Creators need three things general-purpose tools treat as afterthoughts: a free plan that
does not expire at 250 subscribers, landing pages that convert readers into subscribers, and a way to sell
a digital product without bolting on a second platform. Here are the picks by scenario, with verified
prices and the tradeoff for each.
Prices verified Oct 4, 2026Kit free to 10,000 subscribersScenario-based picks
Affiliate disclosure: product links on this page are affiliate links (rel="sponsored"). We may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change a price we publish - every figure below was verified on the vendor's own site on Oct 4, 2026. How we verify.
Decision tree: start here
Answer three questions; the pick follows (prices verified Oct 4, 2026)
Your situation
Pick
Verified anchor
Starting out - under 10,000 subscribers, selling nothing yet
Kit (free)
$0 up to 10,000 subscribers; unlimited forms & landing pages
Selling digital products - courses, ebooks, paid newsletter
Kit (Creator)
From $33/mo; sales fee 3.5% + 30¢ (Kit keeps 0.6%)
Kit (Creator/Pro), or ActiveCampaign if CRM matters
Kit Pro from $66/mo · ActiveCampaign Starter $15 @1k / $149 @10k
Just sending, smallest budget
MailerLite
Power $69 @5k · $129 @10k · $239 @25k
Hates pricing surprises
AWeber
Lite $25/$60/$100/$210 @1k/5k/10k/25k - full published matrix
Revenue from a physical store
Leave this page - ecommerce tools fit better
Omnisend Standard $20 @1k · $81 @5k · $132 @10k
The pick · most creators
Kit (ConvertKit)
Kit's free plan allows 10,000 subscribers - forty times Mailchimp's free ceiling -
with unlimited landing pages and forms. Paid Creator (from $33/mo, $390/yr) unlocks
unlimited visual automations and native digital product sales (3.5% + 30¢ per sale, Kit keeps 0.6%).
Billing is per active subscriber, deduplicated, so your bill tracks your real audience.
Tradeoffs, plainly: Kit does not publish a per-contact price table, so we
verify the $33/mo starting price, not your exact future bill. Ecommerce depth is shallow next to
Omnisend/Klaviyo. And the commission Kit pays this site (50% of first-year payments) is disclosed
in full - judge the free-plan math, which does not depend on it.
If you do not sell products and just need dependable sending, MailerLite Power is
$69/mo at 5,000 subscribers, $129 at 10,000, $239 at 25,000 - every tier published and
verified Oct 4, 2026 - with Comfort from $12/mo ($49 at 5,000) and a free plan for 250 subscribers.
Tradeoff: creator monetization (paid newsletters, product sales) is not
its thing, and the integration catalog is smaller. Pure sending, though, is hard to beat on price -
roughly a third cheaper than Constant Contact at identical verified sizes.
AWeber publishes the only complete price matrix in this category: Lite at
$25 / $60 / $100 / $210 per month for 1k / 5k / 10k / 25k subscribers (Plus $45 / $90 /
$135 / $250), re-verified Oct 4, 2026. If you want to know today what you will pay at next year's list
size, this is your tool.
Tradeoff: it is an email tool, not a creator platform - no native paid
newsletter or product checkout story like Kit's, and no confirmed free plan. Choose it for certainty,
not for creator features.
Contact #251: Mailchimp free ends (250 contacts, 500 sends/mo). If you are on Mailchimp and growing, your decision deadline is here, not at renewal.
Subscriber #10,001: Kit free ends. Creator from $33/mo is the planned step - budget it the month your list crosses five figures.
5,000 subscribers on a budget: the cheapest verified paid anchors cluster tightly - Sender $39, AWeber Lite $60, MailerLite Power $69. At this size, features, not price, should decide.
10,000 contacts, automation matters: ActiveCampaign Starter is verified at $149/mo; MailerLite Power at $129. Similar money, different strengths - automation depth vs sending simplicity.
Annual billing: MailerLite states 10% off annual. Where a vendor publishes an annual discount, take it only after a monthly trial period - never before.
Common mistakes creators make
Choosing by today's list size. A free plan ending at 250 contacts forces a migration mid-growth - the worst time. Price the list you expect in 12 months.
Comparing headline prices across billing units. Per-contact, per-active-subscriber, and per-profile bills differ on the same list. Kit's deduplicated active-subscriber count is usually the smallest.
Ignoring send caps. A plan allowing 10-15× contacts in monthly sends punishes frequent publishers. Check the cap before the price.
Bolting on a store you do not need. If you sell two digital products a year, Kit's native checkout beats a separate ecommerce email platform on cost and complexity.
Never exporting your list. Your subscribers are portable (CSV) only if you actually export them. Do it quarterly, whichever tool you pick.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free email marketing tool for creators?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit). Its free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms - verified on kit.com on Oct 4, 2026. No other creator-focused tool offers that much free headroom.
Kit or MailerLite for a growing newsletter?
Kit if you will sell digital products or paid subscriptions - that tooling is built in, and the free plan lasts to 10,000 subscribers. MailerLite if you just need solid, cheap sending: Power is $69/mo at 5,000 subscribers and $129 at 10,000, with every tier published in advance.
When does Kit stop being free?
At 10,001 subscribers. Paid Creator starts at $33/mo ($390/yr) and adds unlimited automations and product sales. Budget for it the month your list crosses five figures - on verified anchors it is still the natural step up from its own free plan.
I sell through my own store. Is Kit still the pick?
Probably not. Kit's product sales suit digital goods sold by the creator. If revenue comes from a store with carts, SKUs, and SMS, look at ecommerce-first tools: Omnisend Standard is verified at $20/mo (1,000 contacts), $81 (5,000), and $132 (10,000) in the calculator.
Can I start free and switch later without losing subscribers?
Yes. Every tool here imports and exports CSV lists. What does not move is your forms, automations, and engagement history - so the cheapest migration is the one you plan before you need it. Export your list regularly regardless of which tool you choose.
Why isn't Mailchimp recommended here?
For creators specifically: its free plan ends at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, it bills per audience contact, and digital-product selling is not a core feature. It remains a reasonable general tool - the head-to-head is on our Mailchimp vs Kit page.