# beehiiv vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit): Plans, Fees and the $33,000 Break-Even

> beehiiv vs Kit from both vendors' pricing pages: Kit free to 10,000 subscribers with selling, Creator $390 a year against Lite $588, 3.5% + 30c against Stripe plus 0%, and where the fees cross over.

_Source: https://professionalstoolkit.com/articles/beehiiv-vs-kit — The Professional's Toolkit · updated 2026-10-09_

---


beehiiv and Kit, the company formerly called ConvertKit, are the two email platforms built most
directly for creators, and they are compared 140 times a month in the United States. They solve
different problems. Kit was built for creators who sell products and courses; beehiiv for
newsletters that sell subscriptions and advertising. The pricing of each follows that difference.

This comparison uses Kit's own pricing page for Kit and beehiiv's for beehiiv, both read on 9
October 2026. beehiiv's comparison page against Kit is cited where useful, as the vendor's own
argument.

## The short answer

- **Free:** Kit's free plan goes to 10,000 subscribers and lets you sell products and subscriptions; beehiiv's goes to 2,500 and
  allows one digital product but no subscriptions.
- **Entry paid plan at 1,000 subscribers:** Kit Creator $390 a year, beehiiv Lite $588 a year.
- **Fees on sales:** Kit charges 3.5% plus 30 cents including card processing; beehiiv passes on
  Stripe's 2.9% plus $0.30 and takes nothing. The difference is 0.6 points.
- **Break-even:** at about $33,000 a year of paid revenue, beehiiv's lower fees pay for its higher
  plan.

Below that, Kit costs less. Above it, beehiiv does. Kit's automation for product funnels is
deeper; beehiiv's tools for audience growth and advertising are broader.



> 💡 **undefined:** Price branding removal: Creator at Kit, Pro at beehiiv.

## How Kit charges

Kit's pricing page, read for 1,000 subscribers, shows three plans: Free, Creator and Pro [20].
Free is $0 for up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, tagging
and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions included. Creator is $33 a month,
or $390 billed yearly, adding unlimited visual automations and sequences, removal of Kit branding,
and 24/7 email and chat support. Pro is shown at $50 a month as a first-year offer against a list
price of $66, adding unlimited users, engagement scoring and deliverability reporting [20].

On sales, Kit lists 3.5% plus 30 cents and says the fee is "inclusive of credit card processing fees, so
Kit only takes 0.6% of the total fees" [20]. On paid recommendations, it lists a fee of 23.5%
[20].

## How beehiiv charges

beehiiv sells Free, Lite, Pro and Enterprise, priced by active subscribers across the whole
workspace [4]. At 1,000 subscribers, Lite is $59 a month or $588 a year, Pro $109 or $1,140
[3]. beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscriptions [17] and 20% of paid recommendations [13].
Stripe's 2.9% plus $0.30 applies to each charge.



> 💡 **undefined:** Check both sliders at your own list size.

## Price at 1,000 subscribers, billed annually

| | Kit | beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan ceiling | 10,000 subscribers | 2,500 subscribers |
| Selling on the free plan | Products and subscriptions | One digital product; no subscriptions |
| Entry paid plan | Creator, $390 a year | Lite, $588 a year |
| Branding removed | From Creator | From Pro only |
| Higher plan | Pro, $593 first year (offer) | Pro, $1,140 a year |
| Fee on paid subscriptions | 3.5% + 30c incl. processing | 0% + Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Fee on paid recommendations | 23.5% | 20% |

From both vendors' pricing pages [20] [3]. We could read Kit's prices only for the
1,000-subscriber tier, the one its page shows by default.

One line is easy to miss. Removing branding costs $390 a year at Kit and $1,140 a year at beehiiv at
this size, because beehiiv reserves it for Pro [3].

## The break-even on fees

The plan gap at 1,000 subscribers is $198 a year in Kit's favour. The fee gap is 0.6 points of gross
sales in beehiiv's favour. They meet at $33,000 a year.

**Worked example 1.** 150 readers paying $6 a month bring $10,800 a year. Kit's extra 0.6 points
cost $65. beehiiv's extra plan cost is $198. Kit is $133 cheaper.

**Worked example 2.** 300 readers paying $10 a month bring $36,000. Kit's extra 0.6 points cost
$216. beehiiv's extra plan cost is $198. beehiiv is $18 cheaper: level, in practice.

**Worked example 3.** 1,000 readers paying $8 a month bring $96,000, on a list that would sit on a
higher tier at both vendors. The fee difference alone is $576 a year in beehiiv's favour.

*Our arithmetic.* Plan prices at higher tiers differ from the 1,000-subscriber figures above, so
check both vendors' sliders at your own list size.



> ⚠ **undefined:** beehiiv's Kit price at 100,000 could not be confirmed on Kit's page.

## What each plan includes, side by side

From the two vendors' own pricing pages, at the entry paid plans [20] [3]:

| | Kit Creator | beehiiv Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Automations | Unlimited visual automations and sequences | 10 live automations |
| Branding removed | Yes | No, Pro only |
| Seats | Not stated on the card | 2 |
| Publications | Not stated on the card | 3 |
| A/B testing | Subject lines | Yes |
| Polls and surveys | Polls | Polls and surveys |
| RSS campaigns | Yes | No, Pro only (RSS to Send) |
| SMS marketing | Yes | Not offered in the feature table |
| MCP connection for AI tools | Yes | Yes, with write access |
| Support | 24/7 email and chat | Tickets; no email or phone channel |
| Ad network | Newsletter sponsorships listed | Ad Network, paid monthly |
| Website and podcast | Landing pages | Website builder and podcast hosting |

At the next plan up, Kit Pro adds unlimited users, subscriber engagement scoring, deliverability
reporting and a Growth Concierge team [20]; beehiiv Pro adds branding removal, unlimited
automations, dynamic content, the Send API and ten seats [3].

The pattern is clear. At the entry level Kit gives more automation and more white-label for less
money; beehiiv gives more publishing surface and more ways to earn.

## Fees per charge, not per year

The 0.6-point difference looks small as a percentage, so here it is per payment. On a $5 monthly
subscription, Kit's 3.5% plus 30 cents is $0.475 a charge, 9.5% of the payment. beehiiv's Stripe fee
of 2.9% plus $0.30 is $0.445, or 8.9%. On a $50 annual subscription, Kit takes $2.05 (4.1%) and
Stripe on beehiiv $1.75 (3.5%). *Our arithmetic* on both vendors' published fees [20] [17].

Either way, the fixed 30 cents dominates small monthly payments. Pricing annual plans saves more on
fees than choosing between these two platforms.



> ⚠ **undefined:** Kit sequences must be rebuilt as beehiiv automations.

## Paid recommendations, priced on both

Both vendors run a marketplace where newsletters pay each other for new subscribers. Kit lists its
fee at 23.5%, beehiiv at 20% [20] [13].

**Worked example.** Buying 1,000 new subscribers at a $2.00 offer costs $2,000 on either platform.
On beehiiv, $400 of that is the platform's fee and $1,600 reaches the recommending newsletters. On
Kit, at 23.5%, $470 is the fee and $1,530 reaches them. *Our arithmetic*, assuming the fee is
deducted from the offer price on both, which beehiiv states and Kit's table implies.

## Free plans, in practice

**A creator with 6,000 subscribers who sells a $29 guide.** On Kit Free, the list fits and the guide
can be sold from day one, with Kit's 3.5% plus 30 cents on each sale [20]. On beehiiv, the list
does not fit Free's 2,500, so a paid plan is needed before anything else; at the 10,000 tier that is $139 a month or
$1,428 a year [3].

**A writer with 1,800 subscribers who will not sell for a year.** Both free plans fit. beehiiv Free
adds a website, podcast feed and recommendation network [3]; Kit Free adds unlimited landing
pages and forms [20]. This one is a matter of taste, not cost.

## Promotional pricing to watch

Kit's Pro plan is shown with a first-year offer, $50 a month against a list price of $66, billed at
$593 for the first year [20]. Kit's page also advertises *pay yearly, save 17%*. Budget for the
list price in year two. beehiiv's published prices carry no first-year discount [3], though
promotion codes and affiliate discounts can apply at checkout [4].

## What beehiiv's comparison page claims

beehiiv's page against Kit lists beehiiv at $119 for up to 10,000 subscribers and $399 for up to
100,000, against Kit at *Free, with ads* and $679 [48]. The beehiiv figures match its own
Lite annual prices expressed per month. We could not confirm the $679 for Kit from Kit's own page,
so treat it as beehiiv's figure, not Kit's.

The same page says "Kit takes a cut of every paid subscription and digital product sale." [48].
That is accurate, and Kit is open about it: its 0.6% is printed on its own pricing page.

## Testing beehiiv's claim that its price does not spike

beehiiv's page against Kit promises "transparent pricing that doesn't spike as you grow" [48].
Transparent, yes: every tier is published [3]. Whether it spikes depends on how you measure.
On monthly billing, Lite rises from $59 at 1,000 subscribers to $469 at 100,000, nearly eight times
the price for a hundred times the list. Per thousand subscribers it falls from $59 to $4.69. *Our
arithmetic.*

The steps between tiers are where a bill jumps. Crossing from 10,000 to 10,001 subscribers moves Lite
from $139 to $199 a month, a 43% rise for one subscriber. That is how every tiered price works,
including Kit's, but it is a spike in the plain sense, and auto-upgrade decides whether you pay it
automatically [5].

## Where Kit is stronger

- **The free plan.** Four times beehiiv's ceiling, with selling of products and subscriptions included.
- **Branding removal** on its first paid plan.
- **Commerce automation.** Even beehiiv's comparison page lists Kit as good for "Complex,
  commerce-based automations" and "Selling digital courses and products" [48].
- **Support on the entry plan.** Kit lists 24/7 email and chat support on Creator [20]; beehiiv
  has no email or phone channel on any self-serve plan [14].

## Where beehiiv is stronger

- **Fees on subscription revenue**, by 0.6 points.
- **Paid recommendations**, at 20% against 23.5%.
- **An ad network** that pays monthly per open or click [11].
- **Website, podcast and community** on the same account [3].
- **Multiple publications** on one bill: three on Lite, ten on Pro.

## Migration

beehiiv publishes a step-by-step guide for moving from Kit [45]. The usual checks apply: the
whole list must fit the tier, because over-limit imports are held [9]; tags and custom fields
need mapping; and Kit sequences have to be rebuilt as beehiiv automations, which are capped at ten
live on Lite [3].

## Paid subscribers cannot simply move from Kit

This is the most important practical fact in the comparison, and it comes from beehiiv's own
migration guide. Free subscribers move with a CSV export and import, tags and locations included.
Paid ones do not: "If your paid subscriptions are managed through Kit + Stripe Express, there is
not a way to migrate over paid subscriptions to beehiiv." [45]. The guide explains that Kit
does not expose the payment details needed to move them.

beehiiv offers two workarounds [45]:

1. **Ask paid readers to subscribe again** on beehiiv, after cancelling or refunding their Kit
   subscriptions, optionally with a discount link.
2. **Grant complimentary access** on beehiiv for the rest of each reader's current billing period,
   then ask them to subscribe.

Both mean some paying readers will not come back. If a tenth of 300 paying readers at $10 a month
fail to resubscribe, that is $3,600 a year lost, more than ten years of the $198 plan difference at
1,000 subscribers. *Our arithmetic.* For a creator with an established paid base on Kit, that
attrition is the real cost of switching, and it should be estimated before anything else.

Moving paid readers from Substack is different: beehiiv's Substack comparison says readers move
through Stripe without being notified [16].

## Subscription dates and history

By default beehiiv gives every imported subscriber the import date as their subscription date. The
migration guide explains how to keep the original Kit sign-up dates by mapping the created-at field
to a date custom field [45]. If you report subscriber tenure to sponsors, do this on the first
import; it is harder to repair later.

## Policies to compare before you choose

On beehiiv, "All sales are final upon subscription" [6], annual plans cannot pause [4], and
growth above a tier is charged only if you turn on auto-upgrade; otherwise sends may be delayed
[5]. Kit's pricing page advertises a 14-day free trial with no card and free migrations
[20]. We have not yet measured Kit's refund and billing terms in full; we will when Kit's own
review is published.

## Questions to answer before you choose

1. **What will you sell?** Products and courses favour Kit; subscriptions and ads favour beehiiv.
2. **How big is your list today?** Under 10,000 and selling now, Kit Free covers it; beehiiv needs a
   paid plan.
3. **What is your paid revenue?** Under about $33,000 a year, Kit's plan saving is larger than
   beehiiv's fee saving.
4. **Must branding go?** Kit removes it at Creator; beehiiv at Pro.
5. **How much automation do you need?** More than ten live automations means beehiiv Pro.

## Four creators, four answers

| Creator | List | Revenue | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course seller, launching | 4,000 | $12,000 a year in courses | Kit: free plan fits and allows selling |
| Paid newsletter, established on Kit | 8,000 | 300 readers at $10 | Kit, unless the paid base can be moved without loss |
| Paid newsletter, starting fresh | 8,000 | Same 300 paying readers | beehiiv: fees and ad income outweigh the plan gap |
| Media brand, three newsletters | 30,000 | Sponsors and ads | beehiiv: multiple publications, ad network |

The second and third rows have identical numbers and opposite answers. The difference is the
migration, not the platforms.



## FAQ

**Is Kit cheaper than beehiiv?**

On the plan, yes: $390 a year against $588 at 1,000 subscribers. On fees, beehiiv is cheaper by 0.6 points, which outweighs the plan gap above about $33,000 of paid revenue a year.

**Is ConvertKit the same as Kit?**

Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit.

## Who should choose which

**Choose Kit** if you sell courses, templates or other products, if your list is under 10,000 and you
want to sell before you pay anything, or if your paid revenue is under about $33,000 a year.

**Choose beehiiv** if the newsletter itself is the product, if you want ad revenue and
recommendations as income, if you run several publications, or if your paid revenue is above about
$33,000 a year.

Our composite score for beehiiv is 3.61. We have not yet published a score for Kit.




## Sources

[1] beehiiv vendor pricing page — https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing (2026-10)
[2] beehiiv machine-readable pricing file — https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing.md (2026-10)
[3] beehiiv help: plan types and tier pricing — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/23874462928663.md (2026-10)
[4] beehiiv help: change plan type and tier — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/13092031997847.md (2026-10)
[5] beehiiv help: refund eligibility — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/13092084756631.md (2026-10)
[6] beehiiv help: what the free trial includes — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/22101553752471.md (2026-10)
[7] beehiiv help: account reviews and blocks — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/43764493955991.md (2026-10)
[8] beehiiv help: importing subscribers — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/4412705350679.md (2026-10)
[9] beehiiv help: how subscribers are counted — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/42699429776279.md (2026-10)
[10] beehiiv help: Ad Network FAQ — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/17507491038231.md (2026-10)
[11] beehiiv help: the beehiiv Wallet — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/14194157250583.md (2026-10)
[12] beehiiv help: Recommendations Network FAQ — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/14194737991319.md (2026-10)
[13] beehiiv help: ways to contact support — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/18621437457303.md (2026-10)
[14] beehiiv Terms of Use — https://www.beehiiv.com/tou.md (2026-10)
[15] beehiiv comparison page against Substack — https://www.beehiiv.com/comparisons/substack.md (2026-10)
[16] beehiiv paid subscriptions feature page — https://www.beehiiv.com/features/premium-subscriptions.md (2026-10)
[17] Substack, going paid — https://substack.com/going-paid (2026-10)
[18] Trustpilot aggregate and review corpus for beehiiv — https://www.trustpilot.com/review/beehiiv.com?languages=all (2026-10)
[19] Kit vendor pricing page — https://kit.com/pricing (2026-10)
[20] Mailchimp vendor pricing page — https://mailchimp.com/pricing/ (2026-09)
[21] MailerLite vendor pricing page — https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing (2026-10)
[22] Brevo machine-readable pricing reference — https://www.brevo.com/pricing.md (2026-10)
[23] beehiiv help: the community app — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/42004299269655.md (2026-10)
[24] beehiiv AI features page — https://www.beehiiv.com/features/artificial-intelligence.md (2026-10)
[25] beehiiv help: getting started with the MCP — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/39255979546263.md (2026-10)
[26] beehiiv integrations page — https://www.beehiiv.com/integrations.md (2026-10)
[27] beehiiv help: exporting content and subscribers — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/12258595483543.md (2026-10)
[28] beehiiv help: delete your account — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/32057514798231.md (2026-10)
[29] beehiiv help: pausing and retention — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/34177235644823.md (2026-10)
[30] beehiiv full machine-readable site dump — https://www.beehiiv.com/llms-full.txt (2026-10)
[31] beehiiv help: the Send API — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/36759164012439.md (2026-10)
[32] beehiiv help: domains — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/12999491162391.md (2026-10)
[33] beehiiv Enterprise page — https://www.beehiiv.com/enterprise.md (2026-10)
[34] beehiiv automations feature page — https://www.beehiiv.com/features/automations.md (2026-10)
[35] beehiiv Ad Network page — https://www.beehiiv.com/ad-network.md (2026-10)
[36] beehiiv recommendations feature page — https://www.beehiiv.com/features/recommendations.md (2026-10)
[37] Substack, about — https://substack.com/about (2026-10)
[38] Klaviyo vendor pricing page — https://www.klaviyo.com/pricing (2026-10)
[39] Constant Contact vendor pricing page — https://www.constantcontact.com/pricing (2026-10)
[40] beehiiv help: spam complaints — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/13092270804631.md (2026-10)
[41] beehiiv help: Stripe account types — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/30064926230679.md (2026-10)
[42] beehiiv help: delete a workspace or publication — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/12430837307287.md (2026-10)
[43] beehiiv help: migrate from Substack — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/14966988360215.md (2026-10)
[44] beehiiv help: migrate from Kit — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/22435253930519.md (2026-10)
[45] beehiiv help: Boosts became paid recommendations — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/41790356251159.md (2026-10)
[46] beehiiv help: using the Ad Network — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/17525818225431.md (2026-10)
[47] beehiiv comparison page against Kit — https://www.beehiiv.com/comparisons/convertkit.md (2026-10)
[48] beehiiv comparison page against Mailchimp — https://www.beehiiv.com/comparisons/mailchimp.md (2026-10)
[49] beehiiv comparison page against Ghost — https://www.beehiiv.com/comparisons/ghost.md (2026-10)
[50] beehiiv help: key policies and agreements — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/32902341812759.md (2026-10)
[51] beehiiv public status page — https://status.beehiiv.com/ (2026-10)
[52] beehiiv help: troubleshooting paid subscriptions — https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/39165102555927.md (2026-10)
[53] beehiiv developer docs: rate limiting — https://developers.beehiiv.com/welcome/rate-limiting.md (2026-10)
[54] beehiiv developer docs: webhooks — https://developers.beehiiv.com/webhooks.md (2026-10)
[55] beehiiv developer docs: OAuth2 — https://developers.beehiiv.com/oauth2.md (2026-10)
[56] beehiiv Trust Center — https://security.beehiiv.com/ (2026-10)
[57] beehiiv MCP feature page — https://www.beehiiv.com/features/mcp.md (2026-10)
[58] beehiiv public MCP: company facts — https://www.beehiiv.com/api/mcp#get_company_facts (2026-10)
[59] beehiiv developer docs: getting started — https://developers.beehiiv.com/welcome/getting-started.md (2026-10)
[60] beehiiv developer docs: pagination — https://developers.beehiiv.com/welcome/pagination.md (2026-10)
[61] beehiiv developer docs index — https://developers.beehiiv.com/llms.txt (2026-10)