Kit vs MailerLite

Updated October 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Kit

Email marketing for creators, formerly ConvertKit, with a free plan for large lists.

Free plan + paid

Visit Kit Kit profile

MailerLite

Affordable, well-designed email marketing with automations, landing pages and a free plan.

Free plan + paid

Visit MailerLite MailerLite profile

The short answer

Pick Kit if you are a creator who wants to grow and monetise a list, with a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, digital product sales and a creator recommendation network. Pick MailerLite if you are a small business or creator who wants designed emails, websites and automations at a low price. The biggest difference: Kit is built around creators and selling, MailerLite around affordable all-round email marketing.

Kit or MailerLite: our take

Kit, called ConvertKit until 2024, is made for writers, podcasters, YouTubers, coaches and course sellers. It offers landing pages, sign-up forms, tag-based subscribers, visual automations and sequences, plus built-in selling of digital products, paid newsletters and tips. Its Creator Network and recommendations help creators grow by promoting each other. MailerLite is a Lithuanian service that has become a favourite of small businesses and creators who find Mailchimp too expensive. It offers three editors (drag and drop, rich text and custom HTML), a visual automation builder, segmentation, landing pages, a simple website builder, forms and pop-ups, paid newsletter subscriptions, digital product sales, and integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce and Stripe.

The free plans differ a lot. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms, while paid plans add automations and integrations; the Creator plan starts at $33/month for 1,000 subscribers and paid plans get expensive at large list sizes. MailerLite's free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, and its paid Comfort and Power tiers, priced by subscriber count, stay well below Mailchimp at most sizes. Both offer a 14-day trial.

Design and depth also differ. Kit's templates are deliberately plain, suited to text-first newsletters but limiting for brands that want designed emails, and its reporting and segmentation are lighter than marketing-automation suites. MailerLite gives more design control and a clean interface, though its account approval review can be strict and its reporting and automation are not as deep as premium tools. Both run in the browser with iOS and Android apps.

For creators focused on audience growth and selling to their readers, Kit is the natural fit, especially at the free level. For small businesses that want polished emails, a website and automations without a big bill, MailerLite is usually better value.

Choose Kit if…

Creators who want to grow an email list and sell digital products or paid newsletters
Free plan covers a large subscriber list
Creator-friendly selling, tips and paid newsletters

Choose MailerLite if…

Small businesses and creators who want good design and automation at a low price
Clean interface with three email editors
Automations, landing pages and websites included

What is Kit?

Kit, called ConvertKit until 2024, is email marketing built for creators: writers, podcasters, YouTubers, coaches and course sellers. It focuses on growing and monetising a list rather than ecommerce flows, with landing pages, sign-up forms, tag-based subscribers, visual automations and sequences, and built-in selling of digital products, paid newsletters and tips. The Creator Network and recommendations help creators grow by promoting each other. The free plan covers a large number of subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms, while paid Creator and Pro plans add automations, integrations, sponsorship tools and deliverability features, priced by subscriber count after a trial. Templates are deliberately plain, since creator newsletters tend to be text-first, which may disappoint brands that want designed emails. Reporting and segmentation are lighter than marketing-automation suites. It overlaps with newsletter platforms like beehiiv, but Kit leans more toward automation and selling than toward hosting a publication website.

What is MailerLite?

MailerLite is a Lithuanian email marketing service that has become a favourite for small businesses and creators who find Mailchimp too expensive. It offers three editors (drag and drop, rich text and custom HTML), automations with a visual builder, segmentation, landing pages, a simple website builder, sign-up forms and pop-ups, paid newsletter subscriptions and digital product sales, and integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce and Stripe. The interface is clean and quick to learn. A free plan covers a small list with a monthly email cap; paid Comfort and Power tiers are priced by subscriber count and stay well below Mailchimp at most sizes. New accounts go through an approval review, which some users find strict, and support is mostly email and chat. Advanced automation and reporting are not as deep as ActiveCampaign or Klaviyo. For most small senders, it offers the best balance of features, design and price.

Side by side

Attribute	Kit	MailerLite
Pricing	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Best for	Creators who want to grow an email list and sell digital products or paid newsletters	Small businesses and creators who want good design and automation at a low price
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Kit	MailerLite
Free plan	Up to 10,000 subscribers	250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/month
Free trial	14 days	14 days