ConvertKit vs Mailchimp: Kit Free at 10k or Pay $1,620?

Mailchimp is the $1,620 bill: its Standard plan charges $135 a month for a 10,000-contact list, per Mailchimp’s pricing page. Three reviews put the price for that same list at zero on Kit, the new name for ConvertKit.

ConvertKit vs Mailchimp Verdict: Kit for Creators Under 10,000, Mailchimp for Stores

Verdict: Pick Mailchimp if you run an online store that wants visual design and deep integrations, the buyer Mailsoftly says it wins for. Pick Kit if you send plain emails to fewer than 10,000 subscribers. Three reviews agree its free plan covers that size, so confirm the cap on Kit’s pricing page before you switch.

Kit’s real flaw, and its fix: EmailTooltester counts 3 email designs in Kit against 100 themed templates in Mailchimp. To get around it, use your own HTML (the code behind an email layout), which Gravity Forms notes Kit allows. Or pick Mailchimp for its templates.

Mailchimp’s real flaw, and its fix: At 10,000 contacts, Mailchimp Standard costs $1,620.00 for 12 months, per Mailchimp’s pricing page. If you need its integrations, the 15% first-year promo for lists of 10,000 or more cuts that to $1,377.00. If you send plain emails, Kit’s free plan removes the bill.

Strengths: For Kit, the free plan’s 10,000-subscriber cap comes from Mailsoftly, EmailTooltester and EmailCrush. For Mailchimp, the visual automation builder includes 50+ triggers, per Gravity Forms.

Skip both if your list will pass 10,000 and price matters more than integrations. MailerLite Comfort costs less than Mailchimp at all three list sizes in the table below.

12-Month Cost at 1k, 10k and 50k: Kit Saves $1,620.00 at 10k If Its Free Cap Holds

At 10,000 contacts, Kit saves you the full $1,620.00 a year if its free cap holds. Among the paid plans, Brevo Starter saves the most: $1,122.96 a year against Mailchimp Standard.

The Mailchimp row switches plans: Essentials at 1,000 contacts, Standard at 10,000 and 50,000. So the jump from $318.00 to $1,620.00 is a plan change as well as list growth. Each price comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, read 2026-10-20 for the MarketingRating pricing dataset, and Mailchimp’s promo is left out.

Plan (prices read 2026-10-20)	1,000 contacts	10,000 contacts	50,000 contacts	Yearly saving vs Mailchimp at 10k
Mailchimp Essentials at 1k, Standard at 10k and 50k	$318.00	$1,620.00	$5,400.00	Baseline
MailerLite Comfort, billed yearly	$205.20	$961.20	$3,445.20	$1,620.00 − $961.20 = $658.80
Brevo Starter, 40,000 emails a month at 10k	$183.00	$497.04	No figure in the dataset	$1,620.00 − $497.04 = $1,122.96
Kit free plan per Mailsoftly (2026), EmailTooltester and EmailCrush	Free	Free, capped at 10,000 subscribers	Not stated	$1,620.00 if the free cap holds
Kit free plan per SendX (bylined 2020)	Landing pages only	Not stated	Not stated	Conflicts with the three rows above

SendX also lists a Kit paid plan at $9 a month for up to 300 subscribers. That price does not cover a 1,000-contact list.

Mailchimp’s bill grows more slowly than your list does. Going from 10,000 to 50,000 contacts multiplies the cost by about 3.3, for 5 times the contacts. Per contact, Standard costs $0.162 a year at 10,000. At 50,000 that falls to $0.108.

So the problem is the price at each list size, not how fast it climbs. At 50,000 contacts, MailerLite Comfort saves $1,954.80 a year. Brevo charges by email volume, so its 10,000-contact price assumes 40,000 emails a month.

Who Each Tool Is Built For: Creators on Kit, Stores on Mailchimp

If you sell products online, Mailsoftly points you to Mailchimp. It positions the tool for growing businesses and e-commerce brands that want visual design and deep integrations.

If you publish under your own name, Kit is built for you. Gravity Forms lists the creators Kit serves as authors, bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters and other people with a personal brand. Mailsoftly says Kit is cheaper at scale.

The sources split on paid pricing. EmailTooltester’s undated summary, which names no plan, puts Kit at $89 a month for 5,000 contacts, against $75 for Mailchimp. That gap is ($89 − $75) x 12 = $168 a year more for Kit at that size.

Features Side by Side: Same Core Tools, Different Email Editors

For most of the core jobs, the two tools match. Here is how each area compares:

Landing pages, tagging and automations: both tools have all three, per EmailTooltester. Tagging means labeling contacts so you can email each group separately.
Automation builders: Gravity Forms describes a visual builder in both tools. Mailchimp’s lists 50+ triggers. A trigger is the event that starts an automation, such as a new signup.
Email editor: this is the real split. Kit has 3 designs, while Mailchimp has 100 templates, per EmailTooltester. If you send designed emails with product grids, Mailchimp fits better. If you send plain-text letters, Kit’s limit costs you little.

Free Plans: Three Sources Say Kit Is Free to 10,000, One Older Page Disagrees

Three of the four sources that cover Kit’s free plan put its cap at 10,000 subscribers:

Mailsoftly, updated 2026-10-18, describes a free tier up to 10,000 subscribers.
EmailTooltester gives the same cap and adds “unlimited emails”.
EmailCrush also lists 10,000.
SendX says the free plan allows “only landing pages”. Its title says 2024, but its byline reads January 29, 2020.

The only source that disagrees is the oldest, so the 10,000 cap is the more likely current answer. It is still a reviewer’s claim, not Kit’s own. Before you move a list, open Kit’s pricing page and find the subscriber cap on the free plan.

Mailsoftly’s same sentence also says Mailchimp undercuts Kit at 1,000. If Kit is free at that size, that line can only be about paid plans.

Mailchimp’s free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends, per EmailTooltester and EmailCrush. A 1,000-contact list therefore means paying for Essentials.

Costs Not in the Sticker Price: SMS Add-Ons, Overages and Unsubscribed Contacts

The yearly price is not the whole bill. Four extras can change it:

Texting: SMS (text messaging) is a paid add-on on Essentials, per Mailchimp’s pricing page. Standard and Premium get an SMS and MMS (picture message) add-on. Compare per-text prices in SMS marketing platforms ranked by per-text cost.
Overages: going over your contact or send limit adds overage charges, per the same page.
Unsubscribed contacts: Mailchimp charges for unsubscribed contacts and Kit does not, per Mailsoftly.
Promo: Mailchimp offers 15% off for 12 months on lists of 10,000 or more contacts. With the promo, Standard at 10,000 costs $1,620.00 x 85% = $1,377.00 for the first year. That is still more than MailerLite Comfort’s full yearly price.

How We Evaluated

Costs come from each vendor’s own pricing page, read 2026-10-20, at three list sizes. Feature and free-plan terms come from five published comparisons: Mailsoftly, EmailTooltester, EmailCrush, SendX and Gravity Forms. Where sources disagree, the page shows each claim with its date.

Next Step: Price Mailchimp Against MailerLite

If MailerLite’s $658.80 saving at 10,000 contacts caught your eye, see Mailchimp vs MailerLite: 12-month cost at 1k, 10k and 50k contacts.

Next step: read more in Comparisons on MarketingRating, or check the figures in Email marketing pricing: the true 12-month cost at 1,000, 10,000 and 50,000 contacts.

FAQ: Mailchimp SMS, Cheaper Options and Kit’s Free Plan

Is Mailchimp SMS free?

No. Mailchimp’s pricing page sells texting as a paid add-on: SMS on Essentials, and SMS plus MMS on Standard and the plan above it. Budget for it on top of the plan price.

Is there a cheaper option than Mailchimp?

Yes, at all three list sizes in the dataset. Of the paid plans in the table, Brevo Starter costs the least at 1,000 and 10,000 contacts. If you send well over 40,000 emails a month, price Brevo at your own volume first.

Is Kit really free up to 10,000 subscribers?

Three of four published sources say yes, and the one that disagrees carries a 2020 byline.