ConvertKit vs MailerLite for Coaches: 2026 Comparison

ConvertKit vs MailerLite comes down to one question for most coaches: how big is your list, and do you need automations? Kit (the new name for ConvertKit) has the more generous free plan, which covers up to 10,000 subscribers but no automated sequences. MailerLite is the cheaper paid tool: automations start at $12 a month, and it includes a booking calendar and checkout with 0% MailerLite commission. If you're starting a newsletter for an audience, pick Kit. If you want welcome sequences, discovery-call bookings and a simple site on a small budget, pick MailerLite.

Both are email tools, though, and neither one runs your coaching. Neither has a client portal, a program with weekly tasks, habit tracking or check-ins. We make Coachful, a coaching platform that includes email alongside everything else, so this guide covers it as a third option. We're honest about when it beats both tools and when it doesn't. All vendor prices below are as listed in October 2026.

What is the short answer by use case?

Kit is better for creators who see the newsletter as the product. MailerLite gives better value to coaches who need automations, bookings and a landing page on a small paid plan. If email is only one part of a practice that also handles sessions, payments and client delivery, you're comparing one tool against a whole stack.

• You have no list yet and want to start writing weekly: Kit's free Newsletter plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, forms and landing pages. MailerLite's free plan stops sending above 250 active subscribers.
• You want a welcome sequence that runs on its own: MailerLite. Its free plan includes 3 automations, and Comfort starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers with 50 automations. On Kit, sequences and visual automations need Creator, which starts at $39 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers.
• You want people to book a paid discovery call from an email: MailerLite, which has built-in Bookings for 1:1 and group sessions with Stripe payments and Google or Outlook calendar sync. Kit has no scheduling.
• You sell a low-priced download or a paid newsletter: it's close. Kit Commerce charges 3.5% + $0.30 per sale with card processing included. MailerLite takes 0% commission, but paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions need a paid plan, and Stripe's processing fee still applies.
• You run programs with clients between sessions: neither tool is built for this. That's the job of a coaching platform, covered in the third-option section below.

How do Kit, MailerLite and Coachful compare side by side?

Ranking criteria for coaches: one login for the whole client journey, delivery between sessions, total stack cost, and setup effort, including whether someone will build it for you.

Public review scores give a rough sense of how users feel, not proof of quality. On Trustpilot, MailerLite showed 4.1 from 3,391 reviews (seen October 2026). Kit showed 3.9 from 162 reviews, and Coachful showed 4.5 from 21 reviews.

How much do Kit and MailerLite cost in 2026?

At small list sizes, MailerLite is clearly cheaper once you need automations. Its Comfort plan starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers, while Kit's Creator plan starts at $39 a month for up to 1,000. Kit is cheaper if you only send broadcasts, since its free plan reaches 10,000 subscribers.

Some details matter more than the headline price:

• MailerLite renamed and repriced its plans on June 16, 2026. Growing Business became Comfort and Advanced became Power. Older reviews that quote $10 and $20 or use the old names are out of date.
• MailerLite charges by active subscribers. Paid accounts that go over their tier are moved up and charged automatically. Annual billing takes 10% off, nonprofits get 30% off, and only one discount applies at a time.
• Kit's annual billing gives "2 months free". Kit's help center doesn't print the annual amount. Its pricing page also blocked our fetch, so the prices above come from Kit's help center. Paid prices go up with subscriber count.
• Trials: Kit offers a 14-day trial of Creator and Pro with no credit card. MailerLite gives every new account 14 days of premium features. After that the premium features switch off, but nothing is deleted.
• Currency: MailerLite publishes separate USD and EUR price tables. Comfort at 500 subscribers costs $12 or €11 a month. Kit lists in USD.

What does MailerLite cost as your list grows?

Here's MailerLite's own scale for monthly billing. Kit's help center doesn't publish an equivalent table for larger lists, so we haven't guessed one.

Here's an example of how sales fees add up. Say you sell a $500 coaching package through Kit Commerce. At 3.5% + $0.30, Kit keeps $17.80 per sale, card processing included. MailerLite takes no commission, so you pay only Stripe's standard rate for your country. For a $20 workbook the gap is cents. For a high-ticket package it adds up over a year. Check Stripe's current rate for your region before you compare.

Which has the better free plan for a new coach?

Kit's free plan is far bigger, and MailerLite's free plan does more. Kit lets you send unlimited broadcasts to up to 10,000 subscribers for free, but there are no automations or sequences. MailerLite's free plan includes 3 automations and a booking page, but sending locks once you pass 250 active subscribers.

What each free plan includes, according to the vendors in October 2026:

• Kit Newsletter (free): up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited forms, landing pages and broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, digital product and subscription sales, A/B tests on broadcasts, the Creator Network with 5 recommendation slots, and API access.
• MailerLite Free: up to 250 active subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, 2 user seats, 3 active automations of up to 5 steps each, 1 website and 1 landing page, 3 active signup forms, and 1 active digital product or booking type. Support is through the knowledge base only, and API access can't send.

For a coach, the free-plan question is really about the welcome email. Someone downloads your lead magnet, and you want three or four emails to follow over the next week. On Kit's free plan, you'd have to send those by hand as broadcasts. On MailerLite's free plan, a short automation can send them for you, but only until your list passes 250.

How do the email editors and newsletters compare?

Both tools write and send a good-looking newsletter. MailerLite gives you more editor choices, while Kit leans toward plain, text-style emails that read like a personal letter.

MailerLite offers drag-and-drop, simple and custom HTML editors on every plan. Comfort adds unlimited templates, dynamic content, multivariate testing, auto-resend, an AI writing assistant and a preference center, so subscribers can choose which emails they get. Kit's free plan includes A/B tests on broadcasts. Pro adds A/B tests on email content, collaborative editing, deliverability reporting and engagement scoring.

If your newsletter is the main way you show up for your audience, Kit's creator focus and Creator Network are useful. Recommendations let other newsletters suggest yours to their readers, and paid recommendations sit on Creator. If you like designed emails with images and sections, MailerLite's editors are more flexible on the cheap plans.

Which has better automations for coaching funnels?

MailerLite gets you more automation for less money. You get 3 automations on Free, 50 on Comfort and unlimited on Power, each up to 100 steps on paid plans. Kit's visual automations and sequences start on the Creator plan.

A typical coaching funnel needs four automations: a lead-magnet delivery and welcome series, a nurture sequence that invites people to a discovery call, a reminder flow for webinar sign-ups, and a post-purchase onboarding email. MailerLite's Comfort plan covers all four. Power adds multiple triggers per automation, which helps when the same sequence should start from several forms.

Kit's tagging model is easy to understand. A subscriber gets a tag when they join a form or click a link, and rules move them into sequences. Kit also has rules and RSS, AI connectors and paid apps on Creator. Pro adds Facebook Custom Audiences and the SparkLoop referral system. Kit's automations are well regarded by creators, but you pay at least $39 a month to use them.

One limit applies to both tools. Their automations react to email behaviour: opens, clicks, form sign-ups and purchases. They can't react to what a client does in your program, like missing two check-ins or finishing week three, because neither tool knows about the program.

Can you book sessions and take payments in Kit or MailerLite?

MailerLite can do both: it has built-in Bookings for 1:1 and group sessions, free or paid through Stripe. Kit can take payments for digital products and subscriptions, but it has no scheduling, so coaches pair it with a separate booking tool.

MailerLite Bookings syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook or Microsoft 365, and answers to booking questions are saved to the subscriber's profile. The free plan allows one active event type, which shares its limit with digital products. Comfort allows 5 combined, and Power is unlimited. That covers a free discovery call and a paid strategy session without another subscription.

Kit Commerce sells digital products, and Kit's help center says it fulfils digital products only. There are no session bookings, client records or session management. Most Kit users who coach add a scheduler. Our Calendly pricing breakdown shows what that second bill looks like.

Neither tool sends coaching agreements for e-signature, issues per-session credits or keeps session notes on the client's record. If those matter, look at a coaching scheduling tool and coaching payment software rather than an email tool.

What about landing pages, websites and digital products?

MailerLite includes a full website builder with a blog. Kit focuses on landing pages and forms. Both sell digital downloads, and neither one hosts a video course.

MailerLite's free plan includes 1 website and 1 landing page, Comfort includes 10, and Power has no limit. Comfort also removes the MailerLite logo and lets you use custom domains. Surveys, quizzes, pop-ups and embedded forms are available on every plan. Kit gives unlimited landing pages and forms even on the free plan, which suits a coach who already has a website elsewhere.

On courses, MailerLite's own page says video courses "would typically be hosted elsewhere and linked". That means you still need a course host. For a sense of what a course platform costs on top, see our Kajabi pricing guide, or compare an online course platform built for coaches.

What is the client experience like with each tool?

With both Kit and MailerLite, the client experience is your inbox. Clients get emails, fill in forms and maybe book a call. After they pay, neither tool gives them a place to log in, see their program, track habits or check in with you.

This is the biggest gap for coaches, and it's easy to miss when you compare email tools against each other. An email tool runs the part of the business before someone becomes a client. After they sign, you're back to shared documents, a separate course host, a messaging app and reminders you send by hand. MailerLite's vendor notes say this directly: no client portal, client app, coaching programs, habit tracking or client check-ins. Kit's notes say there's no course portal, community, habits or check-ins.

So the useful question isn't only "Kit or MailerLite?" It's also "what will I use for clients once they pay?" If the answer is three more tools, total cost and setup time matter more than the few dollars between these two email plans.

How do data export, support and privacy compare?

Both let you leave with your subscriber list as a CSV. MailerLite stores data in the EU and offers 24/7 email support from the Comfort plan up. Kit's help center documents CSV export of all subscribers or a segment.

MailerLite exports subscribers as CSV or "CSV for Excel" from the Subscribers page. Only admins can export, only visible columns are included, and subscriber notes can't be exported. Groups, segments and reports export separately, and custom report exports need a paid plan. On support, Free gets the knowledge base, Comfort gets 24/7 email, and Power adds priority email and 24/7 live chat.

Whichever tool you choose, email marketing rules still apply. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide requires an honest sender, a physical address and a working opt-out in commercial email. Both tools add unsubscribe links. Your copy and your list practices are your responsibility. Rules vary by country, so check with an attorney if you market across borders.

Which should you pick: Kit or MailerLite?

Pick Kit if you're building an audience through a newsletter and won't need automations soon. Pick MailerLite if you want automations, bookings and a simple site for the lowest monthly cost. Pick a coaching platform if email is only one of five tools you're about to pay for.

If you're also considering other email tools, our Flodesk vs ConvertKit comparison, Mailchimp vs MailerLite comparison and MailerLite alternatives for coaches cover the same ground with other vendors.

Is there a third option that replaces both?

Yes, if you coach clients rather than only publish to an audience. Coachful is a coaching platform where email lists, broadcasts and sequences sit in the same account as booking, payments, contracts, programs, courses, community and your website. You don't need to connect an email tool to the rest of your business.

We make Coachful, so here's what it is, what it does and doesn't do, and when you should still choose Kit or MailerLite.

What Coachful is. It's one subscription with one login for the coach and one branded app for the client. It covers booking, payments, coaching agreements, program delivery with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant. It's built for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions: solo coaches growing into a small team, or coaches replacing four to six tools. The company is based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Email and funnels

Coachful includes email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences with triggers, delays, branching and A/B splits. Booking, application, lead-magnet and checkout funnels support pixels and UTM tracking, and you get a link-in-bio page that sells. Because email lives next to your clients, a sequence can follow a lead into a booked call and then into a paid program without exporting anyone.

Booking and payments

Booking pages include availability rules, buffers, minimum notice and time-zone detection. Calendars sync both ways with Google, Apple or iCloud, and Outlook. Video links come from built-in video or are created automatically in Zoom, Meet or Teams. Payments go through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account: one-time payments, subscriptions, payment plans, order bumps, coupons, Apple Pay and Google Pay. There's a 0% Coachful platform fee, so you pay only Stripe or Razorpay processing. Coaching agreements with e-signature go out before the first call and are stored on the client record.

What clients get between sessions

This is the part neither email tool has. Clients log into your branded home and app. There they see multi-week programs with weekly goals, daily tasks, habits, morning and evening check-ins, goals with progress bars, and streaks. Courses, downloads, community, group chat and direct messages are in the same place. Cohort groups are created automatically when someone enrols in a program.

Here's a walkthrough of how programs are built and delivered:

Website and AI help

The section-based website builder includes a blog, a custom domain, SEO settings and 30 designed homepage templates, plus an Import website option. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, works from your live practice data. It drafts emails and content, builds programs, summarizes recorded sessions and briefs you before each session. Questions and planning are included in the membership, and confirmed builds use AI credits. Read more on the coach website builder and coaching software pages.

The white-glove build

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. On every plan, you can open Create and choose "We'll build it for you". Describe what you want, whether that's a website, a funnel, an email sequence or newsletter, a sales page, a program, a course outline, a lead quiz or an automation. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours. Nothing gets invented: no fake credentials, testimonials or prices, and any gaps are left for you to fill. The service doesn't cover recording videos, logo design, ad management or ongoing marketing.

Here are a few recent builds, anonymized. A business mentor for beauty professionals got a 12-week mentorship sales page, a funnel for a start-up guide and rewritten follow-up emails. A real-estate and money coach got a year-long cohort program with an application form, an eight-page site and a nine-day bootcamp funnel. A leadership coach whose Squarespace renewal was days away got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button. Read more about the white-glove build service.

When Coachful beats both

• You sell coaching programs and want clients to log into one branded place for tasks, habits, check-ins, courses and community.
• You're about to pay for an email tool, a scheduler, a course host and a community app separately. Add those bills up and compare them with one plan (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients).
• You want sequences that move a lead into a booked session and a paid program in one system.
• You'd rather have your website, funnel and email sequence built for you than set them up yourself.

When Kit or MailerLite is the better choice

• Pick Kit over Coachful if you're a newsletter-first creator with a list under 10,000, you don't coach clients one to one yet, and you want to spend nothing until the audience grows. Kit's Creator Network and SparkLoop referrals on Pro are built for audience growth, and Coachful doesn't offer an equivalent.
• Pick MailerLite over Coachful if you only need email, a booking page and a small site, and the lowest possible monthly bill matters more than client delivery. MailerLite also scales to 200,000 subscribers on Power, which is a mass-email use case rather than a coaching one.
• Coachful also isn't the right fit if you need HIPAA compliance (it isn't HIPAA-certified), PayPal checkout, a permanent no-cost plan, or Salesforce or HubSpot integration.

How to start: open a free trial, then request your website, funnel or email sequence through the white-glove build so you're not starting from a blank page. During onboarding, the team imports your clients, programs and content for you. If you're just starting out, see Coachful for new coaches, or browse more comparisons on our compare page.

Frequently asked questions

Is ConvertKit the same as Kit?

Yes. ConvertKit now operates as Kit, at kit.com, and its help center uses the Kit name throughout. The plans are Newsletter (free), Creator and Pro.

Is MailerLite cheaper than ConvertKit?

For paid plans with automations, yes. As listed in October 2026, MailerLite Comfort starts at $12 a month for 500 subscribers, and Kit Creator starts at $39 a month for up to 1,000. If you only send broadcasts, Kit's free plan up to 10,000 subscribers costs nothing, so it's cheaper there.

Does Kit's free plan include automations?

No. Visual automations and email sequences need Creator or Pro. The free Newsletter plan covers broadcasts, forms, landing pages, tagging, product sales and broadcast A/B tests.

What happens when my MailerLite free list goes over 250?

MailerLite says sending, both campaigns and automations, locks above 250 active subscribers on the free plan. You'd need to upgrade to Comfort or Power, or clean inactive subscribers off your list.

Can I book coaching sessions with MailerLite?

Yes. MailerLite Bookings handles 1:1 and group sessions, free or paid through Stripe, with Google Calendar and Outlook sync. The free plan allows one active event type, shared with the digital product limit.

Which takes a smaller cut of my sales?

MailerLite charges 0% commission, so you pay only Stripe's processing fee. Kit Commerce charges 3.5% + $0.30 per USD sale, and that rate already includes card processing. Compare Kit's rate with Stripe's current rate in your country before you decide.

Can I move my list from Kit to MailerLite, or the other way?

Yes. Both export subscribers as CSV, and both import CSV. On MailerLite, only visible columns export and subscriber notes don't, so check your fields before you switch.

Does Coachful replace Kit or MailerLite completely?

For most coaches, yes. Coachful includes email lists, broadcasts and multi-step sequences, plus booking, payments, programs and a client app. A newsletter-first creator with a very large audience and no coaching clients may still be better served by a dedicated email tool.

What is Coachful's free white-glove service?

On every plan, the Coachful team builds what you describe inside your account: a website, funnel, email sequence, program, sales page and more, usually within about 24 hours. You can attach reference links and files, and nothing gets invented, so any gaps are left for you to fill.

Is Coachful HIPAA compliant?

No. Coachful isn't HIPAA-certified and doesn't sign a BAA, so clinical records and insurance billing belong in a clinical system. Neither Kit nor MailerLite is a clinical tool either.