Attentive is the SMS platform most large Shopify brands grow into, and it is also the one they most often try to grow out of. It is powerful, it has a strong managed-service team, and it now covers SMS, email, RCS and push. It also has no public price, a contract that Vendr’s buyers put at a median of $40,000 a year, and onboarding that is often quoted separately. Those three facts are why so many teams search for Attentive alternatives once they see their renewal.
We read the pricing page of Attentive and every alternative below on November 1, 2026, priced the same 10,000-text month on each platform that publishes its rates, and grouped the options by the reason you are leaving. If you are building a shortlist from scratch rather than switching, start with our full guide to Shopify SMS marketing apps.
TLDR
- Attentive today: quote-only, priced on messages sent, list size, channels and AI add-ons. Vendr’s median buyer pays $40,000 a year, with contracts from $1,800 to $72,000 (Vendr).
- Closest like-for-like switch: Postscript, the Shopify-first SMS specialist with published rates: $0 to $500 a month plus $0.007 to $0.009 per SMS (Postscript pricing).
- Best if email lives in the same tool: Klaviyo, where US texts start at $15 a month for 1,000 messages, carrier fees included, on top of your email plan.
- Cheapest all-in-one: Omnisend Pro from $59 a month list with SMS from $0.007, plus free migration. It is also Yotpo’s recommended home for growing brands after Yotpo SMS shut down.
- Want a managed service without Attentive’s price: Recart ($500 a month with managed SMS) or Emotive (from $100 a month with dedicated SMS experts).
- Watch the consolidation: Privy now owns both Emotive and Sendlane, and Yotpo’s SMS product was decommissioned after December 31, 2025.
In this guide
Why brands look for Attentive alternatives
Attentive’s own pricing page says plans are built around four levers: the number of messages you send, the size of your subscriber list, the number of channels you use and the premium AI tools you add (Attentive pricing). That flexibility suits enterprise brands. For a growing Shopify store it creates the problems we hear about most:
- No public price. You cannot model your bill before a sales call, and two brands of the same size can pay very different amounts.
- Contract size. Vendr reports a $40,000 median annual contract, and notes that overage rates often run 20% to 50% above the base per-message rate (Vendr).
- Onboarding fees. Vendr’s data shows onboarding often quoted separately, in a $5,000 to $25,000+ range depending on complexity.
- AI sold as add-ons. AI Pro and AI Grow are flat monthly fees and AI Journeys is pay-per-click; only AI Essentials is included with every plan.
- Paying for channels you do not use. The best per-message economics sit in the bundled SMS, email, RCS and push package. If your email already lives in Klaviyo or Omnisend, you may be paying for overlap.
None of this makes Attentive a bad choice. For very large programs its deliverability team, two-tap sign-up and dedicated strategists earn their fee. But if you are under roughly 50,000 subscribers, the alternatives below are often cheaper and quicker to run. For a direct head-to-head with its closest rival, read our Attentive vs Postscript breakdown.
Attentive alternatives at a glance
List prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, read on November 1, 2026. US SMS rates exclude carrier fees unless noted.
| Platform | Type | Starting price | US SMS rate | Contract | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attentive (baseline) | SMS, email, RCS, push | Quote only | Quoted by volume | Annual contract typical | Enterprise programs that want a managed, full-channel platform |
| Postscript | Shopify SMS specialist | $0 a month + $49 minimum spend | $0.007 to $0.009 + carrier | No contract on self-serve plans | Shopify brands where SMS is a top channel |
| Klaviyo | Email + SMS platform | $15 a month for 1,000 texts | Bundled, carrier fees included | Monthly | Brands that want email and SMS on one profile |
| Omnisend | Email + SMS + push | $59 a month Pro (list price) | From $0.007 | Monthly | Budget all-in-one with free migration |
| Recart | Managed SMS + list growth | $500 a month (List Growth + SMS) | $0.0085 + carrier | Quarterly commitment | Brands that want done-for-you SMS and one-tap opt-in |
| Emotive | Conversational SMS + experts | $100 a month | $0.008 to $0.015 | Monthly on Starter | Two-way SMS with a dedicated team |
| Sendlane | Email + SMS | $100 a month (50,000 emails) | From $0.009 incl. carrier | Monthly or annual | Large lists: pay for sends, not profiles |
| Privy | Popups + email + SMS | $30 a month | Credit add-on | No annual contract | Small stores that want list growth and SMS in one |
| SlickText | SMS platform | $29 a month (500 credits) | Credit plans + carrier | Monthly or yearly | Simple SMS with phone support and a Shopify app |
What 10,000 texts a month actually costs
Headline prices hide very different pricing models, so we priced the same month on every platform that publishes its rates: 10,000 single-segment US marketing texts, no MMS. Where a vendor lists carrier fees separately, we added its own published average. Email plans are not included.
| Platform and plan | Monthly cost for 10,000 US SMS | How we got there |
|---|---|---|
| Attentive | Not published (Vendr median: about $3,333 a month) | $40,000 median annual contract divided by 12; covers whatever the buyer negotiated |
| Postscript Starter | $123 | $0.009 + $0.0033 average carrier fee, x 10,000; $0 plan fee; clears the $49 minimum |
| Postscript Growth | $213 | $100 + ($0.008 + $0.0033) x 10,000 |
| Postscript Professional | $603 | $500 + ($0.007 + $0.0033) x 10,000 |
| Klaviyo SMS | $125 | Klaviyo calculator tier for 10,000 US toll-free texts, carrier fees included; email plan extra |
| Omnisend Pro | About $144 | $59 Pro plan + 10,000 x $0.0085 (the rate shown for $50 of credits; higher volumes get lower rates) |
| Sendlane | $190 | $100 plan (50,000 emails) + 10,000 x $0.009, carrier fees included |
| Emotive Pro | $300 + carrier fees if billed | $200 plan + 10,000 x $0.01 (list of 2,000 to 5,000) |
| SlickText | $319 + carrier fees | 10,000-credit plan, 1 credit per SMS segment |
| Recart List Growth + SMS | $630 | $500 + ($0.0085 + $0.0045 average carrier fee) x 10,000 |
Two caveats keep this honest. First, Attentive’s figure is a median contract, which usually covers far more than 10,000 texts, plus email, AI tools and support, so treat it as a sense of scale rather than a like-for-like price. Second, the cheapest SMS line is not always the cheapest program: Recart and Emotive charge more because a team runs your list growth and campaigns for you. The useful comparison is your all-in monthly spend, including the hours your team would otherwise put in.
The 8 best Attentive alternatives in 2026
1. Postscript: the closest like-for-like switch for Shopify brands
| Best for | The closest like-for-like switch for Shopify brands |
| Starting price | $0 a month + $49 minimum spend (Starter) |
| Pricing model | Plan fee plus per-message rates; carrier fees passed through at cost |
Postscript is the SMS platform Attentive is compared with most, because it does the same core job for Shopify stores: grow a subscriber list, run campaigns and automations on Shopify data, and attribute revenue. Every plan includes a visual flow builder with cart, browse abandonment, welcome, upsell and shipping templates, popups and checkout collection, a dedicated toll-free number, advanced segmentation on Shopify data, reply management and custom attribution windows (Postscript pricing).
Starter has no plan fee but a $49 monthly minimum, with SMS at $0.009 and MMS at $0.045. Growth is $100 a month with SMS at $0.008 and unlimited opt-in keywords. Professional is $500 a month with SMS at $0.007, API access, enhanced analytics and the “Powered by Postscript” label removed. Enterprise is custom and adds a dedicated CSM, data warehouse push and the option to add RCS. Postscript publishes its average US carrier fees ($0.0033 per SMS, $0.008 per MMS) and lists them on their own invoice line. An AI Plan at $699 a month bundles its Shopper agent, Infinity Testing and Brand Center, and a free trial includes $100 of message credit for 30 days.
Where it beats Attentive: transparent, self-serve pricing with no prepaid credits or profile fees, and the deepest Shopify-first feature set on this list.
Where it falls short: its email channel is newly launched (Postscript claims rates 20 to 30 percent below legacy providers), so it has a shorter track record than Klaviyo or Omnisend, and the platform is built around Shopify. If you sell on another platform, check the SDK route first.
2. Klaviyo: brands that want email and SMS on one customer profile
| Best for | Brands that want email and SMS on one customer profile |
| Starting price | $15 a month for 1,000 US texts, on top of an email plan |
| Pricing model | Monthly mobile messaging plan in dollars, carrier fees included |
If your email already runs on Klaviyo, adding SMS there is the simplest way to leave Attentive. Texts share the same customer profile, segments and flows as your email, so a cart abandonment flow can choose the channel per customer instead of firing two separate tools. The free plan covers 250 profiles, 500 emails and $5 of mobile messages a month (Klaviyo pricing).
On July 13, 2026 Klaviyo moved mobile messaging from credits to dollar-based, per-message rates, added more than 70 plan tiers and split US and Canadian pricing between toll-free and short-code sending. Carrier fees stay inside the rate, and you still buy a monthly plan before sending (Klaviyo help centre). On Klaviyo’s SMS page, 1,000 US toll-free texts cost $15 a month. Email plans start at $20 a month for 500 profiles on its Shopify App Store listing (Klaviyo on Shopify).
Where it beats Attentive: one data layer for email and SMS, a very large integration library and published pricing you can model yourself.
Where it falls short: unused monthly spend does not roll over, long messages are billed per segment, and costs climb as your profile count grows on the email side. Managed strategy is a paid professional-services add-on rather than included.
3. Omnisend: the budget all-in-one with free migration
| Best for | The budget all-in-one with free migration |
| Starting price | $59 a month Pro, list price ($41.30 with the three-month prepay offer) |
| Pricing model | Plan by contact count; SMS bought as monthly credits on Pro |
Omnisend combines email, SMS, web push and audience sync for Facebook and Google in one plan, and SMS rates on the Pro plan start at $0.007. On November 1, 2026 its pricing page showed $50 of SMS buying 5,882 US texts, which works out to $0.0085 each, with lower rates at higher volume (Omnisend pricing).
The Free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 emails. Standard is $16 a month list price. Pro, the plan you need for SMS at volume-based rates, is $59 a month at the entry contact tier and includes unlimited emails, a dedicated account expert for spend of $400 a month or more, and advanced reporting. Omnisend offers free migration of lists, segments, flows and templates in up to five days, and 24/7 support. It is also one of the two migration partners Yotpo recommended when it shut down its own SMS product (Yotpo).
Where it beats Attentive: price. A brand sending 10,000 texts a month pays roughly $144 including the Pro plan, and email is included.
Where it falls short: SMS depth is lighter than a specialist like Postscript, MMS is US and Canada only, and there is no done-for-you service.
4. Recart: brands that want managed SMS and faster list growth
| Best for | Brands that want managed SMS and faster list growth |
| Starting price | $500 a month (List Growth + SMS) |
| Pricing model | Monthly fee plus per-message rates, quarterly commitment |
Recart is built around its OneClick opt-in, a popup that lets logged-in shoppers join your list with one tap instead of typing a number. It claims 10% to 20% popup conversion rates and sells itself as a managed service as much as software (Recart).
The List Growth plan is $200 a month plus a $0.02 OneClick verification fee, for brands that only want the popups and send texts elsewhere. List Growth + SMS is $500 a month with US SMS at $0.0085 and MMS at $0.025 plus carrier fees (Recart publishes averages of $0.0045 and $0.011), and includes done-for-you onboarding, managed list growth, managed SMS, a success manager and a shared Slack channel. Both plans carry a quarterly commitment, and Recart says it attributes revenue only through clicks or unique discount codes.
Where it beats Attentive: a dedicated team running your list growth and SMS for a fraction of a typical Attentive contract, with stricter click-based attribution.
Where it falls short: it is Shopify and DTC focused, it does not replace your email platform, and per-text costs are higher than self-serve tools.
5. Emotive: two-way, conversational SMS with an expert team
| Best for | Two-way, conversational SMS with an expert team |
| Starting price | $100 a month + $0.015 per SMS (Starter) |
| Pricing model | Plan by list size plus per-message rates; minimum spend from the Pro plan |
Emotive focuses on two-way SMS conversations rather than one-way blasts, staffed by TextPros, a team of former agency SMS specialists included with the product. It also sells CartAI, a first-party identification pixel, and an attribution tool (Emotive). Privy acquired Emotive in July 2025 (press release).
Starter is $100 a month plus $0.015 per SMS and $0.025 per MMS, on a monthly contract with no minimum spend, for lists under 2,000. Pro is $200 a month plus $0.01 per SMS with a $200 minimum spend for lists of 2,000 to 5,000, and adds a dedicated copywriter and Slack channel. Advanced is $300 a month plus $0.008 per SMS with a $400 minimum for lists of 5,000 to 10,000. Enterprise is custom. Emotive advertises contract buyouts for competitors and a 5x ROI guarantee for qualifying sites with at least 10,000 monthly unique visits.
Where it beats Attentive: human-staffed, two-way conversations and a dedicated copywriter at a price small and mid-sized brands can see before a call.
Where it falls short: plans are tied to list size, so costs step up as you grow, and the long-term roadmap now sits inside Privy.
6. Sendlane: large lists that should pay for sends, not profiles
| Best for | Large lists that should pay for sends, not profiles |
| Starting price | $100 a month for 50,000 emails |
| Pricing model | Priced on email send volume with unlimited profiles; SMS packages by credit |
Sendlane prices email on sends rather than contacts, so a big list of occasional buyers does not push you into a higher tier. The entry plan is $100 a month for 50,000 emails with unlimited profiles, a $2 CPM overage and 24/7 chat support, and SMS packages start at $0.009 per credit, carrier fees included (Sendlane pricing).
Dedicated support, monthly program reviews, a shared Slack channel and an optional dedicated IP are reserved for annual-contract customers on its Enterprise tiers. Privy acquired Sendlane in early 2026, and both companies say Sendlane continues to run as its own product for now (Sendlane).
Where it beats Attentive: no profile tax. Brands with large, mostly dormant lists can keep everyone without paying for them every month.
Where it falls short: the best support is tied to annual contracts, and its future is now part of Privy’s plan, so ask about the roadmap before committing.
7. Privy: small stores that want popups, email and SMS in one tool
| Best for | Small stores that want popups, email and SMS in one tool |
| Starting price | $30 a month (up to 1,500 mailable contacts) |
| Pricing model | Plan by mailable contacts with unlimited email sends; SMS credit add-on |
Privy started as a popup and list growth tool and now sells a full email and SMS platform, with exit-intent popups, spin-to-win, cart savers, flows and reporting. Pricing starts at $30 a month for up to 1,500 mailable contacts with unlimited email sends, and SMS is an add-on with monthly credits that roll over. The pricing page shows 250 SMS credits at no extra cost on the entry plan (Privy pricing).
There is a 15-day free trial with no credit card, free migration assistance and no annual contract. Privy also sells popups only from $24 a month if you just want list growth feeding Shopify or Klaviyo. With Emotive and Sendlane now under the same roof, Privy is building one of the larger mid-market alternatives to Attentive.
Where it beats Attentive: the cheapest way to get popups, email and SMS working together on a small store, with no contract.
Where it falls short: SMS is an add-on rather than the core product, and per-credit rates beyond the included credits are set in the app rather than on the pricing page.
8. SlickText: simple SMS with phone support and a Shopify app
| Best for | Simple SMS with phone support and a Shopify app |
| Starting price | $29 a month for 500 credits |
| Pricing model | Monthly credit plans; 1 SMS segment = 1 credit, 1 MMS = 3 credits; carrier fees extra |
SlickText is a general SMS marketing platform rather than an ecommerce specialist, but it connects to Shopify through its own integration (SlickText for Shopify) and suits brands that want straightforward texting with real people on the phone. Plans run from $29 a month for 500 credits to $319 for 10,000 and $579 for 25,000, with unlimited contacts, free incoming texts, rollover credits and live phone, chat and email support on every plan (SlickText pricing).
Plans from $129 include a one-to-one onboarding session, and plans from $579 add a dedicated customer success manager. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card. RCS costs a $500 setup fee plus $200 a year, and sending covers the US and Canada only.
Where it beats Attentive: predictable, credit-based pricing with rollover and phone support from the first plan.
Where it falls short: it lacks the deep Shopify segmentation, product feeds and revenue attribution of Postscript or Klaviyo, and carrier fees sit on top of credits.
Attentive vs the alternatives: feature comparison
| Capability | Attentive | Postscript | Klaviyo | Omnisend | Recart | Emotive | Sendlane | Privy | SlickText |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email in the same product | Yes | Yes (new) | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| RCS | Yes | Enterprise option | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Paid setup |
| Managed or done-for-you service | Yes | Postscript Plus add-on | Paid services | No | Yes | Yes (TextPros) | Enterprise tiers | Expert on request | No |
| Carrier fees in the rate | Quoted | No, passed through | Yes | Shown per volume | No, passed through | Not stated | Yes | Credits | No |
| Contract | Annual typical | None on self-serve | Monthly | Monthly | Quarterly | Monthly on Starter | Monthly or annual | None | Monthly or yearly |
| Free plan or trial | Free trial | 30 days, $100 credit | Free plan | Free plan | Demo | 14-day trial | Demo | 15-day trial | 14-day trial |
Read “Not listed” as “not on the pricing or product pages we checked on November 1, 2026”. Vendors in this category ship quickly, so confirm anything critical in a demo or trial.
One correction to older lists: Yotpo SMS, formerly SMSBump, is no longer an option. Yotpo wound down its email and SMS products and decommissioned them after December 31, 2025, naming Attentive and Omnisend as migration partners (Yotpo). If a list still recommends it, it is out of date.
How to choose the right Attentive alternative
- You want the same SMS depth on Shopify for less: Postscript.
- Your email already lives in Klaviyo: add Klaviyo SMS and run both channels from one profile.
- You want email and SMS together at the lowest price: Omnisend Pro.
- You liked Attentive’s managed service but not the contract: Recart or Emotive.
- You have a large list of occasional buyers: Sendlane, which charges for sends rather than profiles.
- You are a small store starting out: Privy, or SlickText if you want simple texting with phone support. Our list of the cheapest SMS marketing software covers more budget picks.
Before you switch: a migration checklist
- Export consent records, not just numbers. Keep the opt-in source, timestamp and keyword for every subscriber. Our guide to TCPA SMS compliance explains why that record matters.
- Check your sending number. Toll-free and short-code numbers usually need re-registration with the new provider, so plan for verification time before your first campaign.
- Rebuild your core flows first. Welcome, cart abandonment, browse abandonment and shipping updates drive most SMS revenue. Our SMS welcome flow guide has templates you can reuse.
- Overlap the contracts. Run the new platform alongside Attentive for at least two weeks, with a clear cutover date, so no automated message goes missing.
- Compare like for like. Measure the new tool on click-based or discount-code revenue, not view-through attribution, so you are not comparing two different definitions of success.
If you are weighing a different channel altogether, our comparison of WhatsApp vs SMS marketing covers where each one works best.
Frequently asked questions about Attentive alternatives
What is the best alternative to Attentive?
Postscript is the closest alternative for Shopify brands that want a dedicated SMS platform, with published pricing from $0 a month plus a $49 minimum spend. Klaviyo is the best choice if your email already runs there, Omnisend is the cheapest all-in-one, and Recart or Emotive suit brands that want a managed service.
How much does Attentive cost?
Attentive does not publish prices. Its plans are quoted on message volume, list size, channels and AI add-ons. Vendr’s buyer data shows a median contract of $40,000 a year, with a range of about $1,800 to $72,000, and onboarding is often quoted separately.
Is Postscript cheaper than Attentive?
For most small and mid-sized Shopify brands, yes. Postscript publishes plans from $0 to $500 a month with US SMS from $0.007 to $0.009 plus carrier fees, so 10,000 texts a month costs about $123 on Starter. Attentive is quote-only, with a $40,000 median annual contract on Vendr.
Which Attentive alternative includes email?
Klaviyo, Omnisend, Sendlane and Privy all include email and SMS in one product. Postscript launched its own email channel in 2026, so it now covers both too, while Recart, Emotive and SlickText focus on SMS and integrate with your email platform.
Is there a free alternative to Attentive?
Klaviyo and Omnisend both have free plans with limited email and messaging. Postscript Starter has no monthly fee but a $49 minimum spend on messages, and Privy, Emotive and SlickText offer free trials.
What happened to Yotpo SMS?
Yotpo wound down its email and SMS products and decommissioned them after December 31, 2025, to focus on reviews and loyalty. It named Attentive as its main migration partner and Omnisend for growing brands.
Who owns Emotive and Sendlane?
Privy acquired Emotive in July 2025 and Sendlane in early 2026. Both still run as their own products, so check each vendor’s roadmap and contract terms before you commit.
How long does it take to migrate from Attentive?
Plan for two to six weeks. The longest steps are usually re-registering your toll-free or short-code number, importing subscribers with their consent records, and rebuilding welcome and abandonment flows. Omnisend offers free migration in up to five days, and Recart includes a done-for-you build-out.
The verdict
Attentive is still a strong choice for enterprise brands that want every channel and a team behind them. Most growing Shopify brands do not need that contract. If SMS is a top channel and you want the same depth, Postscript is the natural move. If email is the anchor, Klaviyo or Omnisend keeps both channels on one profile for far less. If you want people running the program for you, Recart and Emotive offer that without a five-figure commitment.
Shortlist two, run your welcome and cart abandonment flows on each for a month, and compare click-based revenue per subscriber before you sign. For the wider market, see our full comparison of Shopify SMS marketing apps.
