beehiiv vs Kit for a UK newsletter: free plans, pricing and features
Read this first: this is a research guide built from beehiiv’s and Kit’s own pricing pages and help centre, checked 24 October 2026. It is not a hands-on test. Both price in US dollars; the pounds in brackets are approximate, using European Central Bank reference rates for 23 October 2026 (about $1 = £0.748). None of the links on this page are affiliate links. The AI Barn’s own newsletter is sent with beehiiv, so you know where we stand.
The short version
beehiiv and Kit (the company formerly called ConvertKit) both let you collect email sign-ups and send a newsletter, and both have a free plan that is enough to start. The differences show up in how many subscribers the free plan allows, which features need paying for, and how each wants you to earn from your list.
- beehiiv Free allows up to 2,500 subscribers and includes a website, newsletter archive and podcast hosting. Automations, custom domains and its ad network need a paid plan.
- Kit Free allows up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts. Automations and email sequences need a paid plan.
The free plans in detail
beehiiv Free
According to beehiiv’s pricing page, the Free plan includes up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited email sends and posts, one publication, a website builder with templates and one custom page, subscribe forms, campaign analytics with a 30-day lookback, its Recommendation Network, and API access (excluding the Send API). It shows beehiiv branding, and it doesn’t include custom domains, A/B testing, custom HTML or email automations (beehiiv.com/pricing).
Kit Free
Kit’s help centre says the Free plan costs nothing for as long as you stay under 10,000 subscribers. It includes unlimited forms and landing pages, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, A/B testing on broadcasts, selling digital products and subscriptions, Creator Network recommendations, and API access. Visual automations, email sequences, RSS campaigns and paid apps need the Creator or Pro plan. When you pass 10,000 subscribers you have to upgrade to keep sending (Kit Help Center).
The practical gap for a beginner: on Kit Free you can’t build an automated welcome sequence; on beehiiv Free you can’t build email automations either, but you do get a hosted website and archive for your posts. beehiiv lists a welcome email on its Free plan; on Kit, check what your sign-up form’s settings send. Either way, decide what you actually need before choosing.
| beehiiv | Kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan limit | Up to 2,500 subscribers | Up to 10,000 subscribers |
| First paid plan | Lite: $49/month billed yearly (≈£36.65) or $59 monthly (≈£44.13) | Creator: $390 a year, about $33/month (≈£24.31/month); monthly billing costs more |
| Next plan | Pro: $95/month yearly (≈£71.05) or $109 monthly (≈£81.52) | Pro: from $66/month billed yearly (≈£49.37), with a first-year offer shown at the time of checking |
| Automations | Lite (10 live) and Pro (unlimited) | Creator and Pro |
| Remove branding | Pro only | Listed as a paid feature; check the plan table |
| Paid subscriptions | Paid plans; beehiiv says it takes 0%, plus Stripe’s fees | All plans; Kit charges 3.5% + 30c per transaction, including card processing |
| Built-in ads or sponsorship | Ad network on paid plans (not in every region) | Paid Recommendations and a sponsorship network on paid plans |
How the paid plans scale
Both charge more as your list grows. On beehiiv, Lite at up to 2,500 subscribers is $69 a month billed yearly (≈£51.61) or $79 monthly (≈£59.08), and Lite is sold up to 100,000 subscribers. Pro adds removing beehiiv branding, up to 10 publications, RSS-to-send, dynamic content and priority support. On Kit, the pricing page shows Creator at $390 billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers and says paying yearly saves 17%. Creator adds unlimited visual automations, sequences and subject-line A/B tests; Pro adds engagement analytics, deliverability reporting and unlimited users.
Because subscriber counts drive the price, the cheapest option at 1,000 subscribers may not be the cheapest at 8,000. Use each company’s own price slider with your realistic list size a year from now.
UK points to check, whichever you pick
- Consent and unsubscribing. Marketing email in the UK is covered by UK GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). Get clear consent at sign-up, say what people are signing up for, and make unsubscribing easy (ICO).
- Your privacy notice. Name the newsletter provider you use and link to its privacy policy, as both are processing your subscribers’ data on your behalf. Our UK GDPR guide covers processors and contracts.
- Sponsored content. If you run ads or paid recommendations, label them clearly as ads. The ASA and CMA’s guidance on making ads obvious applies to newsletters as well as social posts (ASA and CMA influencers’ guide).
- Currency and VAT. Both list prices in dollars. Check your checkout total for VAT and your bank’s exchange rate. If you’re VAT-registered, the reverse charge may apply to services bought from abroad (GOV.UK).
- Income. If a newsletter starts making money, that income counts towards your trading income. See our UK side hustle tax basics.
Who each is likely to suit
- beehiiv may suit you if you want your newsletter to live on a website as well as in inboxes, you like the idea of one tool for posts, archive and a simple site, and you expect to stay under 2,500 subscribers for a while.
- Kit may suit you if you expect a bigger free list, you plan to sell digital products or paid subscriptions straight away, or you’ll soon want automated sequences (for example, a five-email course for new subscribers) and are happy to pay for Creator to get them.
- Either way, you can export your subscriber list from both, so you aren’t locked in. Moving later is work, though, so it’s worth choosing carefully.
A newsletter takes time to grow, and many never earn anything. Choose the tool that makes writing every week easiest, not the one with the biggest monetisation promises.
Sources
All checked 24 October 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy.
- beehiiv pricing and plan comparison: beehiiv.com/pricing
- Kit pricing: kit.com/pricing
- Kit Help Center, The Kit Free plan: help.kit.com
- ICO, Direct marketing and PECR: ico.org.uk
- ASA and CMA, Influencers’ guide to making clear that ads are ads: asa.org.uk
- GOV.UK, VAT on services from abroad: gov.uk/vat-on-services-from-abroad
- ECB euro reference rates, 23 October 2026: ecb.europa.eu
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