Omnisend vs Privy
An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.
The short answer
Editorial assessmentPrivy compared with Omnisend
The nearest direct competitor and the closer fight. Omnisend covers the same email, SMS, and popup territory for small stores, offers a permanent free plan up to 250 contacts that Privy no longer matches, and has stronger automation branching. Privy answers with a wider set of display formats, spin-to-win included, and the standalone Displays plan that Omnisend has no equivalent for. If you want the whole stack from one vendor and want to start free, Omnisend. If capture formats and popup depth are the deciding factor, Privy.
Choose Omnisend if
Small and mid-size ecommerce stores on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Wix that want the standard revenue-producing flows working quickly and cheaply, especially stores that send frequently enough for Pro's unlimited email sending to pay for itself.
Choose Privy if
Small and growing Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix stores that want list capture, email, and SMS from one vendor at a predictable low starting price, and that value a fast setup over deep segmentation or branching automation logic.
Side by side
13 attributes| Attribute | Omnisend | Privy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | ESPs | Lead Capture |
| Starting price | $0 (free up to 250 contacts), then $16/mo on Standard (free plan available) | $24 per month for the Pop Ups and Displays plan (10,000 monthly pageviews); $30 per month for the Email plan (up to 1,500 contacts) (15 days trial) |
| Pricing model | Self-serve tiers priced by contact count, where both subscribers and non-subscribers who received automated messages are billable and only unsubscribed contacts are excluded. Standard caps monthly emails at twelve times the contact count; Pro removes the email send meter entirely. SMS is a separately metered Pro-only add-on for new subscriptions since May 2026. | Two independent meters. Email plans are priced by the number of mailable contacts and include unlimited sends, popups, displays, campaigns, and automations. A Pop Ups and Displays only plan is priced by monthly pageviews for merchants who want lead capture without Privy's messaging. SMS is an optional add-on sold in monthly credit packages that roll over. Billing is monthly with no annual contract. |
| Free plan | 250 contacts, 500 emails per month, and 500 web push notifications, with full access to automations, segmentation, forms, and landing pages. SMS is billed separately. | No |
| Free trial | No fixed-length trial; the free plan is the evaluation path and includes full feature access | 15 days, no credit card required |
| Best for | Small and mid-size ecommerce stores on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Wix that want the standard revenue-producing flows working quickly and cheaply, especially stores that send frequently enough for Pro's unlimited email sending to pay for itself. | Small and growing Shopify, BigCommerce, and Wix stores that want list capture, email, and SMS from one vendor at a predictable low starting price, and that value a fast setup over deep segmentation or branching automation logic. |
| Setup time | A day to have the core flows running. The store connector installs quickly, syncs products, orders, and customers, and the prebuilt workflows can be enabled with default content immediately. A full migration including domain authentication and testing typically takes around five business days. | Under an hour to install and publish a first display on Shopify, since the app handles the script and pulls store data automatically. A complete setup with several displays, a welcome series, and an abandoned cart flow is typically one working day. |
| Learning curve | Low, and deliberately so. This is the most approachable serious ecommerce marketing tool in the category. The workflow builder is legible to someone who has never built an automation, and the prebuilt library means most stores never start from a blank canvas. The one thing to understand early is the contact-counting rule, because it determines your bill. | Low. The editors are template-first and the flow builder ships pre-built sequences, so most merchants never build an automation from a blank canvas. The skill that takes longer is restraint: deciding which displays not to run so a visitor does not meet three overlays in one session. |
| Platforms | Web application, Onsite tracking script, Native connectors for a dozen ecommerce platforms | Shopify (primary), BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, WordPress.org, Web (JavaScript snippet) |
| Compliance | GDPR with a published data processing agreement, CCPA-aware privacy policy | GDPR, CCPA, TCPA (SMS consent, quiet hours, opt-out handling), CAN-SPAM |
| Founded | 2014 | 2011 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom, with engineering in Vilnius, Lithuania | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Ownership | Effectively bootstrapped and independent; an early convertible note was repaid once the company became profitable and no venture capital has been taken since | Independent (Privy Operations) following divestment from Attentive in 2023 |
Strengths and limitations
Omnisend
Strengths
- Unlimited email sending on Pro removes the send meter entirely, which is a genuine structural advantage over every contact-plus-send-cap competitor.
- The prebuilt ecommerce workflow library gets abandoned cart, welcome, browse abandonment, and post-purchase live in a day, which is where most of the money in store email actually comes from.
- Cross-channel steps inside a single workflow, so email, SMS, and web push run from one sequence and one consent record rather than parallel automations.
- 24/7 live chat and email support with a real human on every plan including Free, with advertised response times measured in minutes. Nothing else in this category does that.
Limitations
- Billing counts non-subscribers who received automated messages, so guest checkouts and imported contacts without an opt-in date inflate the bill beyond your actual marketing list size.
- SMS credits were removed for new subscriptions on 4 May 2026, making SMS a Pro-only metered add-on and quietly raising the cost of the omnichannel proposition.
- Hitting the Standard send cap blocks campaigns and cancels contacts out of running automation workflows, which breaks live sequences rather than just charging you more.
- No customer data platform, warehouse sync, identity resolution, or predictive lifetime value modelling, so a brand that outgrows the flows will eventually look at Klaviyo anyway.
Privy
Strengths
- One vendor covers popups, email, and SMS, which removes the coupon and handoff breakage that plagues stitched-together stacks.
- Genuinely fast setup: a working exit-intent popup with a discount code and confirmation email is an afternoon's work with no developer involved.
- The strongest display format library in the small-store segment, including spin-to-win, mobile flyouts, and cart savers that other popup tools charge extra for.
- Standalone Displays pricing lets Klaviyo and Mailchimp users buy just the capture layer without duplicating their email spend.
Limitations
- The free plan is gone. Privy historically offered a free tier for small lists and now offers only a 15 day trial, which removes the on-ramp that built its reputation.
- Segmentation stays basic: new versus returning, location, device, and purchase history, with no predictive scoring and no deeply nested conditions.
- Automation flows are largely pre-built sequences rather than the branching, conditional logic available in Klaviyo or Omnisend, so complex lifecycle programs hit a ceiling.
- Billing after cancellation is the most common complaint in negative reviews: merchants report charges continuing after uninstalling the app, because removing the Shopify app does not always end the Privy subscription.
Pricing compared
Omnisend
Self-serve tiers priced by contact count, where both subscribers and non-subscribers who received automated messages are billable and only unsubscribed contacts are excluded. Standard caps monthly emails at twelve times the contact count; Pro removes the email send meter entirely. SMS is a separately metered Pro-only add-on for new subscriptions since May 2026.
- Free$0
- Standard$16 at 250 to 500 contacts, about $20 at 1,000, about $132 at 10,000, about $413 at 50,000
- Pro$59 flat from the entry band up to roughly 2,500 contacts, about $150 at 10,000, about $715 at 50,000
- CustomQuoted
Omnisend is the value play in ecommerce email and is priced with a clear view of who it is taking customers from. At 10,000 contacts you are looking at roughly $132 on Standard or $150 on Pro against roughly $150 on Klaviyo's Email plan, which is a wash on headline price but not on terms, because Pro carries no send cap while Klaviyo's allowance is ten times your profile count. At 50,000 contacts the same comparison runs roughly $413 or $715 against roughly $720. So the saving is not enormous at the top, and the real argument is unlimited sending plus getting the standard flows working in a day. Two things erode the case: the inclusive contact meter that bills non-subscribers, and the May 2026 removal of bundled SMS credits, which quietly raised the true cost of the omnichannel pitch the product is named for. For a store that mails often and does not need a customer data platform, it remains the best money in this category.
Privy
Two independent meters. Email plans are priced by the number of mailable contacts and include unlimited sends, popups, displays, campaigns, and automations. A Pop Ups and Displays only plan is priced by monthly pageviews for merchants who want lead capture without Privy's messaging. SMS is an optional add-on sold in monthly credit packages that roll over. Billing is monthly with no annual contract.
- Pop Ups & DisplaysFrom $24
- EmailFrom $30
- Email and SMSFrom $45
For a store under roughly $50k a month in revenue, $30 buys capture, email, and automation from one vendor, which is genuinely hard to beat on capability per dollar; the abandoned cart flow alone usually clears the cost. The value proposition weakens in two directions. Below it, the loss of the free plan means the smallest stores now pay from day 16, and dedicated popup tools start cheaper. Above it, contact-based pricing climbs steadily while the segmentation and automation depth does not, so by the time you are paying several hundred dollars a month you are paying Klaviyo money for less than Klaviyo capability. Privy is priced well for its intended band and poorly for anyone who sits outside it.
Editorial verdict on each
Omnisend
Omnisend is the sensible default for a small or mid-size online store that wants the flows that actually make money working quickly, without buying a customer data platform it will not use. The prebuilt workflow library, the cross-channel steps, the capture tooling, and 24/7 human support on every plan including free make it the most approachable serious ecommerce marketing tool in the category, and unlimited email sending on Pro is a real structural advantage over every competitor that caps sends at a multiple of your list. Two caveats deserve weight before you sign: the contact meter counts non-subscribers who received automated messages, which inflates the bill for stores with heavy guest checkout, and the May 2026 removal of bundled SMS credits quietly raised the cost of the omnichannel promise. Buy it if you run a store, mail frequently, and want revenue flows live this week. Look at Klaviyo instead if the reason you are shopping is segmentation depth, and look at MailerLite if your email programme is really just a newsletter.
Read the full Omnisend profilePrivy
Privy is one of the few tools that does list capture and lifecycle messaging properly at a small-store price, and the reason is architectural rather than promotional: the popup that issues a discount code and the email that delivers it are the same system, which removes the most common failure point in a stitched-together stack. The display library is the best in its price band and the standalone Displays plan is a smart, honest option for merchants who already pay for Klaviyo. The reservations are real and specific. The free plan is gone, so the on-ramp that built the brand no longer exists. Segmentation and automation depth stop where a serious lifecycle program starts, which makes Privy a stage rather than a destination. And the persistent reports of billing continuing after uninstall are a support problem the company has been slow to fix, so cancel inside Privy rather than through Shopify. Judged against what a store under roughly $50k a month actually needs, it remains a strong buy; judged against where that store will be in two years, plan the exit at the same time you plan the install.
Read the full Privy profileOmnisend profile last reviewed 2026-08-22; Privy last reviewed 2026-08-23. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.