ConvertKit is the former name of Kit, an email platform built for creators: you collect subscribers with forms and landing pages, send broadcasts, automate welcome sequences and sell digital products or paid newsletters from one account. Kit's Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, while visual automations, email sequences and earning from Paid Recommendations need a paid plan. Its plan comparison lists the paid Creator plan from $39 a month and Pro from $79 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers.
From ConvertKit to Kit
Kit's announcement, ConvertKit is now Kit, describes the renamed product as an email-first operating system for creators. The product kept its core jobs, but several names changed along the way, and tutorials written before the change use the old ones:
| Name in older guides | Name you will see now | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ConvertKit | Kit | The company, the app and the website |
| Newsletter Plan | Free plan | Kit's help centre still carries articles under both names |
| Creator Pro | Pro | Some current help articles still use the longer name |
| Kit Ads | Newsletter Sponsorships | The sponsorship articles still link to setup guides titled Kit Ads |
What the Free plan includes, and what it leaves out
| Feature | Free plan | Paid plans | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | Up to 10,000 active, unique subscribers | Priced by list size, starting at up to 1,000 | Kit Free plan article |
| Broadcasts, forms and landing pages | Unlimited | Unlimited | Kit pricing |
| Visual automations and email sequences | Not included, according to the current Free plan article | Unlimited on both Creator and Pro | What needs a paid plan |
| Selling products and subscriptions | Included, with the per-sale commerce fee | Included, with the identical per-sale fee | Kit commerce overview |
| Creator Network recommendations | Five Smart Recommendation slots that you can edit or switch off | Included, with priority when Kit picks creators to feature | Creator Network on the Free plan |
| Earning from Paid Recommendations | Not available on the Free plan | Available on Creator and Pro | Kit Free plan limits |
| Built with Kit badge | Stays on your pages and emails | Can be switched off | Kit selling FAQ |
| Support | Free accounts answered in order received, within 24 hours | 24/7 email and chat, with priority support on Pro | Kit plan features |
Two of Kit's own articles disagree here. The older Newsletter Plan article lists one basic visual automation with one email sequence on the free tier and says free support requests are answered within 24 to 72 hours, while the newer Free plan article says visual automations and sequences need a paid plan and that free requests are answered within 24 hours. Treat the newer article as current, and test the automation builder in your own account before planning a welcome sequence around it.
Recommendation slots on the free plan
Every new Kit account joins the Creator Network, the system that lets creators recommend each other at sign-up. On the Free plan, Kit fills your five Smart Recommendation slots automatically with creators whose content resembles yours, and the current article says all five are yours to edit. You can also be featured in other creators' Smart Recommendations, though paid plans get priority and a larger share of those placements.
The article also says you can turn Recommendations off at any time without changing anything else about the plan. If you have read that free accounts must keep Recommendations running, that describes an earlier arrangement; check the live article before deciding. On paid plans you can add Paid Recommendations, which look like free ones but carry a Sponsored tag, according to Kit's guide to enabling Paid Recommendations. For tactics that work across platforms, see our guide on how to grow a newsletter.
Creator or Pro: choosing a paid plan
Kit's Creator vs Pro article lists starting prices of $39 and $79 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers, two months free on annual billing and a 14-day trial with no card, and the pricing page shows $390 and $790 billed yearly at that size. Both rise with your subscriber count. The choice mostly comes down to team size and how much reporting you want:
- Creator covers welcome sequences, visual automations, RSS campaigns and integrations, with the plan comparison limiting it to two users.
- Pro adds unlimited team members, collaborative editing and A/B tests on email content as well as subject lines.
- Pro also adds open and click reporting broken down by mailbox provider or segment, which helps you spot deliverability problems early.
- Pro includes subscriber engagement scoring, which Kit's Pro feature notes describe as a one-to-five-star rating, useful for finding your most active readers or pruning inactive ones.
- Pro is also where Kit puts the SparkLoop-powered newsletter referral system and Facebook Custom Audiences sync.
Who Kit suits, and who it may not
- Good fit: creators who sell templates, presets, courses or a paid newsletter, because selling works on every plan and the fee is the same whichever plan you are on.
- Good fit: creators whose audience is spread across several social platforms and who want one list, automated welcome emails and tags for where each subscriber came from.
- Good fit: broadcasters with fewer than 10,000 subscribers, the Free plan ceiling, who mainly send one regular issue and can live without automations for now.
- Weaker fit: writers who want readers to discover them inside a reading app; Kit's discovery runs through recommendation slots on forms, landing pages and emails instead.
- Weaker fit: creators counting on ad income from a mostly non-US audience, since Kit's sponsorship article names US-based subscribers as one of the factors behind ad revenue.
What Kit takes when you earn
| Revenue stream | Kit's fee | Payout timing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital products, paid newsletters and tips | 3.5% + $0.30 per USD transaction, with card processing included | Weekly on Fridays, with the first payout 7–14 days after your first sale | Selling with Kit FAQ |
| Newsletter Sponsorships | 23.5% of total ad revenue | About 45 days after the end of the month the ad ran, paid to Stripe with no minimum | Kit Newsletter Sponsorships |
| Paid Recommendations | A 20% service fee plus a 3.5% transaction fee per confirmed referral, shown as 23.5% on the pricing page | Through SparkLoop to your connected Stripe account once referrals are confirmed | Creator Network reporting |
Paid Recommendation earnings count only once a referral is confirmed. Kit's reporting article lists the conditions a paying creator can set: the subscriber must be new to their list, may need to come from an approved country, may need to engage, for example by confirming within two weeks, and must stay subscribed for a pending period of one to 28 days. Newsletter Sponsorships, meanwhile, are open only to paid-plan users, who can browse campaigns and express interest, according to Kit's guide on running Newsletter Sponsorships. Kit's selling FAQ also notes that Kit collects VAT only, so other sales taxes stay with you.
Plan-fit worksheet
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Will your confirmed list pass 10,000 in the next year? | Budget for a paid plan, because the Free plan article says you must upgrade to keep sending | The Free plan can carry the list for now |
| Do you need a welcome sequence or any automation? | Creator at minimum | Free covers one-off broadcasts |
| Will a third person need their own login? | Pro, since Creator is limited to two users | Creator is enough for a solo creator plus one helper |
| Do you want readers to earn rewards for referrals? | Pro, which includes the SparkLoop referral system | Any plan works without it |
| Do you want to earn from recommendations or apply for sponsorships? | Creator or Pro | The Free plan still lets you trade free recommendations |
| Is selling products your main goal? | Any plan, since the per-sale fee does not change with the plan | Decide on the other rows instead |
| Must the Built with Kit badge disappear? | A paid plan | Free keeps the badge in place |
To weigh Kit against Substack, beehiiv and Ghost on fees, use the worksheet in our newsletter platform comparison, and our overview of ways to earn from a newsletter explains when each earning feature is worth switching on.
Migration-in checklist
- Confirm consent for every contact first. Kit's importing FAQ says each person must have given permission to receive your marketing emails; our email list consent guide covers the rules by country.
- Export from your current platform, remembering that Substack's list export cannot include subscriber names.
- Prepare the CSV as Kit's import guide describes: an email address column, a header row for every column, tags in one comma-separated column, and nothing you do not want imported, because imported values replace existing data.
- Import into a tag, as Kit recommends unless you have a specific reason to use a form or sequence.
- Expect no confirmation emails: the importing FAQ says subscribers imported into a double opt-in form are confirmed automatically.
- Leave out anyone who unsubscribed before; Kit will not reactivate previously unsubscribed addresses through an import.
- Decide who does the rebuild. Kit's migration guide says Kit can move your setup for free if you sign up for a paid plan; otherwise you recreate forms, landing pages, templates and automations yourself.
- Swap the old form embeds on your website and link-in-bio page for the new Kit ones.
- Send a test broadcast to yourself on a phone and a computer, and click every link.
- Download a backup export straight away; Kit's export guide says export links expire after five days.
- Check your bill against your confirmed count; Kit's subscriber status article says only confirmed subscribers count, including inactive ones it labels cold.
Limitations of this guide
Everything here was read from Kit's pricing page and help centre on 1 October 2026, in US dollars at the 1,000-subscriber price point. Kit's help centre mixes old and new plan names and two of its free-plan articles disagree, so test any feature you depend on in your own account, and recheck prices on the pricing page at your actual list size.
This guide does not estimate earnings from sponsorships or recommendations, which depend on your audience and the offers available. Tax handling is limited to what Kit states: it collects VAT only, so income tax, GST and US sales tax questions belong with a registered tax agent or accountant, and none of this is financial or legal advice.