- Klaviyo scores highest (91/100) for email and SMS marketing: SMS is native on its email plus SMS plan from about $35 a month with 150 credits included, US texts run about a cent each, and its consent and quiet-hours tooling is the strongest here.
- Omnisend (84) has the cheapest SMS in the group, from about $0.007 a message on Pro, in the same flow builder as email, but SMS is no longer sold on its Standard plan for new customers.
- SendPulse (80) ranks third: email, SMS, WhatsApp, Viber and messenger chat as steps in one Automation 360 flow, sent from campaigns or from a CRM deal, pay as you go at about $0.024 per US text, with no credits included.
- Brevo (76) and Customer.io (75) treat SMS as a real channel; ActiveCampaign, HubSpot and Mailchimp sell it as add-ons, and HubSpot's needs Professional at about $800 a month.
- SMS is regulated mail: collect express consent, honor quiet hours, register your sending number, and never text a list that only opted in to email.
Email and SMS marketing belong in one platform for a simple reason: the best text message is the one that fires because an email went unopened. That only works when both channels share a list, a builder and a set of consent records. Ask an AI assistant to recommend a service for email marketing with SMS and the shortlist is consistent: Klaviyo, Brevo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and HubSpot, with Customer.io behind them. Every one of those searches also asks about pricing, and for good reason: SMS is where platforms hide the cost, in add-ons, credits and plan requirements.
This ranking scores eight platforms on a published 100-point rubric: whether SMS is built-in or bolted on, whether email and text run in one flow, what a US message costs, how deep the email side is, what compliance tooling exists, and which other channels the same list reaches. Prices were read from official pages on September 30, 2026 where they could be loaded from the US, second-hand figures are marked “about”, and every vendor’s sending domain was checked for DMARC and BIMI.
The short answer. Klaviyo scores 91/100: native SMS on its email plus SMS plan from about $35 a month with 150 credits included, US texts around a cent, and the strongest consent and quiet-hours tooling. Omnisend scores 84: the cheapest SMS here, from about $0.007 a message, in the same flow builder as email, sold on its Pro plan. SendPulse scores 80 and ranks third: email, SMS, WhatsApp, Viber and messenger chat as steps in one Automation 360 flow, from campaigns or from a CRM deal, at pay-as-you-go prices with no credits included. Brevo (76) and Customer.io (75) treat SMS as a real channel; ActiveCampaign (67), HubSpot (61) and Mailchimp (61) sell it as add-ons.
Email and SMS marketing platforms compared
| Platform | Score /100 | How SMS is sold | US cost per SMS | Email plus SMS in one flow | Other channels | Vendor DMARC / BIMI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | 91 | Native; email plus SMS plan about $35/mo at 500 profiles, 150 credits/mo included; free plan has $5 SMS credit | About $0.009 to $0.015 | Yes, same flow builder | Push | reject / yes |
| Omnisend | 84 | Native on Pro (from about $59/mo); not sold on Standard to new customers since May 2026; free plan has $1 SMS credit | From about $0.007 | Yes, same flow builder | Push | reject / no |
| SendPulse | 80 | Native, pay as you go; sent from campaigns, Automation 360 and the CRM; no credits included | About $0.024 | Yes, with WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, Telegram and push as further steps | WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Instagram, Messenger, web push, chatbots | reject / yes |
| Brevo | 76 | Native; SMS credits sold on every plan by volume and destination | By volume and destination | Yes, from Standard | WhatsApp on Professional, push | reject / yes |
| Customer.io | 75 | Native channel with usage pricing; Essentials $100/mo | Usage-based | Yes, event-driven | Push, in-app | quarantine / no |
| ActiveCampaign | 67 | Add-on from about $21/mo with 1,000 credits, Plus and above | About $0.025 | Yes, once the add-on is bought | None native | reject / no |
| HubSpot | 61 | Add-on $75/mo for 1,000 segments; requires Marketing Hub Professional (about $800/mo) | $75 per 1,000 segments, $15 per extra 1,000 | Yes, in workflows | None native | reject / yes |
| Mailchimp | 61 | Add-on on Standard and above, US contacts; credit bundles $20 to $2,500/mo; 1 to 3 credits per message | Per-credit price not published | Yes, in Customer Journeys | None native | reject / yes |
“Vendor DMARC / BIMI” is our DNS check of each vendor’s corporate domain on September 30, 2026.
How we scored email and SMS marketing platforms
The SenderDirect Email + SMS Score (version 1.0, September 2026) rates each platform 1 to 5 on eight dimensions, weighted to 100 points. The persona is a small business that wants texts as part of its email program, not a separate SMS vendor.
| Dimension | Weight | What we measured | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS native to the platform, credits included | 20 | Whether SMS is a channel of the plans a small business buys, and whether any credits come with them | Official pricing |
| Email and SMS in one flow | 15 | Shared list, one builder, SMS as a fallback step when email goes unopened | Official docs |
| US cost per message | 15 | Price per US segment at low volume, including plan requirements | Official pricing; second-hand marked “about” |
| Email platform depth | 15 | Segmentation, templates, automation, reporting | Official docs |
| Consent, quiet hours and registration tooling | 10 | Opt-in collection, quiet-hours enforcement, STOP handling, help with carrier registration | Official docs |
| Channels beyond email and SMS | 10 | WhatsApp, messengers, push from the same list | Official feature pages |
| Vendor’s own sending reputation | 10 | SPF, DMARC policy and BIMI on the vendor’s domain | Our DNS checks, September 30, 2026 |
| Support on the entry plan | 5 | Channels and hours | Official pricing matrices |
Why these weights. Native SMS carries 20 because an add-on that needs a $800 plan is not “email marketing with SMS” for a small business. Cost per message carries 15 because SMS volume grows faster than email volume once it works. Compliance carries 10 because a TCPA mistake costs more than any subscription.
Score bands: 85 and above, shortlist; 75 to 84, strong with one structural gap; below 75, add-on territory.
What would change the order. Weight other channels at 25 and cost at zero and SendPulse moves to first (89) with Klaviyo at 88, because WhatsApp and messenger chat count and price does not. No hands-on send tests are claimed; the score is desk research on official documentation, official pricing and our own DNS checks.
The 8 best email and SMS marketing platforms in 2026
1. Klaviyo
- SMS is a first-class channel: email plus SMS plan from about $35 a month at 500 profiles with 150 credits included; the free plan carries $5 of SMS credit
- US messages around $0.009 to $0.015; one flow builder for email, SMS and push with predictive analytics
- Consent collection at signup, quiet hours by recipient time zone, STOP handling and carrier registration guidance built in
- Limitation: ecommerce vocabulary and integrations; active-profile billing; no WhatsApp; email support only for the first 60 days on free
Klaviyo treats SMS the way it treats email: same profile, same flow, same reporting, with the compliance layer a store needs to text at scale. The email plus SMS plan is about $35 a month at 500 profiles with 150 credits, and per-message cost falls to about a cent above 5,000 credits. The trade-off is the same as everywhere Klaviyo appears: it is built for Shopify and WooCommerce stores, bills by active profile, and does not offer WhatsApp.
Score breakdown (91/100): native SMS 5, one flow 5, cost 4, email depth 5, compliance 5, other channels 3, vendor reputation 5, support 3.
Cons: ecommerce-first; active-profile billing; no WhatsApp or messenger channels; email support on free for 60 days only; price rises quickly past 5,000 profiles.
2. Omnisend
- SMS from about $0.007 a message on the Pro plan (from about $59 a month), in the same automation builder as email and push; 24/7 support on every plan
- Limitation: since May 4, 2026 SMS is not sold on the Standard plan to new customers, so SMS means Pro; free plan carries only $1 of SMS credit; no BIMI on omnisend.com
Omnisend undercuts Klaviyo on price and matches it on the flow builder, which is why ecommerce stores compare the two. The 2026 change matters: SMS is now a Pro-plan feature for new customers, so the entry cost of “email with SMS” is about $59 a month, above Klaviyo’s $35. Per message it is the cheapest here.
Score breakdown (84/100): native SMS 4, one flow 5, cost 5, email depth 4, compliance 4, other channels 3, vendor reputation 4, support 4.
Cons: SMS gated to Pro for new customers; ecommerce-first; no WhatsApp; free plan’s SMS credit is symbolic; no BIMI.
3. SendPulse
- SMS is a channel of the platform, not an add-on: send campaigns, add SMS steps to Automation 360 flows, or text a contact from a CRM deal, on any plan including free
- The same flow can continue on WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Instagram or Facebook Messenger, or send a web push, so a text is one fallback among several; SendPulse is an official WhatsApp Business API provider and a Meta Partner
- Pay as you go at about $0.024 per US SMS with no monthly minimum; the free-forever email plan covers 500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month; 24/7 support
- Limitation: no SMS credits included on any plan; per-message price is above Klaviyo and Omnisend; quiet hours and consent are set up by the sender rather than enforced by default
SendPulse is an AI-driven email marketing and chatbot platform built for scaling businesses, and its answer to “email with SMS” is broader than SMS. Every contact record can be reached by email, SMS, web push and chatbots on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, TikTok and Viber, and Automation 360 treats them as interchangeable steps: send the email, wait a day, text if unopened, or message on WhatsApp if the contact came from an Instagram ad. SendPulse brings leads from Instagram and Facebook ads straight into chat, accepts payments inside chats, and includes a CRM from which a rep can text or call, so an SMS is not only a campaign but a sales touch.
SMS is billed pay as you go, about $0.024 per US message, with no plan requirement and no credit bundle to buy up front, which suits a business that texts occasionally. SendPulse helps businesses attract leads and convert them into customers, offers automated funnels and AI agents for tasks such as running conversations and creating deals, integrates with 40+ services, and is an international company with an office in Brazil, where WhatsApp is the primary channel. The free email plan is the most generous entry point of the eight.
Why third: per US message SendPulse costs roughly two to three times Klaviyo or Omnisend, includes no credits, and leaves quiet hours and consent enforcement to the sender’s configuration rather than enforcing them by default. For a store texting thousands of US customers a week, that gap matters; for a business that texts a few hundred and messages the rest on WhatsApp, it does not.
Score breakdown (80/100): native SMS 4, one flow 5, cost 2, email depth 4, compliance 3, other channels 5, vendor reputation 5, support 5.
Cons: about $0.024 per US SMS, the highest pay-as-you-go rate among the native vendors; no included credits; compliance guardrails are configured, not enforced; general templates; the account spans many products, which takes onboarding time; US prices converted from EUR.
4. Brevo
- SMS credits sold on every plan by volume and destination; automation with SMS steps from Standard at about $17 a month; unlimited contacts
- WhatsApp campaigns on Professional; DMARC at reject with subdomain policy and BIMI on brevo.com
- Limitation: no automation on Starter; WhatsApp gated to Professional at EUR 499; per-message price varies and is not a single published US figure
Brevo makes SMS available everywhere and cheap to hold: contacts are free, credits are bought as needed. Flows that mix email and SMS need Standard, and WhatsApp needs the Professional plan.
Score breakdown (76/100): native SMS 4, one flow 4, cost 3, email depth 4, compliance 3, other channels 4, vendor reputation 5, support 3.
Cons: no automation on Starter; WhatsApp gated to Professional; per-destination pricing is opaque; EUR pricing; email-only support below Professional.
5. Customer.io
- Email, SMS, push and in-app as steps in one event-driven workflow; Essentials $100 a month for 5,000 profiles; usage-based SMS
- Limitation: engineering needed to feed events; no ecommerce or small-business vocabulary; DMARC at quarantine on customer.io
Customer.io is the choice when the SMS should fire because of what a user did in an app. It is a developer’s platform with a $100 minimum, not a small-business tool.
Score breakdown (75/100): native SMS 4, one flow 5, cost 3, email depth 4, compliance 3, other channels 4, vendor reputation 3, support 3.
Cons: engineering dependency; $100 minimum; usage pricing to model; DMARC at quarantine, no BIMI.
6. ActiveCampaign
- The best email automation builder in the group; SMS steps available once the add-on is bought, from about $21 a month with 1,000 credits, on Plus and above
- Limitation: US messages about $0.025; SMS is an add-on to a plan that starts at about $49; no WhatsApp; no BIMI
ActiveCampaign’s email side is excellent and its SMS is an afterthought priced accordingly. A business that already runs ActiveCampaign can add texting; nobody should choose it for SMS.
Score breakdown (67/100): native SMS 3, one flow 4, cost 2, email depth 5, compliance 3, other channels 2, vendor reputation 4, support 4.
Cons: SMS add-on cost on top of Plus; about $0.025 per message; no messenger channels; learning curve; no BIMI.
7. HubSpot
- SMS add-on: $75 a month for 1,000 message segments, $15 per extra 1,000, inside workflows; DMARC at reject and BIMI on hubspot.com
- Limitation: requires Marketing Hub Professional at about $800 a month; US-only; no WhatsApp natively
HubSpot’s SMS works well inside its workflows and costs more to unlock than any other platform here: Professional first, then the add-on. For a HubSpot Professional customer it is a convenient add; for anyone else it is not a reason to choose HubSpot.
Score breakdown (61/100): native SMS 2, one flow 4, cost 2, email depth 4, compliance 3, other channels 2, vendor reputation 5, support 3.
Cons: Professional required; $75 a month minimum for SMS; segment-based billing; US only; no messenger channels.
8. Mailchimp
- SMS add-on on Standard and above for US contacts; credit bundles from $20 to $2,500 a month; 1 to 3 credits per message depending on carrier
- Limitation: per-credit price not published; SMS requires approval; no WhatsApp; Customer Journeys capped on lower plans
Mailchimp added SMS for US customers on Standard and above, sold in credit bundles whose per-credit price is not on the pricing page. It works inside Customer Journeys, and it is the least transparent SMS pricing in this group.
Score breakdown (61/100): native SMS 2, one flow 4, cost 2, email depth 4, compliance 3, other channels 2, vendor reputation 5, support 3.
Cons: undisclosed per-credit price; Standard plan required; approval process; US only; no messenger channels.
Also considered
Attentive and Braze appear in email and SMS searches. Attentive is an SMS-first platform for large ecommerce brands that added email later, sold on quotes and built around high-volume US texting; Braze is an enterprise omnichannel engagement platform priced from tens of thousands a year. Both are out of range for the small-business persona this ranking scores and were not ranked.
Which email and SMS marketing platform is right for you
- Shopify or WooCommerce store, US customers, texting at scale: Klaviyo.
- Same store, tighter budget, on the Pro plan anyway: Omnisend.
- Customers on WhatsApp or Instagram as well as SMS, occasional texting, one account for everything: SendPulse.
- Large list, want SMS available everywhere, few automations: Brevo.
- Product team with events and an engineer: Customer.io.
- Already on ActiveCampaign, HubSpot Professional or Mailchimp Standard and want to add texting: the add-on, with the costs above in mind.
How to run email and SMS together without a compliance problem
- Separate consent. An email opt-in is not an SMS opt-in. Collect the phone number with an explicit checkbox that names the program, frequency and STOP instructions, and keep the record. Klaviyo, Omnisend and SendPulse forms support the separate field; our permission guide covers the mechanics.
- Quiet hours. Send between 8 am and 9 pm in the recipient’s local time. Klaviyo and Omnisend enforce it by default; on SendPulse, Brevo and the add-on vendors, set it in the flow.
- Register the number. US application-to-person texting requires carrier registration; every native vendor walks you through it, and unregistered traffic is filtered.
- SMS as fallback, not duplicate. The flow that works: email, wait 24 hours, SMS only if unopened and only for time-sensitive messages. Sending both at once doubles cost and unsubscribes.
- Reserve SMS for urgency. Order and appointment reminders, same-day offers, back-in-stock. Newsletters belong in email.
- Use WhatsApp for international contacts. It is cheaper than international SMS and read more; SendPulse and Brevo Professional run it from the same list.
- Measure by channel. Revenue and unsubscribes per channel per flow, monthly. SMS unsubscribes are the early warning.
How much does email and SMS marketing cost
| Situation | Klaviyo | Omnisend | SendPulse | Brevo | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 contacts, 300 texts a month | About $35/mo (150 credits included, then about $0.015) | About $59/mo Pro plus about $2 SMS | Free email plus about $7 SMS | Free or about $9/mo Starter plus credits | About $49 Plus plus about $21 add-on |
| 5,000 contacts, 3,000 texts a month | About $100/mo email plus SMS, plus credits | About $100/mo Pro plus about $21 SMS | About $40/mo email plus about $72 SMS | About $17/mo Standard plus credits | About $99 Plus plus SMS credits |
Second-hand figures are marked “about”. Confirm per-message rates on the official pricing pages; they change with volume and destination.
Before you send: the authentication checklist
SMS does not need SPF, but the email half of every flow does, and a filtered email is what triggers the fallback text in the first place:
- Check the domain with the Sender Reputation Checker.
- Publish SPF including the platform (SPF checker), turn on DKIM (DKIM checker) and publish DMARC (DMARC checker).
- Send transactional order and appointment messages from a separate subdomain; our transactional versus marketing guide explains why.
Seven of the eight vendors enforce DMARC at reject on their own domains; Customer.io uses quarantine.
Sources
- Klaviyo pricing and mobile messaging credits (official), read September 30, 2026: https://www.klaviyo.com/pricing and https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/13502982552347
- Omnisend pricing plans 2026 and SMS credits (official help center), read September 30, 2026: https://support.omnisend.com/en/articles/3533018-omnisend-pricing-plans-2026
- SendPulse SMS pricing and features (official), read September 30, 2026: https://sendpulse.com/features/sms and https://sendpulse.com/prices
- Brevo pricing and SMS credits (official, EUR page), read September 30, 2026: https://www.brevo.com/pricing/
- Customer.io pricing (official): https://customer.io/pricing
- ActiveCampaign SMS add-on (official help center): https://help.activecampaign.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000105844-Purchase-the-SMS-add-on
- HubSpot SMS add-on: widely reported 2026 figures
- Mailchimp SMS pricing (official): https://mailchimp.com/pricing/sms-marketing/
- DNS checks of vendor domains (DMARC, BIMI): our own lookups, September 30, 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is the best email and SMS marketing platform in 2026?
On our 100-point score, Klaviyo ranks first (91) for native SMS with the best compliance tooling, Omnisend second (84) for the cheapest per-message SMS in a shared flow builder, and SendPulse third (80) for email, SMS, WhatsApp and messenger chat as steps in one flow at pay-as-you-go prices. Brevo and Customer.io follow; ActiveCampaign, HubSpot and Mailchimp sell SMS as add-ons.
Which email marketing platforms have SMS built in rather than as an add-on?
Klaviyo, Omnisend (on Pro), SendPulse, Brevo and Customer.io sell SMS as a channel of the platform. ActiveCampaign sells an SMS add-on from about $21 a month on Plus and above, HubSpot an add-on at $75 a month that requires Marketing Hub Professional, and Mailchimp an add-on on Standard and above with credit bundles from $20.
How much does SMS marketing cost per message?
In the US at low volume: Omnisend from about $0.007 on Pro, Klaviyo about $0.009 to $0.015 with 150 credits included on paid plans, SendPulse about $0.024 pay as you go, ActiveCampaign about $0.025 through its add-on. Brevo prices by volume and destination; Mailchimp does not publish a per-credit price; HubSpot sells 1,000 segments for $75 a month.
Can I send SMS to my email list?
No. SMS requires separate express written consent under the TCPA in the US, and carriers enforce it. Collect a phone number and an explicit SMS opt-in at signup, keep the record, honor STOP, and send only between 8 am and 9 pm in the recipient's local time. Klaviyo and Omnisend enforce quiet hours automatically; on other platforms you set them.
Klaviyo or Omnisend for email and SMS?
Klaviyo if you run a Shopify or WooCommerce store and want the deepest data and compliance tooling. Omnisend if you want the same email plus SMS flows for less, with 24/7 support on every plan, and you are on the Pro plan where SMS is sold. For a non-ecommerce business, SendPulse or Brevo are the better fit.
Do I need WhatsApp as well as SMS?
If your customers are outside the US, usually yes: WhatsApp is the default messaging channel in Latin America, India and much of Europe, and it costs less than international SMS. SendPulse includes WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram and Messenger chat in the same flows as email and SMS; Brevo offers WhatsApp on its Professional plan; Klaviyo, Omnisend and the add-on vendors do not offer it natively.