ConvertKit (Kit) vs Mailchimp for Startups: Free Plans and Costs by List Size
ConvertKit, now sold as Kit, and Mailchimp compared for early-stage startups: free-plan limits, prices at 250 to 10,000 contacts, and which tool fits lifecycle email.
For most early-stage startups, Kit (the product formerly known as ConvertKit) is the better first email tool. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers and includes unlimited email broadcasts, landing pages, forms, and audience tagging and segmentation, so a founder can collect sign-ups and send launch email at no cost. The reason to pay is automation: email sequences and Visual Automations start on the Creator plan at $33 per month billed annually. Mailchimp is the better pick when you want a general marketing suite and the lowest paid entry point at 500 contacts, which is $13 per month on the Essentials tier billed monthly.
This page is for founders at the pre-product-market-fit stage through to a small paying customer base. It compares what you pay at each list size, what the free plans include, and which tool handles the core lifecycle emails of a young product: a welcome series, an activation nudge, and a reminder before a trial ends. Prices were taken from each vendor's public pricing page, checked on 7 October 2026. Vendor pages change, so the figures are a dated snapshot, and the links in each section lead to the live pricing.
Quick Comparison
The table below sets the two tools side by side on the points a startup usually decides on first: who each tool is built for, what the cheapest real plan costs, and the limitation most likely to matter once the list grows.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price (plan and billing) | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit (ConvertKit) | Founders who want a free start, then automation as the list grows; creators and digital product sellers | Free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator at $33/month billed annually for sequences and Visual Automations | Sequences and automations need the paid Creator plan; the Creator monthly price is not listed |
| Mailchimp | Startups that want a general marketing suite and a low paid entry point at 500 contacts | Free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Essentials at 500 contacts $13/month, monthly billing | The free plan stops at 250 contacts; the price steps up at each contact tier, for example $100/month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts |
What Each Free Plan Actually Includes
Most startups begin on a free plan, so the limits matter more than the headline price. Kit's free plan is generous on list size. It allows up to 10,000 subscribers and includes unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. What it leaves out is automation. Visual Automations and email sequences are reserved for Creator. A free Kit account can send a newsletter to 9,000 people, but it cannot run a three-email welcome series on its own.
Mailchimp's free plan is much smaller. It allows one audience, up to 250 contacts, and up to 500 sends per month, with a maximum of 250 sends per day. A waitlist of 300 people has already outgrown it. The monthly allowance is also tight for launch work: one send to 250 contacts uses half of the 500 sends, so two announcements leave little room for follow-ups. The daily cap means a large send to a list near the limit has to be spread over more than one day.
Both vendors offer a trial of their paid plans. Kit lists a 14-day free trial on paid plans with no credit card required. Mailchimp lists a 14-day trial of its Standard plan, and its pricing page also shows a free-month offer on Premium. Promotions change, so read the terms on the pricing page at the time you sign up.
Cost by List Size
The second table prices both tools at five list sizes: 250 contacts (a waitlist or early beta), 500 contacts (the first paying audience), 1,500 contacts (a growing customer base), 5,000 contacts, and 10,000 contacts. Kit's free plan covers broadcasts at every size in the table, but automation needs Creator, so the table shows the two Kit columns separately. Mailchimp's price is set by contact tier, and where the pricing page does not show a price for a tier, the table says so.
| Contacts | Kit free plan (broadcasts, forms, landing pages) | Kit Creator (adds sequences and Visual Automations) | Mailchimp plan for that size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | $0 | $33/month billed annually | Free plan: $0, up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month |
| 500 | $0 | $33/month billed annually | Essentials: $13/month, monthly billing. Standard: $20/month |
| 1,500 | $0 (up to 10,000 subscribers) | $33/month billed annually, the listed Creator rate | Pricing on request for Essentials and Standard at this size |
| 5,000 | $0 (up to 10,000 subscribers) | $33/month billed annually, the listed Creator rate; the price for this size is on the Kit pricing page | Contacts 2,501 to 5,000 tier: $100/month, up to 60,000 emails a month |
| 10,000 | $0 (up to 10,000 subscribers) | $33/month billed annually, the listed Creator rate; the price for this size is on the Kit pricing page | Contacts 5,001 to 10,000 tier: $135/month, up to 120,000 emails a month |
Three things stand out. First, at 250 and 500 contacts Kit costs nothing for broadcasts, while Mailchimp needs a paid plan once the list passes 250 contacts. Second, if you need automation at 500 contacts, Kit Creator at $33 per month billed annually costs more than Mailchimp's $13 Essentials tier billed monthly. The honest comparison is therefore about features: confirm which automation features each plan includes before you compare the two prices directly. Third, at 5,000 and 10,000 contacts, Mailchimp's contact tiers are the figures to plan around, at $100 and $135 per month. Kit's free plan keeps subscriber count within its limit up to 10,000, but any paid Kit plan at those sizes needs its own price from the Kit pricing page.
Read the table as a starting point. Pricing on both sites can change between your research and your purchase. The vendor pages are the final reference: kit.com/pricing and mailchimp.com/pricing.
Kit (ConvertKit): Strengths and Limits for Startups
What Kit does well for early-stage founders
Kit's main advantage for a startup is that the account grows with you. A pre-launch team can publish a landing page, add a sign-up form, tag subscribers by interest, and send broadcasts from the free plan. When the product is live and the team wants a welcome series or an onboarding sequence, the same account moves to Creator, so there is no list to export and re-import at that point. The tagging model suits a founder who wants to split a waitlist by use case, for example teams that want an API against teams that want a no-code tool, and send each group a different message.
The Creator plan adds unlimited Visual Automations and unlimited email sequences, A/B testing of subject lines, and removal of Kit branding. For a startup that sells a template, a playbook or a paid newsletter, the free plan's ability to sell digital products and subscriptions means the team does not need a second commerce platform in its first months. The Pro plan at $66 per month billed annually adds subscriber signals, unlimited users, deliverability reporting, and a newsletter referral system. Pro matters when several people work in one account and the team wants deliverability figures in the dashboard.
Where Kit falls short
The main cost decision with Kit is automation. A founder who expects to send onboarding email from the first week pays for Creator as soon as the product needs sequences, and the Creator price in the listed plans is $33 per month billed annually. The monthly billing price for Creator is not listed, so a team that wants to pay month to month should confirm that option on the pricing page before it commits.
Kit is also built around creator workflows. Its templates, naming and examples assume a newsletter or a course, so a B2B product team will need to translate them into SaaS terms, such as trial stages and plan names. Its integration list is also narrower than Mailchimp's for general marketing extras. A team that wants one tool for ads, CRM-style reporting and many third-party connectors should check its own stack against the integrations section of the Kit site before it commits.
Price
Free for up to 10,000 subscribers, including broadcasts, landing pages, forms and tagging. Creator at $33 per month billed annually. Pro at $66 per month billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available on paid plans, with no credit card required. Full terms are on kit.com/pricing.
Mailchimp: Strengths and Limits for Startups
What Mailchimp does well for early-stage founders
Mailchimp suits a startup that wants a general marketing tool rather than a creator tool. It has a long record with small businesses, and its plan structure is easy to read: the price moves with the number of contacts, and each tier states its monthly send allowance. At 500 contacts the Essentials tier is $13 per month on monthly billing, which is the lowest paid price at that size in this comparison. A team that runs its website on a platform with a Mailchimp connector can often link the two without building custom integration work, though it should confirm the connector for its own platform first.
For a startup whose email is mostly announcements, feature releases and event invitations, Mailchimp's send allowances are simple to plan around. The Standard tier, starting at $20 per month for 500 contacts, includes up to 6,000 emails per month at that tier. The contact-based tiers scale the allowance too: up to 60,000 emails a month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts, and up to 120,000 a month for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts.
Where Mailchimp falls short
The free plan is the first limit a startup hits. At 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, a waitlist with a launch email and two reminders uses the whole month, and the 250-sends-per-day cap spreads a large send across days. Once the list passes 250 contacts, a paid plan is required. Price then rises in steps at each contact tier boundary: $100 per month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts and $135 per month for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts. A startup that grows from 240 contacts to 260 moves from a free account to a paid one in a single month, so the budget should include that step before it happens.
Mailchimp is also a general marketing platform. A product team that wants lifecycle email for trials, activation and subscription events will need to build its own segments and triggers, rather than starting from a product-specific model. That work is manageable for a small team, but it is real setup time.
Price
Free for up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. Essentials at 500 contacts is $13 per month on monthly billing. Standard at 500 contacts is $20 per month. The contact tier for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts is $100 per month, and the tier for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts is $135 per month. A 14-day trial of the Standard plan is listed. See mailchimp.com/pricing for the current tier table and any promotions.
Lifecycle Email for an Early-Stage SaaS
Lifecycle email is the set of messages a product sends around the customer journey: a welcome after sign-up, an activation nudge when a new user has not yet completed the key action, a reminder before a trial ends, and a note when a feature ships that a group of users asked for. For a young SaaS product these messages do more work than a monthly newsletter, and they should be triggered by what the user does in the product, not sent on a calendar.
Both tools can send sequences, but the path to them differs. In Kit, sequences and Visual Automations are a Creator feature, so a SaaS team that wants a five-email onboarding sequence should include Creator in its plan from the start. Tagging by sign-up source and use case is the natural way to start each sequence. In Mailchimp, the automation setup depends on the plan, so confirm on the pricing page which tier includes the automation features you need before you design the flow.
Billing-triggered email, such as a failed payment, a converted trial or a renewal reminder, is a separate question from general lifecycle email. Neither vendor's pricing page lists native billing-event triggers, so check each vendor's integrations and documentation for the payment provider you use. If billing triggers are central to your retention work, settle that question before you compare prices.
Which Tool Fits Which Situation
The decision table below maps common startup situations to a pick and the reason for it. It is meant to narrow the choice, not to replace testing the tools against your own list and content.
| If you need | Pick | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Email from day one at no cost, with the list under 10,000 | Kit free plan | The free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with broadcasts, forms, landing pages and tagging |
| Onboarding sequences from the first sign-up | Kit Creator | Sequences and Visual Automations are included on Creator at $33/month billed annually |
| The lowest paid price at 500 contacts | Mailchimp Essentials | $13/month on monthly billing for 500 contacts, against $33/month billed annually for Kit Creator |
| Selling a digital product or paid newsletter without a second platform | Kit | The free plan allows selling digital products and subscriptions |
| A general marketing suite and a broad integration list | Mailchimp | It is positioned as a general marketing platform; confirm the connectors for your stack first |
| Several team members in one account, with deliverability reporting | Kit Pro | Pro at $66/month billed annually adds unlimited users and deliverability reporting |
Migration and Setup Checklist
Many startups switch tools once, early, while the list is still small. Doing it carefully avoids losing subscribers, consent records and the segments you built. The checklist applies to moving between Kit and Mailchimp in either direction.
| Step | What to do | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Export | Export the full subscriber list with tags or groups, sign-up dates and consent status | Custom fields and tags may not map one to one; compare a sample of records after the import |
| 2. Map segments | Translate each tag or group into the new tool's equivalent | Keep the original names where possible so later reporting still makes sense |
| 3. Authenticate the sending domain | Set up the new tool's sending-domain records on your domain before the first send | Sending from a domain the new tool has not authenticated is a common reason launch email lands in spam |
| 4. Rebuild the welcome sequence | Recreate each email, trigger and delay in the new tool | Automation rules do not transfer between tools; test each step with a seed address |
| 5. Test with a seed list | Send a test broadcast and a test sequence to internal addresses on several mail clients | Check unsubscribe links, the sender name and the reply address before the first live send |
| 6. Keep the old account readable | Leave the previous account in place for a period so you can look up old campaign data | Cancel only after the new list and sequences have run without problems |
How to Choose
Start with the question of when you will need automation. If the answer is "after launch, in a few weeks," Kit's free plan lets you collect subscribers, send broadcasts and build segments now, then add Creator when the sequences are ready. That spending order fits most early-stage products. If the answer is "from the first sign-up," put Creator in the plan from day one, or confirm which Mailchimp tier includes the automation you need before you commit.
Next, look at your list size over the next six months, not only today. A list of 250 contacts fits Mailchimp's free plan, but a list that is growing fast will cross that line quickly. Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, so a startup that expects to stay under that number for a year pays for automation and nothing else. Mailchimp's contact tiers step up sharply from 2,501 contacts onward, so model the step before you choose.
Finally, check the integrations for the tools you already use: your website builder, your payment provider, your product analytics and your CRM. A cheaper plan with the wrong connector can cost more in engineering time than the price difference. Both vendors publish their integration lists on their sites, and those lists change, so read them on the day you decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kit still called ConvertKit?
In practice, yes. ConvertKit has been rebranded as Kit, and its pricing page is at kit.com/pricing. Both names refer to the same email tool for creators and small businesses. This page uses both names so that people searching either one can find it.
Which tool is cheaper for a startup with 500 contacts?
Mailchimp's Essentials tier at 500 contacts is $13 per month on monthly billing, and its Standard tier at 500 contacts is $20 per month. Kit's free plan costs nothing at 500 contacts for broadcasts, but automation requires Creator at $33 per month billed annually. The cheaper choice depends on whether you need automation at that size.
Can I send a welcome sequence on Kit's free plan?
No. Email sequences and Visual Automations start on the Creator plan. The free plan does include unlimited broadcasts, landing pages, forms and tagging, which covers launch announcements and newsletters until you need a multi-email onboarding flow.
How many emails can I send on Mailchimp's free plan?
The free plan allows up to 500 sends per month, with a maximum of 250 sends per day, and up to 250 contacts in one audience. A list above 250 contacts needs a paid plan.
Does either tool handle subscription billing events?
The pricing pages for both tools do not list native billing-event triggers. Review each vendor's integrations and documentation for the payment provider you use, since integrations change over time, before you rely on payment-based emails.
What happens to my subscribers if I switch tools?
Export your full list with tags, sign-up dates and consent status, then import it into the new tool. Consent records need to travel with each contact. Authenticate your sending domain on the new tool, rebuild the sequences, and send a test to a seed list before you move the live list.
Is Mailchimp a better choice than Kit for a B2B SaaS team?
It depends on the integrations you need and whether you want a general marketing suite or a creator-oriented tool. Mailchimp is positioned as a general marketing platform, which can suit a B2B team with a broad stack. Kit's creator-oriented templates may need more adaptation for a SaaS product. Test both against your own product emails before you choose.