beehiiv vs Kit for a brand-new newsletter (2026)
If you’re starting a newsletter from zero, the free plans matter more than the paid ones, because you’ll probably spend your first months on them. Here’s how beehiiv and Kit compare on what you get for $0 and what you’d pay for next. All figures come from the official pricing pages for beehiiv and Kit, checked October 9, 2026.
The short answer
- Pick Kit’s free plan if you expect your list to grow past 2,500 before you’ll pay for anything, or you plan to sell a digital product early. Kit Free goes up to 10,000 subscribers.
- Pick beehiiv’s free plan if you want the newsletter to double as a simple website and you like the idea of other newsletters recommending yours. beehiiv Free includes a recommendation network, landing pages and unlimited sends, up to 2,500 subscribers.
- Automated welcome emails cost money on both. On beehiiv, automations are listed from the Lite plan. On Kit, email sequences and visual automations are listed from the Creator plan.
Free plans side by side
| beehiiv Free | Kit Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0, “free forever” | $0 |
| Subscriber limit | Up to 2,500 | Up to 10,000 |
| Email sends | Unlimited | Unlimited broadcasts |
| Landing pages / forms | Landing pages included | Unlimited landing pages and forms |
| Other headline features | Email templates, recommendation network, API and integrations, website, podcast, community and digital products (“included on every plan”) | Audience tagging and segmentation, sell digital products and subscriptions |
| Remove platform branding | No (Pro plan and up) | No (Creator plan and up) |
| Analytics history | 30-day lookback | Not stated on the pricing page |
Sources: beehiiv pricing, Kit pricing.
What the first paid tier adds
Both pricing pages change the price with your list size. The numbers below are what each page shows at the 1,000-subscriber setting.
| beehiiv Lite | Kit Creator | |
|---|---|---|
| Listed price at 1,000 subs | $49, shown with yearly billing | $390 billed yearly (shown as about $33/mo); yearly is advertised as saving 17% vs monthly |
| Free trial | Free trial, no credit card required | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Key additions | Paid subscriptions (0% take rate), ad monetization, automations, polls, A/B testing | Unlimited visual automations and email sequences, A/B test subject lines, polls, remove Kit branding, RSS campaigns, apps and integrations, 24/7 email and chat support |
| Subscriber cap | Up to 100,000 | Priced by list size |
beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid-subscription and digital-product revenue; you pay Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Kit lists a transaction fee of 3.5% + 30¢ for digital products and subscriptions, which it says includes card processing. Kit also lists a 23.5% fee on earnings from its Paid Recommendations feature.
Which is better for a faceless creator?
This depends on how you’ll use the list, so here’s the reasoning rather than a verdict:
- If the newsletter is mainly a “here’s what I posted this week” email, Kit’s RSS campaigns (Creator plan) can send automatically when your blog’s RSS feed updates. On the free plan of either tool you’d send it by hand.
- If you want growth without ads, beehiiv’s recommendation network is included free, so other newsletters can recommend yours (and you can recommend theirs).
- If you plan to sell a template pack or guide, both list digital products on the free plan. Compare the fees above against your expected price.
- If you’re on a tight budget for a long time, Kit’s 10,000-subscriber free cap gives you four times the room of beehiiv’s 2,500.
What we’re doing next
We haven’t picked one for this site’s newsletter yet. When we do, we’ll add real numbers here (setup time, deliverability notes, growth) and say which one we chose and why.
Sources
- beehiiv pricing and FAQ: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing (checked Oct 9, 2026)
- Kit pricing: https://kit.com/pricing (checked Oct 9, 2026)