Kit vs MailerLite 2026: Which Is Better for Creators?

MailerLite is the cheaper pick for most creators who need automations: Comfort costs $19/mo at 1,000 subscribers on monthly billing, while Kit Creator costs $39/mo. Kit is the better pick in two cases: a creator who only sends broadcasts, because Kit's free plan holds 10,000 subscribers against MailerLite's 250, and a daily sender above 10,000 subscribers, where Kit's unlimited sends start to undercut MailerLite Power.

Prices were read on Kit's pricing page and MailerLite's pricing page on October 21, 2026, and every yearly total below is our arithmetic on those printed prices unless the vendor prints the total itself.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 108 email marketing tools as of October 21, 2026, and the median entry paid plan among the 54 with a comparable monthly price is $19/mo, on its email marketing statistics page. MailerLite's 1,000-subscriber Comfort tier sits exactly on that median, and Kit's entry tier costs about twice as much. The same page counts Kit, still listed there under its old ConvertKit name, as an alternative to 30 tools and MailerLite to 25, so buyers cross-shop them about equally.

Our own disclosure: MarketingShot and the other Dupple newsletters are sent on beehiiv, so neither Kit nor MailerLite runs this site.

At a glance

The two yearly discounts are not the same size. Kit labels its yearly toggle "save 17%", which works out to two months free, and MailerLite labels its own "save 10%". That gap narrows MailerLite's lead for a creator who prepays, so the tables below compare monthly with monthly and yearly with yearly, never across.

Kit's Pro discount covers only the first year, and Kit's own footnote says the plan renews at the standard rate after that. A creator choosing Pro should budget on the $66 rate, not the offer.

What a weekly newsletter costs at five list sizes

A weekly newsletter sends four or five issues a month, which stays inside MailerLite Comfort's cap at every tier, so Comfort is the right MailerLite plan to compare with Kit Creator here. Kit's tiers jump at 3,000 subscribers, MailerLite's at 2,500, so the middle row uses the tier each vendor charges for that list.

MarketingShot data: at 5,000 subscribers on yearly billing, a weekly sender pays $360.80 less a year on MailerLite Comfort than on Kit Creator, our arithmetic on the two printed yearly prices. The gap shrinks to $172.80 at 20,000, because Kit's per-subscriber price falls faster at the top of its ladder.

The 10,000 row hides Kit's strongest card. A creator who sends broadcasts and nothing else pays Kit nothing up to 10,000 subscribers, while MailerLite charges from the 251st. The catch is that Kit Free has no sequences, so a welcome email for new subscribers means upgrading.

What changes for a daily newsletter

Comfort gives 10 times the ceiling of your subscriber tier each month, so the 1,000 tier allows 10,000 emails. A daily issue to 1,000 people needs about 30,000, which forces a daily sender onto Power, where sends are unlimited under a fair-use policy. Kit Creator has no send cap at any tier.

For a daily sender, the two tools cost almost the same up to 10,000 subscribers, and Kit becomes the cheaper one on the next tier up, where Kit Creator is $169 and Power is $179 on monthly billing for up to 15,000 subscribers. On yearly billing Kit is also cheaper at 1,000, because its two-months-free discount beats MailerLite's 10%, though MailerLite wins again at 2,500 and 5,000. A daily newsletter growing toward 20,000 should run this table before picking the cheap tool for today.

Free plans: Kit holds a list, MailerLite runs automations

Kit Free is the bigger free plan by a factor of 40 on subscribers. It includes unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions, with one user. It does not include visual automations or email sequences, so it suits a creator who writes one issue a week and lets the list grow.

MailerLite Free stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, enough for ten sends to a full list. In exchange it includes three active automations of up to five steps, two seats, one website and one landing page. When the 251st subscriber arrives, MailerLite locks campaign and automation sending until you upgrade or remove contacts.

The practical rule: start on Kit Free if the list will grow past 250 within months and you can live without a welcome sequence. Start on MailerLite Free if you want to build the onboarding automation first and the list is still small. The best free email marketing software ranking covers the wider set of free tiers.

Selling and earning: Kit takes a cut, MailerLite says it does not

Kit charges 3.5% plus 30¢ on digital product and subscription sales, a figure it says includes card processing, with Kit's own share at 0.6%. Every Kit plan can sell, including Free. Kit also runs Paid Recommendations, where creators are paid to promote other newsletters, and takes 23.5% of those earnings on Creator and Pro.

MailerLite advertises 0% MailerLite commission on digital products, with no cap on sales or downloads, on its digital products page. The number of active products is capped by plan: one on Free, five on Comfort, unlimited on Power. A creator selling one course is fine on Comfort, and a creator with a catalog needs Power.

The difference matters at volume. On $1,000 of monthly product sales, Kit's printed fee works out to $35 plus 30¢ per order, our arithmetic, while MailerLite's own commission line is zero; check the payment processor's fee on that side before comparing net revenue. Kit's answer is the referral system on Pro, which it values at $99/mo as a free SparkLoop plan, and its Recommendations network for growth.

Seats, support and the team question

Kit gives one user on Free, two on Creator and unlimited on Pro, so a creator with an editor and a VA must pay for Pro. MailerLite gives two seats on Free, three on Comfort and unlimited on Power, which covers a small team on the cheaper paid plan.

Support follows the same pattern. Kit lists 24/7 email and chat support on Creator and priority support on Pro, plus a Growth Concierge team with quarterly audits on Pro. MailerLite reserves 24/7 live chat for Power. A solo creator rarely needs either; a team that sends daily usually does.

Both tools count only active subscribers. MailerLite resets the count on each billing anniversary and moves a paid account up a tier automatically when the list crosses its limit, charging the card for the next tier. Clean the list before the billing date, not after, if you want the lower tier.

Which should you choose?

Choose MailerLite Comfort if you send a weekly newsletter with a welcome sequence and the list is under 20,000. It is cheaper at every list size we priced on monthly billing, it gives three seats, and it takes no commission on products. The full tier ladder is in MailerLite pricing and the product view in the MailerLite review.

Choose Kit Free if you only send broadcasts and the list is between 250 and 10,000. Choose Kit Creator if you send daily and expect to pass 10,000 subscribers, or if you prepay yearly as a daily sender. The full Kit ladder is in Kit pricing and the product view in the Kit review.

Choose neither if the newsletter is the business and you want a built-in ad network. That buyer should read beehiiv vs Kit. For a Mailchimp comparison on each side, see Kit vs Mailchimp and Mailchimp vs MailerLite, and the wider field is in the newsletter platforms ranking.

If you want comparisons like this one each week, the MarketingShot newsletter is free at marketingshot.com.

How this was compared

We read Kit's and MailerLite's US pricing pages on October 21, 2026, and recorded the monthly and yearly prices each page shows for the list sizes in the tables. Yearly totals are the vendor's printed totals where shown and twelve times the printed per-month yearly price otherwise. Send caps, seats, automation limits and selling fees come from the same pages and MailerLite's digital products page. The Toolradar counts were read on its email marketing statistics page the same day. Louis Corneloup, who founded Toolradar and Dupple, edited this page. The site's method for reviews is at how we rate, and sourcing rules are in the editorial policy.

FAQ

Is Kit or MailerLite better for a creator newsletter in 2026?

MailerLite is cheaper for most creators who need automations: Comfort is $19/mo at 1,000 subscribers, about half the Kit Creator price on monthly billing, read on October 21, 2026. Kit is better for a broadcasts-only list up to 10,000 subscribers, which its free plan covers, and for a daily sender above 10,000 subscribers.

Is Kit more expensive than MailerLite?

On monthly billing for a weekly sender, yes, at every list size from 1,000 to 20,000 subscribers. At 5,000 subscribers, Kit Creator is $89/mo and MailerLite Comfort is $49/mo. For a daily sender, MailerLite must use Power, and the two bills sit within $20 a month of each other up to 10,000 subscribers.

Which free plan is better, Kit or MailerLite?

Kit Free holds up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts but no automations or sequences and one user. MailerLite Free holds 250 subscribers and 2,500 monthly emails but includes three active automations and two seats. Kit suits a growing list, MailerLite a small list that needs an onboarding sequence.

Does Kit or MailerLite take a cut of product sales?

Kit charges 3.5% plus 30¢ per sale, which it says includes card processing, with 0.6% as Kit's own share. MailerLite advertises 0% MailerLite commission on digital products. MailerLite caps active products at five on Comfort, while Kit lets every plan sell.

Is MailerLite's yearly discount bigger than Kit's?

No. Kit's yearly billing is labelled "save 17%", worth two months free, and MailerLite's is labelled "save 10%". Even so, at 1,000 subscribers Kit Creator billed yearly is $390, against $205.20 for MailerLite Comfort, so the bigger discount does not close the gap for a weekly sender.

Can I move from Kit to MailerLite, or the other way?

Yes, both import subscriber lists, and Kit advertises free migrations onto Kit. Budget time to rebuild automations, since each tool builds them in its own visual editor. Kit counts only unique, active subscribers, and MailerLite counts only active ones, so cleaning the list before moving lowers the first bill on either side.

Cite this: MarketingShot, "Kit vs MailerLite 2026: Which Is Better for Creators?", November 2026.

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