Side-by-side comparison · Marketing & Ads
Klaviyo vs Pencil vs Stripo
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Online stores that want their email and SMS to run on real customer behaviour.
Pick it if: Brand and performance marketing teams that need lots of on-brand ad variations across many platforms.
Pick it if: Email marketers, agencies and designers who make lots of branded emails for one or more email platforms.
Klaviyo scores highest overall, but Stripo gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Email and SMS for online stores, with AI that writes, segments and predicts. | Makes on-brand image and video ads and launches them to ad platforms. | Builds responsive email templates by drag and drop, then exports them to your email tool. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid | Freemium |
| Starting price | From $20/mo | $14/mo | $20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | No | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.3Winner | 3.7 | 4.2 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | No | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | No | – | – |
| API access | Yes | – | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | – | Yes | – |
| Makes images | – | Yes | Yes |
| Makes video | No | Yes | No |
| Writes code | No | No | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | – |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | – | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 10/ 17 | 9/ 17 | 9/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free New stores building their first flows. | CoreOur pick $14/mo, or $11/mo billed yearly A small team trying AI ads. | Free Free Trying it out. |
EmailOur pick From $20/mo Most stores once they pass 250 contacts. | Growth $55/mo, or $44/mo billed yearly Teams making ads every week or for several brands. | Basic $20/mo, or $200/yr A small business sending a few campaigns a month. | |
Email and SMS From $35/mo Stores that want text messages in the same flows. | Pro Custom Large brands and agencies. | MediumOur pick $45/mo, or $450/yr In-house teams and small agencies. | |
Enterprise Custom Large brands with many stores or markets. | Pro $125/mo, or $1,250/yr Agencies with many clients. | ||
Prime Custom Large teams. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Free and build your welcome and abandoned cart flows before you pay anything. Move to Email when you cross 250 contacts, and only add SMS once email is working, because text messages cost extra per send. | Core is cheap enough to test with real campaigns. Move to Growth when 50 generations a month runs out, which happens fast if you resize into many formats. Pro is for enterprise teams and is sold through a demo. | Basic covers a business sending a few campaigns a month. Medium is the better fit for teams and small agencies, where 50 exports and two seats run out quickly. Extra members cost $10 each a month. |
Key features
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Klaviyo | Pencil | Stripo |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Klaviyo, Pencil or Stripo?
Klaviyo scores highest overall in our ratings (Klaviyo 4.3/5, Pencil 3.7/5 and Stripo 4.2/5). Klaviyo is best for abandoned cart recovery and segments from plain English. Pencil is best for making many ad variations from one brief and resizing ads for every platform. Stripo is best for designing responsive emails without code and agencies working across many email platforms.
Which is cheaper, Klaviyo, Pencil or Stripo?
Klaviyo: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $20/mo. Pencil: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $14/mo. Stripo: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo.
Which is easier to use, Klaviyo, Pencil or Stripo?
Stripo rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Email marketers, agencies and designers who make lots of branded emails for one or more email platforms.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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