Kit — the tool formerly known as ConvertKit — is still a solid email platform for creators. But between the rebrand, a price increase, and a fast-changing market, a lot of creators are quietly checking the exits. If that’s you, this guide compares the five strongest Kit (ConvertKit) alternatives on free plans, real pricing at common list sizes, and who each one actually fits.
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Why creators are shopping around
Two things changed the math for Kit users.
First, the rebrand. ConvertKit became Kit, repositioning itself as “the email-first operating system for creators” with an app store and a broader product roadmap (kit.com/resources/blog/convertkit-is-now-kit, accessed 2026-10-16). For many users the transition was smooth. For others, it was a prompt to ask whether the tool they signed up for still exists.
Second, the price. Kit’s Creator plan now starts at $39 per month for 1,000 subscribers on monthly billing, or $390 a year on annual billing (both confirmed in our own Kit account on November 6, 2026), up roughly 35% from its earlier $29 entry price†. Creator Pro starts around $79 per month. Kit’s free Newsletter plan remains generous on paper — up to 10,000 subscribers — but it limits automations and sequences†, puts Kit branding on emails†, and blocks advanced reporting†.
Meanwhile, competitors moved too. MailerLite reportedly cut its free plan from 500 to 250 subscribers in mid-2026†. Flodesk reportedly retired its famous flat-rate unlimited plan in late 2025†. beehiiv raised prices on October 1, 2026. Nobody’s pricing is standing still, so it pays to compare on current numbers, not old blog posts.
How we compare ConvertKit alternatives
Prices come from vendors’ official pages where we could read them and from third-party pricing trackers where we could not (many vendors show prices on an interactive slider). Figures marked † come from trackers or could not be confirmed on the official page, and may differ from the live page. Checked on 2026-10-16, with beehiiv figures rechecked on 2026-10-25. Prices are US dollars, monthly billing unless stated. Most figures here come from published pricing, features and plan limits; where we confirmed a limit in our own free account (Kit, MailerLite and Brevo, November 5 and 6, 2026), the date is shown.
Free-tier reality table
This is where the marketing copy and the actual product often disagree. Here’s what “free” really means on each platform.
| Platform | Free contacts | Free sending | Key locks on free | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Up to 10,000 | Yes (Newsletter plan) | Limited automations and sequences†, Kit branding†, no advanced reporting† | Most generous free contact cap here |
| MailerLite | 250 | 2,500 emails/mo | 3 automations†, 3 forms†, 1 landing page†; sending locks above 250 subs | Reportedly cut from 500 subs / 12,000 emails in mid-2026† |
| beehiiv | 2,500 | Yes | No custom domain†, no paid subscriptions† | Renamed from “Launch” to “Free” in Oct 2026 |
| Brevo | Up to 100,000 contacts | 300 emails/day (~9,000/mo) | Brevo branding; automation limited to 2,000 contacts | Charges by email volume, not contacts |
| GetResponse | None (trial only) | 14-day trial, no card (our check, Nov 6, 2026) | Pricing page no longer lists a permanent free tier | Treat “free plan” claims with caution |
| Flodesk | Unlimited capture† | No email sending† | Forms, landing pages, and link-in-bio only† | Free tier builds a list; it doesn’t email it |
The honest winner on free: Kit itself, for creators. Ten thousand free contacts with real sending is unmatched here — even with its automation limits. If your only complaint is price and your list is under 10k, staying on Kit’s free plan may be the right call. For non-creator small businesses, Brevo offers the most genuinely usable free tier: unlimited stored contacts and roughly 9,000 emails a month, with the catch of a daily send cap and branding.
Decision matrix
| Your situation | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan, list under 10k, sell digital products | Kit | Free tier includes product sales (transaction fee applies) |
| Free plan, big list, infrequent sends | Brevo | Up to 100,000 contacts free, pay-per-email model |
| Cheapest paid plan with real automation | MailerLite | From $12/mo at 500 subs |
| Newsletter-first, growth and monetization tools | beehiiv | Recommendation network, 0% platform fee on paid subs |
| All-in-one: webinars, funnels, courses | GetResponse | Broadest feature set per dollar |
| Design-led brand, simple sends | Flodesk | Best-in-class templates, unlimited sends on paid |
| You already use Kit and it works | Kit | Migration costs time and deliverability |
The 5 best ConvertKit alternatives (now called Kit)
1. MailerLite — best budget alternative
Pricing: Free up to 250 subscribers. Paid “Comfort” plan from $12/mo at 500 subscribers, $19/mo at 1,000, $49/mo at 5,000 (mailerlite.com/pricing, accessed 2026-10-16).
Standout strength: Simplicity and price. The drag-and-drop editor is clean, automation is included even on the free plan (capped at 3 workflows), and it’s the cheapest credible paid option on this list at small list sizes.
Honest weakness: The reported mid-2026 free-plan cut† hurt. Dropping from 500 to 250 subscribers means most growing lists hit the paywall fast, and sending locks if you go over.
Who it’s for: Bloggers and small businesses who want a straightforward tool, email frequently, and don’t need creator-specific features like paid newsletters. See our detailed MailerLite vs Kit comparison.
2. beehiiv — best for newsletter growth
Pricing: Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Lite from $59/mo ($49/mo annually) at 1,000 subscribers; Pro from $109/mo (reported by The Verge on October 2, 2026, via ppc.land, and by EmailToolTester; accessed 2026-10-25).
Standout strength: Growth tooling. The recommendation network, built-in referral program (on paid plans), SEO-friendly web archive, and ad network are built for one job: growing and monetizing a newsletter. beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue — you pay only Stripe’s processing fees.
Honest weakness: It’s a newsletter platform, not a marketing platform. Ecommerce automation, complex tagging, and traditional marketing workflows are thin. The October 2026 price increase also made the mid-tier meaningfully more expensive, and the free plan reportedly no longer includes a custom domain†.
Who it’s for: Writers and publishers whose product is the newsletter. If you sell courses or run ecommerce automations, look elsewhere. Related: beehiiv vs Substack.
3. Brevo — best free plan for big lists
Pricing: Free: 300 emails/day and up to 100,000 contacts (confirmed in our own Brevo account on November 6, 2026). Starter from $9/mo† for 5,000 emails/month; Standard from $18/mo† lifts the 2,000-contact automation cap that applies on Free and Starter (confirmed November 6, 2026), A/B testing, and landing pages (brevo.com/pricing, accessed 2026-10-16).
Standout strength: The pricing model. Brevo charges by emails sent, not contacts stored. A large list you email only occasionally can cost a fraction of what subscriber-based tools charge. SMS, WhatsApp, transactional email, and a basic CRM are built in.
Honest weakness: The daily 300-email cap on free is a real constraint — you can’t send a single campaign to a 1,000-person list in one go. Advanced automation sits behind higher tiers, and the editor has a steeper learning curve than MailerLite’s.
Who it’s for: Small businesses with large, infrequently-mailed lists, and anyone who wants email, SMS, and transactional sending in one bill.
4. GetResponse — best all-in-one marketing platform
Pricing: Starter from $19/mo at 1,000 contacts ($29 at 2,500, $54 at 5,000). Marketer from $59/mo adds unlimited automation workflows and ecommerce features, and higher tiers add webinars and course hosting†. 18% off with annual billing (all read on GetResponse’s pricing slider, November 6, 2026).
Standout strength: Breadth. Newsletters, automation, landing pages, webinars, course hosting, and paid newsletter tools live in one product. Nothing else on this list covers that range at this price.
Honest weakness: The free-plan situation is murky. The pricing page now describes a 14-day premium trial rather than a permanent free tier, and the old 500-contact free plan is no longer published there. Our new account (November 6, 2026) started a 14-day trial with no card and no free-plan option. Starter includes only one custom automation workflow, so the features most people want require Marketer at $59/mo, which is no longer cheap. Use your own domain as the sender. In our own test on November 6, 2026, a test email sent from a Gmail address landed in Gmail’s spam folder: SPF and DKIM passed, but DMARC failed, because GetResponse kept the @gmail.com sender while sending from its own servers. GetResponse itself flags a Gmail sender as “at risk”. The same day, a MailerLite test from the same Gmail address reached the inbox, because MailerLite rewrote the sender to its own domain. One test email is not a deliverability study, and our promotional test template may also have played a part.
Who it’s for: Creators and small businesses who want to consolidate email, webinars, and course sales into one subscription.
5. Flodesk — best for design-first brands
Pricing: Lite from $25/mo† ($19/mo† annually) at 1,000 subscribers, with higher tiers above it. All paid plans reportedly include unlimited sends† (flodesk.com/pricing, accessed 2026-10-16). We could not read Flodesk’s tier prices at other list sizes, so check its pricing page.
Standout strength: The editor. Flodesk emails look genuinely designed, not assembled from blocks, and setup is the fastest on this list. Unlimited sends on every paid tier is a real perk for frequent senders.
Honest weakness: Two of them. First, the flat-rate unlimited plan that made Flodesk famous was reportedly retired for new users in late 2025† — pricing now scales by subscribers like everyone else. Second, the free plan cannot send email at all†; it’s forms and landing pages only. Automation depth is also basic.
Who it’s for: Photographers, designers, coaches, and boutique brands where visual quality is the product. Not for anyone who needs serious automation logic.
Stay with Kit if…
Switching tools costs time, momentum, and often deliverability. Before you migrate, consider what Kit still does well:
- The best free plan for creators. Up to 10,000 subscribers with sending included, plus the ability to sell digital products on the free tier — something Flodesk, beehiiv, and MailerLite don’t match on their free plans (kit.com/pricing, accessed 2026-10-16).
- Tag-based subscriber management. Kit’s tags and segments handle complex funnels without the “audience” duplication costs of list-based tools.
- Built-in cross-promotion. Kit’s recommendation tools are designed to grow lists, though some require the Pro plan.
- Built-in commerce. Kit lets you sell digital products, paid newsletters and tip jars on every plan, for a transaction fee (3.5% + $0.30 per sale, per kit.com/pricing as cited in our MailerLite vs Kit comparison).
If your automations work, your list is under the free cap, and the $39/mo Creator price is your only gripe — staying put is a defensible decision. Migration guides exist, but no migration is free.
FAQ
Is ConvertKit the same as Kit?
Yes. ConvertKit rebranded to Kit. Same company, same product, new name and a broader “creator OS” roadmap.
What is the cheapest Kit alternative?
MailerLite, from $12/mo at 500 subscribers. For pure free usage with a large list, Brevo’s free plan (up to 100,000 contacts, 300 emails/day) is the most generous outside of Kit’s own free plan.
Which Kit alternative has the best free plan?
For creators selling digital products, Kit’s own free plan (10,000 subscribers) still wins. Among true alternatives, Brevo for contact volume, beehiiv for newsletter publishing (up to 2,500 subscribers).
Can I move my Kit subscribers and automations to another tool?
Subscriber export is straightforward — a CSV of contacts and tags. Automations do not transfer; you rebuild them in the new tool. Budget a weekend for a list under 5,000, more for complex funnels.
What happened to Flodesk’s unlimited plan?
Reportedly retired for new users in late 2025†. New accounts pay subscriber-based pricing, starting from about $25/mo at 1,000 subscribers on monthly billing†. Check Flodesk’s pricing page for current terms.
Is MailerLite still free?
Yes, but trackers report it is now limited to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month (we confirmed this in a new account on November 5, 2026), down from a reported 500 and 12,000†. Going over the cap locks sending until you upgrade or trim your list.
Leaving Kit as an author? Kit is still a strong fit for many writers; our guide to the best email marketing for authors compares it with five other tools for reader magnets, BookFunnel and launch-week emails.
More comparisons: Email marketing for authors · MailerLite vs Kit · Mailchimp alternatives · beehiiv vs Substack
† Price or detail reported by third-party trackers or not published as static text on the vendor’s page (many vendors show prices on an interactive slider). Confirm on the vendor’s live page before you buy.
Sources and method
Prices and plan limits on this page were checked on the dates shown below. Limits we confirmed in our own accounts are dated; screenshots of our MailerLite checks are in our MailerLite vs Kit comparison.
- kit.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- kit.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- mailerlite.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- beehiiv.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- ppc.land, citing The Verge (accessed 2026-10-25)
- emailtooltester.com (accessed 2026-10-25)
- brevo.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- getresponse.com (accessed 2026-10-16)
- flodesk.com (accessed 2026-10-16)