off in billing preferences.

Where to see your overages at a glance

In the updated billing view, open Billing > Overview. When a product that supports contracted overages exceeds its limit, its usage card shows an In overages badge.

The updated usage cards show Overages on or Overages off for contracted overage settings. Active profile overages cannot be turned off.

Open Payments & Invoices (or Payment history, depending on your billing view) to review overage information. Where available, the overage panel shows contracted rates and estimates for the current usage cycle. Estimates are not your final invoice.

Turning your overage settings on or off

You need permission to edit billing settings. You can turn email and mobile messaging overages on or off; the other products listed in the table have overages that cannot be turned off.

1. Click your account name in the bottom left corner.
2. Navigate to Billing > Preferences.
3. On the product’s card, select or clear Allow extra emails to be sent or Allow extra mobile messages to be sent. Select the box to allow overages, or clear it to stop additional sends at the limit.
4. Click Update on that product’s card to save. Repeat for each product you change.

View invoices

Find invoices under Billing > Payments & Invoices. If your billing view uses the Payment history label, open that tab instead.

If you have an account hierarchy, find the invoice on the primary or parent account. The updated invoice view for manually billed accounts includes contract details, overage estimates where available, and invoice history. In the updated invoice view, click Download next to an invoice to download its PDF.

Get Klaviyo’s W9 form

All manually billed customers are provided with a W9. If you need another copy of Klaviyo’s completed W9, contact your Klaviyo representative. The blank IRS W9 form linked here is not Klaviyo’s completed form.

Additional resources