7 Best ConvertKit Alternatives in 2026 (Now Kit)
Top pick in 10 seconds
Cheapest: MailerLite (free up to 1,000 subs). Big list: Brevo (charges by sends, not subscribers). Paid newsletter: Beehiiv. E-commerce: Mailchimp. Outreach (not marketing): MentionAgent. Full breakdown below.
ConvertKit (rebranded to Kit in 2024) works well for creators, but it isn't the right fit for every use case. Pricing scales fast at higher subscriber counts, e-commerce integrations are shallow, and cold outreach is prohibited.
Below are 7 alternatives depending on what you need.
Pick yours in 4 steps
- Sending cold outreach to bloggers or journalists? Stop here. Use MentionAgent. Every tool below prohibits cold email.
- Running paid subscriptions? Beehiiv (flat fee) or Substack (10% revenue share). Skip the rest.
- Selling physical products? Mailchimp or Klaviyo. Better abandoned-cart and product-feed integrations than Kit.
- Just newsletters? MailerLite for small lists, Brevo for large lists, ActiveCampaign if you need multi-branch automation.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best For | Starting Price | Free Plan | Pricing Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MentionAgent | Automated outreach | $99/mo | No | Flat rate |
| MailerLite | Budget email marketing | ~$10/mo | Yes (1,000 subs) | Contact-based |
| Brevo | Large lists | ~$25/mo | Yes (300/day) | Email volume |
| Beehiiv | Paid newsletters | ~$39/mo | Yes (2,500 subs) | Contact-based |
| Substack | Paid creator newsletters | 10% of revenue | Yes | Revenue share |
| Mailchimp | E-commerce | ~$13/mo | Yes (500 contacts) | Contact-based |
| ActiveCampaign | Advanced automation | $15/mo (1k contacts) | 14-day trial | Contact-based |
1. MentionAgent
Best for: Automated outreach (link building, PR, partnerships)
Not an email marketing tool. If you're here because you need to reach bloggers, journalists, or potential partners (not send newsletters to opted-in subscribers), MentionAgent handles the full outreach workflow: finding sites, looking up contacts, writing personalized emails, and following up.
- AI finds and qualifies prospects in your niche
- Every email is personalized to the recipient's content
- Built-in deliverability optimization
- Pricing: $99/mo flat, no per-subscriber or per-seat fees
2. MailerLite
Best for: Budget-friendly email marketing with a clean interface
The cheapest serious alternative to Kit. Free plan covers 1,000 subscribers, paid plans start at ~$10/month. Cleaner interface than Mailchimp, simpler than ActiveCampaign. See our MailerLite review and pricing breakdown.
- Free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month
- Drag-and-drop email and landing page builder
- Marketing automations on all plans (including free)
- Website builder and blog included
- Pricing: Free / ~$10/mo (Growing Business) / ~$21/mo (Advanced)
3. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)
Best for: Large contact lists (charges by email volume)
Best option if you have a large subscriber list with moderate sending. Unlimited contacts on all plans, pricing based on email volume instead of subscriber count. See our Brevo review.
- Unlimited contacts on all plans (including free)
- Transactional emails, SMS, and WhatsApp marketing
- Marketing automation and CRM included
- Free plan: 300 emails/day
- Pricing: Free / ~$25/mo (Starter, 20K emails) / ~$65/mo (Business, 20K emails)
4. Beehiiv
Best for: Paid newsletters with built-in subscription mechanics
Created by former Morning Brew operators. Built around the paid newsletter business model with native subscription billing, referral programs, and ad network monetization. Stronger for newsletter monetization than Kit.
- Native paid subscriptions with Stripe integration
- Referral programs built in (no third-party tool needed)
- Beehiiv Ad Network for newsletter monetization
- Free plan up to 2,500 subscribers, basic features
- Pricing: Free / ~$39/mo (Scale) / ~$99/mo (Max)
5. Substack
Best for: Independent writers running paid newsletters
Substack is free to use but takes 10% of paid subscription revenue plus payment processing. The trade-off: zero upfront cost, built-in discovery through the Substack network, and recommendations from other writers.
- Free to start, no monthly fee at any subscriber count
- 10% revenue share on paid subscriptions (plus Stripe fees)
- Substack network drives organic discovery
- Notes (microblogging) and chat features for community
- Pricing: Free for free newsletters, 10% of revenue on paid
6. Mailchimp
Best for: E-commerce stores and small businesses
Stronger than Kit for e-commerce, with deeper Shopify and WooCommerce integrations, abandoned cart flows, and product recommendation feeds. Pricing scales steeply with contacts. See our Mailchimp review, pricing breakdown, and alternatives roundup.
- Free plan up to 500 contacts and 1,000 emails/month
- Drag-and-drop builder with 200+ templates
- Strong e-commerce integrations (product feeds, abandoned cart)
- 300+ third-party integrations
- Pricing: Free / ~$13/mo (Essentials) / ~$20/mo (Standard)
7. ActiveCampaign
Best for: Advanced marketing automation and CRM
The upgrade when you've outgrown Kit's automations. ActiveCampaign has the most powerful automation builder in this category, with multi-branch workflows, predictive sending, and a built-in sales CRM.
- Visual automation builder with conditional branching
- Built-in CRM with sales automation
- Predictive sending and content (Pro+)
- Site tracking and lead scoring
- Pricing: $15/mo Starter, $59/mo Plus, $99/mo Pro (all at 1,000 contacts), see the full plan breakdown
You write a paid newsletter and want to keep more of the subscription revenue. Which platform takes the smallest cut?
Correct. Beehiiv and Kit charge a flat monthly fee, so once you're past a certain revenue threshold you keep more than on Substack's 10% revenue share. Substack is best when revenue is low and you want zero upfront cost.
Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue. Beehiiv and Kit charge flat monthly fees, so they're cheaper once your paid revenue is high enough.
Why people switch from ConvertKit (Kit)
- Pricing scales steeply. Creator goes from ~$15/mo at 300 subscribers to ~$119/mo at 10,000. Brevo's email-volume pricing is much cheaper for large lists with moderate sending.
- E-commerce integrations are shallow. Kit Commerce works for digital products but lacks the abandoned cart depth of Mailchimp or Klaviyo for physical product stores.
- Plain visual styling. Kit's design philosophy favors text emails. If you need branded, design-heavy newsletters, MailerLite or Mailchimp give more flexibility.
- Automation is simpler than ActiveCampaign. Kit's automations work for most creators but can't match ActiveCampaign's multi-branch logic.
- No cold email support. If you need outreach (not marketing), Kit won't work. MentionAgent handles automated outreach for link building and PR.
- Paid newsletter mechanics. If your business is built on paid subscribers, Beehiiv and Substack are purpose-built for that model.
How to choose the right alternative
| If you need... | Choose |
|---|---|
| Cheapest email marketing | MailerLite |
| Large list, low cost | Brevo (charges by sends, not subscribers) |
| Paid newsletter platform | Beehiiv (flat fee) or Substack (revenue share) |
| Advanced automation | ActiveCampaign |
| E-commerce email | Mailchimp or Klaviyo |
| Automated outreach (not marketing) | MentionAgent |
You want to email bloggers in your niche to build backlinks. None of the email marketing tools above allow cold outreach. What should you use?
Correct. Email marketing tools (Kit, MailerLite, Brevo, Beehiiv, Mailchimp) all prohibit cold outreach. MentionAgent ($99/mo) is purpose-built for outreach: it finds blogs, looks up contacts, and handles personalized emails and follow-ups.
Email marketing platforms prohibit cold outreach. For link building, you need a dedicated outreach tool. MentionAgent automates the full workflow from prospect finding to follow-ups.
Need outreach, not newsletters?
MentionAgent finds relevant blogs, looks up contacts, writes personalized pitches, and follows up. You just approve the emails. $99/mo flat, no per-subscriber pricing.
Start Getting Mentioned For $99/moFrequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to ConvertKit?
It depends on your needs. For budget email marketing, MailerLite. For large lists, Brevo. For paid newsletters, Beehiiv or Substack. For e-commerce, Mailchimp. For advanced automation, ActiveCampaign. For outreach, MentionAgent.
What is cheaper than ConvertKit?
MailerLite is free up to 1,000 subscribers with paid plans from approximately $10/month. Brevo is free with 300 emails/day and charges by volume, not subscribers. Both are cheaper than Kit's Creator plan at most subscriber tiers.
Is ConvertKit the best email tool for creators?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is one of the strongest creator-focused email tools, especially for course makers and newsletter writers. Beehiiv and Substack are stronger for paid newsletters with native subscription mechanics. MailerLite is cheaper for general creators.
Can I use ConvertKit alternatives for cold outreach?
Is it easy to switch from Kit to another tool?
Yes for the basics. Export your subscribers as a CSV from Kit, then import into the new tool. Most platforms (Mailchimp, Brevo, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign) accept CSV imports. Tags, automations, and segments don't transfer between platforms, so plan to rebuild those manually.
Which Kit alternative has the most generous free plan?
Brevo gives unlimited contacts with 300 emails/day free, which is best for storing very large lists. Kit's own free Newsletter plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts. MailerLite gives 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails/month free.
What's the best Kit alternative for a paid newsletter?
Beehiiv if you want a flat monthly fee with built-in subscriptions and a referral system. Substack if you want zero upfront cost and don't mind the 10% revenue share. Kit itself works for paid newsletters too if you already use it for free content.
Do any Kit alternatives include a built-in CRM?
Yes. Brevo includes a free sales CRM with deal pipelines and contact management on every plan. ActiveCampaign has a deeper CRM on its Plus plan and above. Kit itself doesn't include a CRM, just subscriber tagging.