Newsletters
Kit (ConvertKit) vs beehiiv
Kit if the newsletter sells something else — a course, a product, coaching — because its automations, forms and commerce tools are stronger. beehiiv if the newsletter itself is the business and sponsorship or paid subscriptions is the revenue.
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Kit or beehiiv — which should you use?
Kit if the newsletter sells something else — a course, a product, coaching — because its automations, forms and commerce tools are stronger. beehiiv if the newsletter itself is the business and sponsorship or paid subscriptions is the revenue. Kit starts at Paid plans from roughly $49/month (free tier: Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers with limited features.); beehiiv starts at Paid plans from roughly $39/month (free tier: Free plan up to a few thousand subscribers.). Prices are list prices and change, so check the vendor pages before buying.
Last updated 3 August 2026
Both are excellent at sending email to a list of people who asked for it. The split is what happens next to that list.
Kit descends from ConvertKit and is built around creators selling digital products: tagging, sequences, landing pages, paid products. beehiiv is built around newsletter economics: growth loops, ads, subscriptions.
Side by side
Kit and beehiiv in short.
Kit
Creator email platform, formerly ConvertKit, with automations, landing pages and digital product sales.
- Free
- Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers with limited features.
- Paid from
- Paid plans from roughly $49/month
Good at
- Visual automations with tags and conditions that handle real launch sequences
- Sells digital products and subscriptions directly with Kit Commerce
- Free tier up to 10,000 subscribers is the most generous in the category
Weak at
- Newsletter-specific growth tools are lighter than beehiiv's
- Design flexibility is deliberately limited
beehiiv
Newsletter platform with referrals, an ad network, boosts and website hosting.
- Free
- Free plan up to a few thousand subscribers.
- Paid from
- Paid plans from roughly $39/month
Good at
- Referral programme and paid subscriber acquisition through boosts
- Ad marketplace connecting you to sponsors
- Website and archive hosting included, which helps with search traffic
Weak at
- Automations are simpler than Kit's
- No native digital product sales
The differences
Where they actually diverge.
| Feature | Kit | beehiiv |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Up to 10,000 subscribers | Up to a few thousand |
| Automations | Strong, tag based | Simpler |
| Sell digital products | Yes, built in | No |
| Sponsor marketplace | Yes, Creator Network sponsorships | Yes, ad network |
| Referral programme | Add-on | Included |
Pick one
Which one fits you.
Choose Kit if
- The list exists to sell a course, product or service
- You need conditional sequences for launches
- You're under 10,000 subscribers and want to pay nothing
Choose beehiiv if
- Sponsorships or paid subscriptions are the revenue model
- You want referral growth built in
- The public archive should rank in search
When neither is the answer
For a company newsletter that lives alongside product emails, use whatever your product already sends with. Two email tools means two unsubscribe lists to reconcile.
Questions
Common questions.
Which is better for search traffic?
beehiiv, because it hosts your archive as a website with reasonable SEO controls. Kit's landing pages aren't built to rank.
Can I run both?
Technically yes, practically no. Split lists cause duplicate sends and broken unsubscribes. Pick one as the source of truth.
Prices are list prices published by each vendor and change often — check the linked pricing pages before you buy. We take no affiliate commission and nobody pays to appear here.
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