Kit vs MailerLite: choose by workflow, not list size alone

The useful difference

Free-plan reality after June 2026

Kit’s Newsletter Plan currently allows up to 10,000 active, unique subscribers, unlimited forms and landing pages, unlimited sends, one basic visual automation with one sequence, products and subscriptions. The funding trade-off is explicit: one Kit-managed Recommendation slot is enabled and earnings from that slot go to Kit.

MailerLite changed its free plan on 16 June 2026. The current limit is 250 active subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails, with two user seats. Its published Free plan table lists up to three automations with five steps each, three forms, one website, one landing page and one digital product or booking; MailerLite says those feature-use limits are planned to apply to all Free accounts from 13 August 2026. Sending and automations are paused when a free account exceeds the active-subscriber limit.

Old comparisons are now wrong. Any article that still says MailerLite includes 1,000 subscribers or 12,000 monthly emails on Free should be treated as stale.

Automation and subscriber architecture

Kit’s vocabulary—subscribers, tags, segments, sequences, forms and visual automations—maps naturally to a creator funnel. One person can enter through different lead magnets, receive a sequence, be tagged by interest and buy a product without being duplicated across lists. Paid Creator plans include the core automation system; Pro adds deeper reporting, audience and growth tools.

MailerLite offers a visual automation builder, groups, dynamic segments and campaign triggers. Its current paid tiers differentiate by automation scale and sending allowance: Comfort includes up to 50 visual automations and a monthly email ceiling tied to the subscriber tier, while Power advertises unlimited automations and monthly sending subject to fair use.

Sketch the workflow before comparing features. Count entry points, branches, delays, products, data fields and team approvals. A platform with more features can still be the worse choice if its subscriber model makes the intended workflow difficult to understand.

Commerce and paid newsletters

Kit is built around creators who sell subscriptions and digital products. Its paid-newsletter page currently lists transaction fees as low as 3.5% plus $0.30, depending on plan and payment context. Verify country, currency and current checkout before publishing a fee comparison.

MailerLite supports digital products, bookings and recurring subscriptions, with limits that vary by plan. It can connect content, landing pages, email and a small catalog without requiring a creator-specific network. If commerce is the primary business, compare tax handling, refunds, customer records, payment availability and export—not only the existence of a “sell” button.

Campaign design, forms and web presence

MailerLite offers drag-and-drop, simple and custom HTML editors, plus websites, landing pages, forms and pop-ups. That breadth is useful for a small organization that wants one approachable marketing workspace.

Kit emphasizes landing pages, forms and creator profiles that feed the audience system. Custom templates and domains are available on paid plans. Creators with a separate site may value Kit’s audience logic more than an all-in-one website builder.

Test the entire signup path on mobile: form, confirmation, incentive delivery, welcome sequence, preference controls and unsubscribe. The editor alone is not the reader experience.

Cost as the list grows

Kit’s paid Creator and Creator Pro plans currently begin at $39 and $79 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers, with two months free on annual billing. Exact price scales with the subscriber tier.

MailerLite currently lists Comfort from $12 and Power from $25. Its pricing is based on active subscriber tier and sending usage. Comfort’s monthly send allowance is ten times the ceiling of the selected subscriber tier; Power lists unlimited sends subject to fair use. Deleted subscribers can still count until the billing cycle resets if they were active during that cycle.

Build a 12-month model with seasonal peaks, active-subscriber rules, sending frequency, seats and add-ons. A cheaper plan at 250 contacts may not remain cheaper at the list size you expect after a launch.

Who should choose which?

• Creator with lead magnets, sequences and products: start with Kit.
• Local business or compact team sending campaigns: start with MailerLite.
• Large free audience with a simple newsletter: Kit’s current free limit is unusually generous, subject to its recommendation-slot trade-off.
• Design-heavy campaigns and multiple small web assets: MailerLite deserves the first prototype.
• Complex ecommerce lifecycle marketing: map integrations and triggers; neither should be chosen from this comparison alone.

Freshness and evidence

Kit was formerly called ConvertKit; this guide uses the current name. Pricing, free limits and feature entitlements were rechecked against official documentation on 13 July 2026. They are variable commercial facts, not permanent specifications.