Kit Pricing in 2026: Free 10k Subs to Pro
Kit's pricing is a bet on your growth: free up to 10,000 subscribers, then Creator from $33/mo and Pro from $66/mo, both with annual billing — plus a 3.5% + 30¢ cut on commerce sales. Here's the full breakdown, the fee math nobody shows you, and when each tier makes sense.
Verify live pricing: figures below reflect the official page at research time (if kit.com fails, try convertkit.com/pricing). Confirm at kit.com/pricing before purchasing.
TL;DR
- Free to 10,000 subs: the most generous free newsletter tier anywhere — grow first, pay later.
- Creator from $33/mo with annual billing: unlocks automation depth, paid newsletters, and premium support.
- Pro from $66/mo with annual billing: advanced segmentation, deliverability extras, and team features, scaling with list size.
- Commerce fee: 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction on digital-product and tip sales.
- Best for: writers whose newsletter IS the business.
The tiers, explained
Free — up to 10,000 subscribers
Kit's free plan is deliberately extravagant: up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms, the visual automation builder basics, and Creator Network recommendations that bring you new readers. The strategy is transparent — Kit profits when you do — and for writers it means years of free growth before a bill arrives.
What's gated: paid newsletters, advanced automation rules, and premium deliverability tooling. Hobbyists and early growers lose nothing staying free; monetizers graduate to Creator.
Creator — from $33/month with annual billing
Creator unlocks the money features: paid newsletter subscriptions, deeper automation (branching sequences, advanced tagging), custom domains for landing pages, and priority support. At $33 a month, a single $8 paid subscriber tier with five members brings in $40 — covering the plan before Kit's 3.5% + 30¢ commerce cut and Stripe processing — so the math favors anyone already earning.
This is also where deliverability extras and detailed reporting start compounding: knowing which issue converted free readers to paid reshapes your editorial calendar within weeks.
Pro — from $66/month with annual billing
Pro scales per 1,000 subscribers from $66 and adds the professional layer: advanced segmentation, subscriber scoring, dedicated IP options, team seats, and concierge migration. Publications with five-figure lists and sponsor obligations live here — the per-1k scaling keeps costs proportional to audience value.
At this level, compare carefully with volume-priced alternatives: if most of your 50k subscribers are free readers, volume-based per-email pricing such as Brevo's Starter and Standard tiers may cost less to hold. If they're buyers, Kit Pro's monetization toolkit usually earns its premium.
The commerce fee, with real math
| Sale price | Kit fee | You keep (before Stripe) |
|---|---|---|
| $5 tip | $0.48 | $4.52 |
| $29 ebook | $1.32 | $27.68 |
| $99 course | $3.77 | $95.23 |
| $499 cohort seat | $17.77 | $481.23 |
Payment processing (Stripe) applies on top, so total take-home per sale is price minus Kit's cut minus processor fees. For digital products the fee is competitive with Gumroad-style platforms and buys you native integration — sales trigger automations, tag buyers, and feed the Creator Network with zero middleware.
Kit vs. the alternatives on price
Against MailerLite, Kit's free tier is vastly bigger (10,000 vs. 250 subs) but its paid tiers climb faster — small lists pay less with MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo for 500 subscribers, while Kit's Creator starts at $33/mo with annual billing. Writers who will stay under a few hundred readers for a long time often spend less on MailerLite; writers racing past 10,000 free readers spend nothing on Kit for years.
Against beehiiv, Kit's free tier stretches four times further (10,000 vs. 2,500 subscribers), while beehiiv's Lite at $49/mo monthly billing bundles the ad network for sponsorship-first writers. Newsletter writers earning from readers should price Kit against Substack-style 10% platform fees: Kit's flat subscription plus 3.5% commerce cut wins decisively past a few hundred paying readers.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Estimated monthly cost | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Solo writer — 5,000 subs, no paid products yet | $0 | Free |
| Paid newsletter — 8,000 subs, 200 members at $8/mo | From $33 plan + $116 commerce fees (200 × $0.58 = $116) + Stripe | Creator |
| Scaled publication — 15,000 subs with sponsor obligations | From $66 per 1,000 subs — run the live calculator | Pro |
The middle scenario uses Kit's own fee formula: 3.5% + 30¢ on an $8 membership equals $0.58 per member per month, so 200 members add roughly $116 before Stripe processing. Non-selling writers stay at $0 until Kit's 10,000-subscriber ceiling.
Hidden fees & fine print
- Commerce sales carry 3.5% + 30¢ on top of standard Stripe processing — the cut applies to tips, products, and paid subscriptions alike.
- The free plan ends at 10,000 subscribers: crossing it means paying even if you haven't earned a dollar yet.
- Paid newsletters, advanced automation rules, and premium support are gated to Creator ($33+) and above.
- Pro scales per 1,000 subscribers from $66 — larger lists cost proportionally more, so verify your exact bracket on the live calculator.
- Cold subscribers inflate every bracket; pruning non-openers quarterly is the cheapest way to hold your tier — check the plan comparison for current breakpoints.
Kit pricing FAQs
Is Kit really free up to 10,000 subscribers?
Yes — the free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with landing pages, forms, basic automation, and Creator Network access. Paid features (paid newsletters, advanced automation, premium support) unlock on Creator and Pro, so free suits growers while earners upgrade.
How does Pro's per-1,000-subscriber pricing work?
Pro starts from $66/month per 1,000 subscribers and scales with list size — a 5,000-subscriber list costs proportionally more than a 1,000-subscriber one. Check the live calculator on the official pricing page for your exact count, and prune cold subscribers to hold your bracket.
What does the 3.5% + 30¢ commerce fee cover?
Every digital-product, tip, or paid-subscription transaction processed through Kit Commerce incurs 3.5% + 30¢ on top of standard Stripe processing fees. In exchange, sales integrate natively with automations and tagging — no third-party checkout duct tape.
Kit vs. Substack: which costs less for paid newsletters?
Past a few hundred paying readers, Kit almost always wins: Substack-style platforms take ~10% of revenue indefinitely, while Kit charges a flat plan plus 3.5% commerce. A writer with 500 members at $8/month grosses $4,000: about $400 goes to a 10% fee, versus $33 + $140 (3.5% of $4,000) + $150 (30¢ × 500) = $323 on Kit — roughly $77 more kept every month, enough to fund the plan twice over.
What happens after I pass 10,000 subscribers?
Free ends and paid pricing begins: Creator from $33/month, or Pro from $66 per 1,000 subscribers if you need advanced segmentation and team features. Run your exact count through the live calculator before you cross the line.
Do I pay the commerce fee on the free plan?
The 3.5% + 30¢ fee applies to sales processed through Kit Commerce, and paid newsletters themselves require Creator — so free-tier senders never encounter it. Once you sell, budget the fee plus Stripe processing on every transaction.
Where do I confirm current Kit pricing?
On the official page at kit.com/pricing (fallback: convertkit.com/pricing). Verify tier limits and the commerce fee at checkout — and compare with our pricing hub and 16-tool guide.