6 Best Kit Alternatives Tested in 2026
Kit gives away its first 10,000 subscribers, the most generous free plan in the creator segment, and that free plan is the best argument for staying. The argument for leaving starts on the day you pay: Kit scores 6.0 on deliverability, the lowest figure on this page, and 6.0 on pricing value, where five of the six alternatives below score higher.
We scored and priced 6 alternatives against Kit, formerly ConvertKit, ranked by our own review score and matched to the kind of Kit user each wins for. Check which side of 10,000 subscribers you are on before reading further. Below it, almost nothing here beats free. Above it, Kit is paying for a name.
Why look for a Kit alternative in 2026
Two measured reasons, and the free plan is not one of them.
Deliverability scores 6.0. That is the lowest of the seven platforms here, at the bottom of our Medium band, one tenth above Low. MailerLite is the only High score at 8.0; Brevo and Flodesk reach 7.5. For a newsletter whose whole business is arriving in an inbox, a two-point gap is the argument.
Pricing value scores 6.0. Creator is $39/mo at 1,000 subscribers billed monthly, $33 on annual. Brevo and EmailOctopus both score 8.5 on value, MailerLite 8.0. Only Flodesk scores worse than Kit here, at 4.0.
What keeps people is the free tier: 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, forms and landing pages, and no visual automations at all. That last clause is the trade — generous with volume, stingy with the one feature a newsletter needs the day it starts working.
6 Kit alternatives at a glance
Ranked by our own review score. Every platform here has a full SMTPedia review, so the Score column is measured rather than invented for this table.
| Platform | Score | Starting $ | Free plan | Best for | MCP | Deliverability | Verdict vs Kit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brevo | 7.7 | $9/mo | 300/day, 100k contacts | A newsletter that also sends transactional mail | Yes | Medium | Value 8.5 vs 6.0, deliverability 7.5 vs 6.0 |
| MailerLite | 7.4 | $19/mo | 250 subs, 2,500 emails | Buying the inbox back | Partial | High | Deliverability 8.0 vs 6.0, the only High here |
| EmailOctopus | 7.1 | $20/mo | 2,500 subs, 10,000 emails | A newsletter that only ever broadcasts | No | Medium | Support 9.0 vs 7.5, but automation 4.0 vs 6.5 |
| Loops | 7.0 | $49/mo | 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends | Creators shipping a software product | No | Medium | Automation 7.0 vs 6.5, flat price, support 5.5 |
| Flodesk | 6.4 | $25/mo | Yes, but no sending | A brand judged on how the email looks | Partial | Medium | Deliverability 7.5 vs 6.0, but value 4.0 vs 6.0 |
| beehiiv | 6.2 | $49/mo | 2,500 subs, unlimited sends | A newsletter that intends to earn money | No | Medium | Value 7.5 vs 6.0, but support 5.5 vs 7.5 |
Score is our overall SMTPedia review rating out of 10, not a score built for this comparison. Deliverability bands come from the same reviews: High 8.0 and above, Medium 6.0 to 7.9, Low below. Kit sits at 7.0 overall, 6.0 deliverability, 6.5 automation, 6.0 pricing value.
Brevo
Brevo
Better for: the creator whose newsletter also has to send receipts
Brevo is the highest-rated platform on SMTPedia at 7.7, and it wins the two axes Kit is weakest on: pricing value 8.5 against 6.0, deliverability 7.5 against 6.0. Entry is $9/mo for 5,000 emails, with marketing, transactional and a CRM in one account.
What you lose. The free plan changes shape. Brevo counts sends, not subscribers: 300 a day against Kit’s unlimited broadcasts to 10,000 people, and a weekly letter to 5,000 readers does not fit. Brevo also has no paid-newsletter product, and its landing pages are a marketing feature, not a storefront.
Medium
1 to 2 days
Subscribers and tags import cleanly. Forms and landing pages are rebuilt, and that is the time.
$9/mo
Starter, 5,000 emails
$29/mo at 20,000 emails, Business $69. Free tier 300 emails a day with up to 100,000 contacts. Official MCP server.
MailerLite
MailerLite
Better for: the newsletter that is losing readers to the spam folder
MailerLite is the only platform on this page in our High deliverability band, at 8.0 against Kit’s 6.0, the widest gap here. Value is 8.0 against 6.0, support the same. Entry is $19/mo at 1,000 subscribers and $33/mo at 2,500, roughly half Kit at the same size.
What you lose. The free plan shrinks hard. MailerLite cut its free tier in 2026 to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails, from 500 and 12,000. That is a fortieth of Kit’s headroom, so anyone moving under 10,000 subscribers starts paying at once. MCP support is partial, not official.
Easy
About a day
The closest like-for-like here. Subscribers, tags, forms and automations all have direct equivalents.
$19/mo
1,000 subscribers
$33/mo at 2,500 subscribers, Power $39 to $49. Free tier 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails. Partial MCP support.
Read our MailerLite review
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. It does not change the score.
EmailOctopus
EmailOctopus
Better for: the writer who sends one letter a week and nothing else
EmailOctopus scores 9.0 on support, the highest number anywhere in this comparison, and 8.5 on pricing value against Kit’s 6.0. Its free plan is the second most generous here: 2,500 subscribers, 10,000 emails a month and three automations of five steps — three more than Kit’s free plan allows.
What you lose. Automation, and it is the deepest cut on this page: 4.0 against Kit’s 6.5. It is a broadcast tool with a sequence feature attached, not a platform you build a funnel on. No MCP server, no paid-newsletter product, and the free tier brands every send. If any part of your business runs on a multi-branch sequence, this is the wrong row.
Easy
Half a day
There is little to carry across. That is the point, and also the warning.
$20/mo
2,500 subscribers
$31.50/mo at 5,000, $44.50/mo at 10,000. Free tier 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails with EmailOctopus branding. No MCP server.
Read our EmailOctopus review
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. It does not change the score.
Loops
Loops
Better for: the creator whose product is software, not the newsletter
Loops beats Kit on automation, 7.0 against 6.5, and on pricing value, 7.5 against 6.0. Its shape differs from everything here: $49/mo covers 5,000 contacts with unlimited sends and transactional email included, so onboarding and password resets live beside the newsletter, not in a second vendor.
What you lose. Support drops to 5.5 against Kit’s 7.5, the second-lowest figure on this page. You also pay more at the bottom: $49/mo against Kit’s $39, and the free tier is 1,000 contacts with a Loops footer against Kit’s 10,000. No MCP server, no paid-newsletter product.
Medium
1 to 2 days
Contacts import easily, but Loops thinks in product events where Kit thinks in tags. The model is rebuilt, not mapped.
$49/mo
Up to 5,000 contacts, unlimited sends
$99/mo to 10,000 contacts. Transactional email included. Free tier 1,000 contacts and 4,000 sends a month with a Loops footer.
Flodesk
Flodesk
Better for: the brand whose readers judge the email before reading it
Flodesk is the design-led option, and it beats Kit where it counts most: deliverability 7.5 against 6.0. Its templates are the product, and for a visual brand that is worth more than a feature matrix. Lite is $25/mo monthly, $19 annual, at 1,000 subscribers.
What you lose. Value, more than anywhere else here: 4.0 against Kit’s 6.0, the lowest on this page. Flodesk dropped its flat rate on 2 December 2025 for a per-subscriber ladder, so the old reason to choose it is gone: Lite costs $72/mo annual at 10,000 subscribers, caps at 25,000 and allows one workflow. The free plan cannot send at all, and automation is 4.5 against 6.5.
Medium
1 to 2 days
Subscribers move quickly. Every email is redesigned, which is the reason you came and most of the work.
$25/mo
Lite, 1,000 subscribers, billed monthly
$19/mo on annual billing, $72/mo at 10,000 subscribers. Pro $28, Everything $54. Free plan exists but cannot send. Partial MCP support.
Read our Flodesk review
We may earn a commission if you sign up through this link. It does not change the score.
beehiiv
beehiiv
Better for: the newsletter that plans to make money from the newsletter
beehiiv scores 7.5 on value against Kit’s 6.0, and it is built around revenue: an ad network, paid subscriptions and a referral programme are core product, not add-ons. Its free Launch plan carries 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends and posts, a custom domain and three publications.
What you lose. Support falls to 5.5 against Kit’s 7.5 and automation to 5.5 against 6.5. Pricing is steeper than it looks and climbs with your list: Scale is $49/mo at 1,000 subscribers, $69 at 2,500 and $89 at 5,000, and automations are gated on Scale. Removing beehiiv branding needs Max at $109/mo, where Kit ships unbranded on every paid plan.
Easy
About a day
Subscriber and post import is well trodden, since beehiiv courts this exact move. Sequences are rebuilt.
$49/mo
Scale, 1,000 subscribers
$69/mo at 2,500, $89/mo at 5,000. Max $109/mo removes beehiiv branding. Free Launch plan 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, automations gated on Scale.
Leaving Kit: what transfers and what breaks
Subscribers and tags are easy. The things Kit built its name on are not.
Sequences do not migrate. Every visual automation is rebuilt by hand, and no export format survives the trip. Count your live sequences before comparing prices: past about ten, the rebuild costs more than a year of any saving here.
Forms and landing pages are the second rebuild. Kit hosts them, so every embed on your site points at Kit. Each is recreated and re-embedded, and traffic arriving at a Kit-hosted URL needs a redirect you cannot set from inside Kit.
Paid newsletters and Commerce do not move at all. If you sell subscriptions or digital products through Kit, only beehiiv on this page offers a comparable product. Everywhere else the subscriber relationship transfers and the billing relationship does not, which means asking paying readers to re-enter a card.
Subscribers, tags and broadcasts transfer fine. CSV in and out handles the list, Kit tags map to tags or groups, and past broadcasts export as HTML. An afternoon, not a week.
Kit alternatives: common questions
Which Kit alternative has the best free plan?
None matches Kit’s 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv is closest in usefulness at 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends; EmailOctopus gives 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month plus three short automations. Brevo counts sends instead, 300 a day, and MailerLite cut its free tier to 250 in 2026. If the free plan is what you are optimising for, staying on Kit is the honest answer.
Is Kit the same product as ConvertKit?
Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit in 2024; the platform, the accounts and the pricing ladder are continuous. Searches for ConvertKit alternatives and Kit alternatives land on the same decision, and this page covers both.
Which one is best for deliverability?
MailerLite at 8.0, the only entry here in our High band, against Kit’s 6.0. Brevo and Flodesk follow at 7.5, then EmailOctopus at 7.0. Kit has the lowest deliverability score of the seven platforms compared on this page, which is the single strongest reason on it to move.
Will I lose automation by leaving Kit?
Probably. Kit scores 6.5 on automation and only Loops beats it, at 7.0. Brevo and MailerLite both sit at 6.0, beehiiv at 5.5, Flodesk at 4.5 and EmailOctopus at 4.0. Kit’s own free plan has no visual automations, so anyone moving off it is not losing something they had.
Should I leave Kit at all?
Below 10,000 subscribers the case is weak: you pay nothing, and only beehiiv offers a free plan you could run a working newsletter on. Above it the case is strong, because you start paying $39/mo or more for the lowest deliverability and second-lowest value on this page. The threshold, not the feature list, decides it.
This review follows our email infrastructure testing methodology. We disclose affiliate relationships in our editorial independence policy.
