Yes, up to 10,000 subscribers on the Free plan. Paid subscriptions aren't confirmed on Free; Creator and up unlock them, starting at $39/month billed monthly.

Yes, up to 2,500 subscribers on the Launch plan, which has no paid subscriptions. Past that you need Scale or Max, which add paid subscriptions and growth tools. At 5,000 subscribers Scale costs $89/month billed monthly.

Which has the bigger free tier, Kit or beehiiv?

Kit. Its Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, four times beehiiv's 2,500-subscriber Launch cap.

Which is cheaper, Kit or beehiiv?

Kit, by a small margin. At 5,000 subscribers the monthly prices match: Kit Creator costs $89/month billed monthly. beehiiv Scale costs $89/month billed monthly. On annual billing Kit Creator costs $75/month billed annually. beehiiv Scale costs $78.33/month billed annually. At 1,000 subscribers Kit's entry plan is cheaper too: Creator costs $39/month billed monthly. beehiiv Scale costs $49/month billed monthly.

Can I run multiple newsletters on Kit or beehiiv?

beehiiv supports 3 to 10 publications per account depending on plan. Kit doesn't document a publications limit at all, so whether it supports more than one newsletter per account isn't confirmed.

Does Kit or beehiiv include a custom domain?

Both do, on every plan including the free one: Kit's Free plan and beehiiv's Launch plan each let you use your own domain.

Does Kit or beehiiv take a cut of my subscription revenue?

beehiiv does not: its platform fee is 0% on every paid plan. Kit keeps 0.6% of each sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing.

Kit vs beehiiv: a bigger free tier or built-in multi-publication support?

Newsletter and publishing platforms · Verified 1 Oct 2026 · By Joonas Rotko

Kit

Desk research

From Creator, billed annually

$33/mo

$39/mo billed monthly

beehiiv

Desk research

From Scale, billed annually

$43.08/mo

$49/mo billed monthly

Quick answer

Kit's Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers before you owe anything. beehiiv's free Launch plan caps at 2,500, four times lower. Once you want paid subscriptions, Kit's Creator plan starts at $39/month billed monthly and beehiiv's Scale plan at $49/month billed monthly. At 5,000 subscribers the monthly prices match: Kit Creator costs $89/month billed monthly. beehiiv Scale costs $89/month billed monthly. On annual billing Kit is cheaper. beehiiv also documents support for several separate publications under one account, a feature nothing on Kit's own pricing page confirms, and at 10,000 subscribers with five publications beehiiv Max costs $219/month billed monthly. Prices verified 1 Oct 2026.

Across the three setups below: Kit in 2 of 3 scenarios.

Which one fits you?

Solo creator starting a newsletter, free so far
Kit
My pick
$0/mo billed annually
Kit's Free plan is free and covers up to 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv's free Launch plan caps at 2,500, four times lower, so a growing list forces the upgrade decision much sooner on beehiiv.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if you want paid subscriptions from day one; Kit only confirms them from Creator up, and beehiiv's Launch plan excludes them too.
See Kit plans
Creator or small business charging readers, list past the free tier
Kit
My pick
$75/mo billed annually
Kit Creator costs $89/month billed monthly, or $75/month billed annually, and includes paid subscriptions. beehiiv Scale costs $89/month billed monthly, or $78.33/month billed annually, for the same feature. Monthly prices match, and Kit is cheaper on annual billing.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
On monthly billing the two cost the same at 5,000 subscribers. On annual billing Kit is cheaper, and its Free plan covers a much larger list if you want to test before paying. beehiiv's lower platform fee only starts to matter once paid-subscription revenue is large.
Skip it if you want no platform cut on paid subscriptions at all. beehiiv's platform fee is 0% on every paid plan, while Kit keeps 0.6% of each sale.
See Kit plans
Agency running several client newsletters
beehiiv
My pick
$192.75/mo billed annually
beehiiv Max costs $219/month billed monthly, or $192.75/month billed annually, for 10,000 subscribers. It documents 10 publications and unlimited team seats under one account, which suits several client newsletters. Kit doesn't list a publications limit, and nothing on its own pricing page confirms it supports more than one newsletter per account, so it isn't priced for this scenario.
Why this pick, and when to skip it
Skip it if running each client's newsletter as a fully separate Kit account works for your workflow, or you'd rather check Kit's own site directly for any multi-brand feature not covered in its pricing page's plan comparison table.
See beehiiv plans

Neither fits? See the alternatives, or take the 2-minute recommendation.

How are Kit and beehiiv really different?

Free-tier subscriber ceiling
Kit
10,000, on the Free plan
beehiiv
2,500, on Launch
Kit lets a list grow four times larger before you owe anything; beehiiv forces the upgrade decision much sooner.
Paid subscriptions on the free tier
Kit
Not confirmed; Kit only confirms paid subscriptions from Creator up
beehiiv
Not on Launch; confirmed from Scale up
Neither tool lets you charge readers for free, so monetizing means paying either way once you're ready.
Running more than one newsletter per account
Kit
Not documented anywhere by Kit
beehiiv
3 to 10, by plan
If you need several separate newsletters under one login, beehiiv is the only one of the two with a documented answer.
Platform fee on paid subscriptions
Kit
0.6% of each sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing
beehiiv
0% take rate on paid plans; Stripe's own fees are separate
beehiiv keeps nothing of your subscription revenue and Kit keeps a small share, so the gap grows only as your paid revenue does.
Automations at the entry paid tier
Kit
Included from Creator, at $39/month billed monthly
beehiiv
Not on Launch; included from Scale, at $49/month billed monthly
Kit bundles automations in at a cheaper entry price, for the same 1,000-subscriber band. By 5,000 subscribers the monthly prices match.

What will Kit or beehiiv cost for your setup?

The cheapest plan that covers each setup, add-ons included. Prices exclude VAT.

Solo creator starting a newsletter, free so far

1,000 subscribers · 1 user

MonthlyYearly, per month

Kit

My pick

Free

Above 10,000 subscribers: Creator (+$141/mo, billed annually).

beehiiv

Launch

Above 2,500 subscribers: Scale (+$78.33/mo, billed annually).

See Kit plans

Usage, limits and billing

Kit

Uses 1,000 of 10,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $0 a year.
On annual billing: $0 a year.

beehiiv

Uses 1,000 of 2,500 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $0 a year.
On annual billing: $0 a year.

Creator or small business charging readers, list past the free tier

5,000 subscribers · paid subscriptions · custom domain · 1 user

MonthlyYearly, per month

Kit

My pick

$89

$75

Creator

Above 400,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

beehiiv

$89

$78.33

Scale

Above 100,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

See Kit plans

Usage, limits and billing

Kit

Uses 5,000 of 400,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $1,068 a year.
On annual billing: $900 a year.

beehiiv

Uses 5,000 of 100,000 subscribers.
On monthly billing: $1,068 a year.
On annual billing: $940 a year.

Agency running several client newsletters

10,000 subscribers · 5 publications · paid subscriptions · custom domain · 3 users

MonthlyYearly, per month

Kit

Fit unconfirmed

Pro is priced, but publications limit isn't published

beehiiv

My pick

$219

$192.75

Max

Above 100,000 subscribers: nothing published fits.

See beehiiv plans

Usage, limits and billing

Kit

The plan's price is published, but a limit this setup needs isn't, so the fit can't be confirmed.

beehiiv

Uses 10,000 of 100,000 subscribers, 5 of 10 publications.
On monthly billing: $2,628 a year.
On annual billing: $2,313 a year.
Above 10 publications: nothing published fits.

How I calculated this

For each tool I price every current plan plus the add-ons a setup needs, from the vendor's published prices only, and take the cheapest. Monthly and annual billing are priced separately. When a limit or price isn't published, the tool shows as not fitting instead of a guess.

Solo creator starting a newsletter, free so far: One writer, list still under 1,000, not charging readers yet. Sized to land inside every tool's free or entry tier so the comparison stays inside verified pricing.
Creator or small business charging readers, list past the free tier: A list past most free ceilings (beehiiv's Launch caps at 2,500), monetizing with paid subscriptions on its own domain. CAVEAT: beehiiv's price at 5,000 subscribers is not yet verified past its entry tier (see category note); Substack and Ghost price this correctly today since neither has subscriber-based tiers within a plan.
Agency running several client newsletters: Five client publications under one account, each monetized on its own domain, three people with access. CAVEAT: same beehiiv subscriber-tier gap as scenario b, at a higher list size where the gap matters more; Substack has no publications limit to check against (one account is one publication) so this scenario may not distinguish it well from scenario b.Kit, monthly billing: Pro is priced, but publications limit isn't published. Publications limit isn't published.Kit, annual billing: Pro is priced, but publications limit isn't published. Publications limit isn't published.

Kit vs beehiiv side by side

I compare newsletter platforms on: Real cost per list size, both billing bases; Free-tier subscriber ceiling before you must pay anything; Platform fee on paid subscriptions, on top of any monthly price; Number of separate publications/newsletters allowed per account; Team seats included; Custom domain: included or an extra one-time/recurring fee; Automations and growth tools (referrals, ad network, A/B testing).

Kit and beehiiv compared on the main buying criteria
Criterion	Kit	beehiiv
Real cost per list size, both billing bases	Free up to 10,000 subscribers. Creator from $39/month billed monthly at its entry band, and $89/month billed monthly at 5,000 subscribers.	Free up to 2,500 subscribers. Scale from $49/month billed monthly at its entry band, and $89/month billed monthly at 5,000 subscribers. Max $219/month billed monthly at 10,000 subscribers.
Free-tier subscriber ceiling before you must pay anything	10,000 subscribers on Free	2,500 subscribers on Launch
Platform fee on paid subscriptions, on top of any monthly price	0.6% of each sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing	0%, on every paid plan
Number of separate publications/newsletters allowed per account	Not documented by Kit	3 to 10, by plan
Team seats included	1 on Free up to unlimited on Pro	1 on Launch up to unlimited on Max

All details, including automation and AI workflows

All compared details for Kit and beehiiv
Criterion	Kit	beehiiv
Custom domain: included or an extra one-time/recurring fee	Included on every plan, including Free	Included on every plan, including Launch
Automations and growth tools (referrals, ad network, A/B testing)	Not on Free; unlimited visual automations from Creator up	None on Launch; automations, an ad network, and A/B testing from Scale up
Real cost per list size, both billing bases (full detail)	Free: 10,000 subscribers, free. Creator: $39/month billed monthly, or $33/month billed annually, at its entry band, and $89/month billed monthly, or $75/month billed annually, at 5,000 subscribers. Pro: $79/month billed monthly, or $66/month billed annually, at its entry band.	Launch: free, up to 2,500 subscribers. Scale: $49/month billed monthly, or $43.08/month billed annually, at its entry band, and $89/month billed monthly, or $78.33/month billed annually, at 5,000 subscribers. Max: $109/month billed monthly, or $95.92/month billed annually, at its entry band, and $219/month billed monthly, or $192.75/month billed annually, at 10,000 subscribers. Enterprise: contact sales.
How the price grows with your list	Kit prices Creator and Pro by subscriber count in steps, with a monthly and an annual price at each step.	beehiiv prices Scale and Max by subscriber count in steps, from 1,000 up to 100,000 subscribers, with a monthly and an annual price at each step. Lists of 100,000 and more go to Contact Sales.
Free tier / trial	Free plan is permanent, up to 10,000 subscribers. Paid plans add a 14-day trial, no card required.	Launch is free permanently, up to 2,500 subscribers; Scale and Max add a trial period before you pay.
Publications per account	Not documented anywhere by Kit; the pricing page's plan comparison doesn't mention a publications limit.	3 (Launch) to 10 (Max)
Subscriber cap per plan	10,000 on Free. Creator and Pro both go up to 400,000 subscribers, in price steps.	2,500 on Launch. Scale and Max go up to 100,000 subscribers, with a published price at every step.
Team seats	1 (Free), 2 (Creator), unlimited (Pro)	1 (Launch) to unlimited (Max)
Paid subscriptions	Not confirmed on Free; included from Creator up	Not on Launch; included from Scale up
Platform fee	0.6% of each sale on digital products and subscriptions, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing	0% on every paid plan
Custom domain	Included; a custom domain works on every plan, including Free	Included; a custom domain works on every plan, including the free Launch plan
Automations and growth tools	Not on Free; unlimited visual automations from Creator up, advanced automation features added on Pro	None on Launch; automations, an ad network, and A/B testing from Scale up

Who should pick Kit, and who should pick beehiiv?

Kit

Desk research

Best for solo creators just starting out
Best for creators and small businesses monetizing a list

Kit is a creator-first email platform with a free tier up to 10,000 subscribers and automations on the paid plans. The paid tiers add advanced automation, engagement analytics and unlimited team members, and the bundle is the strength: email, digital product sales and paid subscriptions all come standard, not as add-ons, with Kit keeping 0.6% of each sale. It suits creators who want a complete toolkit in one place.

Best for: Email creators and small publishers who need email and product sales in one place, and are fine with a small platform fee on subscriber revenue.

Strengths

A real free plan up to 10,000 subscribers, with 1 team member and no trial required.
Kit keeps only 0.6% of each digital product or subscription sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing.
Unlimited visual automations and paid subscriptions from the Creator plan ($39/month billed monthly at the entry list size).

Limits

The free tier goes up to 10,000 subscribers, so paying only makes sense once you need automation, paid subscriptions or more seats rather than more room.
Creator includes 2 team seats; unlimited seats only arrive at the Pro plan ($79/month billed monthly at the entry list size).
Published prices run up to 400,000 subscribers; above that Kit asks you to request a custom plan.

Skip it if you need more than 1 team seat on Free.

Kit review Kit pricing Kit alternatives

beehiiv

Desk research

Best for agencies managing multiple client newsletters

beehiiv starts free up to 2,500 subscribers, then moves to paid plans with real automations, paid subscriptions and a 0% platform cut on any subscription revenue you charge. It suits a creator who wants automations and paid subscriptions without running their own site, once the free tier's cap is outgrown.

Best for: Creators who want growth and monetization tooling beyond a plain newsletter, and don't mind a paid plan once they outgrow the free tier.

Strengths

A real free plan up to 2,500 subscribers.
0% platform fee on paid subscriptions.
Automations and paid subscriptions from Scale ($49/month billed monthly).

Limits

Launch caps out at 2,500 subscribers and 1 team seat.
Paid subscriptions and automations need Scale or above; nothing beyond the free tier is free.
Pricing scales with list size past the entry tier: what a growing list costs at 20,000+ subscribers isn't a flat rate.

Skip it if you're comfortable on Substack's simpler free-forever model and don't need automations.

beehiiv review beehiiv pricing beehiiv alternatives

My pick: Kit in 2 of 3 scenarios.

See Kit plans See beehiiv plans

Neither Kit nor beehiiv? Try these

Substack
Pick it if you want a genuinely free-forever platform with no subscriber cap at all, on the one plan there is, and don't mind Substack's percentage cut once you start charging readers.
Substack review Substack alternatives
Ghost
From $18/mo billed monthly
Pick it if you want full ownership of a self-branded, ad-free site, a documented multi-publication setup, and no revenue share from day one, no free tier needed.
Ghost review Ghost alternatives
Mailchimp
From $27/mo billed monthly
Pick it if you want a general email-marketing/CRM platform instead of a publishing-first tool. It's the category default people know, but cheaper, more newsletter-focused alternatives exist if that's your only use case.
Outside this category: General email-marketing/CRM tool, not a publishing platform: no native site, no paid-subscription-first monetization model.
Mailchimp review Mailchimp alternatives

Switching between Kit and beehiiv

Kit publishes a dedicated guide for migrating from beehiiv, covering the subscriber export and import steps directly. beehiiv accepts a general CSV subscriber import from any platform, but doesn't publish a Kit-specific guide the way Kit does for beehiiv.

What would change my pick?

Kit's own pricing page confirming, or ruling out, support for more than one newsletter per account would close the one gap in Kit's published documentation.
A price change on either side would move the annual gap at 5,000 subscribers, where the monthly prices match today.
beehiiv raising Launch's free-tier subscriber cap would narrow Kit's main advantage for someone not yet paying.

Kit vs beehiiv: questions people ask

Is Kit free?: Yes, up to 10,000 subscribers on the Free plan. Paid subscriptions aren't confirmed on Free; Creator and up unlock them, starting at $39/month billed monthly.
Is beehiiv free?: Yes, up to 2,500 subscribers on the Launch plan, which has no paid subscriptions. Past that you need Scale or Max, which add paid subscriptions and growth tools. At 5,000 subscribers Scale costs $89/month billed monthly.
Which has the bigger free tier, Kit or beehiiv?: Kit. Its Free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, four times beehiiv's 2,500-subscriber Launch cap.
Which is cheaper, Kit or beehiiv?: Kit, by a small margin. At 5,000 subscribers the monthly prices match: Kit Creator costs $89/month billed monthly. beehiiv Scale costs $89/month billed monthly. On annual billing Kit Creator costs $75/month billed annually. beehiiv Scale costs $78.33/month billed annually. At 1,000 subscribers Kit's entry plan is cheaper too: Creator costs $39/month billed monthly. beehiiv Scale costs $49/month billed monthly.
Can I run multiple newsletters on Kit or beehiiv?: beehiiv supports 3 to 10 publications per account depending on plan. Kit doesn't document a publications limit at all, so whether it supports more than one newsletter per account isn't confirmed.
Does Kit or beehiiv include a custom domain?: Both do, on every plan including the free one: Kit's Free plan and beehiiv's Launch plan each let you use your own domain.
Does Kit or beehiiv take a cut of my subscription revenue?: beehiiv does not: its platform fee is 0% on every paid plan. Kit keeps 0.6% of each sale, inside an all-in transaction fee that already covers card processing.

How I verified this

Every price and limit here comes from the vendors' own pages, last checked 1 Oct 2026. Kit: desk research. beehiiv: desk research.

Sources and changelog

37 facts from 4 source pages, oldest checked 30 Sep 2026.

Kit pricing (checked 30 Sep 2026)
beehiiv pricing (checked 1 Oct 2026)
beehiiv plan types and subscriber tier pricing (checked 1 Oct 2026)
Kit help center: Migrating from Beehiiv to Kit (checked 1 Oct 2026)

1 Oct 2026: beehiiv pricing now covers lists up to 100,000 subscribers on both billing bases, and Kit's Free plan now covers a larger list, Kit's platform fee is a small percentage of each sale rather than nothing, and Kit's custom domain is included on every plan. At 5,000 subscribers Kit and beehiiv cost the same on monthly billing and Kit is cheaper on annual billing. The picks stay the same: Kit for the first two scenarios, beehiiv for the multi-publication agency.
30 Sep 2026: New page, built for the newsletter-platforms category rollout. Kit doesn't cover multi-publication support, which is treated as unconfirmed, neither a yes nor a no. Both Kit's and beehiiv's prices past a shared 1,000-subscriber entry band are set by an interactive slider with no static breakpoint table published, and are excluded from every computed cost claim.

Spot something out of date?Vendors and readers, send me the correct fact.

Software sites change almost every week, and I want every claim on this page to be factually correct. If you are a vendor or a reader, send me the correct fact and a link to the official page. I will check it and update the page. The opinions and rankings stay mine.

Kit vs beehiiv: a bigger free tier or built-in multi-publication support?

Quick answer

Which one fits you?

How are Kit and beehiiv really different?

Free-tier subscriber ceiling

Paid subscriptions on the free tier

Running more than one newsletter per account

Platform fee on paid subscriptions

Automations at the entry paid tier

What will Kit or beehiiv cost for your setup?

Solo creator starting a newsletter, free so far

Creator or small business charging readers, list past the free tier

Agency running several client newsletters

Kit vs beehiiv side by side

Who should pick Kit, and who should pick beehiiv?

Kit

beehiiv

Neither Kit nor beehiiv? Try these

Switching between Kit and beehiiv

What would change my pick?

Kit vs beehiiv: questions people ask

Is Kit free?

Is beehiiv free?

Which has the bigger free tier, Kit or beehiiv?

Which is cheaper, Kit or beehiiv?

Can I run multiple newsletters on Kit or beehiiv?

Does Kit or beehiiv include a custom domain?

Does Kit or beehiiv take a cut of my subscription revenue?

How I verified this

Compare Kit or beehiiv with another tool

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beehiiv vs …

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