How Much Does a Klaviyo Migration Cost? Real Numbers From the Quotes We Send

Last updated: October 30, 2026

Direct answer: A Klaviyo migration for a growing DTC brand usually costs $6,000 to $15,000 when an agency does the whole job, and a narrow move like SMS only can come in under $2,000. Sticky Digital bills migrations at $150 an hour against a line-item estimate. Rebuilding a message takes about 1 hour per email and 15 minutes per SMS, so a five-email abandonment flow adds roughly $750. Everything else in the price is work every migration needs no matter how many flows you have. Sticky Digital recommends migrating only what has actually sent in the last 90 days, then rebuilding the rest on Klaviyo once the account is warm.

Why Klaviyo migration cost estimates disagree so much

Search for a number and you will find three that do not agree. CostBench lists migration and data export as a one-time cost of $1,000 to $5,000, though its framing is the cost of switching away from Klaviyo, not onto it. Project Cost Estimator puts an agency-run Mailchimp to Klaviyo move at $2,000 to $10,000 and a do-it-yourself move at 40 to 100 hours. Groove Commerce lists its curated migrations starting at $6,356.

None of them is wrong. They are pricing different jobs.

We have run email and SMS programs at Sticky Digital since 2019, and the spread in our own migration quotes looks a lot like the spread online. What separates a $2,000 quote from a $20,000 one is almost never the platform you are leaving. It is how many messages get rebuilt, whether SMS comes along, and whether anyone is accountable for deliverability after the switch. A quote that leaves out warming and consent reconciliation is cheaper because it is a smaller job, and you end up doing the rest yourself.

So the useful question is not "what does a migration cost." It is "what does a migration of my program cost," and that has a formula.

What Klaviyo migrations have actually cost our clients

These are the migration quotes Sticky Digital has sent from 2024 through October 2026, with brand names removed. Seven were full migrations; one moved SMS only.

The median full migration came in at $8,745. The $27,100 quote is what a big library looks like: when a brand wants every message rebuilt, message count drives the price.

The per-message math

We bill migrations at $150 an hour. Each message has a time standard that comes from our own builds.

The hour per email covers the rebuild, not a rewrite: layout, dynamic product blocks, links, filters, and splits. SMS is faster because there is less to build. If you want new copy or design while you move, that is a separate line, and it is often worth doing later on Klaviyo rather than during the switch.

What drives the cost of a Klaviyo migration

Here is a real estimate we built this fall for a home bedding brand moving email and SMS off Listrak. It is 87.75 hours, or $13,162.50 before any discount, and it covers every message that sent at least once in the prior three months.

Look at the flow builds. Rebuilding the messages themselves (7 emails and 16 SMS) took 11 of those hours, $1,650. Most of the price is the work around the messages.

Then the brand asked us to move its full library instead: 69 emails and 16 SMS. That added 62 hours and pushed the estimate to $22,462.50 before discount. Same brand, same platforms, same team. The only thing that changed was the list of messages.

The cheaper direction worked too. Moving only the flows that had produced revenue in the prior three months brought the estimate to $12,187.50.

Message count

This is the lever you control. Old ESP accounts collect journeys that nobody turns off. In the Listrak account above, 4 of 15 journeys had sent nothing in three months, and one more was still sending copy from a 2022 promotion. One SMS welcome message drove 63% of the automation revenue the old platform reported. Paying to rebuild everything at full fidelity is rarely the right call.

SMS

SMS adds a number port or a new number, keyword and auto-reply setup, quiet hours, checkout consent, and a compliance check before the first send. In the example it was 5.25 hours. Consent records have to come across with timestamps intact, which is where cheap migrations tend to cut corners.

Sign-up forms and integrations

Each pop-up is rebuilt and tested on its own. In the example, each one ran 3.5 hours. Reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, helpdesk, back in stock, and paid media audiences each need reconnecting, usually 15 minutes apiece unless something custom is involved.

Warming campaigns

A new sending domain has to earn its reputation, so the first eight weeks of campaigns go to your most engaged subscribers first and widen from there. The warming plan and monitoring are part of every migration. Writing and designing those warming emails is optional; we price it per email ($550 each in the example, or $9,900 for 18).

Why the cheapest Klaviyo migration often costs the most

The expensive mistakes happen in the import, not the design.

A low quote usually covers exporting contacts, importing them, and copying the main flows. What it tends to skip is the order of operations. If subscribers go in before suppressions and unsubscribes, people who opted out on the old platform can get mail on day one. If list-triggered flows are live during the import, thousands of existing subscribers enter a welcome series at once. Either one can earn spam complaints on a sending domain with no reputation yet, and that reputation takes far longer to repair than it took to damage.

That is why a migration quote with no line for suppression imports, consent reconciliation, or warming is not cheaper. It is incomplete. If you are comparing quotes, ask each agency where those three things sit in its estimate.

How Sticky Digital prices and runs a Klaviyo migration

We bill hourly against a line-item estimate the brand can read, so you see exactly what moves and what it costs. The mechanics:

1. We price from send data, not a flow list. We pull every automation that sent at least one message in the last 90 days, with its sends and attributed revenue, then quote three options side by side: revenue-producing messages only, everything still sending, or everything plus warming campaigns we write and design.
2. Each message has a time standard. One hour per email and 15 minutes per SMS, at $150 an hour, so adding or cutting a flow changes the price by a number you can check.
3. Your team's work is marked as yours. DNS records, legal sign-off on SMS terms, and website code changes are labeled "client, Sticky guides." We send instructions and verify the result, and we bill only the time it takes to guide and check them.
4. Unsubscribes go in first. Suppressions import before subscribers, the most restrictive status wins when records conflict, and list-triggered flows sit on manual until the counts reconcile.
5. We stay through the ramp. Forms switch the same day, we watch the old lists for stray sign-ups for a week, and we review performance against the old platform's baseline at 30, 60, and 90 days.

One more line can change the math. On qualifying migrations, we work with Klaviyo to secure a migration discount for the brand, which can cover a meaningful share of the agency fee. It is not guaranteed for every account, so we build the estimate without it and show it as its own line when Klaviyo approves it. You can see the rest of what we do on our email and SMS services page.

FAQ

How much does it cost to migrate to Klaviyo?

An agency-run migration for a growing DTC brand typically costs $6,000 to $15,000, according to the quotes Sticky Digital has sent, with a full range of $5,805 to $27,100. A narrow move like SMS only can cost under $2,000. Sticky Digital bills $150 an hour, with about 1 hour per email and 15 minutes per SMS rebuilt.

How long does a Klaviyo migration take?

Plan for the build plus about eight weeks of warming after cutover. In Sticky Digital's warming plan, campaigns go only to subscribers engaged in the last 30 days for weeks 1 and 2, widen to 60 and then 90 days through week 6, and reach 120 to 180 days from week 7. The build before cutover runs longer or shorter depending on how many messages move.

Do I need to migrate every flow to Klaviyo?

No. Sticky Digital recommends moving only the messages that sent in the last 90 days and retiring the rest. Old ESP accounts often hold journeys with zero sends or years-old copy, and rebuilding those costs money without adding revenue.

Is the Klaviyo subscription included in the migration price?

No. A migration quote covers agency labor. The Klaviyo plan and SMS credits are billed by Klaviyo, so ask your agency to confirm your plan and estimate SMS credit needs during kickoff.

Does Klaviyo offer discounts for migrating?

Sometimes. On qualifying migrations, Sticky Digital works with Klaviyo to secure a migration discount for the brand. It is not guaranteed, so a good estimate is priced without it and shows the discount as a separate line once approved.

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If you want a line-item estimate for your own program, send us your current platform and flow list and we will price all three options.

Article By: Mariel Kilroy, Co-Founder, Sticky Digital

Mariel Kilroy is the Co-Founder of Sticky Digital, a Klaviyo Platinum Partner and retention marketing agency specializing in email, SMS, loyalty, and subscription growth for DTC brands.