Kit's Free Plan: 10,000 Subscribers and Unlimited Sends
A free tier for a hundred thousand dollars of list growth. Kit rations the automation engine instead of the audience.
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is free for up to 10,000 active subscribers with unlimited email broadcasts and unlimited landing pages and forms. The limits are one basic visual automation with one sequence, no third-party integrations, Kit branding on every email, and support answered within 24 to 72 hours. Above 10,000 subscribers sending stops until you upgrade.1
Ten thousand subscribers at zero cost is not a trial and not a teaser. MailerLite caps at 250. Mailchimp caps at 250. Brevo caps sends but not storage. Kit's ceiling is forty times the nearest competitor in this series.
The trade is made in the automation engine rather than the audience. Kit will hold your list for free; it will not run complex workflows over it.2
What you actually get
| Free (Newsletter) | Creator | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $33/mo yearly |
| Subscribers | 10,000 | Unlimited |
| Email sends | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Landing pages and forms | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Visual automations | 1 basic, 1 sequence | Unlimited |
| A/B testing | Yes | Yes |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | None | All |
| Kit branding | Required | Removable |
| Support | 24 to 72 hours | 24/7 email and chat |
| Card required | No | No, 14-day trial |
Those are the three plans in full. Free, Creator at $33 monthly billed yearly, and Pro at $50 monthly on a first-year promotion that reverts to $66.
Ten thousand is not a marketing number
Kit's own help centre states the ceiling plainly: up to 10,000 active, unique subscribers, with unlimited forms, landing pages, email sends and digital products.
What that means in practice is that a creator can grow a substantial list, sell a course, deliver a lead magnet and send a weekly newsletter without paying anything.
It also means the free tier is viable for years rather than months, which changes the decision. Most free plans are a countdown; this one is a business model for the early stage.
The ceiling is enforced on active subscribers. Unsubscribed and duplicate records do not count, so a list that churns does not inflate the total.
The one automation
One basic visual automation with one email sequence. That is enough for a welcome series and nothing else.
No tagging-driven branches, no rules, no integrations. If your funnel depends on separate paths for buyers and subscribers, the free plan cannot express it.
This is the precise point where Kit's generosity ends, and it is worth understanding before you build. A single welcome sequence is genuinely enough for most newsletters, which is why the limit feels fair rather than punitive.
Branding and support
Every email carries Kit branding on the free plan. It is small, and it is there.
Support exists on free, which is better than MailerLite's community-only arrangement, but responses take 24 to 72 hours in the order received.
Neither limit matters much at low volume and both matter a great deal the week a send fails.
How it compares
Mailchimp allows 250 contacts and 500 monthly sends. There is no useful comparison on volume.
MailerLite allows 250 subscribers with full automations and two seats, which is better for a tiny list that needs workflows.
Brevo allows 300 sends a day and 100,000 stored contacts, better for high-volume sending to a big imported list.
beehiiv offers unlimited sends but ties monetisation and growth tools to paid tiers.
Kit's advantage is that the audience side is free. Its disadvantage is that the automation side is almost entirely paid.
When it is enough
A newsletter with a growing list that sends on a schedule and has a single welcome sequence behind it.
A creator selling a course or ebook through Kit's commerce features, delivering the product by email without a separate platform.
Anyone who expects to cross 2,000 subscribers within a year. Every other free tier in this series has already ended by then.
When it stops being enough
The moment you need a second automation, a tag-driven branch, or a webhook into another tool.
When a sponsor or a client requires your own branding on the send.
At exactly 10,001 active subscribers, where sending stops until the plan is upgraded. Creator at $33 monthly yearly is the entry point, and it unlocks the automation engine at the same time.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kit free for 10,000 subscribers?
Yes. The Newsletter Plan covers up to 10,000 active, unique subscribers at no cost.
Is email sending limited on the free plan?
No, sends are unlimited. There is no monthly send cap or daily throughput cap published.
What is the automation limit on Kit free?
One basic visual automation with one email sequence.
Does Kit require a card for the free plan?
No. The free plan needs no payment details, and paid plans start with a 14-day trial that also requires no card.
What happens at 10,000 subscribers?
Sending stops until the account moves to a paid plan. Everything built stays in place.
Is Kit the same as ConvertKit?
Yes. ConvertKit rebranded to Kit; the product and account structure are the same.
Subscriber ceiling, automation allowance and feature availability verified against Kit's pricing page and its Newsletter Plan help article on 20 October 2026. Support response times come from the same help article.
Sources
- Kit pricing: kit.com/pricing. Used for: 10,000 subscriber free ceiling and the paid plan ladder.
- Kit help: the Newsletter Plan: help.kit.com/en/articles/9053602-the-kit-newsletter-plan.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
