ConvertKit has rebranded as Kit, and its pricing page now leads with a free plan that the plan comparison lists at up to 10,000 subscribers, carrying unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. Above that, Creator is $33 a month billed yearly, $390 for the year, which the page says saves $78 against monthly billing, priced for 1,000 email subscribers and adding unlimited visual automations, unlimited email sequences, Kit MCP, RSS campaigns and 24/7 email and chat support. Pro is $66 a month billed yearly, with a first-year offer at $50 a month billed as $593, which the page says saves $355 in year one. A 14-day trial needs no card and free migrations are offered.
TL;DR
Kit charges per list size: a free plan the vendor lists at up to 10,000 subscribers, Creator at $33 a month billed yearly for 1,000 subscribers, Pro at $66 a month billed yearly with a first-year offer at $50. Substack charges nothing to publish, then keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue plus Stripe's 2.9% plus 30 cents a payment and 0.7% on recurring billing. Your choice depends on whether you would rather pay a fixed bill or a percentage of what you earn.
Substack's cost article says publishing is free no matter how many subscribers you have. The money starts when you turn on paid subscriptions: Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment, Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment for US cards, Stripe Billing adds 0.7% for recurring payments, and local payment methods are priced by Stripe and vary by country. An optional custom domain costs a one-time $50. Readers pay the price the writer sets, and Substack adds nothing to web payments. For in-app purchases the 10% is calculated on your web price, and you choose whether in-app prices rise to cover app store fees.
The models diverge the moment revenue appears. Kit's bill is fixed for a given list size, so income growth does not raise it, and the free tier already covers a large list. Substack's bill scales with every dollar: at 100 readers paying $8 a month you are looking at $800 a month of revenue, of which Substack takes $80, Stripe takes about $53 in processing and another $5.60 in billing fees, roughly $139 a month, or about $1,666 a year, before any list growth. Below that line, Substack is unbeatable on price; above it, the percentage is what you are buying distribution, payments and a hosted publication in one.
| Feature | ConvertKit | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | Free plan listed at up to 10,000 subscribers | Free to publish, with no subscriber cap on the free tier |
| Paid plan | Creator, $33 a month billed yearly, $390 a year for 1,000 subscribers | No plan to buy: the 10% fee applies only to paid subscriptions |
| Higher tier | Pro, $66 a month billed yearly, first year at $50 a month billed as $593 | Same percentage at every revenue level, with no tier step |
| Revenue share | None: the bill is fixed for your list size | 10% of each subscription payment, kept by Substack |
| Payment processing | The pricing page describes digital product sales as carrying low transaction fees without a published rate | Stripe 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment for US cards, plus 0.7% on recurring billing |
| Automation | Unlimited visual automations and email sequences from Creator upward | The cost article covers fees only; sequencing tools are not part of the offer |
| Website and domain | Unlimited landing pages and forms on every plan | Publication hosting included, optional custom domain at a one-time $50 |
| Billing model | Monthly or yearly per subscriber count, yearly saves 17% according to the page | Percentage of what readers pay you, settled through Stripe |
Pick ConvertKit if
Kit is the choice if you want the bill decoupled from income and you want to run sequences, segments and product sales yourself. The free plan as listed on the vendor's page already covers a list of up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, and Creator at $33 a month billed yearly buys automations and sequences for a fixed price. You take on the work of writing the sequences, maintaining the domain relationship with your audience, and paying whatever transaction rate applies to product sales.
Pick Substack if
Substack is the right starting point when the newsletter does not exist yet and you would rather sign up for a percentage than a subscription. Publishing is free, paid subscriptions cost the 10% plus Stripe's processing, and there is no plan to choose or list size to forecast. The trade shows up as you grow: 100 readers at $8 a month already costs around $139 a month in combined platform and processing fees, and that number moves with revenue rather than with your list size.
No independent reviews, ratings or user quotes were collected for this pair. The fee figures come from Kit's pricing page and Substack's own help centre article on cost, both updated in 2026.
With no paid readers, Substack: publishing is free and Kit's free plan as listed still costs nothing, so both are $0. With revenue, it depends on size. Kit Creator is $390 a year for 1,000 subscribers regardless of income. Substack on 100 readers at $8 a month takes about $139 a month, roughly $1,666 a year, from $800 of monthly revenue: 10% to Substack, 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment and 0.7% recurring to Stripe.
No. Substack's help centre says publishing is free no matter how many subscribers you have, and the 10% applies when you turn on paid subscriptions. Stripe's processing fees attach to the payments themselves: 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment for US cards and 0.7% on recurring payments.
The vendor's plan comparison lists the free plan at up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. Visual automations and unlimited email sequences are the line where Creator starts.
Those are the yearly-billing rates for 1,000 email subscribers: Creator at $33 a month billed as $390 a year, which the page says saves $78 against monthly billing, and Pro at $66 a month, with a first-year offer at $50 a month billed as $593. Larger lists cost more, and the pricing page prices by subscriber count.
Stripe card processing at 2.9% plus $0.30 per payment for US cards, Stripe Billing at 0.7% for recurring payments, local payment methods at Stripe's country-specific rates, an optional custom domain at a one-time $50, and in-app purchases where Substack's 10% is calculated on your web price.
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