Mailchimp vs ConvertKit (Kit) 2026: Which Email Tool Should Creators Pick?
Fastlancer Team · Updated: Oct 27, 2026
Mailchimp and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) both send newsletters, but they are built for different businesses. Mailchimp is a broad marketing platform for stores and small businesses; Kit is built for creators who sell content to their own audience. The quick verdict and the table below answer the choice; the rest is detail.
Read individual reviews: Mailchimp Review · Kit (ConvertKit) Review.
TL;DR — Quick Verdict
Choose Mailchimp if…
- You run a Shopify or WooCommerce store
- You want email, SMS and surveys in one tool
- You're a small business or agency with a broad marketing stack
- Polished drag-and-drop templates matter to your brand
Choose Kit (ConvertKit) if…
- You're a creator — author, podcaster, YouTuber, course creator, freelance writer
- You want to sell paid newsletters or digital products from your list
- You want tags instead of juggling several lists
- You want the larger free plan
Both fall short if…
- You need a full CRM with sales pipelines (use HubSpot)
- You need a true marketing-automation platform (use ActiveCampaign or HubSpot)
- You mainly need transactional email as a developer (use Postmark or Resend)
Pick by business model, not by feature list. People pay you for products or services: Mailchimp. People subscribe to you for what you create: Kit.
Browse all email marketing tools
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Category |  Mailchimp |
 Kit (ConvertKit) |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/ | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, forms and landing pages; Kit badge |
| Entry paid plan | Essentials — from $13/ | Creator — from $39/ |
| Mid tier | Standard — from $20/ | Pro — from $79/ |
| Top tier | Premium — from $350/ | – |
| Billed by | All stored contacts, unsubscribed included | Subscriber count |
| Team seats | Essentials 3 · Standard 5 · Premium unlimited | Creator 2 · Pro unlimited |
| Subscriber model | Separate audiences, plus tags | One list, organized by tags and segments |
| Automation | Flows: up to 4 steps on Essentials, expanded on Standard | Visual automations and sequences on paid plans only |
| Email templates | Large drag-and-drop library | Simple, plain-text-first templates |
| E-commerce | Shopify integration with abandoned-cart and product-recommendation flows | Shopify app to embed products and sync purchases |
| Paid newsletters, digital products | – | Built in, Free plan included |
| Sponsorships, creator growth | – | Newsletter Sponsorships + Creator Network |
| SMS marketing | Add-on on paid plans | – |
| Surveys | Native surveys | Via integrations such as Typeform |
| Transactional email | Mailchimp Transactional add-on (Standard, Premium) | Via Postmark or similar |
Monthly billing unless noted; prices scale with list size. Sources: mailchimp.com/pricing (USD), Mailchimp's plan help page, kit.com/pricing (US) and Kit's help center.
Mailchimp
- Priced by
- Contact count and plan
- Strength
- Shopify-triggered cart and back-in-stock emails
- Watch out for
- Unsubscribed contacts count toward your bill; SMS costs extra
Fits a shop or service business that runs email as one channel among several. For a solo creator's personal newsletter, most of that breadth goes unused.
Kit
- Priced by
- Subscriber count; annual billing gives two months free
- Strength
- Sell paid newsletters and digital products, even on Free
- Watch out for
- No automations or sequences on Free; no SMS
Fits authors, podcasters and course sellers. Once you need a welcome sequence or launch funnel, you move to a paid plan.
Mailchimp or Kit: which fits your situation?
| Situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Indie author with a few thousand subscribers, monthly newsletter, paid tier planned | Kit Free | Fits the free limit; launches, recommendations and paid tiers work without upgrading |
 Shopify store wanting abandoned-cart flows and SMS for launches | Mailchimp Standard | Store data drives the flows; SMS sits in the same tool |
| Solopreneur with courses and a podcast, launching a paid newsletter | Kit Creator | Paid subscriptions, sequences and tags for buyers vs free readers in one place |
Verdict
Creators building an audience should start on Kit Free and upgrade when they need automations. Stores and small businesses that want email, SMS and surveys together are better served by Mailchimp.
Looking for adjacent comparisons? See Brevo vs Mailchimp and the best email marketing tools for freelancers, or browse all marketing tools and all freelancer guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kit the same as ConvertKit?
Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit in 2024, and existing accounts, forms and integrations carried over under the new name.
Is ConvertKit the same as Mailchimp, and do they integrate?
No, they are separate products from separate companies. There is no ongoing sync between them, but Kit has a built-in Mailchimp importer that pulls your contacts, tags and merge fields over with your Mailchimp API key.
Is Mailchimp or Kit better for creators?
Kit, for most creators: tag-based subscribers, paid newsletters and the Creator Network are built in. Mailchimp is the broader tool for stores and small businesses that want email, SMS and surveys in one place.
Which is cheaper, Mailchimp or Kit?
Kit's free plan covers a far larger list than Mailchimp's, so it usually wins until you need automations. On paid plans Mailchimp starts lower, but it bills unsubscribed contacts too, while Kit bills by subscriber count.
Does Kit offer SMS marketing?
No, Kit is email only. Mailchimp sells SMS as an add-on to its paid plans.
Which is better for an e-commerce store?
Mailchimp. Its Shopify integration drives abandoned-cart, back-in-stock and product-recommendation emails, while Kit's Shopify app is lighter and suits creators selling a few products.
