Affordable ConvertKit Alternatives for Creators and Solopreneurs in 2024 [Features and Pricing]
As you sit down to review your latest email campaign statistics, you feel a sweet sense of accomplishment — your subscriber list is growing, and your hard work is paying off.
But there’s a nagging concern in the back of your mind. With each new subscriber, your email marketing platform, ConvertKit, gets more expensive. And you find yourself questioning whether the escalating costs are sustainable.
And it gets worse: not every subscriber on your list is contributing to your revenue, but you’re incurring costs for each one of them.
So, it’s probably time to start looking for a ConvertKit alternative.
This blog post is for email marketers and solopreneurs who find themselves in this very predicament. We’ll cover alternatives that offer more manageable costs, more customization features, more intuitive user interfaces, and more.
ConvertKit Alternatives at a Glance
ConvertKit is a versatile email marketing tool for creators, solopreneurs, and bloggers. It has a range of features and shines when it comes to email automation.
But ConvertKit isn’t for everyone. It’s expensive. It doesn’t offer much in terms of design. And it can be intimidating.
Here’s a quick comparison of the top ConvertKit competitors you should consider.
| Feature | Campaign Refinery | Beehiiv | MailerLite | Drip | GetResponse | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target Audience | Diverse businesses | Newsletter creators | Small businesses | E-commerce companies | Small to medium businesses | Small businesses |
| Key Strength | Advanced Deliverability | Community Building | Intuitive UI | E-commerce focus | Comprehensive toolset | CRM |
| Value for Money | 10 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Ease of Use | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Advanced Automation | 10 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Pricing Based On | Emails | Contact | Contacts | Contacts | Contacts | Emails |
| List segmentation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Campaign Templates Library | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Automatic list cleaning | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Engagement Gamification | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
What Is Cheaper Than ConvertKit?
ConvertKit’s pricing is based on the number of contacts on your list, and the price gets hard to justify if you have more than 10K subscribers.
But it doesn’t matter how many contacts you have; it matters how many times you email them and how many of them are active.
So, let’s consider the costs for three scenarios for large senders: 50K, 200K, and 1M emails per month:
| Platform | 50K Emails | 200K Emails | 1M Emails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign Refinery | $99 | $299 | $1000 |
| ConvertKit | $149 | $379 | $1579 |
| Moosend | $160 | $315 | $1520 |
| AWeber | $160 | $402 | Not listed |
| MailerLite | $98 | $260 | $959 |
| Beehiiv | $99 | $99 | $Not listed |
| Brevo | $89 | $239 | $669 |
Important Note: At Campaign Refinery, we believe in charging for the emails you send. That’s because we want to align our pricing with your growth. This way, you’ll only start paying more once you see some traction with your email marketing efforts.
Beehiiv: A Lightweight ConvertKit Alternative
Beehiiv is a simple platform that streamlines the process of creating, managing, and monetizing email newsletters. It’s tailored for creators, writers, and publishers who want to engage their audience directly through email.
The platform offers basic tools for email list management, analytics, and design. If you want to run a simple newsletter with occasional sponsors and a premium option, Beehiiv is a decent option.
But you can’t expect much in terms of selling digital products or creative ways to monetize your list.
Pros
- Community building tools: Beehiiv has features like comment sections and feedback tools to help create a sense of community among newsletter subscribers.
- Integrated referral programs: The platform includes an integrated referral system, which introduces subscribers to other newsletters they might be interested it.
- Drag-and-drop editor: Beehiiv provides a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing newsletters. It includes customizable templates and a drag-and-drop editor to design professional-looking emails without needing coding skills.
Cons
- Newer platform: Beehiiv is a relatively new player in an established market, so it might not have the same features or support you can get from older ConvertKit competitors.
- High pricing for advanced features: While Beehiiv has a high cap on the number of subscribers in their free plan, you can’t do much without upgrading to higher-priced plans. And many users believe Beehiiv’s prices can give you sticker shock because of the limited feature set.
- Learning curve for beginners: Although Beehiiv is user-friendly, it still comes with a learning curve. If you don’t have experience with email newsletter platforms, you might need some time to get used to Beehiiv’s specific interface and features.
Pricing
Beehiiv’s pricing model is based on the number of subscribers, with additional features unlocking at higher tiers.
The free plan is ideal for beginners and supports up to 2,500 subscribers. The good thing is that you can send unlimited emails, but you only get basic features.
The paid plans start at $49 per month and offer a 30-day trial. You’ll get 18 percent off if you commit for an entire year.
Substack: A Writer-Centric ConvertKit Alternative
Substack is a publishing platform for writers, journalists, and content creators. It offers a straightforward way to build and monetize an audience through email newsletters, podcasts, and blog posts.
You can compose and send newsletters directly to your subscribers’ inboxes. The editor is intuitive with basic formatting options, images, and links. Publishing on substack is like writing an email that also gets published on your blog.
But the platform’s features are pretty limited. If you need advanced design customizations, detailed SEO tools, or elaborate multimedia integration, you’ll find Substack limiting.
That’s why it’s not the best platform for solopreneurs or small businesses who rely on different sales funnels.
Pros
- Simplicity and focus on writing: Unlike other content platforms with rich features, Substack’s minimalistic approach puts the focus squarely on writing and content creation. That’s why it’s an appealing platform for writers and journalists.
- User-friendly interface: Substack’s UI is intuitive and easy to navigate, even if you don’t have technical chops.
- Podcasts: Substack also supports hosting podcasts, which offers creators an extra opportunity to expand their audience and earn more.
Cons
- Basic analytics: While Substack provides essential analytics, you can’t expect the detailed metrics you get from a dedicated email marketing tool.
- Deliverability challenges: Since the platform is open to everyone, it’s a challenge to maintain IP reputation and keep deliverability rates high. Some users complain about their emails ending up in spam folders, which impacts their subscriber engagement.
- Limited integrations: Substack makes it easy to import your contacts from popular email marketing platforms. It also lets you export contacts. But other than that, you can’t make the platform part of a larger marketing stack through integrations.
Pricing
Substack operates on a revenue-sharing model. Its pricing model is straightforward and designed to encourage creators to start without upfront costs.
This free entry point is ideal for those still building their audience or experimenting with content before deciding to monetize. But it also means there’s a lot of low-quality content on the platform.
The monetization aspect kicks in when you start charging your subscribers. Substack takes a 10% cut of the revenue generated from your subscriptions. This means if you charge $10 per month per subscriber, Substack will take $1, leaving you with $9.
MailerLite: A ConvertKit Alternative for Digital Marketing
MailerLite is a digital marketing solution for small and medium-sized businesses. While it started with email marketing automation, it now lets you create landing pages and websites and send transactional emails.
MailerLite lets you send email campaigns to your subscribers. It offers a drag-and-drop editor and a built-in photo editing tool to help you design emails without the need for coding knowledge.
You can set up automated email sequences based on different triggers, such as a subscriber joining a list or a birthday, but the automation features aren’t extensive. You’re likely to run into issues if you want to implement a complex scenario.
Pros
- Free plan with decent features: Unlike many ConvertKit competitors, MailerLite’s free plan includes most of the essential features you need to start a basic email marketing operation.
- Robust customer support: User reviews often highlight the quality of MailerLite’s customer support. The company’s reps are helpful and spend enough time to assist users with their problems.
- Landing pages and forms: You can create landing pages and web forms directly on the platform, which streamlines the process of capturing leads and growing email lists.
Cons
- Design flexibility: While MailerLite has various templates, the customization options aren’t as extensive as some other platforms. So, if you want stunning designs and creative freedom, MailerLite isn’t for you.
- Email deliverability issues: Some users have reported issues with email deliverability, which is a critical aspect of email marketing. If your emails don’t make it to the inbox, your campaigns won’t be effective.
- Scalability concerns: If you’re a rapidly growing solopreneur or small business, you’re likely to run into problems as your scale grows, and you might have to migrate to a platform that can handle volume.
Pricing
MailerLite’s pricing model is based on the number of subscribers in your list. The cost increases as your email list grows. Higher pricing tiers also include more advanced features.
There’s a free tier with up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails. Plus, you can try the paid plans for 30 days without a commitment.
Of the three tiers, the Growth plan is a decent choice. You still won’t get the AI writing assistant, and your automation logic will be limited. But you’ll have priority customer support and A/B testing compared to the free plan.
The Growth plan will cost you $159 per month for 25k contacts, while the Advanced plan costs $150.
Drip: A ConvertKit Alternative for E-Commerce
Drip is a marketing automation platform for online retailers, marketers, and solopreneurs.
You can create workflows based on specific customer behaviors, such as a purchase, cart abandonment, or page visits. This way, you can target the right user with a personalized message at the right time to increase conversion.
Drip has powerful segmentation and personalization features. You can segment your audience based on their interactions with your website, purchase history, and email engagements. The personalization adapts your email content based on the customer’s profile and behavior.
Pros
- Visual workflow builder: Drip has a drag-and-drop builder with a user-friendly interface that lets you create complex automation scenarios. This feature comes in handy if you want to run drip campaigns or re-engage your subscribers.
- Dynamic product blocks: You can automatically embed product recommendations into your emails. How will you decide which products? Based on each subscriber’s previous interactions, purchases, or browsing history on your website.
- Pop-ups and forms: You can use Drip to create and customize pop-ups or embedded forms for your website. These are great tools to capture opt-in emails, offer discounts, or promote products or events.
Cons
- Pricing: Drip is more expensive than most ConvertKit alternatives, especially for small businesses or solopreneurs just starting out. The pricing is based on the number of contacts, which can quickly escalate as your list grows.
- Learning curve: Despite its user-friendly interface, the features and options in Drip can be overwhelming for beginners. There’s a significant learning curve when you start using Drip, and the time investment might not be worth it for a one-person business.
- Overkill for simple needs: If you’re an independent entrepreneur or a small business with straightforward email marketing needs, Drip’s advanced features might be more than necessary. So, you probably won’t use all the features.
Pricing
Like many email marketing platforms, Drip’s pricing structure limits your growth. The company charges you based on your list size, but there’s only one tier.
Prices start at $39 per month for up to 2,500 contacts. After reaching 2,500 contacts, the price increases for every additional 500 contacts. If your list gets larger than 190,000 subscribers, you need to speak with a sales rep for a custom quote.
Drip doesn’t offer a free plan, but they have a 14-day free trial with a cap on the number of emails you can send. You can use all of Drip’s features during the trial.
GetResponse: An All-in-One ConvertKit Alternative
GetResponse is a comprehensive marketing platform for small businesses. The core of GetResponse is email marketing. You can create newsletters, automated emails, and different types of campaigns. It also offers a variety of templates and a drag-and-drop editor.
GetResponse’s other tools include:
- Marketing automation: Lets you create paths that your subscribers follow based on their actions.
- Landing pages: Helps you build landing pages to capture leads or promote specific products.
- Webinars: You can host webinars through the platform for live product demos or interactive sessions.
- Conversion funnels: You can set up a marketing funnel to direct your audience through the steps to make a purchase.
While GetResponse has an impressive list of features, it doesn’t specialize in any of them. So, you can’t expect depth or expertise from the platform in any specific area.
Pros
- Extensive integrations: GetResponse integrates with over 170 tools and services, including form builders, payment processors, and social media tools.
- Integrated webinar functionality: The ability to host webinars directly through GetResponse isn’t common among platforms like ConvertKit. The feature comes in handy if you run an e-learning business or if you do a lot of product demos.
- Responsive customer support: GetResponse customers are generally happy with the helpful customer service.
Cons
- Limited free plan: While GetResponse offers a free plan, the more advanced features are locked behind higher-tier plans. Make sure the features you need are within your budget.
- Lower-than-expected deliverability: Some users have reported that their emails land in the spam folder. Although this might be the sender’s fault, it also signals poor deliverability practices on the company’s side.
- Learning curve: Granted, GetResponse has a user-friendly interface, but the wide range of features can be overwhelming for a one-person team to learn. You might find the marketing automation and funnel creation features confusing.
- Feature bloat: The sheer number of features means you’ll probably end up paying for features you won’t use. And you might be better served by a provider that specializes in your specific marketing channel.
Pricing
GetResponse uses tiered pricing based on your number of contacts, with higher tiers also enjoying more advanced features.
The initial cost is low. You can start for as little as $19 per month for up to 1000 contacts. This plan covers the essentials of email marketing and is a good starting point for small businesses or solopreneurs.
But the costs pile up as you grow your list and need advanced features. For example, if you need automation or want to host webinars, you’ll need the “Marketing Automation” plan, which comes with a higher price tag.
You can save up to 30 percent on all plans if you pay for two years upfront. And there’s a 10 percent discount for completing the platform’s checklist.
Brevo: A ConvertKit Alternative with CRM
Brevo is a comprehensive marketing automation, CRM, and sales platform for small businesses. The platform simplifies time-consuming tasks, such as invoicing, scheduling, and customer management.
On the email marketing side, it offers a no-code email editor, and there’s also a library of templates to get you started.
Brevo’s automation tools let you set up workflows to send emails based on triggers or user actions. For example, you can automate welcome emails, follow-up messages, or email sequences.
Pros
- Reasonable pricing: Brevo offers a free tier with unlimited contacts and up to 300 emails per day. This is great for solopreneurs who are just starting out and want to test the waters without a significant financial commitment.
- CRM: Brevo includes basic CRM functionality. You can manage your contacts, segment them into different lists, and track your interactions.
- Multi-channel marketing: On top of email, you can integrate SMS campaigns, chat, WhatsApp, and web notifications in your campaigns, which means you’ll have a more rounded approach to reach your customers.
Cons
- Limited advanced features: If you need sophisticated marketing tools, Brevo might fall short. Its features are robust for basic to intermediate use but lack the depth offered by some competitors.
- Limited customization: While the email templates are handy, they have limited customization options. This could be a drawback if you’re looking to create highly unique or branded emails. Plus, if you’re on the Free or Starter plan, you’ll have to pay an extra fee to remove Brevo’s branding from your emails.
- Email support over phone or chat support: The Free and Starter plans only get email support. So, if you need to have a problem resolved quickly or want to talk to a representative, you’ll need to upgrade your plan.
Pricing
Brevo’s pricing can feel like a match puzzle. There are four packages with different subscription tiers.
Brevo is one of the few alternatives to ConvertKit that doesn’t cap your number of contacts. Instead, you’ll have a maximum number of emails you can send each month.
You can adjust your cap up to a point without being forced to move to a higher-tier plan. But eventually, as your subscriber list grows, you’ll need to move up tiers, which means you’ll need a larger budget.
Finally, add-ons will cost you extra, including:
- Remove Brevo’s branding: $12 per month.
- SMS credits: $1 to $15 per 1000 messages, depending on the target country.
- WhatsApp credits: $12 to $108 per 1000 messages, depending on the target country.
- Extra email credits: Starting at $32 for 5,000 messages.
- Dedicated email IP address: $251 per year.
- Landing pages: $24 per five additional pages.
Moosend: A Simple ConvertKit Alternative
Moosend is a simple email marketing platform for small businesses. You can create, send, and track email campaigns. It also lets you set up automated sequences that respond to subscriber actions, such as sending a welcome email when someone signs up.
The platform comes with a drag-and-drop email editor and some pre-designed templates, although the variety isn’t impressive. Other features in Moosend include list segmentation, A/B testing, and email performance tracking.
Pros
- User-friendly interface: Moosend’s platform has a simple UI, so it’s easy for beginners to navigate and use effectively. Other than managing automations, many users are happy with the lack of a learning curve.
- Comprehensive analytics: Moosend provides real-time analytics and integrates with GA4. You also get email heatmaps, which visually show where subscribers are clicking within your emails.
- Responsive customer support: Many users are happy with Moosend’s helpful customer service. All plans include chat email support, but enterprise customers also have account managers.
Cons
- Problems with deliverability: Some users have reported challenges with getting their emails to hit the inbox. While these could be one-off incidents, there’s a chance that Moosend doesn’t follow cutting-edge deliverability practices.
- Basic landing pages: The landing page builder is convenient, but it isn’t as robust as standalone landing page builders. So, if you need a full-blown page builder, look elsewhere.
- Limited Design Options: Moosend offers a range of templates, but advanced users find the design options a bit limited compared with other alternatives to ConvertKit. Plus, the templates are harder to customize.
Pricing
As you probably expect by now, Moosend charges you by the number of contacts. And contrary to what many people believe, the costs escalate quickly.
If your list is smaller than 10k, you can expect a reasonable price tag under $100 per month. But as soon as you cross that threshold, you’ll have to pay almost double every time you double your list size. Your costs will go into the thousands per month if you have more than 150k contacts.
Moosend has one paid tier for small businesses and solopreneurs. There’s also a 30-day free trial with most of the features available. But it only lets you host up to 1,000 subscribers. Once the period expires, you’ll have to decide whether you want to upgrade.
Campaign Refinery: An Innovative ConvertKit Alternative
If you’re a content creator or solopreneur who has been using ConvertKit, it’s time to discover a platform that aligns more closely with your growth and creativity.
Let’s see why Campaign Refinery is the best alternative to ConvertKit on the market.
Maximize Your Budget with Campaign Refinery’s High-Volume Plans
As your audience grows, so do your email marketing costs. That’s because ConvertKit, like many other email marketing platforms, punishes you for building a larger list.
But Campaign Refinery is different. We’re rooting for your success!
That’s why we charge based on the number of emails you send — our way is more transparent and saves you a ton of money in the long run.
Here are the key benefits of our pricing model:
- Pay-per-email: Costs are directly linked to the number of emails sent, not the size of your subscriber list.
- Transparent pricing: Clear, upfront picture of your expenses without hidden fees or surprises.
- Economical for high-volume senders: Significant savings if you send a large number of emails.
- Encourages efficient email usage: Since our model aligns costs with engagement, you’ll be motivated to send highly targeted campaigns instead of blasting out messages to all your contacts. And we all know better targeting means better conversions.
- Full feature access: We’re one of the few ConvertKit competitors that don’t force you to pay extra for the features you need to monetize your list. We value every customer regardless of how much they pay.
- No limits on contacts: We don’t cap your growth. Expand your audience as much as you want, at no extra cost. With Campaign Refinery, the sky’s the limit.
Whether it’s regular newsletters or promotional emails, your costs with Campaign Refinery are directly linked to your level of engagement. You’ll have complete control over your marketing budget.
Reach Every Inbox With Advanced Deliverability
At Campaign Refinery, we understand that your email marketing success hinges on one critical factor: hitting the inbox. Our entire platform is engineered with this in mind. So you won’t have to worry about your emails landing in the spam folder.
Here’s what you get with us:
- Proactive domain authentication: We require all our clients to implement domain authentication as soon as they join us. This critical step builds trust with email providers and prevents scammers from impersonating your domain.
- Sophisticated list cleaning: Say goodbye to harmful addresses. Our system automatically weeds out the bad apples – invalid addresses, spam traps, and inactive users. You can choose your cleaning frequency, from every 30 to 180 days.
- Selective sender community: When you use Campaign Refinery, you join a community of reputable senders. We rigorously vet and monitor each sender on the platform to create a high-quality sending environment for everyone.
- Zero tolerance for cold emailing: We maintain a strict stance against cold emailing and quickly terminate anyone who engages in this practice. So, your legitimate, consent-based campaigns achieve higher inboxing.
- Collective IP reputation management: Even if you’re sending a million emails a month, you’re unlikely to need a dedicated IP with us. We help our senders create a positive feedback loop that benefits every user on the platform.
Email Marketing Results Without the Technical Jargon
To be an effective email marketer, you shouldn’t need a degree in marketing or a background in engineering. That’s why, unlike ConvertKit, we’ve designed our processes with clarity and simplicity in mind.
With our new and intuitive UI, you can manage your campaigns, set up segmentation, and analyze results without getting lost in a sea of technical terms. This means less time fussing with a clunky interface and more time connecting with your audience.
But simplicity doesn’t mean a lack of depth. If you want to learn the nuances of email marketing, we have a wealth of educational resources. Our blog and documentation are treasure troves of information.
Whether you’re looking to understand the basics or explore advanced strategies, these resources support your journey in email marketing.
Grow Confidently With Campaign Refinery’s Clever Tools
Our platform is packed with smart, innovative features. Each one boosts your business growth and lets you capture opportunities to monetize your list.
Here’s how we make magic happen:
- Turn emails into a game: Reward your subscribers for their engagement. Offer perks like VIP status or special discounts to users who collect points by reading and interacting with your messages. It’s a fun, unique way to boost engagement and loyalty.
- Ready-to-deploy campaign library: Time is precious. That’s why we offer a library of pre-optimized campaigns. Grab a template, tweak it, and launch. Fast, effective, and hassle-free.
- Automate with ease: Our Brand & Rule editor lets you implement any email marketing automation logic you need, even complex sequences. Tailor your campaigns to respond to your audience’s every move.
- Exclusive Insights: Once you join Campaign Refinery, you get exclusive access to our SOPs and playbooks. These are your blueprints for turning campaigns into profit drivers. This is a level of insight no other ConvertKit competitor can match.
Sending Impactful Campaigns Is Easier With Campaign Refinery
Transform your marketing strategy with Campaign Refinery, where ease meets impact. With us, every campaign will be a seamless and powerful extension of your overall vision.
- Simple editor: Jump right into crafting your message. Our editor lets you focus on creating the perfect email without getting bogged down by complicated designs and templates.
- Dynamic tag-based segmentation: You’ll have unparalleled control over how you manage your audience. Segment your list any way you want, add or remove users from lists on the fly, and add each user to an unlimited number of lists.
- Accurate metrics for informed decisions: Unlike many ConvertKit alternatives that may give you inflated or unclear data, Campaign Refinery presents precise and carefully defined metrics. So, you’ll make decisions based on a realistic picture of your campaigns.
- Seamless integrations with your favorite tools: We’re team players. Our platform integrates seamlessly with many popular marketing tools, including funnel builders, landing page builders, and appointment scheduling software.
Why Choose Campaign Refinery Over ConvertKit?
To become a successful solopreneur, you need more than just tools; you need a partner who understands and amplifies your creative voice.
With Campaign Refinery, you benefit from a pricing structure optimized for growth, so you can focus on engagement rather than list size. Plus, with features like engagement gamification, tag-based segmentation, and a campaign library, you’ll have everything you need to turn your ideas into successful email campaigns.
| Feature | Campaign Refinery | ConvertKit |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing structure | Per email – optimized for growth | Per contact – may hinder growth |
| Campaign optimization | Advanced | Moderate |
| Automation flexibility | High | Moderate |
| Customization flexibility | High | Moderate |
| Reporting and analytics | Advanced | Basic |
| Ease of use | 10 | 8 |
| Affordability | 9 | 7 |
| Email list segmentation | ✅ | ✅ |
| Unlimited contacts | ✅ | ❌ |
| Advanced deliverability | ✅ | ❌ |
| Engagement gamification | ✅ | ❌ |
| Automatic list cleaning | ✅ | ❌ |
| Campaign library | ✅ | ❌ |
Ready to Get Started With Campaign Refinery?
We believe in building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with our clients, which is why we don’t offer a regular free trial.
Instead, we take a personalized approach. We talk to every potential client to make sure our platform aligns perfectly with their needs and goals.
Apply to join our exclusive client list, and let’s explore how Campaign Refinery can help you achieve your email marketing aspirations.
