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comparison / 13 — updated may 2026

Mailchimp vs Beehiiv vs Kit vs Buttondown vs MailerLite

Leaving Mailchimp? Here's how Beehiiv, Kit, Buttondown, and MailerLite stack up — transparent pricing, generous free tiers (some up to 10k subscribers), and pricing that doesn't punish list growth.

cheapstack editorialMethodologyPrices verified May 2026
free tier (1k subs)
Mailchimp250 contacts / 500 emails
Beehiivfree up to 2,500 subs
Kitfree up to 10k subs
Buttondownfree up to 100 subs
MailerLite500 subs / 12k emails
1k subscribers cost
Mailchimp~$17/mo Essentials
Beehiivfree (Launch)
Kitfree (Newsletter)
Buttondown$9/mo
MailerLite$10/mo Growing
10k subscribers cost
Mailchimp~$110/mo Essentials
Beehiiv~$129/mo Scale
Kit$139/mo (cliff jump)
Buttondown~$75/mo
MailerLite~$60/mo Growing
updated
May 2026
Skip to verdictSee pricing →
verdict.txt — comparisons/mailchimp-alternatives.mdhonest
$cat verdict.txt

Beehiiv if newsletters with monetization are your shape (free up to 2,500 subscribers, 0% revenue cut on paid subs). Kit if you're a creator and the 10k-subscriber free Newsletter plan covers you. Buttondown if you want transparent per-active-subscriber pricing without bloat. MailerLite as the direct cheaper Mailchimp replacement. Mailchimp still wins for the broadest e-commerce/CRM integrations if Essentials at $13/mo fits.

Updated May 2026read the full reasoning →
scoreboard / at a glance

At a glance

One row per dimension, the values side-by-side. The olive dot marks the clear winner for that dimension when there is one — most rows are a wash, and that’s the point.

Intuit Mailchimp

Mailchimp

The market incumbent. Broadest integrations, e-commerce features, A/B testing, CRM. Free tier severely cut in Jan 2026 (250 contacts / 500 emails). Essentials starts at $13/mo.

Beehiiv Inc.

Beehiiv

Newsletter-first platform built for creator monetization. Free Launch tier covers 2,500 subscribers; Scale at $49/mo unlocks paid subs (0% revenue cut, just Stripe fees).

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Kit

Creator-focused email platform. The free Newsletter plan covers 10,000 subscribers with unlimited emails and one automation. Creator plan starts at $39/mo for paid features.

Buttondown

Buttondown

Developer-shaped newsletter platform with transparent pricing. Free for 100 subs, $9/mo for 1,000. Pay only for active subscribers, no revenue cut on paid subs.

MailerLite

MailerLite

Direct lower-cost Mailchimp alternative. Free tier cut to 500 subscribers in Sep 2025. Growing Business at $10/mo for 1k subs is the cheapest Mailchimp-style platform.

Free tier (subscribers)Kit's free Newsletter plan covers 10k subscribers — the most generous in this set by an order of magnitude. Beehiiv at 2,500 is also very generous. Mailchimp and MailerLite both recently cut their free tiers; Buttondown's 100-sub free is a trial-shape.
250 subs (cut Jan 2026)
2,500 subs
10,000 subs
100 subs
500 subs (cut Sep 2025)
1k subscribers costBeehiiv and Kit are both still free at 1k. Buttondown ($9) and MailerLite ($10) are the cheapest paid options. Mailchimp Essentials is roughly $17/mo at 1k contacts.
~$17/mo Essentials
free (still under Launch cap)
free (still under Newsletter cap)
$9/mo
$10/mo Growing Business
10k subscribers costAt 10k subs the price differences become real. MailerLite is the cheapest hosted Mailchimp-alternative at ~$60. Kit's free tier ends exactly at 10k subscribers — going one over jumps you to $139/mo, the steepest cliff.
~$110/mo Essentials
~$129/mo Scale
$139/mo (cliff jump from free)
~$75/mo
~$60/mo Growing Business
Paid subscription cutBeehiiv, Kit, and Buttondown all take 0% of paid subscription revenue beyond Stripe's standard fees. Mailchimp and MailerLite don't natively support paid newsletter subscriptions — you'd integrate Memberful or similar separately.
n/a (no built-in paid subs)
0% (just Stripe fees)
0% on Creator+
0% (just Stripe fees)
n/a (no built-in paid subs)
Best for shapeEach fits a different shape. Mailchimp for broad marketing automation (with the integrations Mailchimp built first). Beehiiv for the indie-newsletter wave. Kit for creators monetizing courses/products. Buttondown for technical/transparent shapes. MailerLite for cost-conscious Mailchimp migrants.
marketing emails + e-commerce
monetized newsletters + creator brand
creators selling products + automations
developer-shaped lists · transparent
Mailchimp-style automations at lower price
Sender reputation / deliverabilityAll five have credible deliverability in 2026. Mailchimp's volume gives it the longest reputation track record. Beehiiv and MailerLite run their own infrastructure. Buttondown uses external SMTP providers (Mailgun/Postmark) — your deliverability is partially theirs.
mature · industry baseline
good · own infrastructure
good · long track record
good · uses Mailgun/Postmark
good · own infrastructure
Branding removalButtondown removes branding even on the entry $9/mo tier. MailerLite removes it on the Growing Business tier ($10/mo). Mailchimp, Beehiiv, and Kit all push branding removal into higher-priced tiers.
Standard plan ($20+/mo)
Max plan ($96+/mo)
Creator plan ($33+/mo annual)
free with any paid plan
Growing Business ($10+/mo)
pricing / three scenarios

Pricing at three scales

Three receipts, three scales. The line items are the same; the prices move. Every number is from the public May 2026 pricing page — we round to the nearest dollar but don’t invent.

hobby.txt — personal newsletter · ~500 subscribers · weekly sendmonthly
LINE ITEMMailchimpBeehiivKitButtondownMailerLite
Email platformEssentials · 500 contacts$13Launch · freefreeNewsletter · freefreefree · 100 subs · or $9 for 1k$9free · 500 subs · 12k emailsfree
TOTAL · monthly$13/mofreefree$9/mofree
>At 500 subscribers Beehiiv, Kit, and MailerLite are all free. Buttondown's free tier caps at 100 so you'd be on the $9 paid tier. Mailchimp's Essentials starts at $13/mo. For genuine personal newsletters, the free Beehiiv / Kit / MailerLite tier covers everything.
side project.txt — growing list · ~3,000 subscribers · paid subscriptions startingmonthly
LINE ITEMMailchimpBeehiivKitButtondownMailerLite
Email platformEssentials · 3k contacts$35Scale · $69 (3k subs)$69Newsletter · free (under 10k)free~$25/mo for 3k$25Growing Business · ~$25$25
TOTAL · monthly$35/mo$69/mofree$25/mo$25/mo
>Kit's free tier still covers you at 3k subscribers — genuinely free. Buttondown and MailerLite land at $25 each. Mailchimp Essentials runs $35. Beehiiv Scale at $69 is the most expensive — but it unlocks paid subscriptions with 0% revenue cut, which can pay for itself with even 2-3 paid subscribers at $5/mo.
scale.txt — established newsletter · ~10,000 subscribers · monetizingmonthly
LINE ITEMMailchimpBeehiivKitButtondownMailerLite
Email platformEssentials · ~$110/mo$110Scale · ~$129/mo$129Creator · $139 (cliff from free)$139~$75/mo for 10k$75Growing Business · ~$60$60
TOTAL · monthly$110/mo$129/mo$139/mo$75/mo$60/mo
>At 10k subscribers MailerLite ($60) and Buttondown ($75) are meaningfully cheaper than Mailchimp ($110), Beehiiv ($129), or Kit ($139). The Kit jump from free to $139 is a real budget shock — plan for it before hitting 10k subs. Beehiiv at $129 is justified if your monetization revenue covers it; otherwise consider migrating before this tier.
verdict / pick one

When to pick which

pick / mailchimp

Pick Mailchimp if…

  • You need the broadest e-commerce integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, Square) — Mailchimp's integration depth is unmatched.
  • CRM-shaped contact management with audience segmentation, lifetime value tracking, and predictive analytics.
  • Your team already uses Mailchimp and the migration cost outweighs the alternative's savings.
  • Multi-channel marketing (email + SMS + social ads) from one platform is the shape.
  • You're at small scale (under 500 contacts) and the Essentials $13/mo fits — broader feature set than alternatives at this price.
Try Mailchimp →
pick / beehiiv

Pick Beehiiv if…

  • Monetized newsletter is the deciding feature — Beehiiv's paid subscriptions ship out of the box with 0% revenue cut.
  • Free Launch tier covers 2,500 subscribers — generous enough that many newsletters never need a paid tier.
  • Newsletter-first UX — sponsorships, ad network, referral program, audience growth tools all built in.
  • Recommendation engine (Beehiiv's network of newsletters) drives subscriber growth between your audience and others.
  • Podcast + newsletter + website all from one platform — Beehiiv ships these together.
Try Beehiiv →
pick / kit

Pick Kit if…

  • Free Newsletter plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers — by far the most generous free tier in this set.
  • Creator-focused features (sales pages, paid products, course delivery) are first-class.
  • Visual automation builder is the most mature for creator workflows (sell course → enroll buyer → trigger lessons).
  • Long track record (rebranded from ConvertKit in 2024) means battle-tested deliverability and support.
  • 0% on paid subscriptions on Creator plan and above.
Try Kit →
pick / buttondown

Pick Buttondown if…

  • Transparent per-active-subscriber pricing — no surprises, no list-bloat penalties for old unsubscribed contacts.
  • Developer-shape — clean Markdown editor, RSS-shaped archives, custom domain sending, indie-friendly defaults.
  • Branding removal is free on any paid tier ($9+/mo) — alternatives push this to higher tiers.
  • 0% on paid newsletter subscriptions.
  • Smaller scale, indie-run platform — direct founder support if you have specific needs.
Try Buttondown →
pick / mailerlite

Pick MailerLite if…

  • You want a direct lower-cost Mailchimp replacement with similar feature shape (automations, segmentation, landing pages).
  • At small-to-medium scale (1k-10k subs) MailerLite is consistently 30-50% cheaper than Mailchimp.
  • Built-in landing pages, websites, and forms — MailerLite ships these without separate tooling.
  • EU-based hosting (Vilnius, Lithuania) matters for data residency.
  • Free tier (500 subs) is enough to test the platform before paying.
Try MailerLite →
gotchas / observed

Gotchas, both directions

Common pitfalls visible in public docs and community discussion. None of these will stop you shipping; all of them will cost you an afternoon if you don’t know about them.

  • Mailchimp / free tier cut Jan 2026

    Free tier dropped to 250 contacts / 500 emails/mo

    Mailchimp cut its free tier severely in January 2026 — previously generous tiers are now 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends with branding on every email and no scheduling. If you signed up before the cut, you were likely grandfathered for a transition period. New signups get the new lower limits. The 'Mailchimp has a free tier' framing in older comparison articles no longer applies.

  • Beehiiv / Scale paid sub pricing

    Scale tier scales with subscribers — $69 at 3k, $129 at 10k

    Beehiiv's Scale plan starts at $49/mo for 1k subscribers and scales upward — $69 at 3k, $129 at 10k. The $49 entry price is for unlocking monetization features, not your final cost. Most monetized newsletters land at $70-150/mo Beehiiv depending on subscriber count. The 0% revenue cut compensates if you have enough paid subs.

  • Kit / 10k subscriber cliff

    Free Newsletter plan ends abruptly at 10,000 subscribers — jumps to $139/mo

    Kit's free Newsletter plan covers exactly 10,000 subscribers. The moment you hit 10,001, you must upgrade to Creator ($139/mo at 10k subs, billed monthly). The jump from $0 to $139 is real and surprises many creators who weren't tracking the count. Plan to either stay under 10k (prune inactive subs) or budget for the cliff well before you hit it.

  • Buttondown / external SMTP dependency

    Deliverability is partially Mailgun/Postmark's responsibility

    Buttondown uses external SMTP providers (Mailgun, Postmark) under the hood. Your deliverability and sender reputation depend partly on the underlying provider. For most indie newsletters this is invisible and fine. For high-stakes deliverability needs (compliance, regulated industries), platforms running their own infrastructure (Beehiiv, MailerLite) give you more direct control.

  • MailerLite / free tier cut Sep 2025

    Free plan dropped from 1,000 to 500 subscribers

    MailerLite cut its free tier in September 2025, dropping the subscriber limit from 1,000 to 500. Existing accounts were grandfathered at the 1,000-sub cap; new signups get 500. If you're under 1k subs and budget-conscious, MailerLite's free tier is still credible — but verify your specific limit before assuming.

  • All / unsubscribed contacts billing

    Some platforms bill for unsubscribed contacts

    Mailchimp historically billed based on total contacts including unsubscribed ones, which can inflate costs as your list churns. Kit and Buttondown bill only on ACTIVE subscribers. Beehiiv and MailerLite are mixed (verify based on your account settings). Audit your list regularly — pruning unsubscribed contacts can meaningfully reduce monthly cost on platforms that count them.

migration / observed patterns

Migrating between them

Editorial framing only — we have not migrated either way ourselves. What follows is the pattern visible in public post-mortems, GitHub issue threads, and conference talks. Take it as observed-pattern, not lived experience.

Mailchimp ━▶ MailerLite / Buttondown / Kit

Most common migration in this space, usually triggered by Mailchimp's pricing cliffs (the Essentials → Standard jump or Standard → Premium jump). All major alternatives accept Mailchimp CSV exports with subscriber data + tags. Email content (templates, automations) usually needs manual recreation in the destination platform's editor.

Plan 1-2 weeks for a non-trivial migration. The harder part is recreating automations — visual builder workflows don't transfer between platforms. Run both Mailchimp and the new platform in parallel for 2-4 weeks to validate deliverability before fully cutting over.

Substack ━▶ Beehiiv (paid subscriptions)

Common migration for creators who want to keep more of their paid subscription revenue. Substack takes 10% of paid sub revenue; Beehiiv takes 0% (you pay only Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢). For a newsletter with $1000/mo in paid subs, this saves $100/mo. Beehiiv has a Substack importer that pulls subscribers + paid sub status.

Plan: import to Beehiiv, run both for 1-2 cycles to validate paid sub status carries over, announce migration to readers, redirect Substack to Beehiiv. Most creators complete this in 2-4 weeks. Beehiiv's recommendation engine often grows the list further post-migration.

Mailchimp ━▶ Beehiiv (newsletter monetization)

Trigger: you want to monetize a newsletter via paid subscriptions but Mailchimp doesn't ship this natively. You'd need to add Memberful or Patreon as a separate billing layer — Beehiiv bundles this with 0% revenue cut.

Migration is straightforward: Beehiiv accepts Mailchimp CSV imports for subscribers. Tags and segments may need manual recreation. Allow 1-2 weeks. The harder part is editorial — recreating templates and adjusting send cadence to Beehiiv's content-first UX (rather than Mailchimp's campaign-first model).

faq / common questions

Frequently asked

What's the best free Mailchimp alternative?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has the most generous free tier — 10,000 subscribers on the Newsletter plan with unlimited emails and one automation. Beehiiv's free Launch tier covers 2,500 subscribers. For very small lists (under 500), MailerLite is also free. Buttondown's free tier caps at 100 subscribers (more of a trial).
Is Beehiiv cheaper than Mailchimp?
At small scale, Beehiiv's free Launch tier (2,500 subscribers) beats Mailchimp's new 250-contact free tier. At 5k+ subscribers Mailchimp Essentials and Beehiiv Scale are roughly comparable in price. Beehiiv's 0% revenue cut on paid subscriptions can make it dramatically cheaper if you monetize.
Can I migrate my Mailchimp list to another platform?
Yes. All major alternatives (Beehiiv, Kit, Buttondown, MailerLite) accept CSV exports from Mailchimp with subscribers, tags, and segments. Plan 1-2 weeks for a non-trivial migration — automations and templates need manual recreation in the destination platform's editor. Run both in parallel for 2-4 weeks to validate deliverability before fully switching.
Which has the best free trial without a credit card?
Most platforms in this set offer free trials without a credit card. MailerLite has a 14-day free trial on paid plans (no card). Beehiiv and Kit have permanently free tiers — no trial needed. Buttondown's $9 paid tier requires payment up front. Mailchimp's free tier is signup-only, no card.
How do I keep my Mailchimp templates when switching?
Templates don't transfer between platforms — each has its own editor and HTML/MJML structure. You'll need to recreate them in the destination platform. For simple newsletters this takes an hour or two. For complex multi-section automated emails, plan a day per template. Most teams use the migration as an excuse to redesign templates anyway.
What's the cheapest email platform for 1,000 subscribers?
Free is possible: Beehiiv Launch and Kit Newsletter both cover 1k subscribers for $0. Among paid options: Buttondown $9/mo and MailerLite Growing Business $10/mo are the cheapest. Mailchimp Essentials runs ~$17/mo at 1k contacts. Beehiiv Scale ($49 base, no scaling at 1k) is the most expensive paid option but unlocks paid subscriptions.
Do these platforms handle paid newsletter subscriptions?
Beehiiv, Kit (Creator+), and Buttondown all ship paid subscription support with 0% platform revenue cut (you pay only Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ standard processing). Mailchimp and MailerLite don't natively support paid newsletter subscriptions — you'd integrate Memberful or Patreon separately. For creators planning to monetize, this matters significantly.