Kit vs MailerLite: Which Is Better for Creators Who Want to Earn From Email?

Here’s the real question behind Kit vs MailerLite, and it isn’t “which one has more features?” It’s “do I want the cheaper tool that gets me started, or the one I won’t outgrow?” I’ve seen people go both ways, and both can be the right call. So I’ll lay out what each one does well, where each one falls short, and who should pick which. Then I’ll tell you where I land.

Kit is the email platform that used to be called ConvertKit. MailerLite is a long-running, friendly, budget-conscious tool that a lot of beginners start with. They look similar from a distance. Both send emails, both build landing pages, both automate. The difference shows up once you start doing real work with your list.

If you’re a creator trying to build an audience you own, and maybe earn from it, this should save you a lot of tab-hopping.

Why This Choice Feels Bigger Than It Is

Choosing an email tool feels like a huge decision, and in some ways it is. Your list is the one asset you actually own. Every subscriber is a person who typed in their email and said, “Yes, send me more.” You don’t want to lose that, and you don’t want to be stuck in a tool you hate.

But the way most people go about choosing makes it worse. They open one comparison, then another, then a third. Each one crowns a different winner. Half of them are written by someone who earns a commission from whichever tool they ranked first. (This post has an affiliate link too. I’ll be upfront about it at the end, and I’ll tell you where MailerLite genuinely wins, because pretending otherwise wastes your time.)

Meanwhile your followers are still sitting on platforms that can change the rules overnight. The list you meant to build is still 23 people, nine of whom are family.

So let’s make this simple. Think of it as a trade-off between two things: what it costs you today, and what it lets you do tomorrow.

Kit vs MailerLite: What Each One Is Built For

The easiest way to understand the difference is to look at who each tool was designed around.

MailerLite is built to be simple and affordable. It’s a great fit for beginners, small businesses and anyone who wants to start sending good-looking emails without spending much.

Kit is built for creators who want to build a business around their audience. It’s a bit more of an investment, and in return it leans into automation, selling your own products and growing alongside other creators. Kit’s own pitch is that it’s the next step beyond beginner tools for creators who want a more professional setup. That’s Kit describing itself, so take it with a grain of salt, but it does match how people tend to use the two.

According to Kit, more than 550,000 creator business owners use it. Its site shows names like Pat Flynn, Tim Ferriss, James Clear, Ali Abdaal and Mark Manson. That doesn’t prove it’s right for you, but it shows people with real audiences trust it with their lists.

Now let’s look at the things that actually decide it.

Round 1: Pricing and Free Plans

Let’s start with money, since that’s what most people care about first.

MailerLite’s plans (from its pricing page):

• Free: up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. It includes 3 active automations, 3 active forms, 1 website and 1 landing page.
• Comfort: from $12 a month, with more room (50 automations, 10 forms, 10 websites and landing pages).
• Power: from $25 a month, with unlimited automations, forms and landing pages.
• Billing yearly saves about 10%. There’s a 14-day trial of premium features, no credit card needed.

Kit’s plans (from its pricing page, at 1,000 subscribers):

• Free: up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited forms, landing pages and email broadcasts, plus the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. It does not include visual automations or integrations.
• Creator: about $33 a month when billed yearly. This adds unlimited automations and sequences, integrations, Kit MCP, two users, SMS and more.
• Pro: about $66 a month billed yearly, with a limited-time 25% first-year offer. This adds Subscriber Signals, the Growth Concierge team, deeper analytics and more.
• 14-day free trial of paid plans.

Let me be fair about this. MailerLite is cheaper to start. Its paid plans begin at $12 and $25 a month, and its free plan actually includes three automations, which Kit’s free plan does not. If you have a small list and a tiny budget, that matters.

Kit’s free plan is far more generous on subscribers, 10,000 versus 250. So if your goal is to collect a lot of emails and send newsletters without paying, Kit gives you much more room. But if you want automations for free, MailerLite’s free plan gives you a little.

One warning: the starting prices on each page aren’t the same as what you’ll pay at your own list size, and they aren’t like-for-like. Both tools price by subscriber count. Use each company’s pricing slider at your own number before deciding.

Starting prices only tell part of the story. If you’d like to see what you’d actually pay at your own list size, you can check Kit’s current plans here and try the paid features free for 14 days. Kit says no credit card is needed to start.

Round 2: Automations (Where the Gap Shows Up)

If I had to pick one area where Kit pulls ahead for many creators, it’s automations.

Think about what you want to happen when someone joins your list. A warm welcome email goes out right away. A couple of days later they get your best free resource. A few days after that, a short story about why you do this work. Later, a gentle mention of something you sell.

Doing that by hand isn’t realistic. Automations handle it for you.

Both tools offer unlimited visual automations on their higher plans. MailerLite does automations well and at a lower price. But Kit’s whole design leans into them. In Kit you build your journey like a flowchart. Someone signs up, gets this email, waits two days, gets that one. You can split people into paths based on what they click, so someone who loves your productivity tips doesn’t get the same emails as someone who joined for fitness content.

According to Kit’s comparison page, Kit has 25+ automation templates (versus 15 for MailerLite), entry triggers, event triggers based on dates and purchases, click-based triggers, delay steps, conditions, split paths and multiple entry points. It also lists built-in connections with tools like Thinkific, Calendly and Typeform, which it says MailerLite handles through Zapier. Those are Kit’s own claims, so test them in the trial. But they match what I hear from creators who run launches and courses.

If your needs are simple, a welcome email and a couple of follow-ups, MailerLite will do the job. If you plan to run launches, course funnels or different paths for different readers, Kit gives you more room to grow.

Round 3: Making Money From Your Audience

This is the part that matters most for conversion, so let’s slow down.

Kit is built around earning from your list. You can sell digital products, paid newsletters and subscriptions right from the platform, and it also offers newsletter sponsorships and paid recommendations. The listed fee for selling is 0.6% plus normal card processing. Because every sale connects to a subscriber, you can see who bought, follow up with something that fits them and avoid sending the same pitch to everyone.

MailerLite also lets you sell digital products and bookings, according to its pricing page, with limits on the lower plans (1 on Free, 5 on Comfort, unlimited on Power). Kit’s comparison page shows Kit’s monetization features as a Kit-only advantage, but I’d treat that as Kit’s marketing, since part of that table didn’t load for me and MailerLite does offer some selling tools.

The practical difference: Kit treats selling as a core part of the product, with commerce, sponsorships and subscriber data all tied together. MailerLite treats it as one feature among many. If you’re an ebook seller, a course creator, a coach or an artist selling digital goods, Kit’s setup is the more natural fit.

Round 4: Growing Your List

Both tools give you landing pages and forms. The difference is what else they offer.

Kit has Recommendations, where creators recommend each other’s newsletters. When someone joins your list, they may see suggestions from other creators in your space, and your newsletter gets shown to their readers too. Kit says creators who use it grow their lists about twice as fast. I’d treat that as a best-case number, because results depend on your niche and setup. But it’s a nice way to grow beside other creators instead of alone, and it’s something MailerLite doesn’t list.

Kit also lists advanced form customization, a newsletter website, custom domains and lead magnet delivery as strengths. MailerLite offers websites and landing pages too, with limits on the free and lower plans, and unlimited on Power.

Round 5: Email Design, Testing and Deliverability

A few smaller things that add up.

On templates, MailerLite wins. It lists 100+ email templates versus Kit’s 40+. If you love browsing a big library of designs, that’s a real plus. On A/B testing, MailerLite tests subject lines, forms, landing pages and automations, while Kit tests subject lines and email content. Different strengths.

On deliverability, Kit says creators on its platform see about a 99.8% delivery rate and roughly 40% average open rates. Kit lists MailerLite’s rate as “not shared.” Those are Kit’s numbers, so use them as a rough guide. Your results depend on your list and how good your emails are. And honestly, MailerLite is widely used and has a solid reputation, so I wouldn’t write it off here.

On integrations, both claim 100+ native integrations. Kit leans on creator tools like Canva, Shopify, Thinkific, Kajabi and Circle. If you already use any of those, you’ll feel at home.

Round 6: Support and Switching

Here’s where a lot of creators quietly decide.

MailerLite offers community support on its free plan, email on Comfort, and live chat on Power. Kit offers 24/7 email and chat support on Creator and Pro, plus Kit University, a blog with how-to guides, creator stories and a library of email templates. You can hire a Kit Expert for hands-on help, and Pro users get an email strategist and a deliverability specialist.

And on switching, Kit advertises free migration. Their team moves your subscribers, tags, segments, automations and forms, then checks that every active subscriber made it. They say your part takes about an hour. Kit describes MailerLite’s migration support as limited, though that’s Kit’s claim. If a painful move is what’s keeping you stuck on a tool you’ve outgrown, free migration removes a big excuse. Also read: Kit Review: Is This Email Platform Really Worth It for Creators in 2026?

Where MailerLite Has the Edge (I Said I’d Be Honest)

I wouldn’t trust a comparison that says one tool wins everything, so here’s what I’d give MailerLite credit for.

A lower price to start. Paid plans begin at $12 and $25 a month. If money is very tight, that’s a real advantage.

A free plan with automations. You get three active automations even on the free plan, though only for up to 250 subscribers.

A bigger template library. 100+ templates versus Kit’s 40+.

Simplicity. It’s friendly and easy to learn, which suits beginners.

For some creators, that’s the deciding factor. If you’re just testing the waters, MailerLite is a perfectly good place to start.

Where Kit Has the Edge

And here’s why a lot of creators eventually land on Kit.

A much roomier free plan. Up to 10,000 subscribers, versus 250.

Automations built for creators. More templates, more triggers and more built-in connections to creator tools.

More ways to earn. Digital products, paid newsletters, subscriptions, sponsorships and paid recommendations, all tied to the same subscriber data.

Recommendations. A creator-to-creator growth feature MailerLite doesn’t list.

Free migration and creator-focused support. A team that understands creator businesses, plus lots of learning material.

And one more thing. Kit has also added Kit MCP, which lets you connect an AI assistant like Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini to your account and ask things like “which email got the most clicks last month?” You can then have it tag subscribers or draft a follow-up. Kit says nothing happens until you approve it, which is how it should work.

If you’ve been leaning toward Kit but want to feel it for yourself, the easiest move is to try it. You can start with Kit’s free plan and see how it feels. No pressure to upgrade. Set up a signup form, send yourself a test email, and see if it fits how you work.

Which One Should You Pick? A Simple Guide

Here’s how I’d decide, depending on who you are.

You’re brand new, with a small list and almost no budget. MailerLite is a solid, low-cost start. Kit’s free plan is also worth trying, especially if you expect your list to grow past 250.

You want to collect lots of emails now and add automations later. Kit’s free plan gives you far more room to build.

You plan to sell digital products, courses, coaching or a paid newsletter. Kit is built around that.

You run launches or course funnels. Automations and integrations matter most, and that’s where Kit tends to shine.

You love picking from lots of email designs. MailerLite’s bigger template library may win you over.

You’re moving from another tool. Look at who will help you migrate. Kit advertises free migration.

How Different Creators Could Use Kit

These are examples of how people in these roles typically use a tool like Kit. They’re not income claims.

The creator with followers and no list. Say you run a motivational page on Instagram. You post daily, people love it, but there’s nothing beyond the feed. With Kit, you could write a short free guide on building a morning routine and put it on a landing page linked in your bio. Anyone who signs up gets the guide, then a week of follow-ups: your best posts, a bit of your story, and later an offer like a paid workbook. Same audience, but now you have a direct line to them.

The blogger whose readers disappear. Someone finds your article, gets their answer and never returns. Add a Kit form offering a related checklist, and now you have their email. Each new post gives them a reason to come back.

The coach who’s out of hours. A free mini-course delivered through automated emails warms people up before they ever speak to you. The ones who are ready come to you. The rest stay on the list and keep getting useful content.

The podcaster or YouTuber. Offer a bonus episode or show notes in exchange for an email, then send a short weekly note. Kit even mentions turning YouTube videos into a weekly newsletter, which is a smart way to reuse content you already made.

A Simple First Week If You Choose Kit

If you try it, don’t do everything at once.

Day one, make your account and pick a plan. Day two, decide on one free offer, something small that solves a real problem for your audience, like a checklist or mini guide. Day three, build your landing page from one of Kit’s templates and keep the wording simple. Day four, write a welcome email like you’re talking to one person, because you are. Day five, if you’re on a plan with automations, set up a short sequence with a welcome email and one or two follow-ups. Day six, share your page everywhere you can: your bio, posts, blog and video descriptions. Day seven, look at who signed up and who clicked, then tweak.

One offer, one page, one short sequence. You can get fancier later. A simple setup that runs beats a perfect one that never launches.

My Final Kit vs MailerLite Verdict

So, who wins?

If you want one sentence: MailerLite is a smart, affordable way to start, and Kit is the better fit for creators who want to build a business around their audience.

Both are good tools, and either beats having no list at all. But if you want more room on the free plan, automations built for creators, more ways to earn from your own products, a growth feature like Recommendations and a team that handles your migration, Kit is the one I’d lean toward. It isn’t the cheapest, and it won’t grow your list by magic. What it does is remove a lot of the friction between you and a direct line to people who care about your work.

You don’t have to commit today. Try the free plan or the trial, set up a simple signup page, and see how it feels. Worst case, you learn something about your audience. Best case, a year from now you’ve got a list of people who chose to hear from you, and you’re glad you started.

Your audience is out there right now, scrolling, watching, listening. The real question is whether you’ll have a way to reach them next month if the algorithm shifts again. Take a look at Kit and see if it’s the right fit for you. It takes a few minutes to get started, and you can decide for yourself after that.

Quick Questions About Kit vs MailerLite

Is Kit better than MailerLite? It depends on what you’re doing. MailerLite is cheaper to start and simple to learn. Kit suits creators who want deeper automations and more ways to earn from their audience.

Which has the better free plan? Kit’s free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers but doesn’t include automations. MailerLite’s free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and includes 3 automations.

Which is cheaper? MailerLite’s paid plans start lower, from $12 a month. At your own list size, check each company’s pricing slider.

Can I move my list to Kit? Yes. Kit advertises free migration, with its team handling subscribers, tags, segments, automations and forms.

Is there a free trial? Kit offers a 14-day trial of paid plans, with no credit card required, according to Kit. MailerLite also offers a 14-day premium trial.

Can I sell products through Kit? Yes. Digital products, paid newsletters and subscriptions, with a listed fee of 0.6% plus card processing.

Is Kit the same as ConvertKit? Yes. ConvertKit was renamed Kit in 2024.

A Quick Note About Links

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you click one and sign up for Kit, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend things I think can genuinely help the people reading, and I’ve tried to be upfront about where MailerLite is the better choice. Either way, thanks for reading.