Kit (ConvertKit) vs Mailchimp: A Creator Platform Against a Small-Business Sender

Kit against Mailchimp, searched as "convertkit vs mailchimp" 260 times a month in the United States, is the most searched comparison for Kit. It is a comparison between two different products. Mailchimp is a general small-business email platform with ecommerce automation at its centre. Kit is built for creators who sell their own products and newsletters. This page compares them on price, free plans, selling, automation and policies, from Kit's own pages read on 9 October 2026 and our measurement of Mailchimp's American pricing page in September 2026.

The short answer

For a creator, Kit is the better product and, above the smallest lists, the more predictable price. Its free plan covers 10,000 subscribers and lets you sell; Mailchimp's covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Kit publishes its whole ladder (in its page script); Mailchimp published three figures to American readers. Mailchimp remains stronger for stores that need abandoned-cart and product recommendation flows. Our composite scores: Kit 3.79, Mailchimp 3.46.

## Free plans

Kit's free plan "costs $0 per month for as long as you stay under 10,000 subscribers" and includes forms, landing pages, unlimited broadcasts, tagging, segmentation, digital products and subscriptions, A/B tests on broadcasts and the API ^[6]. Mailchimp's free plan, in our September measurement, allowed 250 contacts, 500 sends a month and 250 a day, with scheduling, A/B testing and generative features marked "Not included" ^[49].

That is forty times the audience on Kit, with selling included. For a creator starting from zero, it is not a close comparison.

How each one charges

Kit bills confirmed subscribers in 45 bands per plan: Creator $39 a month at up to 1,000, $139 at 10,000, $379 at about 50,000, $679 at about 100,000; Pro $79, $189, $519 and $879 ^[2]. Annual billing is ten months' price for twelve ^[4].

Mailchimp bills contacts by plan. In our September measurement its American page showed Essentials at $13 and Standard at $20 for 500 contacts, both first-year promotions, and its comparison page published two ceilings: $385 for Essentials at 50,000 contacts and $800 for Standard at 100,000 ^[49]. Prices for the bands between were not shown.

## Price at the sizes both publish

At 500 to 1,000 subscribers Mailchimp's promotional entry is cheaper: Standard at $20 against Kit Creator at $39. Our derived month-thirteen price for Mailchimp Standard is $23.53, still lower. At about 50,000, Kit Creator at $379 and Mailchimp Essentials at $385 are level. At about 100,000, Kit Creator at $679 is $121 a month below Mailchimp Standard's $800 ceiling ^{[2] [49]}.

Between those points Kit publishes every band and Mailchimp publishes none, so a creator at 12,000 subscribers can price Kit exactly, $169 a month, and has to start a Mailchimp checkout to see a number.

Selling: where the two products diverge

Kit sells digital products, subscriptions and payment plans natively, on every plan including Free, at 3.5% plus 30 cents per sale including card processing ^{[2] [42]}. A paid newsletter is a subscription product whose broadcasts go only to its buyers ^[26]. Kit can also read purchases from Shopify, Squarespace Commerce, Stripe and Gumroad to tag buyers ^[28].

Mailchimp's commerce strength is the opposite direction: email triggered by a store's events, such as abandoned carts and product recommendations. For a creator selling a course, Kit is built for the job. For a store sending order follow-ups, Mailchimp is.

Automation

Kit's visual automations, sequences, rules and link triggers start on Creator ^[3]. They are built around creator funnels: a lead magnet, a welcome sequence, a launch, a purchase tag. Mailchimp's automation is built around customer journeys for small businesses. Both are capable; they are tuned for different businesses.

Policies

	Kit	Mailchimp
Refunds	30 days on all plans, per the help centre [4]	Not measured
Upgrades	Automatic, prorated [5]	Charges by contact band
Free plan limit reached	Paid plan needed to keep sending [6]	Hold on sending
Promotional pricing	Pro annual offer to 7 Nov 2026 [2]	Entry prices are 12-month promotions
Account verification	Required before sending [7]	Not measured

Kit's refund promise sits in its help centre; its terms say it "will not refund any Paid Services Fees already paid to us" on cancellation ^[8]. Ask for refunds within 30 days and cite the help article.

Support

Kit offers 24/7 email and chat on paid plans and answers free accounts within 24 hours ^{[2] [6]}. Mailchimp's free plan, in our measurement, had email support only for the first thirty days ^[49]. In our corpus of 100 Kit reviews, support is positive in 26 and negative in 12 ^[9].

Migration

Kit publishes a guide for moving from Mailchimp ^[37] and advertises free migrations on its pricing page ^[2]. Import only confirmed, subscribed contacts: Kit bills confirmed subscribers, and large imports can trigger a temporary suspension, so tell Kit before you import ^[5].

What a creator actually needs from email

A creator's email program usually has four parts: a form or landing page that offers something free in exchange for an address, a welcome sequence that introduces the creator over a week or two, a regular newsletter, and occasional launches that sell a product to the people who have shown interest. Kit is designed around exactly that loop. Its free plan covers the first and third parts and the selling; Creator adds the sequences and visual automations that run the second and fourth ^{[6] [3]}.

Mailchimp can run the same loop, but its design centre is elsewhere: promotional campaigns, customer journeys and store integrations for small businesses. A creator using Mailchimp often adds a separate checkout tool for selling, and pays Mailchimp by contacts whether or not those contacts buy. On Kit, the checkout, the purchase tag and the sequence that follows a purchase live in one account ^{[28] [26]}.

Tags against audiences

Kit is "subscriber-centric rather than list-centric", in its billing article's words: one list per account, organised by tags and segments, with every feature included in the plan price ^[4]. A subscriber who joins through two forms is one subscriber with two tags, billed once. Kit's own guidance for genuinely separate businesses is still a separate account ^[22]. Mailchimp's model historically centres on audiences; how it counts a contact present in two audiences is a question to check in its own documentation before migrating.

Three creators, priced on both

A creator with 400 subscribers, starting out. Kit Free covers it at $0, with selling included ^[6]. Mailchimp's free plan stops at 250 contacts, so the list needs a paid plan: Standard at $20 a month on the first-year promotion, about $23.53 after it by our derivation ^[49].

A course creator with 12,000 subscribers. Kit Creator at the 15,000 band: $169 a month or $1,690 a year ^[2]. Mailchimp did not publish a price for 12,000 contacts to American readers in our measurement; the buyer must start a checkout to find out ^[49].

A newsletter with 100,000 subscribers. Kit Creator is about $679 a month: $8,148 a year on monthly billing, $6,790 on annual ^[2]. Mailchimp Standard at its $800 published ceiling is $9,600 a year ^[49]. Kit is $1,452 a year cheaper on monthly billing and $2,810 on annual. Our arithmetic.

Price transparency, measured

We count how much of its own price list a vendor shows. Kit's visible page shows one band at a time, but its script carries all 45 bands per plan, and its help centre states the entry prices and the annual rule ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Mailchimp's American page, in September 2026, showed four distinct figures, all for its smallest band, plus two ceilings on its comparison page; the prices of eighteen of its twenty bands appeared nowhere ^[49]. Neither is ideal; Kit's ladder can at least be read.

Sending limits

Kit's bill depends on subscribers only, "not on emails sent or features used" ^[4], and broadcasts are unlimited even on Free ^[6]. Mailchimp ties sends to a multiple of contacts on paid plans, and on Free allows 500 a month: two sends to a full free list ^[49]. A weekly creator newsletter fits Kit's free plan and does not fit Mailchimp's.

Verification before the first send

Kit reviews every new account before sending is enabled, asking for a link to your site and sometimes for historical open and click rates ^[7]. Plan a launch around that step. Kit also warns that a large import, from a giveaway for instance, may suspend the account temporarily unless you tell support in advance ^[5].

Ratings

Kit: Trustpilot 4.0 from 159 on kit.com, with our sample of 100 recent reviews averaging 4.17; GetApp 4.63 from 244; Kit's WordPress plugin 4.8 from 90 ^[9]. Mailchimp, in our September measurement, had the largest review bases in the category, including 1,538 on Trustpilot. Our sentiment axis: Kit 4.0, Mailchimp 3.0.

Moving from Mailchimp to Kit, step by step

1. Export only subscribed contacts from Mailchimp; Kit bills confirmed subscribers, so cleaned and unsubscribed addresses should stay behind ^[4].
2. Send Kit the verification link before the import, so sending is enabled when the list arrives ^[7].
3. Tell support about a large import in advance, to avoid a temporary suspension ^[5].
4. Recreate Mailchimp audiences as tags or segments in one Kit account, unless they are genuinely separate businesses, which Kit advises running as separate accounts ^[22].
5. Rebuild automations as Kit visual automations or sequences on Creator ^[3].
6. Follow Kit's Mailchimp migration guide, or ask for the free migration the pricing page offers ^{[37] [2]}.

Common mistakes in this comparison

1. Comparing Mailchimp's promotional price with Kit's list price. Mailchimp's entry prices were first-year promotions ^[49].
2. Ignoring the free plans. For most creators under 10,000 subscribers, Kit costs nothing ^[6].
3. Forgetting the verification step on Kit before planning a launch date ^[7].
4. Assuming Kit stops growth at a band. It upgrades automatically ^[5].

The verdict in one paragraph

For a creator, the question is rarely whether Mailchimp can send the emails; it can. The question is how much of the business runs inside the email tool. On Kit, the form, the free lead magnet, the welcome sequence, the product, the checkout, the purchase tag and the follow-up sequence are one system, and the first 10,000 subscribers cost nothing ^[6]. That is why Kit scores higher with us, 3.79 against 3.46, and why the gap is widest on value and support. Mailchimp's advantage is real but narrow: the lowest first-year price for a list under 500.

## Who should choose which

Choose Kit if you are a creator selling courses, products or a paid newsletter, or if you want a free plan that covers thousands of subscribers.

Choose Mailchimp if you run a store or service business whose email depends on store events, or if your list is under 500 and you want the lowest first-year price.

Our composite scores: Kit 3.79, Mailchimp 3.46.