Kit (ConvertKit) Alternatives: Which to Choose, by the Reason You Are Leaving

People search for alternatives to ConvertKit about 170 times a month in the United States. The usual reasons, from our 100 recent Kit reviews and Kit's own policies, are the October 2025 price increase, support after it, the verification step before sending, and the one-audience-per-account model. This page is organised by those reasons, with prices from each vendor's own pages.

Why people leave Kit

• Price. Kit raised prices for existing customers from October 2025, the "first price increase in 12 years" ^[10]; one reviewer says it was "nearly 3x" for them ^[9].
• Support after the increase. Support is the largest theme in our corpus: 26 positive, 12 negative ^[9].
• Several audiences. Kit advises a separate account, and a separate plan, for each distinct audience ^[22].
• Verification. New accounts cannot send until Kit approves them ^[7].

## The alternatives at a glance

Platform	Our score	Entry paid price, monthly	Free plan	Best for
Klaviyo	3.88	$20	250 profiles	Online stores
Kit	3.79	$39 at 1,000	10,000 subscribers	Creators who sell
MailerLite	3.71	$12 at 500	250 subscribers	Small business email
Constant Contact	3.63	$12	None	Local business, nonprofits
beehiiv	3.61	$59 at 1,000	2,500 subscribers	Paid newsletters, media
Brevo	3.58	$9 at 5,000 emails	100,000 contacts stored	Large lists mailed rarely
Mailchimp	3.46	$13 promotional	250 contacts	Small business promotions
ActiveCampaign	3.44	$19	None	Automation and CRM

From each vendor's pricing page ^{[52] [50] [54] [44] [53] [49]}.

If you run several newsletters: beehiiv

beehiiv bills a whole workspace as one list, with three publications on Lite and ten on Pro ^[44]. Three newsletters of 3,000 cost one Lite at the 10,000 tier, $139 a month, against three Kit Creator plans at $59 each, $177. beehiiv also takes 0% of paid subscriptions. It does not refund: "All sales are final upon subscription" ^[46].

## If the list will never buy: MailerLite or Brevo

MailerLite Comfort is $12 a month at 500 subscribers ^[50]; Brevo Starter is $9 a month at 5,000 emails and its free plan stores 100,000 contacts at 300 emails a day ^[53]. Both are a fraction of Kit's $39. Both lack Kit's creator commerce and the Creator Network.

If you want discovery more than control: Substack

Substack has no plan fee and keeps 10%: "Writers keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees." ^[51]. Compared with Kit's free plan, which allows paid subscriptions up to 10,000 subscribers at 3.5% plus 30 cents, Substack costs more per sale; what it offers is its reader network.

If you sell physical products: Klaviyo

Klaviyo, first in our scores at 3.88, is built on store data. For a creator who has become a store, with inventory, carts and repeat purchases, it is the better fit. Kit reads purchases from Shopify and others for tagging ^[28], but its automations are built for creator funnels, not store events.

If you need a CRM: ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign, at 3.44, pairs deep automation with a sales pipeline and scores 4.2 on our integrations axis. For a coach or consultant with a sales process, it covers what Kit does not.

If you mostly want a lower bill: stay, but prune

Before leaving Kit over price, check whether the list can drop a band. Kit's own advice is to prune about every six months, which "can even lower your email bill" ^[5]; the lower band starts at the next billing date once you switch ^[4]. A list cleaned from 3,200 to 2,900 subscribers moves from $89 to $59 a month on Creator.

If the reason is the October 2025 price rise

Kit's founder explained the increase in a public letter: prices had not changed since 2013 while the product had added visual automations, recommendations, the app store, a deliverability team, commerce and 24/7 support ^[10]. Customers kept their plan limits and features, and discounts, including nonprofit discounts, carried over to the new price ^[4].

Before switching, compare the new Kit price with the alternative at your exact list size. At 10,000 subscribers Kit Creator ($139) and beehiiv Lite ($139) cost the same; MailerLite Comfort ($89) is cheaper; Brevo depends on how often you send ^{[2] [44] [50] [53]}. Then add the cost of moving: rebuilding sequences, re-verifying a domain, and, for paid newsletters, the readers who will not resubscribe on a platform that cannot import them.

If the reason is support

Support is the largest theme in our Kit corpus, 38 of 100 reviews, and two thirds of those are positive ^[9]. The negative third describes long exchanges on technical questions. Every alternative in our category has a support score at or below Kit's 3.6 except Constant Contact, also 3.6. If support is the reason, test Constant Contact first, and judge any alternative on one real question during its trial.

Prices at common sizes, monthly

Subscribers	Kit Creator	beehiiv Lite	MailerLite Comfort
1,000	$39	$59	$19
5,000	$89	$109	$49
10,000	$139	$139	$89
25,000	$199	$199	$179

From each vendor's published ladder ^{[2] [44] [50]}. For pure sending MailerLite is the cheapest at every size; Kit and beehiiv meet at 10,000 and 25,000.

Our scores, axis by axis

Axis	Kit	Klaviyo	MailerLite	beehiiv	Brevo
Value	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.4	3.5
Capability	3.8	4.5	3.6	3.9	4.2
Ease of use	4.0	3.9	4.1	3.9	3.4
Integrations	3.9	3.8	3.5	3.4	3.6
Support	3.6	2.7	3.5	3.1	2.6
Sentiment	4.0	3.2	3.9	3.9	2.9
Composite	3.79	3.88	3.71	3.61	3.58

Kit has the best support score and the best sentiment score in this group. Leaving it over support means moving to a platform we score lower on support, with the exception of Constant Contact (3.6).

Choosing by scenario

Your situation	First choice	Why
Creator selling courses, under 10,000	Stay on Kit	Free plan sells; Creator for sequences
Three newsletters, one budget	beehiiv	One bill per workspace
Small business, no products	MailerLite	Lowest price per subscriber
80,000 contacts mailed monthly	Brevo	Priced by emails sent
Shopify store	Klaviyo	Store-event automation
Writer wanting discovery	Substack	Reader network, no plan fee
Coach with a sales pipeline	ActiveCampaign	Automation and CRM

If the reason is verification

Kit's verification asks for a link to your blog before sending, to confirm "You're a real person" and that you own your domain ^[7]. Most email platforms review accounts in some way; Kit simply does it before the first send rather than after. If timing is the problem, send the link on day one; if the problem is that you have no site yet, a landing page built in Kit counts as a start.

If the reason is one account per audience

Kit's advice for creators with several businesses is plain: "A fresh account for every distinct audience is the best practice and our advice." ^[22]. One account has one list and "we only store a single custom domain per account" ^[22]. Each account is billed on its own band, so three audiences of 3,000 pay three times $59 instead of once at a higher band.

Two alternatives handle this better. beehiiv bills a workspace of several publications as one list ^[44]. MailerLite, at $33 for 2,500 subscribers, makes even separate accounts cheaper ^[50]. Within Kit, the cheaper route for related audiences is one account with tags and segments, accepting the limits Kit describes: no sending to all subscribers without mixing audiences, one default sender address, and the risk that an unsubscribe removes a reader from both ^[22].

If the reason is a missing feature

Kit has no website builder beyond landing pages and a newsletter site, no podcast hosting, and no store automation of the cart-and-browse kind ^[6]. If one of those is the reason, beehiiv covers the first two and Klaviyo the third. If the missing feature is automation on the free plan, MailerLite's free plan includes three automations, but only up to 250 subscribers ^[56].

What you give up by leaving Kit

• The largest free plan that allows selling: 10,000 subscribers ^[6].
• A refund window, 30 days by the help centre ^[4].
• Branding removal on the entry plan ^[3].
• The Creator Network and its recommendations ^[6].
• Published fees on sponsorships and recommendations ^{[32] [31]}.

If you are a nonprofit

Kit's billing article confirms that nonprofit discounts exist and survived the 2025 price change ^[4]. Ask Kit for the current terms before comparing it with an alternative, because a discounted Kit plan can change the order of the price tables above. Constant Contact also markets to nonprofits and publishes a 30-day money-back guarantee ^[54].

If you write a paid newsletter on Kit's free plan

Staying is often cheapest. Kit Free allows paid subscriptions up to 10,000 subscribers at 3.5% plus 30 cents per sale including processing ^{[6] [2]}. Of the paid-newsletter options we have measured, only Kit lets you charge readers on a free plan this large: beehiiv needs a paid plan for subscriptions and Substack keeps 10% ^{[44] [51]}. Leaving would mean paying a plan fee or a larger share of every subscription, for a list that already costs nothing to host.

Questions that narrow the list

1. Do you sell products? If yes, Kit is hard to replace; compare only beehiiv and Klaviyo.
2. How many separate audiences? More than one favours beehiiv's single bill ^[44].
3. Will the list ever buy? If never, MailerLite or Brevo ^{[50] [53]}.
4. Is the newsletter itself the product? beehiiv's 0% share and publication tools.
5. Do you need a reader network more than a checkout? Substack ^[51].
6. Is your reason price? Check the band below yours first; pruning may solve it ^[4].

If you are a coach or consultant

Coaches often sell packages rather than products. Kit supports payment plans that split a package into at least two instalments, monthly, quarterly or yearly ^[42], and collects VAT for EU and UK clients once enabled ^[43]. ActiveCampaign adds a sales pipeline for coaches who work leads by hand. A coach who sells mostly through launches and sequences is usually better off staying on Kit and adding a simple CRM than moving the whole list.

The cost of moving

Moving is rarely free even when the new plan is cheaper. Sequences and automations must be rebuilt. Forms embedded on a website must be replaced. A custom sending domain must be authenticated again. Paid subscriptions may not transfer: beehiiv cannot import paid subscribers managed through Kit and Stripe Express ^[47]. Set those costs against the saving before deciding.

## How to leave Kit cleanly

1. Export subscribers as CSV ^[25].
2. Move paid subscriptions where the new platform supports it; check its guide first, since beehiiv cannot import paid subscriptions from Kit and Stripe Express ^[47].
3. Cancel; the account stays active to the end of the billing period ^[4].
4. Request a refund within 30 days if eligible ^[4].
5. Request account deletion; it completes within 24 to 48 hours, and only the owner can request it ^[24].