Comparison
Kit vs Beehiiv (2026): Selling vs Growing a Newsletter
Kit and Beehiiv priced at 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers, with what each keeps when readers pay and which tools come on which plan. Checked 21 October 2026.
Some links here are referral links, and where a provider gives our readers a better price than its own site, that is the price you get by using one. It costs you nothing extra, and every option here is judged on the same test either way.
At 10,000 subscribers, Kit and Beehiiv charge the same $139 a month for the plan with automations, so the price list won't settle this for you. How each one expects you to make money will. Kit is built for selling to a list it automates, with sequences, tags, digital products, paid newsletters and tips in one account. Beehiiv, on the other hand, is built for growing a newsletter and getting paid for its audience, with a referral programme, paid recommendations, an ad network, paid subscriptions and a website around it all.
Kit used to be called ConvertKit, so older reviews under that name are about the same company.
I've put the two side by side at 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers: what each costs, what each keeps when readers pay you, and what each gives you to grow and to sell. By the end you'll know which one fits the way you earn, and if you're still torn, three questions at the bottom pick one for you.
What each costs at 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers
Let's start with the bill, because the two price lists are built differently. I've set each row against the plan that does the same job on both sides, so a free plan meets a free plan and Kit's Creator plan meets Beehiiv's Lite plan, the cheapest one on each that runs automations.
Each platform's plan for the job in the row, a month, at the list size shown.
Kit vs Beehiiv, a month
| Kit | Beehiiv | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 10,000, no welcome sequence | Up to 2,500, with a welcome email |
| At 1,000, with automations | $39 on Creator | $59 on Lite |
| At 10,000, with automations | $139 on Creator | $139 on Lite |
| At 100,000, with automations | $679 on Creator | $469 on Lite |
| Paying yearly, at 10,000 | $116 a month on Creator | $119 a month on Lite |
| Your own branding, at 10,000 | $139 on Creator | $239 on Pro |
US dollars as each platform shows them to US visitors, billed monthly unless the row says yearly. Kit prices lists in steps, and 100,000 falls in its step up to 105,000. Both plans with automations cost $199 at 25,000 subscribers. Beehiiv then prices everything up to 50,000 at $299, so Kit stays cheaper until its $319 step above 35,000. Beehiiv's Pro, which takes its branding off, also runs unlimited automations. Kit's free plan has no automations at all, while Beehiiv's sends a welcome email on every plan.
Up to 35,000 subscribers Kit costs the same or less, and at 10,000 it takes its branding off for $100 a month less than Beehiiv. Past 35,000 Beehiiv's Lite plan is usually the cheaper one, by $210 a month at 100,000.
The free plans pull in different directions. Kit's free plan holds four times as many subscribers, up to 10,000, and even lets you sell a paid newsletter. But it sends broadcasts only, so new subscribers get no welcome email until you pay for Creator. Beehiiv's free plan stops at 2,500 and does welcome every new reader. So if you're starting from nothing and want that first email to go out by itself, start on Beehiiv.
Paying for the year takes about 17% off on both. Kit also has an offer on Pro until 7 November 2026, 25% off the first year of an annual plan, which brings Pro at 10,000 subscribers to $119 a month for that year. That's Kit's top plan, referral programme included, for what Beehiiv's Lite plan costs paid yearly, and it renews at Kit's standard yearly price after that.
What each keeps when readers pay you
The plan is only half of what a paying newsletter costs. The other half is what the platform keeps from each payment, so the table lines up every way each one lets you earn. For paid subscriptions I've used 200 readers paying $5 a month, $1,000 in all, the same example I used when I priced every Beehiiv alternative.
What each platform keeps from each way of earning, and the plan you need for it.
What each keeps when you earn
| Kit | Beehiiv | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid subscriptions | 0.6%, on any plan | 0%, on Lite and Pro |
| Fees on $1,000 from 200 readers | $95, card fees included | $89 to Stripe |
| Digital products | 3.5% + 30c, every plan | 0% plus Stripe, every plan |
| Tips | Every plan, Free included | Lite and Pro |
| Paid recommendations | A 23.5% fee, Creator and Pro | A 20% fee, Lite and Pro |
| Ads and sponsors | Sponsorships paid per click | Ad network, per open or click |
By our sums for the $1,000 row. Kit quotes 3.5% plus 30c a payment with card processing included, and says its own share is 0.6%. Beehiiv quotes 0% plus Stripe's 2.9% plus $0.30. Beehiiv says its 20% on paid recommendations covers operational and Stripe costs, and Kit's page doesn't say what its 23.5% covers. Neither says what share of an advertiser's money it keeps on sponsorships or ads. Kit's sponsorships come with Creator and Pro, and Beehiiv's ad network with Lite and Pro.
Beehiiv keeps less on paid subscriptions, products and paid recommendations, but on a $1,000 month of paid subscriptions the difference is $6.
That $6 is Kit's 0.6%, and over a year it comes to $72. So the cut on its own shouldn't decide this. Put it next to the plan price and the two land $6 apart at 10,000 subscribers, $145 a month on Kit's Creator plan against $139 on Beehiiv's Lite plan, before card fees.
The bigger difference is the plan you have to be on. Kit takes paid subscriptions on its free plan, so a newsletter under 10,000 subscribers that only sends broadcasts pays Kit $6 on that $1,000 month and nothing else. On Beehiiv, charging readers starts on Lite, $59 a month at 1,000 subscribers. If you want a welcome sequence as well, Kit's Creator plan is still $20 a month under Lite at 1,000, and the gap closes as the list grows.
Growing your list is where Beehiiv is stronger
Beehiiv puts most of its growth tools on its cheapest paid plan, and that's the clearest place it pulls ahead. There are four, and Kit has an answer to three of them.
First, the referral programme. Your readers get a link to share, and you set milestones with rewards, digital or physical, for the sign-ups they bring. On Beehiiv it comes with Lite, with three milestones, and Pro makes them unlimited. Kit's version is a free SparkLoop plan that comes with Pro, which is $189 a month at 10,000 subscribers against Lite's $139. So if you want readers to recruit readers, Beehiiv gets you there for $50 a month less.
Second, recommendations. Both let you recommend other newsletters at sign-up and be recommended back, for free, on every plan including the free ones. Then there are Paid recommendationsSign-ups one newsletter pays another to send its way, when a publication recommends it to new readers. The platform keeps a share: Beehiiv builds a 20% fee into the price, and Kit keeps 23.5% of what you earn. Beehiiv used to call them Boosts.What you keep from $250Send 100 verified readers to a newsletter paying $2.50 each on Beehiiv and you're paid $200, because Beehiiv builds its 20% fee into the price. If the same $250 came through Kit, its 23.5% fee would leave you $191.25, by our sums.Sign-ups one newsletter pays another to send its way, when a publication recommends it to new readers. You pay, or are paid, only for verified subscribers, and the platform keeps a fee in between. Beehiiv's old name for them was Boosts.See every term in the glossary, which Beehiiv used to call Boosts. A newsletter pays for each verified subscriber another one sends it, and both platforms take a fee in between, 20% on Beehiiv and 23.5% on Kit. Kit runs its version through SparkLoop, so the newsletters you pay to recommend you don't have to be on Kit.
Third, the ad network. Beehiiv's comes with Lite and Pro as long as you're sending, with no minimum list size stated. Offers arrive in your dashboard with an estimated payout, by opens or by clicks, and you pick which to run, up to three ads an issue. Payouts land on the 20th of each month. Beehiiv's pricing page shows an "average" of $128 a month from ads at 10,000 subscribers without saying whose average it is, so I wouldn't plan a budget around it.
Kit's answer is newsletter sponsorships on Creator and Pro. Kit matches you with brands on your content and engagement, you approve every ad, and you're paid per click. Like Beehiiv, Kit doesn't say how much of the advertiser's money it keeps.
Last, sponsors who come to you. Beehiiv's Pro plan adds a sponsorship storefront for selling your own ad slots, and nothing on Kit's price list matches it.
Put together, a newsletter that earns from ads and grows through its readers can have both on Beehiiv's Lite plan for $139 at 10,000. Kit's Creator plan has the ad side too, but leaves the referral programme to Pro. If your money comes from your own products instead, that's where Kit pulls ahead.
Automating and selling is where Kit is stronger
Kit's Creator plan runs unlimited visual automations and email sequences, and Beehiiv's Lite plan runs 10 live automations for the same $139 at 10,000 subscribers. Ten is plenty for a welcome series and an onboarding path. It runs short when you sell several products, each with a launch, follow-ups and tags of its own, which is how most course and coaching businesses work.
What each platform automates, plan by plan.
Automations on each plan
| Kit | Beehiiv | |
|---|---|---|
| On the free plan | No automations or sequences | A welcome email |
| At $139, 10,000 subscribers | Unlimited on Creator | 10 live on Lite |
| Branching | Conditions and split paths | Yes/no on Lite, more on Pro |
| Purchases it can act on | Stripe, Shopify and WooCommerce | Its own products and paid tiers |
| Abandoned checkout emails | Creator and Pro | Not on its price list |
Beehiiv's Lite automations trigger on sign-ups, forms, tags, segments, surveys, paid subscriptions, product purchases and readers going quiet, and its Pro plan adds click triggers and A/B splits. Kit's purchase data comes from the stores and payment tools it says it connects to, while the purchase triggers on Beehiiv's plan table are for its own products and paid subscriptions.
For the same $139, Kit automates without a limit and Beehiiv stops at 10. On the free plans it's the other way round, and only Beehiiv sends a welcome email.
Selling follows the same pattern. Every Kit plan, Free included, sells digital products, paid newsletters, recurring subscriptions and tips, and Kit pays paid newsletter earnings into your bank every Friday. Beehiiv sells digital products on every plan too, one on Free, three on Lite and unlimited on Pro, but order bumps, custom checkouts and coaching sessions are Pro features.
If you sell courses, templates or coaching, this is what should decide it. Kit's Creator plan automates the selling without a cap, and the 0.6% it keeps on each sale, on top of card fees, is the price of that.
Your website, and moving between the two
Both give your newsletter a home on the web. Beehiiv's website builder comes with every plan, with a podcast and a community beside it, and your own domain from Lite. Kit gives you a newsletter website and unlimited landing pages, with your own domain on every plan, Free included.
Your list leaves with you on either. Beehiiv lists data exports on every plan, and Kit exports subscribers as a CSV, with a download link it emails you that works for five days.
Paying subscribers are where a move gets harder, and it isn't the same both ways. Beehiiv bills them through your own Stripe account, and its migration page says paid subscribers coming in move across through Stripe with billing uninterrupted. Kit's guide for Beehiiv movers says there's no convenient way to bring paid subscriptions over yet, though on a paid plan its team rebuilds your forms, templates and automations for free. Going the other way, Beehiiv's page says you recreate Kit's automation flows in its own builder. If you're making that move, it comes down to three steps.
Bring your subscribers
In Kit's import, pick Beehiiv as the provider and paste your Beehiiv API key, or upload a CSV. Tags and custom fields come with them, and your publication's name arrives as a tag.
Rebuild what you made
Forms, landing pages, templates, segments, automations and your newsletter site have to be recreated in Kit. On Creator or Pro, Kit's migration team rebuilds your forms, templates and automations for free.
Invite paying readers to rejoin
Kit's workaround is to cancel paid subscriptions on Beehiiv and ask those readers to subscribe again to your paid newsletter on Kit. Tell them before you switch, and give them the new link.
Recommendations don't carry over either. Kit's Creator Network runs separately from Beehiiv's, so you'll find new newsletters to recommend there.
If paid subscriptions are a big share of your income, count how many of those readers you'd risk losing before you move. And if neither platform fits, I've priced nine Beehiiv alternatives against what Beehiiv charges.
The case for each, in brief
If you want both at a glance before deciding, these two lists have it. Most of what one does well turns up as the other's weak spot.
KitWhat works
- Free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers
- Unlimited automations and sequences on Creator
- Sells products and paid newsletters on every plan
What does not
- Keeps 0.6% of every sale on top of card fees
- Referral programme only on Pro, $189 at 10,000
- Usually costs more than Beehiiv past 35,000 subscribers
BeehiivWhat works
- 0% of paid subscriptions and product sales
- Referrals, paid recommendations and ad network on Lite
- Free plan welcomes new readers by itself
What does not
- Free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers
- Lite runs 10 automations at most
- Branding comes off only on Pro, $239 at 10,000
So which one should you pick?
Both are good at what they're built for, so this comes down to how you earn. Kit automates and sells with more room than Beehiiv for the same money or less up to 35,000 subscribers, and Beehiiv puts more of its growth and ad tools on its cheaper plan while keeping nothing from paid subscriptions.
Take Kit if you sell courses, templates, coaching or a paid newsletter to your readers and want sequences doing the selling. It's also the one if your list is under 10,000 and broadcasts are all you send, because its free plan holds the whole list. And on a paid plan, Kit's team rebuilds your forms, templates and automations for you when you move over.
Beehiiv is the better pick if sponsors and ads pay you, or you want readers and other newsletters to grow your list for you. It's also usually the cheaper of the two past 35,000 subscribers, and the better free start under 2,500 if you want new readers welcomed from the first day.
Still not sure which side you're on? The three questions below ask how you earn, how big your list is and how much you want automated, because those decide it, and you'll get one name with the reason behind it.
Three questions
Kit or Beehiiv?
Answer for your newsletter as it is today, and the recommendation updates as you go.
1How do you make money from the newsletter, or plan to?
2How many subscribers do you have?
3How much do you want to automate?
Before you answer
Kit if you sell, Beehiiv if sponsors pay you
Up to 35,000 subscribers Kit costs the same or less and automates without a limit. Beehiiv puts a referral programme, paid recommendations and its ad network on its Lite plan.
The trade-off: Kit keeps 0.6% of what readers pay and saves its referral programme for Pro. Past 35,000 subscribers, Beehiiv is usually the cheaper of the two.
Prices last checked on 21 October 2026, in US dollars, billed monthly.
If Kit is your pick, these are its plans and the one I'd start on.
Kit
Who it's for
Creators who sell their own products or a paid newsletter with sequences. Kit's Creator plan costs what Beehiiv's Lite does at 10,000 subscribers and runs unlimited automations against Lite's 10.
- Free planUp to 10,000 subscribers, broadcasts only
- AutomationsUnlimited on Creator and Pro
- On every sale3.5% + 30c, card fees included
- Referral programmeOn Pro, $189 at 10,000
What Kit gives everyone
- A 14-day free trial of Creator or Pro, with no card needed
- A refund if you ask within 30 days of signing up
More from Kit
- Paid newsletter earnings paid into your bank every Friday
Last checked on 21 October 2026
Kit's offer, ends 7 November 202625% off the first year of an annual Pro plan, for lists up to 65,000 subscribersShown on kit.com on 21 Oct 2026.
My recommendations on Kit's plans
Starting out? Start on Creator if you sell with sequences. There's no cap on automations, and Kit's branding comes off.
Growing or switching? Move to Pro, $189 at 10,000, when you want readers to refer readers. Kit's referral programme comes with it, as a free SparkLoop plan.
Next to Beehiiv's Lite? For the same $139, Beehiiv's Lite plan swaps Kit's unlimited automations for 10, and adds a referral programme and 0% on paid subscriptions, with its own ad network in place of Kit's sponsorships.
Every plan includes unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, with tagging and segmentation.
View all 3 Kit plansPriced at 10,000 subscribers, billed monthly, in US dollars
Mirrored from kit.com These are Kit's own plans, prices and limits, as its pricing page showed them on 21 Oct 2026. The “Pick it if” lines are ours. Choose a plan to see it on Kit.
- Up to 10,000 subscribers
- Unlimited broadcasts
- Unlimited landing pages and forms
- Paid newsletters and digital products
- Kit branding stays on
- No automations or sequences
- Unlimited visual automations
- Unlimited email sequences
- Paid recommendations and newsletter sponsorships
- Free migration from another platform
- Kit branding removed
- 24/7 email and chat support
- Everything in Creator
- A newsletter referral system (a SparkLoop plan)
- Deliverability reporting
- Unlimited users
- 24/7 priority email and chat support
Kit charges 0.6% on paid newsletter and product sales, on top of card processing. Yearly billing is 17% less. · Checked 21 Oct 2026
Start on Kit's Creator plan
Paid plans start with a 14-day free trial, no card needed, and moving your list over is free.
you'll go to kit.com
Beehiiv has just two paid plans, Lite and Pro, and Lite is enough for most newsletters to start on.
Beehiiv
Who it's for
Newsletters that earn from sponsors, ads and paying readers and want to grow through recommendations. At 10,000 subscribers it's the same $139 as Kit's Creator plan, and it takes 0% of paid subscriptions.
- Free plan2,500 subscribers, welcome email included
- Automations10 live on Lite, unlimited on Pro
- On every sale0%, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30
- Growth on LiteReferrals, paid recommendations, ad network
Beehiiv's offer today17% off when you pay yearlyShown on beehiiv.com on 21 Oct 2026.
My recommendations on Beehiiv's plans
Starting out? Start on Lite once you pass 2,500 subscribers or want to charge readers. At $139 for 10,000 it brings the referral programme, paid recommendations and the ad network together.
Growing or switching? Move to Pro, $239 at 10,000, for unlimited automations, click triggers, more than one paid tier, a sponsorship storefront, or to take Beehiiv's branding off.
Next to Kit's Creator? Kit's Creator plan automates without a limit and removes Kit's branding, but keeps 0.6% of what readers pay and leaves its referral programme to Pro.
Every plan includes unlimited email sends, a website, a podcast, a community, digital products, the recommendation network and data exports.
View all 2 Beehiiv plansPriced at 10,000 subscribers, billed monthly, in US dollars
Mirrored from beehiiv.com These are Beehiiv's own plans, prices and limits, as its pricing page showed them on 21 Oct 2026. The “Pick it if” lines are ours. Choose a plan to see it on Beehiiv.
- Paid subscriptions, 0% taken
- 10 live automations
- Referral programme and paid recommendations
- Ad network and custom domains
- Beehiiv branding stays on
- Standard support
- Everything in Lite
- Unlimited automations and paid tiers
- Click triggers and A/B splits in automations
- Sponsorship storefront
- Beehiiv branding removed
- 24/7 priority support
Beehiiv's free plan stops at 2,500 subscribers. Paying yearly is about 17% less: $119 for Lite and $199 for Pro at 10,000. · Checked 21 Oct 2026
Start on Beehiiv's Lite plan
Every new account can try Pro free for 14 days, no card needed.
you'll go to www.beehiiv.com
Questions people ask about Kit and Beehiiv
Basics
Is Kit the same as ConvertKit?
Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit, so older reviews and tutorials under the ConvertKit name are about the same platform.Its free plan now holds up to 10,000 subscribers, and its Creator plan adds automations.
Costs
Do Kit and Beehiiv have free trials?
Both do, and neither needs a card.Kit gives 14 days on Creator or Pro, and refunds within 30 days of signing up. Beehiiv gives every new account 14 days of Pro, though paid subscriptions, paid recommendations and custom domains wait until you upgrade. Checked 21 October 2026.
Do Kit or Beehiiv limit how many emails I send?
No. Kit says there are no sending limits on any of its plans, and Beehiiv includes unlimited email sends on every plan.Both charge by the number of subscribers instead.
