Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is free up to 10,000 subscribers, but sequences and automations start at $39 a month. We checked the official pricing pages of seven alternatives in October 2026, from MailerLite and Systeme.io to Beehiiv, Brevo and ActiveCampaign. For each you get who it suits, what it does better or cheaper than Kit, the catch and the real starting price.
The best Kit alternative depends on what you need. MailerLite ($12 a month) is the cheapest like-for-like swap, Systeme.io (free, then $17) suits coaches who sell, ActiveCampaign ($15 a month billed yearly) suits serious automation and Beehiiv suits paid newsletters. Kit itself is free up to 10,000 subscribers, with paid plans from $39 a month.
Who this is for: Creators, coaches and consultants on Kit (ConvertKit) who want a cheaper or better-fit email tool.
Choose MailerLite if you want Kit's basics for less money. Choose Kit itself if you only need broadcasts and forms, because its free plan now covers up to 10,000 subscribers.
For everything else, here is the short version. The best free pick for sending real automations is MailerLite (250 subscribers) or Systeme.io (2,000 contacts). The best pick for coaches who sell calls, courses or programmes is Systeme.io, because funnels, checkout and email sit in one place. The best pick for serious automation and lead scoring is ActiveCampaign. The best pick for a newsletter that earns from ads and paid tiers is Beehiiv. Brevo suits big lists you email now and then, and Flodesk suits creators who care most about how emails look.
We checked every price below on each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026, and all prices are in US dollars.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has three plans, according to Kit's official pricing page and Kit's plan comparison. The Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts. Creator starts at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers, or $33 a month billed yearly ($390). Pro starts at $79 a month.
The catch with the free plan is what it leaves out. Email sequences and visual automations need a paid plan, per Kit's free plan help page. So the moment you want a welcome series for your lead magnet, you are paying $39 a month. Creator includes 2 team members. Advanced deliverability reporting, engagement scoring and the SparkLoop referral system sit on Pro.
So why do creators and coaches look elsewhere? The honest reasons are simple. The price climbs fast as your list grows. Some want funnels, checkout or a course in the same tool. Some run a newsletter business and want an ad network. And some see their Kit emails landing in the Promotions tab and hope a new tool will fix it. We cover that last one below, because it usually will not.
Here are seven alternatives, each with who it suits, what it does better or cheaper than Kit, the catch and the real starting price.
MailerLite suits creators and coaches who want what Kit does (forms, landing pages, automations, a simple website) for a lower monthly bill. Comfort starts at $12 a month and Power at $25, per MailerLite's pricing page. Comfort includes 50 active automations, 10 landing pages, 10 forms and 5 digital products or bookings.
The catch is the free plan. It now stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 3 automations of up to 5 steps, so it is a trial more than a home. Live chat support needs Power. We compare it with its closest rival in Brevo vs MailerLite.
Price from: free, then $12 a month.
Systeme.io suits coaches who sell calls, courses or programmes and want email, funnels, checkout and a course area in one login. The Free plan covers 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and 1 course with unlimited emails. Startup is $17 a month for 5,000 contacts, Webinar is $47 and Unlimited is $97, per Systeme.io's pricing page. There are 0% transaction fees on every plan.
The catch is depth on the email side. The free plan allows just 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign, and the email editor is plainer than Kit's. Pages look more basic than a dedicated page builder. If email is your whole business, a pure email tool will feel better.
Price from: free, then $17 a month.
ActiveCampaign suits coaches and consultants with longer sales cycles who want to tag, score and route leads based on what they do. Billed yearly, Starter is $15 a month for 1,000 contacts, Plus is $49, Pro is $79 and Enterprise is $145 (on monthly billing: $19, $59, $99 and $179), according to ActiveCampaign's own comparison page. The pricing page lists a 14-day free trial with no card.
The catch is that the cheap plan is thin. Starter has 1 user, standard and inline forms only and no landing pages, which arrive on Plus. There is no free plan. It also takes longer to learn than Kit. Our Kit vs ActiveCampaign comparison goes deeper.
Price from: $15 a month for 1,000 contacts.
Beehiiv suits creators whose newsletter is the product. You get a website, referral programme, ad network and paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate. The Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. Lite is $59 a month ($49 yearly) for up to 1,000 subscribers, and Pro is $109 ($95 yearly), per Beehiiv's pricing page.
The catch is that it is not cheaper than Kit once you pay, and it is built for publishing, not selling coaching. The Free plan has no automations at all, and Lite allows 10 live custom automations. Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 still applies to paid subscriptions.
Price from: free, then $59 a month ($49 yearly).
Brevo suits creators with a large list who send occasional broadcasts, because Brevo prices by emails sent rather than by contacts. The Free plan lets you send up to 300 emails a day. Starter is $9 a month from 5,000 emails a month with no Brevo logo, Standard is $18 and Professional is $499, per Brevo's pricing page. SMS and WhatsApp are on offer too.
The catch is that it feels like a business marketing suite, not a creator tool. There is less built around lead magnets, tagging by interest and selling digital products. Brevo pitches Standard as the plan for automating and testing campaigns, so check which automation features you need before you buy Starter.
Price from: free, then $9 a month.
Flodesk suits creators, coaches and small brands who care most about design and want unlimited sends. Starting prices for up to 1,000 subscribers are Lite at $25 a month ($19 yearly), Pro at $28 ($25 yearly) and Everything at $54 ($49 yearly), according to Flodesk's pricing page. Everything adds checkouts, sales pages and abandoned cart automations, with no Flodesk fee on top of Stripe.
The catch is automation. Lite includes only 1 workflow, so you need Pro for real sequences. The Free plan keeps forms and landing pages but does not send email. Tagging and reporting are simpler than Kit's.
Price from: $25 a month ($19 yearly).
Mailchimp suits coaches whose website, shop or booking tool already connects to it, so switching means fewer moving parts. The Free plan covers 250 contacts and up to 500 sends a month. Essentials shows $13 a month and Standard $20 on a 50% off offer for the first 12 months, per Mailchimp's pricing page. Standard includes up to 200 automation flows.
The catch is the price after the offer, which the page did not show clearly, so check current pricing before you commit. Essentials automations are limited to 4 flow steps, and the free plan only gets email support for the first 30 days. For a creator business, Kit or MailerLite is usually a better fit.
Price from: free, then $13 a month (first-year offer).
Prices below are the cheapest paid plan on each vendor's official pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026), billed monthly unless a yearly price is shown. Most of these tools charge more as your list grows, so check the price at your real list size.
| Tool | Price from | Free plan | Cheapest plan covers | Automation | Landing pages or forms | Deliverability help | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kit (for reference) | $39 a month ($33 yearly) | Yes, up to 10,000 subscribers, no sequences | 1,000 subscribers | Visual automations on paid plans | Unlimited on all plans | Advanced reporting on Pro | Creators who sell digital products |
| MailerLite | $12 a month | Yes, 250 subscribers | Check current pricing | 50 automations on Comfort | 10 each on Comfort | Email support on Comfort, live chat on Power | Cheaper like-for-like swap |
| Systeme.io | $17 a month | Yes, 2,000 contacts | 5,000 contacts | 1 rule on Free, unlimited on Unlimited | Funnels and checkout built in | Check current pricing | Coaches selling courses and calls |
| ActiveCampaign | $15 a month billed yearly ($19 monthly) | No, 14-day trial | 1,000 contacts | Strongest of the list | Landing pages from Plus | Check current pricing | Lead scoring and long sales cycles |
| Beehiiv | $59 a month ($49 yearly) | Yes, 2,500 subscribers, no automations | 1,000 subscribers | 10 on Lite, unlimited on Pro | Website and forms built in | Check current pricing | Newsletter businesses |
| Brevo | $9 a month | Yes, 300 emails a day | 5,000 emails a month | Yes, check plan | Forms included | Check current pricing | Big lists, occasional sends |
| Flodesk | $25 a month ($19 yearly) | Forms and pages only, no sending | 1,000 subscribers | 1 workflow on Lite, unlimited on Pro | Forms and landing pages | Check current pricing | Design-led creators |
| Mailchimp | $13 a month (first-year offer) | Yes, 250 contacts | Check current pricing | 4 flow steps on Essentials | Forms included | 24/7 email and chat from Essentials | Stacks that already plug into it |
Read the table by the job you need done. If you only send a weekly newsletter, Kit's free plan or Beehiiv's free plan may be all you need. If you need a welcome sequence and tags on a budget, MailerLite and Systeme.io are the cheapest real options. If you need funnels and checkout too, Systeme.io or Flodesk Everything saves you paying for a second tool.
Do not switch just to save a few dollars if Kit is working. Moving means exporting subscribers, rebuilding forms and landing pages, recreating sequences and tags, and warming up a new sending setup. A $20 monthly saving can cost you a month of lost sign-ups if a form breaks quietly on your site.
Do not switch to fix the Promotions tab either. Where your email lands depends far more on your domain setup, how engaged your list is and how your emails are written than on the tool you send from. Our guide on why Kit emails go to Promotions walks through the fixes, and the free email deliverability checker shows whether your SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up properly.
And no tool fixes a weak offer or slow follow-up. If people join your list and never buy, the gap is usually the sequence after the sign-up, not the platform sending it. Change the tool when it truly blocks you: you need funnels, a cheaper price at your list size, stronger automation or newsletter income.
Answer three questions and the list gets short fast.
1. What do you sell? If it is coaching, calls or courses, look at Systeme.io or ActiveCampaign. If it is the newsletter itself, look at Beehiiv. If it is digital products, Kit, MailerLite or Flodesk.
2. How big is your list, and how often do you send? Price each tool at your real list size, not the 1,000 subscriber starting price. Big list and rare sends points to Brevo.
3. Who will set it up and run it? A cheaper tool you never finish setting up costs more than Kit. Our guide to the best email marketing platform for coaches helps if you are still unsure.
A done-for-you studio fits when you would rather not spend weekends moving sequences and fixing forms, or when you suspect the real leak is the follow-up, not the tool. We find where your email is losing buyers, build the fix and run it week to week. If that sounds useful, book a free audit and we will tell you honestly whether switching is worth it.
Brevo's Starter plan is $9 a month from 5,000 emails a month, and MailerLite Comfort starts at $12. Systeme.io has a free plan with 2,000 contacts and paid plans from $17. If you only send broadcasts, Kit's own free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers.
Yes. Systeme.io is free for 2,000 contacts with unlimited emails, Beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers and MailerLite is free up to 250 subscribers. Each free plan limits automations, so check that the welcome sequence you need is included.
MailerLite is cheaper and has a similar set of forms, landing pages and automations, so it suits most creators on a budget. Kit is stronger for creators selling digital products and gives a far bigger free plan for broadcasts. Pick by price at your list size and the features you use.
Yes. Kit's Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts, per Kit's help centre in October 2026. Email sequences and visual automations need the Creator plan, which starts at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers.
For a newsletter that earns from ads, referrals and paid subscriptions, Beehiiv is often the better fit, with a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions. For coaches selling services or digital products with tagged sequences, Kit usually fits better. Beehiiv's free plan has no automations.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.