Email · Newsletters
Kit vs beehiiv for solo founders
Kit and beehiiv compared on free-plan limits, paid pricing at 1,000 subscribers, automations, seats and fees, using only the vendors’ own pricing pages.
The short answer
On the published plans, a solo founder who just needs to send broadcasts to a growing list gets more room on Kit’s Free plan (up to 10,000 subscribers vs 2,500 on beehiiv Free). Once you need automations, Kit’s Creator plan is listed lower at 1,000 subscribers than beehiiv Lite. beehiiv’s case is built around a newsletter business: website, ad network, recommendations and 0% take rate on paid subscriptions. Details and sources below.
Both Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and beehiiv sell email tools to people who publish to a list. This comparison only uses what each company publishes on its pricing page, read on 26 October 2026. If you want to look while you read, here are Kit and beehiiv.
Free plans
Kit lists a Free plan at $0 a month, “free—up to 10,000 subscribers”, with unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
beehiiv lists a Free plan at $0 for up to 2,500 subscribers, with unlimited email sends, campaign analytics, the recommendation network, link-in-bio and API access excluding the Send API (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). Its FAQ says no credit card is required (beehiiv pricing FAQ, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
Paid pricing at 1,000 subscribers
Both vendors price by list size. The figures below are the ones each page shows for about 1,000 subscribers. We don’t estimate other list sizes.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Kit Creator | $33/mo, $390 a year | Not shown in the page text we read |
| Kit Pro | $50/mo first year under a limited-time offer ($593 billed first year), $66/mo listed as the regular price; renews at the standard rate | Not shown in the page text we read |
| beehiiv Lite | $49/mo, $588 a year | $59 |
| beehiiv Pro | $95/mo, $1,140 a year | $109 |
Kit says paying yearly saves 17% and offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv publishes a full table by list size up to 250,000+ subscribers (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
Automations and sequences
Kit lists unlimited visual automations and unlimited email sequences starting on Creator, not Free (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv lists email automations from Lite, with 10 live custom automations on Lite and unlimited on Pro; click-triggered automations and A/B split conditions are Pro features (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
Seats for a small team
Kit’s comparison table lists users as 1 on Free, 2 on Creator and unlimited on Pro (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv lists team seats as 1 on Free, 2 on Lite, 10 on Pro and unlimited on Enterprise (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). For a team of three or more, the published options are Kit Pro or beehiiv Pro.
Branding and newsletter extras
- Remove branding: Kit lists “Remove Kit branding” on Creator (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv lists removing beehiiv branding on Pro (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
- RSS to email: Kit lists RSS campaigns on Creator (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv lists RSS to Send on Pro (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
- Referral program: Kit lists a newsletter referral system on Pro (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). beehiiv lists its referral program from Lite (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
- Website and podcast: beehiiv includes a website builder, web hosting and podcast hosting on every plan, including Free (beehiiv pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026).
Money: paid subscriptions and recommendations
beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue, with Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee still applying; paid subscriptions start on Lite (beehiiv pricing FAQ, accessed 26 Oct 2026). Kit lists selling digital products and subscriptions on all plans and a 23.5% fee on earnings from its Paid Recommendations feature on Creator and Pro (Kit pricing, accessed 26 Oct 2026). Kit’s page also describes its transaction fees, but the fee table did not read clearly enough in the page text for us to quote per plan, so check Kit’s page directly.
Which to pick, by situation
- Just starting, broadcasts only: Kit Free’s published limit (10,000) is four times beehiiv Free’s (2,500).
- Need a welcome sequence or automations, solo: at 1,000 subscribers, Kit Creator is listed at $390 a year vs $588 for beehiiv Lite, both billed yearly.
- Want a newsletter site, podcast and ad income in one place: beehiiv lists those on its plans; check whether the ad network is available in your region, since beehiiv says it isn’t in all regions.
- Team of 3–10: compare Kit Pro (unlimited users) with beehiiv Pro (10 seats) at your list size.
Ready to try one? Both have free plans: see Kit’s plans or see beehiiv’s plans.
What we couldn’t confirm
- Kit’s monthly-billing price at 1,000 subscribers did not appear in the page text we read.
- beehiiv’s page lists “Custom Domains” among Free plan features in one place, but its comparison table marks custom domains as Lite and above. We haven’t stated either.
- beehiiv’s FAQ says paid plans “start at $59/month”, which matches the monthly price; the $49 figure is the annual-billing equivalent.
FAQ
Which free plan allows more subscribers, Kit or beehiiv?
Kit’s pricing page lists its Free plan as free up to 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv’s pricing page lists its Free plan at up to 2,500 subscribers. Both pages were read on 26 October 2026.
Do Kit or beehiiv free plans include email automations?
Not as published on 26 October 2026. Kit lists unlimited visual automations and email sequences from its Creator plan up. beehiiv lists email automations from its Lite plan up, with 10 live custom automations on Lite.
How much do Kit and beehiiv cost for 1,000 subscribers?
Kit’s Creator plan shows $33 a month billed yearly ($390 a year) for 1,000 subscribers. beehiiv’s Lite plan shows $49 a month billed annually ($588 a year), or $59 billed monthly, for up to 1,000 subscribers. Prices change, so check both pricing pages.
Does beehiiv take a cut of paid newsletter revenue?
beehiiv’s pricing FAQ says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue, with Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee still applying.