Convertkit might be an essential part of your email strategy, and you might use it for a long time. But, staying with a platform for a long time can start to limit your growth or increase your monthly budgets for running a campaign.
Today, there are a lot of competitors and rivals that might offer more value for money in terms of cleaner UI, generous payment plans, and more features. In this blog, we’ll share the most viable alternatives to help you take your marketing automation game to the next level. So, let’s begin.
Why Consider ConvertKit Alternatives?
Convertkit is known for its innovative email marketing platform that helps users create beautiful email campaigns. This has earned it a reputation among small business owners as a trusted email marketing service with some of the best features available.
However, many users have started complaining that Convertkit’s plans are costly and that there are too few seats available. Here are some reasons why people start considering a Converkit alternative:
- Expensive Plans. Convertkit has multiple pricing plans, starting at $9 per month. However, many users complain about the actual amount they spend on the platform. As the prices increase based on the email list and the platform doesn’t have generous limits, many keep paying high monthly usage charges, which is unviable for many.
- Limited User Seats. Convertkit only allows collaboration and more user seats on its pro plan, which starts at $25 per month for just 300 subscribers. Lower plans only allow one user to use the platform features. So, business owners with a team often pay a lot more just for the user seat limits.
- Limited Customization Features. Convertkit doesn’t offer many features to customize the look of its landing page or custom forms. All this makes it harder for businesses to distinguish themselves in their niche market.
- Lack of Reporting and Analytics. While Convertkit offers basic reports, it lacks the depth that some users need to evaluate their results and make the best email marketing decisions. It’s difficult to measure the success of your email marketing efforts with the lack of reporting options.
- Small Email Template Library. Although Convertkit has templates available for different use cases, the library doesn’t appear to be updated regularly. You can’t find any new templates if you’re used to delighting users with a unique design every time.
7 Best Convertkit Alternatives in 2023
Convertkit might be amazing for you till now, but as you’re scaling, it feels like quite an expensive email marketing solution. If you’re looking to evaluate the best Convertkit alternatives, here are the best email marketing solutions in the market:
- Sender
- Mailchimp
- ActiveCampaign
- GetResponse
- Drip
- Constant Contact
Let’s look at each of these tools one by one.
1. Sender – Best Convertkit Competitor for Multichannel Automation
Sender is an all-in-one marketing automation platform that offers powerful features to manage multichannel campaigns seamlessly. It’s a fantastic ConvertKit competitor that enables businesses to create, automate, and optimize their email and SMS marketing strategies on a single platform.
- Powerful SMS & email marketing automation tool;
- Feature-rich drag-and-drop email builder;
- Smart segmentation with custom fields;
- Visual workflow automation builder;
- Amazing deliverability.
Sender has dedicated features to help businesses achieve success in omnichannel marketing. Its segmentation feature allows it to target customers based on their preferences and behavior, ensuring that companies are communicating with their audience in the most effective way possible. Sender also has a built-in popup and form builder with readymade templates, allowing businesses to collect leads and contact information in a seamless and effective manner.
Sender is an excellent ConvertKit alternative for businesses looking to automate their marketing efforts across multiple channels without breaking the bank. It’s best suited for eComm business owners, small businesses, and startups that want to nurture leads, automate marketing across email and SMS, and set up automated campaigns for lead nurturing, cart abandonment, and more.
Overall, Sender is an excellent ConvertKit competitor that offers feature-rich omnichannel automation, making it easier for businesses to manage different campaigns from a single platform. Its affordable pricing and user-friendly interface make it an excellent alternative for companies looking to harness the power of omnichannel marketing without any complexity.
Sender is the most affordable and feature-rich multichannel platform out there, with a forever-free plan for up to 2500 subscribers. Try it out for free — no hidden fees or credit cards required.
Why is Sender the Best Convertkit Alternative?
- More Affordable: Unlike ConvertKit, Sender offers a free forever plan that supports all premium features for up to 2500 subscribers, making it an affordable option for small businesses and startups with limited budgets.
- Omnichannel Marketing: Sender supports omnichannel campaigns across email and SMS, ensuring businesses can run integrated campaigns to reach their audience.
- Visual Automation Builder: Easy-to-use visual builder to create automated campaigns for lead nurturing, follow-ups, cart abandonment, win-back, and more.
- Easy to Use: Sender has a user-friendly UI with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop email and automation builder, allowing businesses to create and manage campaigns without any coding knowledge.
Best For
Sender is best for eCommerce business owners, small businesses, and startups looking for an affordable marketing automation platform that supports omnichannel campaigns.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable pricing plans with a generous free tier | No landing page builder |
| No limits or restrictions on premium features like automation builder | Sender’s branding in Free plan |
| Supports SMS & Email marketing campaigns |
Pricing
- Forever-free plan available with no feature restrictions for up to 2500 subscribers;
- Paid plans start at $8.33 per month for sending up to 30,000 emails monthly.
2. Mailchimp – Convertkit Alternative with Landing Page Builder
Mailchimp is a popular name in the email marketing industry and is an excellent ConvertKit alternative that offers features like email automation, landing pages, and more. The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for businesses to get started with email marketing and achieve the desired results.
- Standard automation workflows;
- Landing page builder and form builder;
- Integrates with popular apps, marketing platforms, and CRM solutions;
- In-built appointment scheduling feature.
Mailchimp’s automation workflows help you personalize your messages, ensuring each customer gets emails tailored to their needs. Additionally, the platform’s landing page builder allows you to create landing pages that are beautiful, responsive, and convert well.
Mailchimp also integrates seamlessly with popular apps like Shopify, Salesforce, and more, making it easy for you to bring all your data together in one place. The platform’s user-friendly interface is also a plus; you can create beautiful marketing campaigns even if you don’t know how to code.
The only negative side is its pricing model that charges you dearly, even for inactive contacts, whether you send them emails or not. Plus, they’ve started being predatory and restrictive with their pricing plans.
Why Mailchimp is a Good Convertkit Alternative?
- Simple and intuitive interface;
- Email optimization and appointment scheduler;
- Easy-to-use landing page builder;
- Integrates with popular apps.
Best For
Small business owners, eCommerce stores, and marketers who want to take advantage of advanced email marketing features without getting knee-deep into technicalities.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy-to-use and user-friendly interface; | Pricing can be high for larger subscriber lists; |
| Simple automation workflows for personalization; | Limited reporting and analytics compared to some competitors; |
| Integrations with popular apps. | Fewer segmentation options than some competitors. |
Pricing
- Free plan for up to 500 contacts and 100 email sends per month with limited features;
- Paid plans start at $9.99 per month for up to 500 contacts and 5000 email sends per month.
3. ActiveCampaign — ConvertKit Competitor with Email Builder
ActiveCampaign is a robust ConvertKit competitor that offers advanced email marketing automation, CRM, and sales automation features. Their unique selling point is ‘customer experience automation,’ which means you get a lot of valuable tools like in-built CRMs, email marketing automation, sales automation, etc.
- Drip campaign automation and sequences;
- CRM and sales automation capabilities;
- Omnichannel campaign creation;
- Lead and contact scoring for sales funnel automation.
ActiveCampaign’s automation workflows help you personalize your messages, ensuring each customer gets messages tailored to their needs. Additionally, the platform’s CRM and sales automation capabilities simplify the process of organizing and managing leads, making it easier to close deals.
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, event marketing, and sales funnels. Additionally, automation might not be such a big concern for creators.
Additionally, ActiveCampaign has several exciting features for eCommerce business owners. These include automation for abandoned carts, win-back tactics, and all common automation workflows used to grow eCommerce revenue.
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.
Why ActiveCampaign is a Good Convertkit Alternative?
- Advanced automation workflows for personalization;
- CRM and sales automation capabilities;
- User-friendly and intuitive interface;
- Various integrations with popular apps;
- Advanced segmentation and personalization capabilities.
Best For
ActiveCampaign is better tailored for larger businesses with an extensive sales and account management team. For smaller businesses, there are better choices in this list.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| User-friendly and intuitive interface; | Pricing can get exorbitantly high for businesses with large email lists; |
| Amazing lead scoring and sales automation features; | Complex email automation flows; |
| Advanced segmentation and personalization capabilities. | Steep learning curve for beginners. |
Pricing
- Starts at $29 per month for up to 500 subscribers;
- A 7-day free trial is available.
4. GetResponse — Best Convertkit Alternative for Transactional Emails
GetResponse is a robust ConvertKit alternative that specializes in transactional emails for eCommerce stores. The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for businesses to get started with email marketing and achieve the desired results.
- Advanced autoresponders and conversion funnel builder;
- AI-powered recommendation engine for eCommerce journey optimization;
- Great deliverability;
- Behavioral and engagement-based segmentation.
GetResponse’s automation workflows help you personalize your messages, ensuring each customer gets messages tailored to their needs. With advanced customer segmentation and personalization capabilities, you can send targeted messages to your audience at the right time. And as the best ConvertKit alternative for transactional emails, GetResponse is an excellent choice for eCommerce stores.
GetResponse’s feature set is designed to help businesses capture, nurture, and convert leads across different channels. They have all standard email marketing automation features along with paid ads management, a landing page builder, and a powerful journey builder.
Unfortunately, all of those features come at a price, and a common complaint about GetResponse is that they haven’t really fine-tuned all the features correctly.
Overall, GetResponse is reasonably good for those who need an extensive suite of features and want to focus on two areas – marketing and sales. Unfortunately, the learning curve and UI/UX complexities will keep you busy for a long time.
Why GetResponse is a Good Convertkit Alternative?
- Great automation workflows that can handle complex journeys and sales cycles;
- Dedicated IP for best deliverability for transactional emails (higher plans);
- Powerful segmentation and AI-powered recommendation for boosting the ROI.
Best For
GetResponse is great for D2C businesses, eCommerce store owners, and companies that need to send many transactional emails. The live chat widget feature allows you to improve user experience on the website further.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Live chat widget and advanced automation workflows; | Limited reporting and analytics compared to some competitors; |
| User-friendly and intuitive interface; | Pricing can get high as you scale; |
| Solid feature set with lots of useful features and tools; | Some features won’t work as expected. |
Pricing
- Starts at $15.58 per month (billed annually) for up to 1000 subscribers;
- Free plan is also available for up to 500 subscribers and 2500 emails per month.
5. Drip — Good ConvertKit Alternative for Email Automation
Drip is a popular ConvertKit alternative that offers advanced email marketing automation features, omnichannel campaigns, and more. The platform primarily focuses on D2C and eCommerce brands looking to grow their subscriber base and boost conversion rates using marketing automation.
- Omnichannel campaign automation;
- Readymade automation templates;
- Personalize in-store online customer experience through forms and popups;
- Powerful segmentation and analytics capabilities.
Automation is a standout feature of Drip, with lots of ready-to-deploy workflows. You can use Drip’s automation workflows to personalize your emails/SMSs, nurture leads, set up follow-up campaigns, and more. Additionally, the platform’s easy-to-use visual automation builder simplifies the process of creating complex automation workflows.
The deep segmentation and behavioral targeting features help store owners create targeted and personalized messages for subscribers that can be sent at the right time. The platform also integrates seamlessly with popular apps like Shopify, WooCommerce, and more, making it easy for you to bring all your data together in one place.
If you compare Drip vs. Convertkit, you’ll notice Drip is more beneficial for an eCommerce business, while Convertkit is useful for businesses in creative industries.
Why is Drip a Good Convertkit Alternative?
- eCommerce-focused features with templates designed for popular use cases;
- Deep integrations with all eCommerce platforms and marketing tools;
- Ready-to-use automation sequences to speed up the automation process;
- Intelligent A/B testing, deep segmentation, and powerful analytics features.
Best For
eCommerce businesses, Shopify store owners, and D2C businesses who want to build long-term relationships based on personalized nurturing.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy-to-use visual automation builder with pre-made templates; | Costly pricing plans; |
| Robust behavioral segmentation and personalization features; | No split testing feature for email content; |
| Integrates deeply with all major eCommerce platforms for transparent data reporting. | More suitable for just eCommerce workflows. |
Pricing
- Paid plans start at $39 per month for up to 2500 subscribers;
- Free 14-day trial is also available with limits and restrictions.
6. Constant Contact — Best Alternative for Email Templates
Constant Contact is an excellent alternative for people who want beautiful email templates and a user-friendly interface for creating emails. The platform is perfect for small businesses and nonprofits that don’t have a lot of experience with other email marketing tools.
- Advanced email automation with lead scoring capabilities;
- Powerful email builder with lots of useful templates;
- Social media integration for omnichannel marketing;
- Robust landing page and form builder.
Constant Contact’s drag-and-drop email editor makes it easy to create beautiful emails without any coding or design skills. The platform also offers hundreds of customizable email templates, so you can find the perfect design to match your brand.
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 hosts online events.
With robust list management and segmentation features, Constant Contact makes it simple to send targeted messages to your audience. The platform also integrates with popular apps, email service providers, and platforms to help you bring all your data together in one place.
Why Constant Contact is a Good ConvertKit Alternative?
- Omnichannel campaign builder across email, SMS, and social media;
- Unique templates with 100% responsiveness across mobile devices;
- Powerful segmentation and capability to set up automated lead nurturing campaigns;
- Integrations with all major apps, platforms, social media accounts, etc.
Best For
Small businesses and nonprofit organizations looking for an email marketing tool with a feature-rich email builder and many useful templates. Also great for people who want to promote online events and webinars and build a community.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Hundreds of customizable email templates; | Limited automation capabilities compared to some competitors; |
| Extensive list management and segmentation feature, including automatic list cleaning; | Questionable email deliverability metrics; |
| Supports social media management and scheduling. | Restrictive pricing model. |
Pricing
- Paid plans start at $9.99 per month for up to 500 subscribers with basic email marketing features. Advanced features are available on a plan that costs $45 per month for 500 subscribers;
- Free limited-time trial plan is also available to test out platform features.
Also read: 9 Best Constant Contact Alternatives for 2023 (Free & Paid)
7. Sendgrid – Best Convertkit Alternative with SMTP
Sendgrid is an email marketing platform that excels in terms of SMTP email services and a dedicated API. It’s an excellent ConvertKit alternative for businesses looking for SMTP services and APIs for transactional emails, deeper data analytics, and more control over data.
- Email API and SMTP service with excellent deliverability;
- Real-time analytics and reporting;
- Drag and drop email campaign editor;
- Developer-friendly features for deeper customizations.
Sendgrid can be seen as a data-first platform that allows businesses with many deep insights into user analytics, ROI, and optimization. SMTP and API services are top-notch, making it easy to enhance functionality and improve customization based on unique requirements. In addition, the real-time analytics and reporting features allow you to track subscribers at every step of the email campaign with ease.
API focus doesn’t mean that Sendgrid is only helpful for people with core technical skills. It has a great documentation section allowing anyone to start using and leveraging its powerful capabilities with ease and efficiency.
Why is Sendgrid a Good ConvertKit Alternative?
- Developer-focused API for deep customization, analytics, and operational scaling;
- Amazing email deliverability rates owing to dedicated SMTP services;
- Cross-team collaboration features with a user-friendly UI;
- Drag and drop email builder with responsive newsletter templates.
Best For
SendGrid is an excellent alternative for companies with dedicated developers and data analysts. You can use it for all sorts of campaign automation use cases and improve your email analytics and deliverability with ease.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| API functionality and customization options; | Limited automation and segmentation capabilities compared to some competitors; |
| Real-time analytics and reporting; | Pricing can be higher for large lists and advanced features; |
| SMTP services for transactional emails; | Customer support can take some time to respond to complex queries. |
Pricing
- Paid plans start at $15 per month for sending up to 15,000 emails;
- Free plan is also available that supports sending up to 100 emails per day.
8. Mailgun – Best Alternative for Automation using API
Mailgun is a powerful email automation platform that stands out for its advanced automation features and customizable APIs. It’s an excellent ConvertKit alternative for businesses looking for API automation capabilities.
- Email APIs, SMTP Relay, and webhooks;
- Real-time email analytics;
- Email address verification tools;
- Inbound email routing features.
Mailgun’s customizable APIs make it an excellent option for businesses that want much control over email marketing operations. You can leverage unique features like send times optimization, email routing, analytics, logs, etc.
Mailgun is an excellent ConvertKit alternative, but you can only enjoy its full features with an in-house development team or expert marketers. If you need to manage everything as a beginner, there are better alternatives in this list. Mailgun has an amazing pricing model that can feel so affordable for businesses with lots of email marketing campaigns and an extensive email list.
Why Mailgun is a Good ConvertKit Alternative?
- API access for complete customization and excellent deliverability;
- Insightful email analytics with real-time tracking;
- Dedicated IP to reduce bounce rates and spam reports;
- Email address verifier to enhance email list quality;
- Integrations with all major email suites and clients like Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
Best For
Businesses with a large team of developers can spend time customizing email marketing software and analytics reports. Also suitable for eCommerce stores that want to set up transactional email campaigns.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| API access for complete customization and integration with existing stack | No dedicated automation of workflow builder |
| Dedicated IP for reducing email spam and improving deliverability | Pricing can be higher for larger lists and advanced needs |
| Email validation and testing tools | No landing page builder |
Pricing
- Free plan that allows sending up to 5000 emails per month;
- Paid plans start at $35 per month for sending up to 50,000 emails per month.
Convertkit Free Alternative: Comparison Table
If you’re keen on trying a few free alternatives to Converkit before paying anything, we’ve got you covered too. Several email marketing platforms offer a free plan you can use for up to a limited number of subscribers. Here are the top three Convertkit competitors with a generous free plan:
- Sender
- Mailchimp
- Drip
Let’s compare these three tools side-by-side.
| Sender | Mailchimp | Drip | |
| Contacts | 2500 | 500 | 2500 (14-day free trial) |
| Emails per month | 15000 | 6000 | – |
| Daily limits | No limits | – | – |
| Support | 24/7 Live chat, email | Only the first 30 days | |
| Automation | No Limits | Limited | Available |
| Email Scheduling | – | – | |
| Advanced Reporting | – | ||
| Contacts segmentation | Basic | Basic | |
| User seats | Unlimited | 1 | 1 |
| Integrations | + |
Alternatives Convertkit: Price & Feature Comparison Table
| Sender | Mailchimp | ActiveCampaign | GetResponse | Drip | Constant Contact | SendGrid | Mailgun | |
| Contacts | Up to 2 500 (Free Plan) | Up to 500 (Free Plan) | 100 Contact (free plan) | up to 500 contacts (free plan) | Up to 2500 (Starter Plan) | Unlimited contacts | Up to 2000 contacts (Free plan) | Unlimited contacts |
| Emails | Up to 15 000 (Free Plan) | Up to 1000 | 100 emails (Free plan) | 2500 emails per month (free plan) | Unlimited | Up to 900 | Up to 6000 emails (Free plan) | 5000 emails/month (Free plan) |
| Daily limits (Free account) | Unlimited | – | – | – | – | 300 | – | – |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat + Email | Email-only, first 30 days | Email and Live Chat | Email Support | Email Support | Email-only | Email Support | Email Support |
| WordPress Integration | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Email Automation | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Email Templates Library | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Advanced Segmentation | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” | “+” | Basic | “+” | “+” |
| Email Scheduling | “+” | – | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” | “+” |
| Advanced Reporting | “+” | – | “+” | Basic | “+” | – | “+” | “+” |
| Geography & device reporting | “+” | – | “+” | – | – | – | – | – |
| Heat map reporting | “+” | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Advanced open & click stats. | “+” | – | “+” | Basic | “+” | – | Basic | “+” |
| Multi-user access | Unlimited | Limited on Lower Plans | 3 Users | Limited on Lower Plans | – | 1 | Limited on Lower Plans | Limited on Lower Plans |
| Pricing | $8.33 per month for 2500 subscribers and up to 30k emails per month | $9.36 per month for 500 subscribers and 5000 emails per month | $9 per month for 500 subscribers | Starts at $15.58 per month (billed annually) for up to 1000 subscribers; | $39 per month for up to 2500 subscribers | $9.99 per month for up to 500 contacts | Paid plans start at $15 per month for sending up to 15,000 emails; | Paid plans start at $35 per month for sending up to 50,000 emails per month. |
Key Takeaways: Convertkit Alternatives
- Always try out an email marketing tool that offers a free plan before migrating to a platform completely;
- Pick a solution with marketing automation features, a drag-and-drop editor, and powerful segmentation capabilities;
- Run a few email marketing campaigns to test a platform’s analytics capabilities before switching from ConvertKit;
- Choose a solution with an affordable pricing plan that lets you continue with your email marketing strategy without worrying about costs.
Also read:
- 10 Best Mailchimp Alternatives for 2023 (Incl. Free Competitors)
- 7 Best ActiveCampaign Alternatives (Incl. Free Competitors)
- 16 Best Marketing Automation Tools (Free & Paid Software)
Author Bio
Anmol Ratan Sachdeva is a content marketer and small business consultant who has a strong grip on topics like marketing automation, email marketing, and content marketing. He loves to write about building, improving, and growing a business.
