ConvertKit vs Beehiiv: which is better for paid newsletters?

Short answer: Beehiiv is better when growing the audience is the job; Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is better when monetizing the relationship is the job. Pick the platform that matches the problem you have right now.

A quick note on names: ConvertKit rebranded to Kit a while back, so when older articles say ConvertKit, they mean Kit. Same company, shorter name. The comparison that matters has not changed — these two platforms are built for creators but pull in opposite directions. Beehiiv treats the newsletter as a media product to be grown and monetized with ads and sponsorships. Kit treats the email list as an asset to be segmented, automated, and sold to.

Both can run a paid newsletter. The question is which kind of business you are building around it.

The free tiers, honestly compared

Beehiiv's free plan supports up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends — generous on paper, but the free tier excludes the features that make Beehiiv special: no automations, no referral program, no ad network. You get the publishing tools, not the growth engine.

Kit's free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers, also with unlimited sends, plus tagging, segmentation, and even the ability to sell digital products. It is the more generous free tier on paper. What you do not get is automation — no welcome sequences, no drip campaigns — which for an email tool is a meaningful hole.

Both free tiers are genuine starting points, not trials. But both are designed to make you feel the missing features quickly. Beehiiv wants you to crave growth tools; Kit wants you to crave automations.

Paid pricing: where the math diverges

At small list sizes, the two are close. Beehiiv's Scale plan starts around $49 a month (cheaper on annual billing), and Kit's Creator plan starts around $39 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers. Neither will shock you at the beginning.

The divergence happens as you grow. At 10,000 subscribers, Beehiiv runs about $96 to $109 a month while Kit sits around $139. At 100,000 subscribers, the gap becomes a canyon: Beehiiv around $260 a month against Kit's $560 or so. Kit bills on total subscribers including unengaged ones, which quietly punishes list bloat — a good reason to clean your list regularly on either platform, but especially on Kit.

The fee question: what paid subscriptions really cost

Here is where the comparison gets interesting for paid newsletters specifically.

Beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on its Scale and Max plans — you pay only Stripe's processing fees. That is a deliberate pitch to Substack defectors tired of the 10% revenue share.

Kit also does not take a cut of paid newsletter revenue in the traditional sense; it charges its flat SaaS fee scaled to list size, and Stripe processing applies on top. Kit Commerce, its digital-product storefront, has its own small transaction fee. The practical result: on both platforms, the platform fee is the subscription you already pay, not a percentage of what you earn — a meaningful difference from Substack's model.

Do the math for your expected revenue. At low revenue, Substack's free-until-paid model can actually be cheaper than either SaaS fee. The SaaS model wins once your paid revenue passes the crossover point where 10% of revenue exceeds roughly $50 to $100 a month.

Growth: Beehiiv's home turf

Beehiiv was built to solve one problem: getting more subscribers. Its toolkit includes a recommendation network (newsletters recommending each other), Boosts (paying other newsletters per subscriber acquired), a built-in referral program, and an ad network that lets you monetize with sponsors without leaving the platform. It also gives you a full SEO-friendly website, so your archive works as a discovery channel.

Kit has a Creator Network for cross-promotion too, but paid recommendations carry a platform fee, and the discovery layer is thinner. Kit assumes you bring the audience; Beehiiv helps you build it.

If your newsletter is pre-audience — a new publication that needs to grow from zero — Beehiiv's growth machinery is the strongest argument in this entire comparison.

Automation: Kit's home turf

Kit's automation builder is the best in the creator-email category: visual, multi-branch, conditional logic based on link clicks, purchases, and tags. You can build welcome sequences that adapt to what a subscriber reads, launch funnels that tag and segment automatically, and re-engagement flows that clean your list while you sleep.

Beehiiv's automations are linear drip sequences and trigger steps — fine for a welcome series, insufficient for a real funnel. It is improving, but this is not the platform's focus and it shows.

If your business model involves selling things to your list — courses, digital products, coaching, affiliate offers — Kit's automation depth translates directly into revenue. The newsletter is the top of a funnel, and Kit is the funnel.

Publishing and design

Beehiiv looks like a modern publication: clean templates, a proper website, archives that rank on Google. Writers who care about the reading experience tend to prefer it.

Kit's editor is functional rather than beautiful, and its web presence is basic landing pages. Kit is an email-marketing engine first and a publishing platform second. If your essays need to be found and read on the web, Beehiiv is the better home.

Deliverability is strong on both, with Kit holding a slight edge at scale from years of infrastructure investment. Neither platform will get you into inboxes by itself, though — sender reputation still comes down to list quality, consistent sending, and content people actually open.

Who should pick which

Pick Beehiiv if: your newsletter is the product, you are growing from a small base, you want ad and sponsorship revenue, or you are migrating off Substack and want to keep the publishing feel with better economics.

Pick Kit if: your list exists to sell something, you need automations and segmentation, you sell courses or digital products, or you run launches and need funnels that behave.

If you are genuinely torn, let your revenue model break the tie. Ad-supported and sponsorship-supported newsletters belong on Beehiiv — its ad network is a feature Kit simply does not have. Product and launch-driven businesses belong on Kit — its automation depth pays for the higher subscription the first time a welcome sequence sells a course while you sleep. When the business model is clear, the platform choice usually is too. And if it is not clear yet, that is your real homework — no platform decides it for you.

The Substack question

No Kit-versus-Beehiiv discussion is complete without the platform both are positioned against: Substack.

Substack's pitch is simplicity: free to start, zero monthly fee, and a built-in discovery network — in exchange for 10% of your paid subscription revenue plus Stripe processing. For a newsletter earning its first dollars, that deal is genuinely good. Ten percent of $500 a month is $50 — less than either Beehiiv's or Kit's paid plan.

The math flips as revenue grows. At $2,000 a month in paid subscriptions, Substack takes $200 — more than double Beehiiv's Scale plan. At $10,000 a month, you are handing Substack $1,000 monthly for the privilege of software that costs Beehiiv users a flat $100 to $170. That is why migrations off Substack are a whole genre of creator content.

Substack still wins on one thing neither competitor fully matches: network-effect discovery. Being inside Substack's ecosystem puts your publication in front of readers browsing for new subscriptions. Beehiiv's recommendation network is the closest alternative; Kit does not really compete here.

The honest sequence for many writers: start on Substack for free, migrate to Beehiiv when the 10% starts to sting and you want growth tools, or to Kit when the business around the newsletter needs real automation. Starting directly on Beehiiv or Kit skips a migration later — migrations are not hard, but they are never fun.

How hard is it to switch?

Less hard than you fear. Both platforms offer import tools that pull in your subscriber list, and Beehiiv and Kit both publish migration guides aimed squarely at each other's users (and at Substack's). Your archives can be moved, redirects can be set up, and paid subscribers can be transferred with some coordination around Stripe.

The real cost of switching is not technical — it is momentum. Every migration loses a small percentage of subscribers to confusion, expired cards, or simple inattention. That is why the "start with this year's platform" advice matters: pick for the business you have now, not the one you hope to have, and avoid switching twice.

One practical tip: whatever you choose, own your domain from day one. A custom domain means your links, your SEO equity, and your brand survive any platform change. It is the cheapest insurance in this entire decision.

And the decision is not permanent. Newsletters migrate between these platforms regularly, and both offer import tools. Start with the platform that fits this year's business. The list — the actual asset — comes with you.