“Converkit” is a unique marketing platform.
While they have many classic features such as email marketing and automation, landing page creation tools, etc., the company isn’t focused on putting itself forth to any business.
Instead, “Converkit” is a marketing platform dedicated to musicians, authors, podcasters, and others.
Yet, even as focused as “Convertkit” is on their target audience, some of their users are switching to competitors.
There are tons of “Convertkit” alternatives on the market, so it’s no surprise that some may look for better deals, more features, or more uncomplicated software.
There are plenty of good reasons to look for “Convertkit” competitors that might have something just that little bit better. So we’ve decided to look into some of the best alternatives to “Convertkit” and review them. But before we get on to the list, let’s take a deeper look at what the platform has to offer.
What Does ConvertKit Offer?
ConvertKit pitches itself as the platform for creators. They aim to grant everything a budding creator might need for marketing purposes, focusing on growth instead of profit.
The platform has a solid choice of features. Of course, some essential ones, such as email marketing and automation, are available. However, as ConvertKit is focused on online creators, they have additional features like ecommerce management tools and various integrations.
Additionally, most features and tools are pretty simple to understand and use. A great example is the landing page creator, which is easier to use than those of competitors.
ConvertKit has three specific pricing plans, which based on the number of subscribers:
- Free. Up to 1 000 subscribers. Basic features are available.
- Creator. $9 per month, starting from 300 subscribers. More features are available.
- Creator Pro. $29 per month, starting from 300 subscribers. All features are available.
Additionally, annual pricing plans are available. They reduce the plan’s overall cost by charging the price of 10 months for the entire year.
Why Do People Switch from ConvertKit?
As per usual, the primary concern for many is the price-to-value ratio. While ConvertKit is by no means the most expensive marketing platform, it doesn’t have many features for advanced users.
For example, ConvertKit is severely lacking in the analytics department unless you buy the pro plan. Even then, most people would say that some competitors would easily beat ConvertKit in that department.
Additionally, while the company boasts that many famous people and household names use the platform, the case study area is a bit lackluster.
The ones available are great, but the contrast between the people implied to be using ConvertKit, and the actual case studies are pretty noticeable.
Finally, ConvertKit seems to focus on smaller businesses too heavily. Every plan they offer has limited user seats. For large teams, these limitations will be annoying and negatively affect performance.
7 Alternatives to ConvertKit
We’d like to stay as objective as possible for our review purposes. So, we picked out a website that rates marketing platforms on several aspects and provides an opinion on Capterra. Of course, we will also pepper in some data from the provider’s websites and our opinion.
- Sender – best overall email and SMS marketing platform, lots of automation customization, great templates, all email features available with any plan.
- Mailchimp – the most well-known all-in-one marketing platform with lots of great features and several pricing plans.
- ActiveCampaign – multi-purpose marketing tool with a focus on sales automation.
- GetResponse – email marketing provider with several additional tools such as landing page creation and a CRM.
- DRIP – an e-commerce focused email and SMS marketing and automation provider.
- Constant Contact – a marketing platform with a heavy focus on SMBs, nonprofits, and other organizations.
- Mailerlite – email marketing provider with a focus on landing pages and automation.
Sender
Pricing: Free forever with all features available for up to 2 500 subscribers. Paid plans start at $12.50 for 5 000 subscribers—yearly billing is available and granted two months free.
Sender positions itself as an email marketing platform that’s simple and affordable. However, they have expanded into other areas and now offer SMS marketing features.
They seem to have previously been marketing to small-to-medium businesses, but there’s no reason why even enterprise-level companies wouldn’t benefit from Sender’s features.
Moreover, their set is so extensive that it can match some of the other industry veterans.
As an alternative to ConvertKit, Sender stands out in several ways. For example, email and SMS automation are where Sender lands the killing blow as the features available grant much more flexibility in this domain.
There are also minor, less noticeable benefits, such as a more substantial template library and a more responsive email builder.
Additionally, the pricing models are slightly different. While ConvertKit hides some features behind the Creator Pro plan, all Sender’s email features are available immediately. Though free plans do not have access to SMS marketing, they become available from the first paid one.
Sender does provide some additional benefits for the plans with higher pricing. They include some free SMS and MMS credits and better customer support. These, however, are not technically features, just added benefits.
Yet, ConvertKit is better in some regards. For example, Sender has no dynamic pop-ups available for websites. Additionally, while landing pages are available to both platforms, ConvertKit has a slightly better UI and UX when creating them.
Both companies have similar customer support availability. However, ConvertKit does provide more immaculate service for those who have ordered the Creator Pro plan. Notably, they state that they grant “priority” access.
Finally, the costs associated with plans and subscribers are galaxies apart. While both base the overall cost on the number of subscribers, Sender’s prices are lower several times over. As such, it might be a strong contender for smaller creators who can’t spend a fortune on marketing.
Sender vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| Sender | ConvertKit | |
| Key feature | Email & SMS automation, responsive email templates library | Landing pages |
| Cons | Doesn’t have dynamic pop-ups | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. |
| Price | Start from $10 for 2500 contacts | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. |
| Free plan | Up to 2500 contacts & 15000 emails per month | Up to 1000 contacts |
| Support | 24/7 Live chat, email | Live chat, email |
Sender vs ConvertKit Pricing
| Sender | ConvertKit | |
| Up to 500 contacts | Free | $9 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | Free | $29 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $10 | $79 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $22 | $119 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $57 | $199 |
All in all, Sender is definitely one of the best choices for a ConvertKit alternative as they provide most of the latter’s features for significantly less.
While they are not dead-set on content creators, there are still enough marketing tools for those who want to build a community around them.
Sender is one of the most promising multichannel platforms out there. Try out for free. No hidden fees or credit cards are required.
Mailchimp
Pricing: Free plan available – 2 000 subscribers or up to 10 000 emails per month. Paid plans from $10 for 500 subscriber increments.
Mailchimp is one of the brands you likely already know. They have established themselves as one of the most well-known all-one-marketing platform providers out there.
While there have been some complaints about their services, especially email deliverability, they still stand as a good alternative to ConvertKit.
Since they are an all-in-one marketing platform, they provide many features. In fact, their feature set might be one of the richest in the market. They even include tools dedicated to creators, just like ConvertKit.
As such, Mailchimp can be used by businesses of any size. They even have the pricing model to match. While we find it unfortunate, it’s considered an industry standard to make some features unavailable to smaller plans.
But, with four plans on offer, most businesses can find the right fit.
Additionally, they have several products that have separate pricing models. The initial four are just for the marketing platform. Mailchimp charges extra for transactional email plans and the ecommerce suite.
That’s where one of the benefits of ConvertKit stands out. While they have fewer plans, they are priced at much lower increments.
For example, most businesses and creators can afford the Creator Pro plan, granting them access to everything. However, the Premium plan of Mailchimp can be unaffordable to smaller businesses or creators.
ConvertKit, following its dedication to creators, has a much more intuitive UI than Mailchimp. Most complaints about the latter are in that regard.
For example, their design is quite outdated and clunky, making it hard to learn. As such, ConvertKit is much more accessible.
All in all, Mailchimp might be better for those that have larger teams for marketing and development purposes. So, if you can figure out the UI and use all the features, it’s definitely a solid contender to ConvertKit.
Mailchimp vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| ConvertKit | Mailchimp | |
| Key feature | Automation & Great management system | Appointments scheduling |
| Cons | Costly, basic email design-builder | Adds up inactive, duplicate, and unsubscribed users to the total subscriber count that increases , very limited features for standard plans |
| Price | Starts from $70 for 500 contacts | Starts from $10 for 500 contacts |
| Free plan | X | Up to 2000 contacts & up to 10000 emails per month |
| Support | Live chat, email, phone | Live chat, email, phone |
Mailchimp vs ConvertKit Pricing
| ConvertKit | Mailchimp | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $9 | $15 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $29 | $31 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $79 | $53 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $119 | $79 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $199 | $200 |
ActiveCampaign
Pricing: No free plan. Paid plans begin at $15 for 500 subscribers.
ActiveCampaign is another of those all-in-one marketing platforms. Their selling point is “customer experience automation.” Unsurprisingly, they provide many tools such as CRMs, email marketing, sales automation, etc.
Sales automation is where ActiveCampaign puts most of its focus. As a result, all customer management and sales funnel customization features are top-of-the-line, even when the competitors are considered.
That makes ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign two distinct platforms. Most creators won’t need extensive feature sets for customer relationship management and sales funnels. Additionally, automation might not be such a big concern for creators.
Additionally, ActiveCampaign has tools available for those who have ecommerce websites to manage. These features include automation for abandoned carts, win-back tactics, and many other strategies commonly used in ecommerce.
One of the truly unique and outstanding aspects of ActiveCampaign is the “win probability and lead scoring tools added. Again, they are mainly focused on sales; however, these tools let data-driven sales teams get the edge needed to boost sales.
As these platforms are so different, it’s hard to point out distinct advantages one has over the other. After all, the intended users are wildly different.
ConvertKit comes out ahead, however, in the pricing department. ActiveCampaign’s prices, especially for the smaller subscriber plans, are huge in comparison.
ActiveCampaign also hasn’t focused much on email design elements. The designer feature is quite rudimentary, close to something you’d see from a newer startup in the field.
Overall, ActiveCampaign is better tailored for larger businesses with significant sales and account management teams. All of the automations would definitely come in handy. For smaller businesses, there are better choices in this list.
ActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| ActiveCampaign | ConvertKit | |
| Key feature | Automation & Great subscriber management system | Landing pages |
| Cons | Costly, basic email design-builder | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. |
| Price | Starts from $70 for 500 contacts | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. |
| Free plan | X | Up to 1000 contacts |
| Support | Live chat, email, phone | Live chat, email |
ActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit Pricing
| ActiveCampaign | ConvertKit | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $70 | $9 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $125 | $29 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $169 | $79 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $249 | $119 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $399 | $199 |
GetResponse
Pricing: Free plan available. Starts at $15 a month for paid plans.
GetResponse is a marketing automation tool focused on emails, sales, automation. They are a “sort of” all-in-one marketing solution as they provide most but not everything you’d need to scale a business.
They have multiple categories of solutions and tools available. Those can be separated into several larger chunks that explain more or less everything GetResponse is about.
First, they have the email marketing part, which has the most extensive feature set. They also have a conversion funnel (sales) solution that helps businesses capture leads.
Some smaller sections include paid ads management, a website builder, a landing page creation kit, etc. Put simply, there are quite a bit of feature, and businesses of any size or industry can make use of GetResponse.
Unfortunately, all of those features come at a cost. A common complaint about GetResponse is that they haven’t really tuned all the features correctly. There are a lot of them, but some might be hard to use or even outright broken.
For instance, some users complain that a few primary features, such as the website and dashboard, are clunky and annoying.
As such, ConvertKit has a leg up on this competitor. ConvertKit rarely, if ever, gets complaints about usability, which is understandable. However, the company marketed itself towards creators, focusing on fewer features and more usability.
Additionally, GetResponse commits the industry-standard sin of having multiple pricing plans, which hide some features. As a result, if you want to get the most out of GetResponse, you’ll have to go for the Professional or even Max plans, which are relatively expensive.
Luckily, for those ready to commit and spend a large chunk for annual subscriptions, GetResponse has a unique aspect. You can pay for two years upfront, which gives a 30% discount. Fairly sizable.
All in all, GetResponse is reasonably good for those who need an extensive suite of features and want to focus on two areas – marketing and sales. If you can get past all the wonky and unfinished features, GetResponse could be pretty good.
Unfortunately, the learning curve and UI/UX issues won’t make your days fun.
GetResponse vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| GetResponse | ConvertKit | |
| Key feature | Lead Capture software, landing page | Landing pages |
| Cons | Limited email design builder, hard to navigate | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. |
| Price | Starts from $52 for 1000 contacts | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. |
| Free plan | Up to 1000 subscribers, | Up to 1000 contacts |
| Support | Live chat, email, phone | Live chat, email |
GetResponse vs ConvertKit Pricing
| GetResponse | ConvertKit | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $52 | $9 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $64 | $29 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $80 | $79 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $100 | $119 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $184 | $199 |
DRIP
Pricing: 14-day free trial available. Paid plans start at 500 subscribers for $19 per month (email only) or $22 (email and SMS).
DRIP is one of the newer marketing platform providers in the industry. They primarily focus on email and SMS marketing and offer plans for both. DRIP is mainly focused on ecommerce brands.
Most of their features are focused on growing sales and direct marketing. There are many integrations with popular ecommerce platforms. Data and analytics are another vital part of the entire service.
Additionally, while we’ve mentioned it above, they provide SMS marketing, which is somewhat unusual. But, on the other hand, SMS marketing is a powerful tool for ecommerce marketing, so it’s not entirely surprising that DRIP would choose to add these features to their package.
Automation is another standout feature for DRIP. As ecommerce runs on many triggered emails and SMS messages, having many options to send these out is vital. DRIP takes care of that through all the automation features they have.
Unfortunately, it’s not all that great in every area for DRIP. They have a truly basic email template builder. You’re likely better off designing emails and templates somewhere else if you want to stand out from the crowd.
Additionally, the user interface feels like something from several decades ago. While it might not be a huge drawback, the overall experience could be much better by freshening up the UI even a little bit.
DRIP, though, are relatively great at their pricing model. They went with two simple plans, Email and Email + SMS, both scales off subscriber counts and the amount of SMS sent per month. It is quite a bit pricier than ConvertKit, however.
All in all, DRIP is a decent choice for ecommerce businesses. It carries almost everything you’ll need and couples that with many integrations if you can stomach the outdated UI and simplistic email template builder.
DRIP vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| ConvertKit | DRIP | |
| Key feature | Landing pages | Automation, Real Estate CRM |
| Cons | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. | Basic email design builder, outdated interface |
| Price | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. | Starts from $19 for 500 contacts |
| Free plan | Up to 1000 contacts | X |
| Support | Live chat, email | Live chat, email |
DRIP vs ConvertKit Pricing
| ConvertKit | DRIP | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $9 | $19 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $29 | $39 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $79 | $89 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $119 | $154 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $199 | $369 |
Constant Contact
Pricing: Free trial for a month. Two paid plans are available, starting at $20/month, based on the number of contacts.
Again, Constant Contact is one of those all-in-one marketing platforms with a slight focus on SMBs. Other than that, the company is a standard well-trusted provider in the industry.
Like most such platforms, the tools and solutions available are wide and varied. There are regular email marketing capabilities, much of which are fairly regular. They do stand out for all the other features, however.
There’s a lot you can do with Constant Contact. You can manage your social media accounts, build landings, curate ecommerce pages, and perform various branding tasks. Put simply, it can do nearly anything you’d need if you were starting.
Constant Contact also provides some unique features unavailable (likely) anywhere else. One of them is the event and donation management features. While these might not be useful to all businesses, nonprofits, NGOs, and many others can benefit. Also, you can still do a lot with them if your business does any online events.
As a ConvertKit competitor, they are relatively similar, although Constant Contact is more available in each package. However, their pricing models are nearly identical as the latter also has only two plans. In fact, they might as well be carbon copies of each other.
ConvertKit does beat them in a few areas. You won’t get much automation and testing features for all your marketing efforts with Constant Contact.
If email marketing is something you want to focus on, you’re likely better off with any other provider on the market. Additionally, Constant Contact is quite expensive, even with the cheaper plans.
All in all, Constant Contact can be an excellent competitor to ConvertKit if you don’t want to focus too much on email marketing. All the other features are good if a little expensive.
Constant Contact vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| Constant Contact | ConvertKit | |
| Key feature | Event & donation management | Landing pages |
| Cons | Value, limited email design editor, basic automation, limited email testing | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. |
| Price | Starts from $20 for 500 contacts | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. |
| Free plan | X | Up to 1000 contacts |
| Support | Live chat, email, phone | Live chat, email |
Constant Contact vs ConvertKit Pricing
| Constant Contact | ConvertKit | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $20 | $9 |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $45 | $29 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $65 | $79 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $95 | $119 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $225 | $199 |
Mailerlite
Pricing: Free for up to 1 000 subscribers (limited to 12 000 emails/month). Paid plans start at $10 with unlimited emails, up to 1 000 subscribers. Further plans scale by subscriber count.
Mailerlite is an email marketing company that does exactly what it says. It offers a light feature set composed of all the essentials but without any bloat.
It’s a value-focused company, clearly tailored to those who want to get the best price-to-value ratio. As such, while the features they have are nothing all too unique or mind-blowing, they get the job done.
Unfortunately, they are also mostly limited to email marketing features. But the ones they have are outstanding such as all the automation customization you’re getting with Mailerlite.
They have some additional features such as a landing page creator, which, while they do tend to come in handy for email marketing, can still be used for other purposes. As such, Mailerlite definitely has covered everything that a starting business would need.
For a ConvertKit alternative it does have a few struggles. In particular, most of the advanced features that might be used by more skilled marketers (such as data and analytics) are lacking.
In addition, all the campaign reports are relatively rudimentary. You won’t be getting many editing capabilities either. Unfortunately, the image library is non-existent as well.
Of course, they still stand out for the price-to-value ratio provided. They’re definitely one of the best in the entire industry in that regard.
Yet, for those that can dole out a more significant sum, Mailerlite will likely be found lacking due to the small number of features available.
Mailerlite vs ConvertKit Feature Rundown
| ConvertKit | Mailerlite | |
| Key feature | Landing pages, email automation | Landing pages, email automation |
| Cons | Basic segmentation & reporting with standard plan, limited user seats. | Basic reports, no image library, limited features for free users |
| Price | Starts from $9 for 300 contacts. | Starts from $15 for 2500 contacts |
| Free plan | Up to 1000 contacts | Up to 1000 contacts |
| Support | Live chat, email | Live chat, email |
Mailerlite vs ConvertKit Pricing
| ConvertKit | Mailerlite | |
| Up to 500 contacts | $9 | FREE |
| Up to 2500 contacts | $29 | $15 |
| Up to 5000 contacts | $79 | $30 |
| Up to 10000 contacts | $119 | $50 |
| Up to 25000 contacts | $199 | $120 |
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