Kit vs beehiiv (2026): Which Should New Creators Pick?

If you’re starting your first newsletter, Kit and beehiiv are probably both on your shortlist.

They’re both solid. But they grew up in different places. Kit, which used to be called ConvertKit, comes from email marketing. beehiiv was built for newsletters that run like small media businesses.

I’ve used both platforms myself, and I’ve also gone through their pricing pages, help centres and terms. Every price and feature below links to where I found it.

A quick, honest note: Some links on this site may be affiliate links. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. The Kit link is a regular link, so I don’t earn anything from it right now. I may add a Kit affiliate link later, and if I do, I’ll update this note. Either way, I’ve tried to be fair to both and to tell you what I’d tell a friend.

I’ve been writing on and off for about three years, mostly for my jobs, and I recently started thinking about writing for myself. That’s what got me looking at newsletters. When I went searching for a clear comparison written for people just starting out, I couldn’t find much, so I wrote the one I wanted to read.

From my own experience, beehiiv has a lot of options and does a good job of helping you promote your newsletter. I’ll get into the details below, along with where Kit comes out ahead.

The quick verdict

Pick Kit if you want to start free and stay free for a long while, or you plan to sell things like an ebook or a small course alongside your newsletter. Kit’s Free plan covers far more subscribers, and you can sell from day one.

Pick beehiiv if you want your newsletter to feel like a publication, with a proper website and more ways to earn from ads. You’ll pay for those extras, but beehiiv doesn’t take a cut of your subscription revenue.

Kit vs beehiiv at a glance

	Kit	beehiiv
Free plan	Up to 10,000 subscribers Kit	Up to 2,500 subscribers beehiiv
First paid plan (about 1,000 subscribers)	Creator: $39/month, or $390/year Kit help, Kit	Lite: $59/month, or $49/month billed yearly beehiiv
Free trial	14 days of Creator or Pro, no card Kit	14 days of Pro, no card beehiiv help
Paid newsletter on free plan	Yes Kit	No, starts on Lite beehiiv
Fee on paid subscriptions	3.5% + 30¢, card processing included Kit	0% to beehiiv, plus Stripe’s fee beehiiv
Automations	Creator plan and up Kit	Lite plan and up beehiiv
Referral program	Pro only Kit	Lite plan and up beehiiv
Ads and sponsorships	Paid plans Kit	Ad Network on paid plans beehiiv help
Your own domain on the free plan	Yes, for your pages Kit	Paid plans only beehiiv help
Export your list	Yes, CSV Kit help	Yes, CSV beehiiv help

All prices are in US dollars.

Pricing and fees

Kit

Kit’s Free plan lets you have up to 10,000 subscribers Kit. That’s generous. Once you pass 10,000, you’ll need to upgrade to keep sending Kit help.

The paid plans are Creator and Pro. At up to 1,000 subscribers, Creator starts at $39 a month and Pro at $79 a month Kit help.

Paying yearly saves 17%. Creator works out to $390 a year at 1,000 subscribers, and Pro shows as $66 a month billed yearly Kit. When I checked, Kit was also running a limited-time discount on Pro’s first year Kit.

The price goes up as your list grows. Kit bills on your confirmed subscribers, and its own example puts Creator at $59 a month for 1,200 subscribers Kit help. If you go over your tier, Kit moves you up to the next one automatically Kit.

Kit has no sending limits on any plan, and it offers a 30-day refund on monthly or annual plans Kit.

beehiiv

beehiiv’s Free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers beehiiv.

At up to 1,000 subscribers, Lite is $59 a month, or $49 a month if you pay yearly ($588). Pro is $109 a month, or $95 a month yearly ($1,140) beehiiv.

Prices climb with your list here too. Monthly, Lite is $79 at 2,500 subscribers and $139 at 10,000 beehiiv. Every plan includes unlimited sends.

The fees when you start charging

This is where the two really differ.

Kit charges 3.5% + 30¢ per sale, and that already includes card processing. Kit says its own share is 0.6% Kit. You can sell from Canada, and you can price in Canadian dollars at 3.5% + $0.30 Kit help, Kit help.

beehiiv takes 0% of your paid subscription and digital product revenue. You still pay Stripe’s processing fee, which beehiiv lists as 2.9% + $0.30 beehiiv. For a Canadian Stripe account, Stripe lists 2.9% + CA$0.30 for domestic cards, plus 0.8% for international cards and 2% more if currency conversion is needed Stripe Canada.

So on a single sale, the fees are close. The real gap is the monthly plan. On Kit you can charge on the Free plan. On beehiiv you need Lite first.

A hypothetical example. These are made-up numbers, not my own results, because my newsletters are still growing. Say you charge $5 a month and have 100 paying subscribers out of a list of about 1,000. That’s $500 a month before fees.

• On Kit’s Free plan: The plan costs $0. Kit’s fee of 3.5% + 30¢ comes to about 48¢ per sale, or $47.50 a month. That leaves you roughly $452.50.
• On beehiiv Lite (billed monthly): The plan costs $59 and beehiiv takes 0%. Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ comes to about 45¢ per sale, or $44.50 a month. That’s $103.50 in total costs, which leaves you roughly $396.50. If you pay yearly ($49 a month), costs drop to $93.50 and you keep roughly $406.50.

Per sale, the two are only a few cents apart. The difference comes almost entirely from the monthly plan.

The example ignores taxes and currency conversion, so please run your own numbers before you decide.

Setup: getting your first issue out

Both let you try the paid features for 14 days without a credit card. Kit’s trial covers Creator and Pro Kit. beehiiv’s trial is Pro beehiiv help.

I set up Kit a long time ago and beehiiv more recently. I found beehiiv easy to set up. Since my time with Kit was a while back, I’m relying on Kit’s current pages below rather than my memory of it, because things may have changed.

Kit gives you unlimited landing pages and forms on every plan, plus a newsletter feed and website Kit. Your newsletter site lives at a kit.com address or on your own domain, with up to three custom pages Kit help.

Even on Free, you can connect your own custom domain so your landing pages are branded Kit. The “Built with Kit” badge stays on the Free plan, though Kit help.

beehiiv includes a website builder on every plan beehiiv. It handles SEO basics like a sitemap and meta titles for you beehiiv help. You get 1 custom page on Free, 5 on Lite, and unlimited on Pro beehiiv.

Custom domains on beehiiv are for paid plans. Free publications get a beehiiv subdomain beehiiv help. Removing beehiiv branding needs Pro beehiiv.

Growth tools

Recommendations

Both have a network where newsletters recommend each other.

Kit’s Free and Smart Recommendations work on every plan, including Free Kit. Paid plans get priority in the network Kit help.

beehiiv’s recommendation network is also on every plan beehiiv.

Referral programs

A referral program rewards readers for sharing your newsletter.

On Kit, it’s a Pro feature, run through a free SparkLoop plan Kit. On beehiiv, it starts on Lite beehiiv. If you want one early, beehiiv gets you there for less.

Automations

Kit came from email marketing, and it shows here. Visual automations and email sequences come with Creator and up Kit. Sequences are emails that go out automatically after someone joins, like a welcome series.

beehiiv’s automations start on Lite beehiiv.

Kit also offers tagging and segmentation on every plan, which helps you send the right email to the right people Kit.

Ways to make money

Paid newsletters and products

Kit lets you run paid newsletters (monthly, quarterly or yearly), sell digital products and add tip jars, all on the Free plan Kit.

beehiiv’s paid subscriptions start on Lite. You get 1 paid tier on Lite and unlimited on Pro. Digital products are allowed on every plan: 1 on Free, 3 on Lite and unlimited on Pro beehiiv.

Paid recommendations

Both will pay you to recommend other newsletters.

On Kit, this needs Creator or Pro. Kit’s fee is 23.5% Kit. That’s a 20% service fee plus a 3.5% transaction fee Kit help.

On beehiiv, paid recommendations start on Lite beehiiv, and beehiiv takes a 20% fee beehiiv help.

Ads and sponsorships

Kit’s Newsletter Sponsorships are for paid plans. You choose which campaigns to accept, you’re paid per verified click, and payouts arrive 45 days after the month a campaign runs Kit, Kit help.

beehiiv’s Ad Network is open to anyone on a paid plan who’s actively sending. Payouts come on the 20th for the previous month. Earnings estimates aren’t guaranteed beehiiv help. Pro also adds a sponsorship storefront beehiiv.

A note for creators outside the US. beehiiv pays Ad Network and paid recommendation earnings through Stripe Express. If Stripe Express isn’t available where you live, you can’t take part beehiiv help. beehiiv’s pricing page also marks these features “not in all regions” beehiiv. Check before you count on that income.

Ads vs selling your own products

I’m still working on getting my own sales going, so I don’t have a strong take yet on which one is better for a new creator. What I can tell you is how they compare on cost to start. Selling your own products is something you can try without paying on either platform: Kit’s Free plan includes digital products and paid newsletters, and beehiiv’s Free plan allows 1 digital product Kit, beehiiv. Ads and sponsorships need a paid plan on both Kit, beehiiv help.

Owning and exporting your list

This matters more than people think. If you ever leave, your subscribers should come with you.

Both say your content is yours. Kit’s terms say “You retain all rights in and to your User Content” Kit terms. beehiiv’s terms say “you own what you create” beehiiv terms.

Both let you download your list as a CSV file. Kit’s export includes names, emails, tags and custom fields. The download link lasts five days Kit help. beehiiv exports both your posts and your subscribers, with download links that last 24 hours beehiiv help.

And if you move to Kit later, migrations are free on paid plans Kit.

Who should pick which

Kit is probably the better fit if:

• You want to grow to a few thousand subscribers without paying anything.
• You plan to sell an ebook, a course or a paid newsletter early on.
• You like the idea of automated welcome emails and sending different emails to different groups.

beehiiv is probably the better fit if:

• You want a newsletter that looks and feels like a publication, with a real website.
• You’d like a referral program without paying for a top plan.
• You plan to earn from ads, and the Ad Network is available where you live.

If I were starting today, I’d choose beehiiv. What tips it for me is that beehiiv gives you ways to promote your newsletter inside its own ecosystem, like its recommendation network, which is on every plan, and a referral program that starts on Lite beehiiv. The trade-off is that you’ll start paying sooner than you would on Kit.

FAQ

Is Kit or beehiiv cheaper for a brand-new creator?

On the free plans, Kit goes further: 10,000 subscribers versus 2,500 Kit, beehiiv. At around 1,000 subscribers on monthly billing, Kit Creator is $39 and beehiiv Lite is $59 Kit help, beehiiv.

Can I start a paid newsletter for free?

On Kit, yes. Paid newsletters are on the Free plan, with a 3.5% + 30¢ fee per sale Kit. On beehiiv, paid subscriptions start on Lite beehiiv.

Can I use my own domain on the free plan?

On Kit, yes, for your landing pages Kit. On beehiiv, custom domains are for paid plans beehiiv help.

Can I switch later?

Yes. Both let you export your subscribers as a CSV Kit help, beehiiv help. Kit offers free migrations on paid plans Kit.

My honest take

There’s no wrong choice here. Both are solid tools for a first newsletter.

If money is tight and you want room to grow, Kit’s Free plan is hard to beat. If you dream of running a proper publication with a website and ad income, beehiiv was built for that.

My advice? Start the free plan on whichever one fits you best, and send your first issue this week. You can always move later. Your list comes with you.

Try Kit free · Try beehiiv free

Prices and features checked November 2, 2026, on Kit’s and beehiiv’s own websites. Prices are in US dollars and can change, so please double-check before you sign up.