Best email marketing apps for Shopify in 2026: how to choose

Every Shopify store ends up needing more than order confirmations. The question is which tool to use for marketing email, and the honest answer is that it depends on your size, your team and how you like to work.

This guide covers five options: Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email), Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp and EterMail. Disclosure: EterMail is our product. For every app we list the same things: who it suits, how it charges, the free plan, the AI features and the Shopify App Store rating. Prices, plans and ratings are taken from each vendor's official pages and App Store listings as of October 2026. They change often, so check them with your own numbers before you decide.

Quick comparison

App Store ratings, as of October 2026: Shopify Messaging 4.8 (4,710 reviews), Mailchimp 4.8 (1,525), Klaviyo 4.7 (3,405), Omnisend 4.7 (3,194). EterMail is not in the Shopify App Store; it connects through a read-only custom app.

What to compare

Before looking at tools, decide what matters to you:

• How you pay. Per contact (the bill grows with your list) or per email (the bill follows how much you send). A large list you email twice a month costs very differently under each model.
• Who does the work. Do you have someone to design emails and build flows, or do you need the tool to do most of it?
• Shopify data. Can it use orders, products and abandoned checkouts, and how quickly does it sync?
• Channels. Email only, or SMS and push as well?
• AI. Does it only suggest a subject line, or can it draft whole campaigns, build segments and pick send times? And who checks the result before it goes out?
• Deliverability. One-click unsubscribe, consent records, domain authentication and protection when something goes wrong.

Shopify Messaging (formerly Shopify Email)

Shopify's own marketing app, built into the admin. Shopify renamed Shopify Email to Shopify Messaging in December 2025, when SMS was added in some regions.

• Best for: new and small stores that want simple campaigns and basic automations without another account or another bill.
• Pricing model: 10,000 free emails a month per store, then $1 per 1,000 emails up to 300,000, with lower rates above that. Abandoned checkout automations are always free and don't count toward the allowance. Charges appear on your Shopify bill.
• Free plan: the 10,000 monthly emails are free on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans. Unused emails don't roll over.
• AI features: Sidekick suggests subject lines and body text from a short prompt, and the App Store listing mentions optimized send times and editing a design by describing the change.
• App Store rating: 4.8 from 4,710 reviews (as of October 2026).
• Watch out for: segmentation, reporting and flow logic are lighter than in dedicated platforms, which matters more as you grow.

Klaviyo

One of the most widely used dedicated email and SMS platforms for Shopify stores.

• Best for: larger stores with a dedicated email or CRM person who will use its depth.
• Pricing model: email plans are based on active profiles (any profile that can be emailed, whatever its consent status, unless suppressed) and on emails sent. On its App Store listing the email plan starts at $20/month for 251–500 contacts. SMS, MMS and WhatsApp are on a separate mobile messaging plan.
• Free plan: up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month, plus a small monthly allowance for mobile messages.
• AI features: drafts subject lines, copy and full email layouts from a prompt; Smart Send Time picks a time per subscriber; you can describe a segment in plain words and it builds the rules; AI-powered product recommendations; predicted churn risk and customer lifetime value; and agents such as Klaviyo Composer.
• App Store rating: 4.7 from 3,405 reviews (as of October 2026).
• Watch out for: a learning curve, and a bill that follows profile count whether or not you email everyone often. See our Klaviyo alternative page and Klaviyo vs Mailchimp.

Omnisend

An ecommerce-focused platform that combines email, SMS and web push.

• Best for: stores that use SMS and push as much as email, and want them in one workflow.
• Pricing model: by contacts. On its App Store listing Standard starts at $16/month for 500 contacts (6,000 emails a month) and Pro at $59/month for 2,500 contacts (unlimited email). Unsubscribed contacts are not billed. SMS is paid per message, from $0.007 for high-volume US sends.
• Free plan: 250 contacts and 500 emails a month, with popups, forms and welcome and abandoned cart automations.
• AI features: an AI writer and subject line generator; a segment builder where you describe the audience in plain language (on every plan, with a connected store); forms built from a description and a product recommender (paid plans); AI send-time optimization on Pro (an add-on for Standard). It also offers an MCP connection for ChatGPT or Claude.
• App Store rating: 4.7 from 3,194 reviews (as of October 2026).
• More: our Omnisend alternative page.

Mailchimp

A general-purpose email tool from Intuit, used by all kinds of businesses.

• Best for: businesses whose email is mostly newsletters and announcements rather than store-driven automations.
• Pricing model: by contacts. Subscribed, unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts all count toward the total. On its App Store listing Essentials starts at $13/month, Standard at $20/month and Premium at $350/month.
• Free plan: up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (250 a day), one audience and one seat.
• AI features: "Write with AI" in the email editor; Creative Assistant (in the Free plan); send-time optimization on Standard and above; behavior-based segments, product recommendations and predicted customer actions described on its AI tools page.
• App Store rating: 4.8 from 1,525 reviews (as of October 2026).
• More: our Mailchimp alternative page and Klaviyo vs Mailchimp.

EterMail

Disclosure: this is our product. We built it for stores that want strong email without a dedicated email specialist.

• Best for: small and mid-sized stores that would rather review finished drafts than build emails, and large lists that are emailed a few times a month.
• Pricing model: per email sent, paid in credits (1,000 credits = $1). A marketing email is 2 credits, about $2 per 1,000; a cold email is 5 credits. Plans are Starter $19, Growth $49, Pro $149 and Ultra $299 a month; on Starter to Pro the whole monthly price becomes credits.
• Free plan: $0 with 1,000 credits a month and up to 1,000 contacts. No card needed.
• AI features: learns your brand from your website and drafts campaigns and flows with product blocks from your catalog; subject-line A/B tests; sends in each recipient's time zone; sorts replies and drafts answers in a shared inbox. Every send waits for a person's approval.
• App Store rating: not listed. EterMail is not in the Shopify App Store; it connects through a read-only custom app that syncs customers, consent, orders, products and open checkouts every 15 minutes.
• Watch out for: email only (no SMS or push). Flows cover welcome, browse abandonment, abandoned checkout, post-purchase, win-back and custom events. Cold outreach from your own mailboxes is included. More on our Shopify email marketing page.

AI tools for Shopify email marketing

"AI" means different things in each app. Here is what each one says its AI does, from the vendors' own pages. None of them replace a quick human read before sending.

Writing copy

• Shopify Messaging: Sidekick writes body text from a prompt in the email editor. You describe the campaign, products and tone.
• Klaviyo: generates subject lines, email copy and complete layouts with images and buttons from a prompt.
• Omnisend: writes on-brand copy and can rephrase, shorten or translate text.
• Mailchimp: "Write with AI" drafts and rewrites copy inside the email editor.
• EterMail (ours): learns your brand from your website, then drafts full campaigns and flow emails using real products from your catalog.

Subject lines

• Shopify Messaging: Sidekick suggests subject lines from the details you give it.
• Klaviyo: generates subject lines, which you can A/B test.
• Omnisend: suggests subject lines and preheaders, on every plan.
• Mailchimp: offers subject line help in the campaign builder.
• EterMail (ours): writes subject lines and runs subject-line A/B tests.

Send time

• Shopify Messaging: the App Store listing mentions optimized send times.
• Klaviyo: Smart Send Time picks a delivery time per subscriber from when they usually open.
• Omnisend: AI send-time optimization picks a time per contact from clicks, opens or orders. Included on Pro, an add-on on Standard, and it needs at least 10 sent campaigns.
• Mailchimp: send-time optimization, on Standard and above, picks a time within 24 hours of your chosen date.
• EterMail (ours): sends in each recipient's time zone, so 9am means 9am wherever they are. It does not predict a per-person best time.

Segments

• Klaviyo: describe the customers you want in plain language and it writes the segment rules. It also predicts churn risk and lifetime value.
• Omnisend: describe the audience and the AI builds the segment, with a preview of matching contacts.
• Mailchimp: behavior- and engagement-based segments and predicted customer actions.
• EterMail (ours): ask for "subscribers who haven't ordered in 90 days" and the AI builds the segment from your Shopify data and shows how many people match.
• Shopify Messaging: its pages don't describe an AI segment builder.

Product recommendations

• Klaviyo: AI-powered dynamic product recommendations from customer data.
• Omnisend: a product recommender that inserts products based on browsing and purchase behavior (paid plans).
• Mailchimp: product recommendations for connected stores, described on its AI tools page.
• EterMail (ours): product blocks pulled from your catalog, chosen by the AI for each campaign or flow.

The real difference is less about any one feature and more about the workflow. Klaviyo, Omnisend and Mailchimp put AI inside a tool you still drive. Shopify Messaging keeps it light. EterMail is built so that the AI drafts and you approve.

How to decide

• Just starting, sending the odd newsletter: Shopify Messaging is enough, and the first 10,000 emails a month are free.
• SMS is central to your marketing: Klaviyo or Omnisend.
• You have an email specialist and want maximum control: Klaviyo.
• Mostly newsletters, with landing pages and many kinds of audience: Mailchimp.
• You want great email without building it yourself, and to pay for what you send: EterMail.

Whichever you choose, set up the seven automated emails every store needs first, starting with abandoned cart emails. They earn more than any single campaign.

FAQ

What are the best AI email marketing tools?

For Shopify stores, the main options are Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, Shopify Messaging and EterMail (our product). Klaviyo has the broadest set of AI features, including predictions and AI segments. Omnisend and Mailchimp cover writing, segments and send times, and Shopify Messaging covers copy and subject lines. EterMail focuses on drafting whole campaigns and flows for you to approve.

Does Shopify offer business emails?

For marketing, yes: Shopify Messaging sends campaigns and automations from your admin. For a business mailbox on your own domain, Shopify says it does not provide email hosting; you use a provider such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Zoho Mail. If your domain is managed by Shopify, you can set up forwarding addresses that send incoming mail to an existing inbox, but you can't reply from that address without a hosting provider.

Which AI tool is best for Shopify email?

It depends on who will use it. If you have an email specialist who wants deep data, predictions and SMS, Klaviyo is the usual choice. If you want the AI to do most of the drafting and you only review and approve, EterMail (our product) is built for that. For basic copy help at no extra cost, Shopify Messaging's Sidekick is a good start.

Is Shopify Email enough for a small store?

Often, yes. Shopify Email, now called Shopify Messaging, gives every store 10,000 free emails a month, branded templates and basic automations, and abandoned checkout emails are always free. Many stores move on when they need finer segments, deeper reports or more flow logic, or when they want the AI to do more of the work.