MailerLite vs ConvertKit
MailerLite is the most affordable email tool at every list size. ConvertKit is the creator monetisation platform. The decision comes down to price vs built-in commerce.
Key takeaways
The core difference: MailerLite charges $10/month at 500 subscribers and $73/month at 10k. ConvertKit raised prices in late 2025 and now starts at $39/month for Creator and $79/month for Pro. At 10k subscribers, MailerLite is up to 5x cheaper. ConvertKit wins only if you need native digital product sales or paid newsletters.
- MailerLite Growing Business: $10/month (500 subs), $32/month (5k subs), $73/month (10k subs)
- ConvertKit Creator: $39/month (1k subs), $89/month (5k subs), $139/month (10k subs) — prices raised Oct 2025
- ConvertKit free plan: 10,000 subscribers but zero automation. MailerLite free plan: 500 subscribers with basic features.
- ConvertKit has native digital product sales, tip jars, and paid newsletters. MailerLite has none of these.
MailerLite vs ConvertKit: Quick Comparison
| Features | MailerLite | ConvertKit |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 500 subscribers | 10k subs (no automation) |
| Entry paid price | $10/month | $39/month |
| At 5k subscribers | $32/month | $89/month |
| At 10k subscribers | $73/month | $139/month |
| At 25k subscribers | $139/month | $199/month |
| Creator commerce | No | Yes (Stripe, 0% fee) |
| Paid newsletter subs | No | Yes |
| Referral programme | No | Yes (Creator Pro) |
| Visual automation | Yes | Yes |
| Drag-and-drop editor | Yes | No (text-first) |
What Are MailerLite and ConvertKit?
MailerLite
An affordable email marketing platform with a drag-and-drop editor, visual automations, landing pages, and pop-ups. Pricing based on active subscribers only.
- Free plan: 500 subscribers, 12,000 emails/month (reduced from 1,000 in Sept 2025)
- Growing Business: $10/month (500 subs), $32/month (5k), $73/month (10k), $139/month (25k)
- Advanced plan: $20/month start — adds custom HTML editor, unlimited users, advanced website features
- Active-subscriber billing only: unsubscribed and bounced contacts do not count toward your limit
- Drag-and-drop editor, visual automation builder, e-commerce integrations, multivariate A/B testing
ConvertKit
A creator-first email platform with native digital product sales, paid newsletters, and a tag-based subscriber system. Prices raised October 2025.
- Free (Newsletter): up to 10,000 subscribers, broadcasts only, zero automation
- Creator: $39/month (1k subs), $89/month (5k), $139/month (10k), $199/month (25k) — up from $29/month in 2025
- Creator Pro: $79/month (1k subs), $139/month (5k), $209/month (10k) — adds referral programme, subscriber scoring
- Native digital product sales: e-books, courses, templates sold directly with Stripe, 0% platform fee
- Paid newsletter subscriptions, tip jars, and the Kit creator recommendation network
Pricing Models: MailerLite, ConvertKit, and mailtani
MailerLite: subscriber-based, affordable at every tier
- Free: 500 subscribers, 12k emails/month (reduced from 1,000 in Sept 2025)
- Growing Business: $10/month (500), $32/month (5k), $73/month (10k), $139/month (25k)
- Advanced: $20/month start — adds custom HTML, unlimited users, advanced website features
- Annual billing saves 10%. Active-subscriber billing: unsubscribes and bounces excluded.
- Enterprise: custom pricing for 100k+ subscriber lists
ConvertKit: price-raised Oct 2025, steep for larger lists
- Free (Newsletter): up to 10,000 subscribers, broadcasts only, no automation
- Creator: $39/month (1k), $89/month (5k), $139/month (10k), $199/month (25k)
- Creator Pro: $79/month (1k), $139/month (5k), $209/month (10k) — referrals + scoring
- Prices raised October 2025: Creator went from $29 to $39/month, Pro from $59 to $79/month
- Annual billing saves ~16%. No overage fees; no per-email limits.
mailtani: €89 once, then near-zero sending costs
- One-time €89 payment — no monthly fee, no per-subscriber charges, no plan tiers
- Bring your own SMTP key — AWS SES, Resend, or any provider you control
- AWS SES: ~$0.10 per 1,000 emails — a 10k-email send costs about $1
- Unlimited contacts and sends: your cost never increases as your list grows
MailerLite vs ConvertKit: The Full Breakdown
The ConvertKit price increase in October 2025 changed the calculus significantly. Creator moved from $29/month to $39/month and Pro from $59/month to $79/month. At 10,000 subscribers, ConvertKit Creator now costs $139/month vs MailerLite Growing Business at $73/month. The gap widens at scale: 25,000 subscribers costs $199/month on ConvertKit Creator vs $139/month on MailerLite Advanced. If you chose ConvertKit for price in the past, the comparison looks different today.
ConvertKit's free plan is the largest in the industry but has a critical limitation. The Newsletter free plan covers 10,000 subscribers with zero automation. You can send broadcast emails but cannot build automated sequences or flows without upgrading to a paid plan. MailerLite's free plan caps at 500 subscribers, but its paid Growing Business plan from $10/month includes full automation. For most active senders, the ConvertKit free plan is a starting point, not a long-term solution.
Creator commerce is ConvertKit's genuine differentiator. Native digital product sales, paid newsletter subscriptions, and tip jars built directly into the platform with 0% platform fee (Stripe fees apply) are features MailerLite cannot replicate. The Kit recommendation network also lets creators grow by cross-promoting with other creators. If your business model involves selling directly to your email audience, ConvertKit offers infrastructure MailerLite does not.
MailerLite wins on email editor experience. ConvertKit takes a deliberate text-first approach: no drag-and-drop builder, no columns, no image galleries. This suits creators who prefer plain-text emails but frustrates designers or brands that want visually rich campaigns. MailerLite's drag-and-drop editor with customisable content blocks is significantly more flexible for visual email design.
Both platforms have strong deliverability, but neither offers infrastructure control. ConvertKit enforces strict list quality policies and has a reputation for high engagement rates. MailerLite has invested heavily in deliverability infrastructure. In practice, both deliver reliably for clean, well-maintained lists. Neither offers BYOS, custom SMTP, or warmup tooling, meaning you rely entirely on their shared sending infrastructure and policies.
How MailerLite, ConvertKit, and mailtani Compare, Feature by Feature
| Feature | MailerLite | ConvertKit | mailtani |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan with automation | |||
| Lowest paid price at every tier | |||
| Drag-and-drop email editor | |||
| Visual automation builder | |||
| Creator commerce (products) | |||
| Paid newsletter subscriptions | |||
| Tip jar | |||
| Referral programme | ✓ Creator Pro | ||
| Subscriber scoring | ✓ Creator Pro | ||
| Creator recommendation network | |||
| Landing page builder | |||
| Pop-up and signup forms | |||
| Multivariate A/B testing | ✓ Growing+ | ||
| Custom HTML editor | ✓ Advanced plan | ||
| Active-subscriber billing only | |||
| Unlimited team members | ✓ Advanced | ✓ Creator Pro | |
| E-commerce integrations | |||
| Bring your own SMTP | |||
| Flat one-time pricing | |||
| No monthly subscriber fees |
The Third Option: Why Founders Pick mailtani
- One-time €89 payment with no monthly subscriber fees and no per-contact billing as your list grows
- Bring your own AWS SES or Resend key: sending costs drop to ~$1 per 10,000 emails and you own your infrastructure
- Sequences, broadcasts, and automations all included without upgrading to a higher plan tier
- Unlimited contacts and sends: your tool cost stays completely flat no matter how large your list grows
What Each Tool Is Built For
MailerLite
Optimised for small businesses, bloggers, and creators who want affordable professional email.
MailerLite is the best-value email marketing platform in its category. Clean drag-and-drop editor, visual automations, landing pages, A/B testing, and solid deliverability at a fraction of what Mailchimp or ConvertKit charge. It is not built for creator monetisation — no native product sales, no paid newsletters. But for sending professional campaigns and growing a list without paying premium prices, it is hard to beat.
ConvertKit
Optimised for creators who monetise their audience through digital products and paid newsletters.
ConvertKit is the platform for professional creators who want to sell directly to their email list. Native digital product sales, paid newsletter subscriptions, tip jars, and the Kit creator recommendation network are features MailerLite cannot match. The tradeoff: ConvertKit is significantly more expensive after October 2025 price increases, and the text-first email editor limits visual design flexibility.
MailerLite vs ConvertKit: Who Should Choose Which?
Choose MailerLite if...
- You want the most affordable email marketing platform at every list size
- You need a drag-and-drop editor with visual email design flexibility
- You do not sell digital products or run paid subscriber newsletters
- You want automation, landing pages, and A/B testing at a low monthly cost
- You prefer active-subscriber billing where unsubscribes do not inflate your count
Choose ConvertKit if...
- You sell digital products, courses, or e-books directly to your email audience
- You run or plan to run paid newsletter subscriptions with Stripe revenue
- You want access to the Kit creator recommendation network for audience growth
- You prefer text-first emails and a tag-based subscriber management system
- You need a generous free plan to start at zero cost before paying
MailerLite vs ConvertKit: Pros & Cons
MailerLite
Pros
- Lowest price at every tier — consistently 30-80% cheaper than ConvertKit across all list sizes
- Drag-and-drop editor — flexible visual email builder with columns, image galleries, and content blocks
- Multivariate A/B testing — test multiple subject line and content variants simultaneously
- Active-subscriber billing — unsubscribes and bounces excluded from your count
- Fast, clean interface — arguably the most approachable editor in the email marketing category
Cons
- No creator commerce — cannot sell digital products or run paid newsletter subscriptions natively
- Smaller free plan — 500 subscribers (reduced from 1,000 in Sept 2025) vs ConvertKit's 10,000
- No referral programme — no built-in mechanism to reward subscribers for referrals
- Weaker creator network — no recommendation network comparable to Kit's cross-promotion tools
- Basic tagging — subscriber organisation is simpler than ConvertKit's tag-first architecture
ConvertKit
Pros
- Native creator commerce — sell products, courses, and paid newsletters with 0% platform fee
- Largest free plan — 10,000 subscribers free, the most generous in the industry
- Creator recommendation network — cross-promote with other creators to grow organically
- Tag-based architecture — powerful subscriber segmentation designed for creator workflows
- Referral programme — built-in referral mechanics on Creator Pro to reward engaged subscribers
Cons
- Significant October 2025 price increase — Creator jumped from $29 to $39/month; Pro from $59 to $79/month
- No drag-and-drop editor — text-first only; limited visual design flexibility for branded campaigns
- Free plan has no automation — 10,000 free subscribers but zero automated sequences
- Expensive at scale — $139/month for 10k subscribers vs $73/month on MailerLite Growing Business
- No multivariate testing — only basic A/B testing on subject lines at paid tiers
Neither MailerLite nor ConvertKit right for you?
Both tools charge monthly per subscriber — and ConvertKit raised prices in late 2025. mailtani is €89 once: bring your own AWS SES key and send unlimited emails with sequences, broadcasts, and automations included. No monthly subscriber fees, ever.
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