ConvertKit vs Brevo: priced by subscribers or priced by emails sent
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) lets you broadcast to 10,000 subscribers for nothing but locks automations and sequences behind Creator, at $116 a month for 10,000. Brevo meters emails sent, so the same automation tier is $97 at 50,000 emails a month and $139 at 100,000. For a newsletter with a small funnel, Kit is cheaper. For a product that mails often, adds transactional messages or other channels, Brevo usually is.
By Julian Pryor · Updated 7 Oct 2026
Short answer
Pick Kit if you publish a newsletter or sell digital products to an audience and want landing pages, forms and sequences built for that, with broadcasts free up to 10,000 subscribers. Pick Brevo if you send many emails per subscriber, need transactional email or SMS beside marketing mail, or want a free plan that includes basic sending today. On the automation tier the two land within $6 to $27 of each other from 5,000 to 25,000 subscribers, so features decide it.
What the two pricing pages say
Kit's figures were read on 7 October 2026 and are the monthly equivalents on its yearly-billing toggle, which was on by default. Creator at 1,000 subscribers is $33 a month and $390 billed yearly, which Kit says saves $78 a year, so month-to-month works out at $39 (390 plus 78, divided by 12). Brevo's figures are the calculator's readouts at monthly billing.
| Item | Kit | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing meter | Subscribers | Emails per month (campaigns and transactional), with contacts bundled per stop |
| Free plan | Up to 10,000 subscribers; broadcasts, forms, landing pages; no automations | 300 emails a day; up to 100,000 contacts stored; 2,000 contacts in automation |
| Automation plan | Creator: $33 at 1,000, $75 at 5,000, $116 at 10,000, $166 at 25,000 | Standard: $18 at 5,000 emails, $35 at 10,000, $69 at 20,000, $97 at 50,000, $139 at 100,000 |
| Higher plan | Pro: $66 at 1,000 ($50 first-year offer), $158 at 10,000, $233 at 25,000 | Professional from $499, 150,000 emails and up, 10 seats |
| Trial and moving in | 14 days, no card, free migrations | Free plan instead of a trial |
A weekly newsletter at four list sizes
The table assumes four sends a month to every subscriber, so the email count is four times the list. Brevo's Starter has no marketing automation, while its Standard does. Where the exact email count has no stop on Brevo's slider, the next stop up is used.
| Subscribers | Emails a month | Kit, broadcasts only | Kit Creator (with automation) | Brevo Starter | Brevo Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 4,000 | $0 | $33 | $0 on Free | $35 at the 10,000-email stop, which holds 1,500 contacts |
| 5,000 | 20,000 | $0 | $75 | $32 | $69 |
| 10,000 | 40,000 | $0 | $116 | $46 | $97 at 50,000 emails |
| 25,000 | 100,000 | Above Free | $166 | $82 | $139 |
Read across the automation columns: Brevo Standard undercuts Kit Creator by $6 at 5,000 subscribers (75 minus 69), $19 at 10,000 (116 minus 97) and $27 at 25,000 (166 minus 139), while Kit Creator costs less at 1,000 only if you ignore Brevo's free plan. Kit's broadcast-only column is the surprise: a 10,000-subscriber newsletter with no sequences costs $0 on Kit and $46 on Brevo Starter. Past 10,000 subscribers Kit's Free plan no longer applies, which is why the 25,000 row has no free option, and the yearly toggle means a month-to-month customer pays somewhat more than the Kit figures shown.
Product differences that change the choice
- Audience features. Kit's plans centre on landing pages, forms, tagging, segmentation, selling digital products and subscriptions, Visual Automations and sequences, with A/B subject lines on Creator and a referral system and subscriber signals on Pro.
- Channels. Brevo's own pricing cards list email and SMS on Starter, marketing automation and A/B testing on Standard, and WhatsApp, popups and push on Professional. Kit's pricing page lists SMS marketing on Creator.
- Seats. Kit's Pro plan lists unlimited users. Brevo's calculator includes one marketing seat on Standard, with extra seats at $9 a month each per its help article, and 10 seats on Professional.
- Branding. Kit removes its branding from Creator up. Brevo's Standard plan removes the Brevo logo, and the Starter calculator offers removal as a $10.80 add-on.
Stripe and billing events
Kit's Stripe app adds buyers as subscribers, records each payment in a Purchases tab and supports subscriptions as well as one-time payments. It pulls in past purchasers when connected. Its limits matter for SaaS: refunds are not supported, a Stripe purchase can only start an automation after a test purchase exists, and its troubleshooting article says it watches the charge succeeded and subscription updated events. So a trial that never converts, a failed renewal or a cancellation will not arrive as a Kit trigger on its own. The Kit API v4 covers broadcasts, tags, custom fields and importing purchase data, and Kit webhooks include subscriber.tag_add and purchase.purchase_create, so your server can set a tag when it sees Stripe's invoice.payment_failed and start an automation from the tag.
Brevo's Events API is described as a way to log contact events, segment by behaviour and trigger automation workflows, and Brevo lists Stripe among its 150-plus integrations. Because transactional email counts inside the same volume, one account can send the receipt, the dunning email and the monthly product update.
Moving from one to the other
- Export subscribers with tags, custom fields and unsubscribe status. Kit's pricing page offers free migrations into Kit, so ask for that route if you are moving in.
- Going to Brevo, remember the free plan's 2,000-contact automation cap and the contact figure per stop before you import the full list.
- Rebuild sequences as automations and keep the old ones live for one cycle with a small cohort on the new tool.
- Authenticate the sending domain with SPF and DKIM in the new account before the first mailing and leave the old records until delivery has settled.
Which to choose
- Kit fits a creator or founder-led newsletter that sells a course, template or membership and sends on a set rhythm.
- Brevo fits a SaaS team sending onboarding, product and receipt mail to a growing list, or a business that wants SMS and WhatsApp beside email.
- Neither reads failed-payment events natively; plan for your own webhook handler or Stripe's built-in customer emails.
Related reading: all comparisons, MailerLite vs ConvertKit, Mailchimp vs ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign vs ConvertKit, Loops vs Brevo and Klaviyo vs Brevo.
ConvertKit vs Brevo: common questions
Is Kit really free up to 10,000 subscribers?
Yes, for broadcasts. Kit's pricing page lists a Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages, forms and email broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions. Visual Automations, email sequences and removal of Kit branding start on the Creator plan, which is $33 a month at 1,000 subscribers on yearly billing.
Which costs less for a weekly newsletter to 10,000 people?
Kit Free costs nothing for the newsletter itself. The same list on Brevo means about 40,000 emails a month (10,000 times 4), which is $46 a month on Starter at monthly billing, because the 300-a-day Free plan cannot carry it: one send to 10,000 addresses would take about 34 days at that cap (10,000 divided by 300). If you add automations, Kit Creator is $116 and Brevo Standard is $97 at the 50,000-email stop.
Will Kit email a customer when their Stripe card fails?
Not through its Stripe app. Kit's troubleshooting article says the integration watches for the charge succeeded and subscription updated events, and that purchases triggered by other events may not be captured. A failed invoice event from Stripe would have to reach Kit through your own code and the API, or be handled by Stripe's own customer emails.
Does Brevo charge by the number of contacts?
Partly. Its calculator prices by monthly email volume, but each stop lists how many contacts are included: 500 at 5,000 emails, 1,500 at 10,000 emails on Standard, and 500,000 from 20,000 emails. A list of 1,000 therefore needs the 10,000-email stop, which is $35 a month on Standard.