Newsletter software · pricing

Kit vs beehiiv for a business newsletter: what it really costs at 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers

The short verdict

• If you only send a newsletter and have fewer than 10,000 subscribers, choose Kit Free. It costs $0 up to 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv Free stops at 2,500.
• If you need automated welcome sequences, choose Kit Creator billed yearly. At every list size we priced, it’s the cheapest paid plan with automations: $390, $890 or $1,390 a year at 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv Lite billed yearly works out to $588, $1,140 or $1,428. Kit Creator also removes Kit branding, which beehiiv only does from Pro.
• If 3 to 10 people need their own logins, Kit Pro is still cheaper than beehiiv Pro on yearly billing, both in its discounted first year and at our estimated renewal price (see the tables).
• Choose beehiiv if you run several newsletters, or want beehiiv’s ad network and recommendation features. beehiiv lists 3 publications on Lite and 10 on Pro. Kit’s pricing page doesn’t state a publication limit either way.
• Don’t choose beehiiv just to avoid Kit’s sales fee. Kit’s 3.5% + 30¢ already includes card processing. beehiiv’s “0%” is charged on top of Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢. The real gap is about 0.6% of sales (see “Selling through your newsletter”).

What each plan costs at your list size

All figures are US-dollar list prices for the plan’s single base account, with the subscriber selector set to the count shown. “Yearly” means one annual charge. “Monthly” means billed month to month. ★ means the vendor printed the annual total. Every other annual total is our arithmetic (price × 12), so confirm it at checkout. The conditions for each price are in the Pricing conditions table below.

1,000 subscribers

5,000 subscribers

10,000 subscribers

Two things the price cards don’t make obvious:

• Kit’s per-month figures on the yearly toggle are rounded. The Creator card shows “$33/mo” at 1,000 subscribers, but the charge is “$390 billed yearly.” Budget from the billed total.
• Kit Pro’s yearly price is a first-year promotion. Kit says the discount applies only to your first year of Pro and that the plan renews at the standard rate after that. Kit doesn’t print that renewal total. We worked it out two ways: the struck-through monthly figure Kit shows ($66, $116 or $158) × 12, and the first-year total ÷ 0.75 to undo the “extra 25% off first year.” Those give the ranges in the tables. Kit’s “Save $355 first year” (at 1,000 subscribers) compares the promo with paying monthly. Against Pro’s regular yearly price, the promo saves about $198.

What you get for the money

Free plans. Kit Free includes landing pages, forms, broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions. It has 1 user and no visual automations or automated sequences. beehiiv Free includes unlimited sends, templates, landing pages, the recommendation network and API access, with 1 seat. On beehiiv, paid subscriptions, ad monetization and automations start on Lite.

Kit Creator vs beehiiv Lite. These are the plans most small businesses will compare, and they aren’t equivalent:

• Logins: Kit Creator has 2 users. beehiiv Lite has 2 seats and 3 publications.
• Automations: both include them. Kit lists “Unlimited” visual automations and email sequences.
• Branding: Kit Creator removes it. beehiiv Lite does not; that starts on Pro.
• Analytics history: beehiiv Lite has a 12-month lookback. Kit’s pricing page doesn’t state one.

Kit Pro vs beehiiv Pro. Kit Pro adds unlimited users, engagement analytics and deliverability reporting. beehiiv Pro adds 10 seats, 10 publications, branding removal, webhooks, dynamic content and unlimited analytics history.

Selling through your newsletter: the fee math

Kit lists a transaction fee of 3.5% + 30¢ on every plan, and says this includes credit card processing, so Kit itself keeps about 0.6%. beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription and digital product revenue, but you still pay Stripe’s standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Like for like, that’s 3.5% + 30¢ on Kit against 2.9% + 30¢ on beehiiv. On $1,000 a month of sales, you’d pay about $6 a month more on Kit. On yearly billing at 1,000 subscribers, beehiiv Lite costs $198 more than Kit Creator. You’d need roughly $33,000 a year in newsletter sales before beehiiv’s lower fee covers that gap. At 10,000 subscribers the price gap is only $38, so beehiiv pulls ahead at about $6,300 a year in sales. This assumes standard Stripe pricing and Kit’s stated fee. International cards or currency conversion may cost more.

Who should not choose each

Skip Kit if you run several separate newsletters and need that confirmed in writing. Kit’s pricing page doesn’t state a publication limit, so ask Kit before buying. Also skip it if you need 3 or more logins but don’t want Pro.

Skip beehiiv if you have 2,500 to 10,000 subscribers and only send a newsletter. Kit Free covers that for $0, while beehiiv requires at least Lite at $588 or more a year. Also skip it if you want unbranded emails on a budget: branding removal starts at beehiiv Pro.

Gotchas buyers miss

1. Free-plan ceilings. beehiiv’s help center says that when your subscriber count reaches your plan’s limit, you need to upgrade to keep growing.
2. Automatic tier jumps. Kit’s FAQ says that if you go over your limit, it automatically upgrades you to the next subscriber tier. Downgrading after a list clean-up is manual: you have to email Kit.
3. Kit’s price moves in subscriber bands. For example, Creator billed monthly was $59 at 3,000 subscribers and $119 at 8,000. Check the selector at your exact count.
4. Annual lock-in on beehiiv. beehiiv says you can’t pause a plan that’s billed annually. Monthly plans can be paused for up to 30 days.
5. Seats. Neither free plan allows a second user.
6. Kit Pro renewal. Budget year two at the estimated standard rate, not the promo.

FAQ

Which is cheaper at 5,000 subscribers?

For a newsletter only, Kit Free at $0. With automations, Kit Creator at $890 billed yearly, compared with about $1,140 for beehiiv Lite billed yearly ($95 × 12).

Which is cheaper at 10,000 subscribers?

On monthly billing, Kit Creator and beehiiv Lite were both $139 a month on Nov 4, 2026. On yearly billing, Kit Creator is $1,390 and beehiiv Lite works out to about $1,428.

Do either charge per email sent?

No. Kit says there are no sending limits on any of its plans, and beehiiv lists unlimited sends on every plan.

Can I try paid features first?

Both advertise free trials with no credit card required: 14 days on Kit Creator and Pro, and 14 days of beehiiv Pro, according to beehiiv’s help center.

Pricing conditions

Each price is a US-dollar list price, read from a logged-out, US-location page load on Nov 4, 2026. No taxes are included. Prices are for one account, at the subscriber count shown, for new sign-ups. Confirm at checkout. Where a price appears only after page scripts run, we kept a dated screenshot.

beehiiv’s Oct 1, 2026 announcement says existing customers move to the new prices at their first renewal on or after Nov 1, 2026. Older articles may show the retired plan names (Launch, Scale, Max).

Sources (all checked Nov 4, 2026)

• Kit pricing page: kit.com/pricing (subscriber selector at 1,000 / 3,000 / 5,000 / 8,000 / 10,000; yearly and monthly toggles)
• beehiiv pricing page: beehiiv.com/pricing
• beehiiv help center, plan types and subscriber tier pricing: beehiiv.com/support
• beehiiv announcement, new plans and pricing (Oct 1, 2026): beehiiv.com/blog

Also compare: HubSpot Starter vs Pipedrive for a 5-person sales team.

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