ConvertKit (Now Kit) vs Mailchimp: Free Plans and Automations Compared

Kit (the new name for ConvertKit) is the better free plan for a growing newsletter: it allows up to 10,000 subscribers, while Mailchimp's free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Neither free plan runs real automations. Mailchimp wins on templates and several users, Kit on list size and automation depth once you pay.

The free plans are teasers for the paid ones, so the useful comparison is the first paid step. Kit's Creator plan is where its automations switch on. Mailchimp's Essentials gives you automations capped at four steps per flow, and Standard lifts that to 200. Which wall you hit first depends on how many emails you send and how many people you send them to.

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The free plans, line by line

Here are the free-plan figures as the vendors' own pages showed them this month. Limits change, so check the live page before you commit a list to either tool.

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Two things stand out. First, the size gap: forty times more subscribers on Kit's free plan. Second, Mailchimp's monthly send cap, which is easy to trip. A list of 250 contacts that gets two emails a month uses 500 sends, which is the entire allowance. One extra email, and you are over the allowance until the month rolls over.

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A quick sum on the Mailchimp send cap

Take a plumbing firm with 180 past customers on its list. It sends a monthly newsletter and, in autumn, a boiler-service reminder to the same people. Each email goes to 180 contacts.

• Monthly newsletter: 180 sends.
• Boiler-service reminder: 180 sends.
• Together that is 360 sends, under the 500 cap.
• Add a third email in the same month, a seasonal offer, and the total is 540. The third email cannot go out in full.

So the "250 contacts" headline is misleading. The real limit is closer to two emails a month, whichever you hit first. On Kit's free plan, the pricing page I read shows no sending cap at all, so the same firm could send three emails without a charge. It still could not run an automatic reminder, because that needs a paid plan.

What automation means on each tool

An automation is a rule that sends emails without you pressing a button: someone signs up, waits two days, receives the next email. The two tools build these in different shapes.

Kit uses a visual builder. You pick a trigger (a signup, a link click, a purchase, a subscriber going quiet), then add emails, delays, tags and branches. Kit's automations page also lists templates for welcome sequences, launches and course delivery. Its Creator plan switches on unlimited visual automations and email sequences, and the free plan lists none.

Mailchimp calls them flows. Its Essentials plan limits a flow to four steps. Standard allows up to 200 flows with 200 steps each, plus branching, which means different people can take different paths depending on what they do. Mailchimp's pricing page does not say how it counts a delay, so if your plan needs a "wait three days" between each email, count those waits as steps until you have tested it.

The four-step ceiling on Essentials

Suppose a six-person accountancy practice wants a welcome flow: thank-you email, wait, a "what to expect this busy season" email, wait, a "book a review" email. If each email and each wait is a step, that is five steps, which is over the Essentials limit. If waits are not counted, it is three, which fits. Either way, you want to know before you build, because a flow that grows past four steps pushes you to Standard, at a higher price.

A 2,500-subscriber list at an accountancy practice, priced

Illustration: a six-person accountancy practice has 2,500 people on its list: current clients, former clients and enquiries. It sends one newsletter a month and wants a three-email welcome sequence for new signups from its website form. Is the free plan enough, and what does each tool cost?

Mailchimp. The list is ten times the free cap, so Free is out. Essentials and Standard both start at 500 contacts and rise with list size: Standard's card shows "starts at $20/month" today, and Essentials started at $13 when this series last read its card. In the September price check for this series, 2,500 contacts came to $45 a month on Essentials and $60 on Standard. The live page now shows only the starting prices, so confirm the 2,500 figure with the slider before you decide. Sends are 10 times contacts on Essentials and 12 times on Standard, so 25,000 and 30,000 a month. One newsletter to 2,500 people is 2,500 sends, so the allowance is generous. The welcome sequence is three emails and probably two waits: on Essentials that may or may not fit four steps, on Standard it fits easily and adds branching.

Kit. The list is a quarter of the free subscriber limit, so the free plan holds it. The catch is automation: the three-email welcome sequence needs Creator. Kit's page shows Creator at $33 a month for 1,000 subscribers when billed yearly ($390 a year), and says paying yearly saves $78 a year, so month-to-month billing works out at about $39. It prints only the 1,000-subscriber tier, and its FAQ says that when you go over a plan's limit, Kit automatically upgrades you to the next subscriber tier. The price at 2,500 is not on the page, so get it from Kit's checkout or sales team before you decide; third-party price tables disagree with one another and I would not plan on any of them.

The honest verdict for this practice: if the welcome sequence is the reason for upgrading, price both tools with automation switched on, and the answer is probably close. If the practice only sends a monthly newsletter and does nothing automatic, Kit's free plan costs nothing at 2,500 subscribers, while Mailchimp would cost roughly $45 a month on the September figure. Over a year that is around $540, which is the price of the decision.

Cost as the list grows: how to price each tool yourself

Both vendors price by list size, which means the cost you see today is not the cost in a year. Use the same four steps for either tool.

1. Count real subscribers, not everyone ever added. Remove addresses that bounced or never opened for a year before you price anything, because you pay for them.
2. Pick the plan that holds the automations you will really build, not the cheapest one that holds the list.
3. Price at today's size and at 1.5 times today's size. A list of 2,500 growing to 3,750 is a different slider position.
4. Note whether the price shown is the yearly-billed rate. Kit's headline $33 a month is the yearly rate ($390 a year at 1,000 subscribers), and its page says paying yearly saves 17 per cent, so a monthly commitment is dearer than the headline.

Mailchimp adds one wrinkle: its page states that non-USD prices are estimates from exchange rates, and it takes 15 per cent off the first 12 months for lists of 10,000 or more contacts. A new-customer discount is not a price, so set your forecast on the full rate. Kit has its own version: the Pro plan's first-year discount, which the page says renews at the standard rate.

Which features justify paying

Cost is only half of it. What you get when you pay differs between the two.

Kit's page also lists SMS and RSS campaigns on Creator, and a Pro plan that adds subscriber scoring, unlimited users and deliverability reporting. Few small firms need Pro. Mailchimp's Premium starts at $350 a month for 10,000 contacts, which is out of range for a typical small business.

The first automation to build, step by step

Whichever tool you choose, start with a short welcome sequence. Here is a filled-in outline for an electrical contractor whose website form offers a free "home safety check" checklist.

Trigger: someone submits the "home safety check" form
Step 1 (immediately): email with the checklist PDF link
Step 2 (wait 2 days): "The three things we see most often" - short, one photo
Step 3 (wait 5 days): "Want us to do the check for you?" - single button to a booking page
Tag the contact: homeowner-lead
Exit: if they book, remove from sequence

That is five actions: three emails and two waits. In Kit it is one visual flow. In Mailchimp it is a flow of at least three steps that might be five when waits count, which is exactly why the four-step cap on Essentials matters. Also notice the exit rule. A person who has already booked should not receive "want us to do the check for you?" Both tools can end a flow on a goal or a tag, so set it from the start.

Before and after: the same welcome email, fixed

Many newsletters lose people in the first email. Here is an illustrative insurance broker's welcome email, before and after a rewrite you could do with any AI chat tool.

BEFORE
Subject: Welcome to our newsletter!
Hi, thanks for subscribing to our monthly update. We cover renewals, cover tips and
company news. Look out for our next issue.

AFTER
Subject: Your renewal checklist (and what to expect from us)
Hi [first name], here is the one-page checklist we give clients 60 days before a
renewal: [link]. Over the next two weeks I'll send two short emails: how to read
your policy schedule, and the five questions to ask before you accept a quote.
Reply to this email with your renewal month and I'll make sure the reminder lands
before it.

The "after" does three jobs the "before" does not: it delivers something useful in the first email, it sets expectations for what comes next, and it asks for one reply. You can build either version in both tools. The difference is only whether your plan lets you send the follow-ups automatically.

When Mailchimp is the sensible pick

Mailchimp suits owners who want ready-made templates, two or three staff logging in, and a vendor with a long track record. Its Standard plan adds custom reports, dynamic content and branded templates, plus one personalised onboarding consultation in your first 90 days. If someone on your team already knows it, the cost of learning a new tool is real. The AI side, Intuit Assist, comes at no extra cost on Standard and Premium but not on Essentials, and Mailchimp's own footnote describes it as a beta for certain users in select countries, in English only, so do not buy on the strength of it. I cover that in the Mailchimp AI features tutorial, and the exact cost steps are in Mailchimp Essentials versus Standard from 500 to 5,000 contacts.

When Kit is the sensible pick

Kit suits writers and service businesses with a content-led list: an electrician publishing a seasonal tip, a coach with a lead magnet. It tags subscribers by interest, runs sequences from a single builder and lets you start free with a big list. The cost jumps when you need automations, so it is best when your content is the product. The pricing tutorial Kit pricing: free plan limits and when Creator pays walks the same ground in more depth, and a head-to-head against another newsletter tool is in Kit versus beehiiv for a service business.

The migration trap nobody budgets for

Switching tools later is possible, but it costs more than the price difference. Exporting subscribers as a CSV is easy. What you lose is the history and the logic. Here is what a plumbing firm might discover in an illustrative move from one tool to another.

• The tags did not carry over. "Boiler customer" and "landlord" were tags in the old tool and plain columns in the new CSV, so segments had to be rebuilt.
• The unsubscribes must carry over, or you will email people who opted out. Export the unsubscribed list separately and upload it as suppressed.
• The automations were rebuilt by hand, from a screenshot.
• Forms embedded on the website kept pointing at the old tool for a week, so new signups went to the wrong list.

None of this is a reason to stay put, but it is a reason to choose carefully the first time and to keep a plain-text note of every automation: trigger, delays, wording, exit rule.

Three small-business lists and the tool each suits

Use these to test your own situation. Each is illustrative.

A plumbing firm with 180 customers, one email a month

Mailchimp Free works until the second email in a month. Kit's free plan works indefinitely. Neither automates, so the firm's real decision is whether to pay for automation at all. For one monthly email, no. Pick Kit for headroom, or Mailchimp if you like its templates.

An accountancy practice with 2,500 contacts and a welcome sequence

Both cost money because of the automation. Price both with the slider. If the practice wants branching (different follow-ups for clients and enquiries), Mailchimp Standard supports it; Kit does it in the visual builder at Creator.

An insurance broker with 6,000 contacts and two staff

A list this size is far beyond Mailchimp Free and enters price tiers I have not verified for either tool. The Kit free plan stops at 10,000 but has no automation. A broker who wants renewal reminders will pay on both, so compare the paid plans at 6,000 using each vendor's own slider, then compare the two users on Kit's Creator against Mailchimp's three seats on Essentials.

How to test either tool in an afternoon

You do not have to guess. Both vendors let you start free or on a trial: Kit's page advertises a 14-day trial of Creator and Pro with no card, and Mailchimp's Standard and Essentials carry a 14-day trial.

1. Import 20 addresses, mostly your own and colleagues'. Do not import the real list yet.
2. Build the welcome sequence from the outline above, with real wording.
3. Submit your own signup form and time each email's arrival against the waits you set.
4. Check the email on a phone. Look at the footer: your business address and unsubscribe link should be correct.
5. Look at the report after a day. Can you see who opened and clicked without digging?

If building the sequence takes you more than an hour in one tool and 20 minutes in the other, that difference is worth more than a few dollars a month. Staff time is the hidden price of any email tool, which is what the tutorial on writing a customer newsletter with AI is about: shorten the writing and the tool you pick matters less.

A list that lost its reach

One pattern shows up repeatedly in small-list newsletters. An owner buys the cheapest plan, imports every contact from ten years of invoices, and sends one email. The open rate is low, a few people mark it as spam, and the sender reputation falls. Later emails land in junk. The fix is to import only people who expect to hear from you, to send a short "still want this?" email to old contacts first, and to remove those who do not respond. This costs nothing on either tool, and it matters more than which logo is on the footer.

You might also compare a third option before deciding. The Brevo versus Mailchimp cost comparison at 5,000 contacts shows how a send-based price changes the sums.

A scorecard to settle it

Score each line for your business and total each column. The lines are illustrative; change them to suit.

If the scores are level, choose the one whose free plan fits your list today. That keeps your first six months at zero cost while you learn what you actually use. If you would like help working that out with your real list and sending pattern, that is the kind of decision my AI implementation consultation is meant for.

Kit and Mailchimp questions owners ask before switching

Is ConvertKit the same thing as Kit?

Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit, and the product now lives at kit.com. Older reviews, templates and forum answers still say ConvertKit, so treat the two names as one product when you read them, but check any price quoted in an old review against today's pricing page.

Can I send automated emails on either free plan?

Not in a way you can rely on. Kit's pricing page lists no automated sequences or visual automations on its free plan, and Mailchimp's compare-plans page shows automation flows as not included on Free, with a preview in one section. Plan on paying before you automate anything.

Which one is easier to move away from later?

Both let you export subscribers as a CSV, so the list itself travels. What does not travel is the automation logic, tags and forms. Keep a one-page note of each sequence's trigger, delay and wording so you can rebuild it quickly in another tool.

Does either tool write the emails for me?

Mailchimp offers an AI assistant, Intuit Assist, at no extra cost on Standard and Premium (not Essentials or Free), and its own footnote calls it a beta for certain users in select countries, in English only. Kit's strength is the sending and automation side. For drafting, many owners simply use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and paste the result into either tool.

Further reads

• Email Newsletter QA Checklist Before You Hit Send — A pre-send checklist that works in either tool.
• Email Marketing Tools With AI: What a Small List Costs per Month — Monthly costs of more email tools for a small list.
• Free AI Marketing Software: Canva, Buffer, Mailchimp and Metricool Limits — Free-plan limits across Canva, Buffer, Mailchimp and Metricool.
• Best AI Email Marketing Tools for Small Businesses (2026) — Wider shortlist if neither of these fits.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: kit.com pricing page and automations page, mailchimp.com marketing pricing and compare-plans pages (fetched through a USD price reader), Mailchimp's help article on pricing plans, and Mailchimp price-book figures checked in September 2026.