Kit vs Mailchimp: pricing, features and which to choose

Kit was founded in 2013 by Nathan Barry as ConvertKit and renamed Kit in 2024. It is built for creators, including writers, podcasters, YouTubers, course creators, coaches and artists, who earn money from an audience rather than an online store or sales team. That focus shapes the product: simple tag-based subscriber management instead of lists, plain-text style emails, landing pages and forms for lead magnets, and tools to sell digital products, paid newsletters and subscriptions directly from your list. The Creator Network lets creators recommend each other's newsletters to grow, and paid recommendations let them earn money by promoting others.

Core features include unlimited forms and landing pages, unlimited broadcasts, subscriber tagging and segmentation, A/B testing of subject lines and content, and a visual automation builder with a template library. Email sequences send a series of messages in order, such as a welcome series or course. Digital products and subscriptions are sold through Kit Commerce. The Kit App Store connects tools such as Shopify, Teachable, Zoom and Stripe, and an API supports custom integrations. Pro adds subscriber engagement scoring, deliverability and engagement reporting, a newsletter referral system from SparkLoop, Facebook Custom Audiences sync, collaborative editing, unlimited team members and the ability to edit links in sent broadcasts.

Kit's strengths are its creator focus, a generous free plan, built-in commerce and paid newsletters, the Creator Network for growth and an MCP server that brings AI assistants into your workflow. Its weaknesses are fewer design templates than Mailchimp, limited ecommerce data, costs that grow with your list and AI that depends on external assistants. Beehiiv is a close rival with built-in ads and referrals. Substack takes a revenue share instead of charging fees. Mailchimp and Brevo suit general small businesses. ActiveCampaign offers deeper automation. Choose Kit if you are a creator who wants to grow and monetize an email list with simple tools.

Mailchimp is an active email marketing and automation platform owned by Intuit, which completed its acquisition on November 1, 2021. Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius founded the company in Atlanta in 2001. Intuit reported consideration of approximately $5.7 billion in cash, 10.1 million Intuit shares valued at about $6.3 billion at the then closing price, plus employee RSUs. Mailchimp says 13 million global users and more than 1,500 employees use or support the service, although those are company-published figures. The platform targets small and mid-market businesses with email, SMS, forms, websites, advertising, analytics, ecommerce integrations, and connections to Intuit products. Its broad scope makes it a general-purpose marketing suite rather than a narrowly focused email sender.

A typical Mailchimp workflow begins with importing contacts or building an audience through forms. Users design email campaigns with templates or the editor, segment contacts, schedule sends, or create Marketing Automation Flows with triggers and branching steps. Ecommerce, social, and advertising connections add customer and campaign data, while reporting covers engagement, revenue, and custom metrics on eligible plans. Mailchimp’s pricing table lists more than 300 integrations. SMS is available in selected markets after application approval and requires purchased credit blocks. This workflow supports newsletters, promotions, lead capture, and ecommerce campaigns in one hosted application. The tradeoff is breadth rather than maximum depth: teams receive common email, form, website, advertising, analytics, and automation functions without adopting separate tools for each task.

Mailchimp becomes more expensive as a list grows or retains inactive records, because unsubscribed and non-subscribed contacts count toward contact limits. Its AI terms also permit processing inputs and outputs to develop and improve AI models and services, subject to settings and applicable terms. Klaviyo is stronger for ecommerce events, profile segmentation, and revenue-focused journeys, while ActiveCampaign offers deeper automation. Brevo is more budget-oriented for high-volume messaging. Mailchimp remains broader and easier for general SMB campaigns, newsletters, forms, and ecommerce connections, but teams needing advanced behavioral data or highly granular automation may outgrow it. Small and mid-market marketing teams seeking an accessible general-purpose platform should pick Mailchimp.