Email marketing for newsletters and creators: Kit, beehiiv, MailerLite and more
Pricing last verified: — may be outdated; check the vendor page
Creators and newsletter writers often have large, low-frequency lists. That makes the subscriber cap on the free plan and the automation limits the main differences. All figures are from public pages.
Plans compared
| Tool | Plan | Price | Billing basis | Contacts | Sends | Source / confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | Newsletter (Free) | $0 | n/a | 10000 subscribers | unlimited broadcasts; no automations/sequences | source · Vendor-published |
| Kit | Creator | $39/mo | monthly ($390/yr billed yearly, about $32.50/mo) | 1,000 subscribers | no send cap stated by vendor | source · Vendor-published |
| beehiiv | Free (formerly Launch) | $0 | n/a | 2500 subscribers | unlimited sends | source · Vendor-published |
| beehiiv | Lite | $49/mo | per month, billed yearly (monthly-billing $59 not re-verified) | 1,000 subscribers (page slider default) | unlimited sends | source · Vendor-published |
| MailerLite | Free | $0 | n/a | 250 subscribers | 2,500 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| MailerLite | Comfort | $12/mo | monthly ($10.80/mo billed yearly) | 500 subscribers | 5,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| Sender | Free Forever | $0 | n/a | 2500 subscribers | 15,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| Sender | Standard | $10/mo | monthly (about $8.25/mo billed yearly); sources conflict, see notes | 1,000 subscribers (entry tier per vendor help center) | 12,000 emails/month (12x) | source · Sources conflict |
| EmailOctopus | Free | $0 | n/a | 2500 subscribers | 10,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
| EmailOctopus | Pro | $10/mo | monthly ($9/mo billed yearly) | 500 subscribers | 10,000 emails/month | source · Vendor-published |
What the published numbers say
- Kit lists the largest free plan (10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts) but excludes automations and sequences.
- beehiiv lists 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends on free after its October 2026 pricing change; its Lite plan is $49/mo billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers.
- Sender and EmailOctopus list 2,500 subscribers free (15,000 and 10,000 emails a month).
- MailerLite's free plan is smaller (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails) but includes automations according to its pricing page text.
Check these before moving a list
- Import limits and how the vendor treats an existing list (permission, confirmation).
- Whether paid newsletters, referral programs or ad networks are included, which differs by platform; we did not verify them.
Vendors: Kit (formerly ConvertKit) · beehiiv · MailerLite · Sender · EmailOctopus.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Free plan: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, but no automations or sequences (Kit help center, Sep 2026). The paid Creator plan is $39/month for up to 1,000 subscribers, or $390 a year (two months free) if billed yearly, with a 14-day trial (Kit help center, read Oct 28, 2026). Kit's own pricing page blocked our fetch, so we did not see its calculator for bigger lists.
beehiiv
Free plan: up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends after beehiiv's October 2026 pricing change. Lite is listed at $49/month billed yearly for the 1,000-subscriber tier. beehiiv is a newsletter platform, so it is built around publishing rather than classic business campaigns.
MailerLite
Free plan: 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month and 2 user seats. At 500 subscribers, Comfort is $12/month monthly ($10.80/month billed yearly) with 5,000 emails, and Power is $25/month ($22.50 billed yearly) with unlimited emails (from the plan data on MailerLite's own pricing page). At 1,000 subscribers Comfort is $19 and Power $39 monthly.
Sender
Free Forever plan: 2,500 subscribers and 15,000 emails a month. Standard starts at the 1,000-subscriber tier with 12,000 emails a month (12x subscribers, Sender help center). Sender's own pages disagree on the entry price (a $7 "starting at" marketing line, about $10 in structured data), and independent trackers list about $15 at 1,000 subscribers, so check the live slider before relying on any of them.
EmailOctopus
Free plan: 2,500 subscribers and 10,000 emails a month. Pro is $10/month ($9/month billed yearly) for up to 500 subscribers with 10,000 emails a month; 501-1,000 subscribers is $13.50 monthly (EmailOctopus pricing page data).
What we could not verify
- Feature depth, ease of use, deliverability and support quality. We did not test these products, so we make no claims about them.
- Prices for larger lists: we captured the entry paid tier and the free plan only. Use each vendor's calculator for your list size.
Sources
- Kit: https://kit.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Kit: https://help.kit.com/en/articles/4494683-creator-plan-vs-creator-pro-plan (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Sender: https://www.sender.net/pricing/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- Sender: https://www.sender.net/help/account-settings-and-billing/how-sender-pricing-works/ (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- EmailOctopus: https://emailoctopus.com/pricing (checked Oct 28, 2026)
Sources marked "third-party" are pricing guides, not vendor pages; the confidence label in each table explains which figures need re-checking. Full data: pricing-data.json.
Questions or corrections: gb1@mail.grokbot.com. Prices change often; always confirm on the vendor's own page before you buy.