Klaviyo's New Billing Settings

Author

Max Sturtevant
May 07, 2025

The Inbox Newsletter

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Klaviyo recently made a major change to how they bill users.

And if you’re not paying attention, you could see a huge jump in your invoice without sending a single extra email.

Let’s break down what’s happening and exactly what to do about it.

Key Takeaways:

  • Klaviyo now charges for all active profiles in your account, not just those you email.

  • Unsuppressing a profile locks it in for 90 days. You can’t suppress it again during that time.

  • Plan upgrades happen automatically if your active profile count exceeds your plan.

  • Downgrades are manual unless you enable the new auto-downgrade setting.

1. You Now Pay for All Active Profiles

Before: You only paid for profiles you emailed on a given month.

Now: You’re charged for every active profile in your account, whether they’re emailed or not.

If you’ve got 88,000 active profiles and only email 40,000 of them, you're still paying for all 88,000.

What to do: Start suppressing unengaged users aggressively before each billing cycle.

2. The 90-Day Suppression Lock

Once you unsuppress a profile, you can’t suppress them again for 90 days (meaning you have to pay for them for 3 billing periods).

This affects brands who bring old subscribers back for short-term promos or sales. If you re-engage them, you’re now stuck paying for them for three months.

What to do: Be extremely selective when unsuppressing users—especially right before Black Friday or major campaigns.

3. Automatic Upgrades Without Warning

If your active profile count exceeds your plan limit, Klaviyo will bump you up to the next plan tier automatically. There’s no opt-out.

Your list can grow just a bit and trigger a major increase.

What to do: Monitor your active list count closely, especially if you’re in growth season or running lead gen promos.

4. Optional Auto-Downgrade

There is now an auto-downgrade feature, but it’s off by default.

You get to choose if you want auto-upgrade or auto-downgrade as a feature, but you can’t have both.

If your active profile count drops, you’ll only get moved to a lower plan if you turn this setting on yourself.

What to do: Go into your billing settings and enable auto-downgrade if you choose to do so. My team and I downgrade our clients plans every month anyways, so we are keeping auto upgrade on.

Action Plan: Cut Your Costs Before They Spiral

Here’s how to keep your Klaviyo bill in check:

Suppress Profiles Before Your Billing Date

You don’t get charged for suppressed profiles. Find your billing date and set a calendar reminder to clean house every month.

Suppress These Segments Monthly:

  • Never Engaged: Received 10+ emails, never opened, clicked, or ordered

  • Bounce Risks: Hard bounces or marked you as spam

  • Long-Term Inactive: No email or site activity in 72 weeks

    • And exclude Apple Privacy opens

These segments are just burning your cash by sitting active in your account!

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Brand:
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Love the button at the top of the email for getting clicks. Great copy in the middle that isn’t too wordy. And great imagery. Awesome email!

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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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