TL;DR
Quick Answer
For most small business owners, Mailchimp is the better fit — it has stronger AI, deeper POS and CRM integrations, and a free tier that covers your first 500 contacts. Choose Kit if you're building a personal brand or content-driven business where subscriber tagging and creator monetization matter more than visual email design.
At a glance
| Feature | Mailchimp | Kit (formerly ConvertKit) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free (500 contacts) | Free (10,000 subscribers) |
| Paid plans | $13/mo Essentials, $20/mo Standard | $39/mo Creator, $59/mo Creator Pro |
| AI email writer | Yes (all plans) | Limited |
| Subject line optimizer | ML-powered A/B testing | Basic A/B testing |
| Send time optimization | Per-subscriber AI timing | Manual scheduling |
| Visual email builder | Drag-and-drop + templates | Minimal — plain-text focused |
| Automation workflows | Multi-step visual builder | Tag-based visual automations |
| E-commerce integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Toast | Shopify, WooCommerce |
| POS integrations | Square, Clover, Toast, Lightspeed | None |
| Landing pages | Yes (all plans) | Yes (all plans) |
| Best for | Local businesses with a client list and POS/CRM stack | Content creators, coaches, and newsletter-first businesses |
Mailchimp
Mailchimp
Best for: Local businesses that want AI-powered email campaigns and deep POS integrations
Mailchimp is the most widely used email marketing platform for small businesses. The AI layer generates promotional emails from a short description, optimizes subject lines via machine learning, and sends each email at the time each individual subscriber is most likely to open it. Automated lapsed-client campaigns — the "win-back" sequences that re-engage dormant customers — typically recover 10-20% of inactive contacts.
Strengths
- AI content generation and send-time optimization. Describe your promotion in a sentence, and Mailchimp drafts the email. The subject line optimizer tests variants using ML, and send-time optimization delivers to each subscriber at their personal peak open time. These aren't gimmicks — they compound into measurably higher open and click rates over time.
- Deepest integration ecosystem for local businesses. Mailchimp connects natively to Square, Toast, Clover, Lightspeed, Shopify, WooCommerce, and dozens of booking/scheduling tools. If you run a restaurant, retail shop, salon, or service business, your POS data can automatically trigger email campaigns (e.g., "customer hasn't visited in 60 days" win-back).
- Free tier that actually works. 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month is enough for a new business to run basic campaigns, test automation, and prove ROI before paying anything. The Essentials plan at $13/mo is also the cheapest paid tier in this comparison.
Weaknesses
- Contact-based pricing gets expensive at scale. Mailchimp charges by contact count across all plans. Once you pass 2,500 contacts, the Standard plan jumps to $45+/mo. Businesses with large but infrequent-sending lists pay more per email than they should.
- Template-heavy design can feel generic. Mailchimp's drag-and-drop builder produces polished emails, but they often look like "Mailchimp emails." Customization beyond templates requires HTML knowledge or workarounds.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit
Best for: Content creators and coaches building a subscriber-first business
Kit (rebranded from ConvertKit in 2024) is built for creators — bloggers, coaches, consultants, and anyone whose business runs on a newsletter or digital products. The free tier is generous at 10,000 subscribers, and the platform excels at subscriber tagging, segmentation, and automation sequences that nurture leads over time. Kit also offers built-in paid newsletter monetization and digital product sales.
Strengths
- Most generous free tier by subscriber count. 10,000 subscribers on the free plan is unmatched. For a business that sends infrequently but has a large contact list, Kit's free tier avoids the contact-count pricing trap that makes Mailchimp expensive.
- Superior subscriber tagging and segmentation. Kit's tag-based system lets you build nuanced segments (e.g., "downloaded the pricing guide AND attended webinar AND hasn't purchased"). For businesses that nurture leads through long sequences, this granularity matters.
- Built-in creator monetization. Paid newsletters, digital product sales, and tip jars are native to Kit. If your business model includes selling courses, ebooks, or premium content, Kit handles the commerce layer without a third-party tool.
Weaknesses
- Minimal visual email design. Kit defaults to plain-text-style emails. This is intentional — creator audiences respond better to personal-feeling messages. But for a bakery promoting a seasonal menu or a boutique showcasing new arrivals, the lack of visual templates is a real limitation.
- Weak POS and local business integrations. Kit doesn't connect to Square, Toast, Clover, or most scheduling platforms that local businesses use. If your email strategy depends on triggering campaigns from purchase or booking data, Kit can't do it natively.
Head-to-head
Pricing
Kit's free tier (10,000 subscribers) is far more generous than Mailchimp's (500 contacts). But once you need automation and paid features, the math flips. Kit Creator starts at $39/mo for 1,000 subscribers, while Mailchimp Essentials is $13/mo for 500 contacts with more automation features. For a typical small business with 500-2,000 contacts that needs real automation, Mailchimp is cheaper. For a content creator with a large list who sends simple emails, Kit's free tier is hard to beat.
AI and automation
Mailchimp is significantly ahead on AI. The email content generator, ML-powered subject line testing, and per-subscriber send-time optimization are features Kit simply doesn't match. Kit's automation builder is strong — tag-based sequences with conditional logic — but the triggers are subscriber actions (opened, clicked, tagged), not purchase or booking events from external systems. For a business that wants AI doing the heavy lifting on content and timing, Mailchimp wins.
Integrations
Mailchimp integrates with the tools local businesses actually use: POS systems (Square, Toast, Clover), booking platforms (Jobber, MoeGo, DaySmart), and e-commerce (Shopify, WooCommerce). Kit integrates with Shopify and WooCommerce but lacks the POS and booking connections. If your business has a physical location or relies on appointment-based revenue, Mailchimp's integration library is meaningfully better.
Customer support
Mailchimp offers email and chat support on Essentials and phone support on Premium plans. Kit provides email and live chat support on Creator plans, with priority support on Creator Pro. Both have solid knowledge bases and community forums. Kit's support team is smaller but gets higher satisfaction ratings in reviews, likely because the product is simpler and issues are less complex.
Our pick
For most small business owners — shops, restaurants, salons, service companies — Mailchimp is the better choice. The AI features save time on content creation and optimization, the POS integrations let you trigger campaigns from real customer behavior, and the pricing is lower for businesses under 2,500 contacts. The only time we'd recommend Kit instead is if your business is content-first (coaching, consulting, education, newsletters) where subscriber nurturing and digital product sales matter more than visual design and POS integrations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mailchimp or Kit better for a business that's never done email marketing?
Mailchimp. The template library, AI email writer, and guided setup make it possible to send a professional-looking campaign in under an hour with zero experience. Kit's minimalist design philosophy means you need to be comfortable writing your own copy from scratch.
Can I switch from Mailchimp to Kit later?
Yes. Kit offers free migration from Mailchimp on their Creator and Creator Pro plans — they'll move your subscriber list, tags, and basic automations. You'll need to rebuild email templates and complex automation sequences manually. The reverse (Kit to Mailchimp) is a CSV export and manual reimport.
Do either of them handle SMS marketing?
Mailchimp added SMS on Standard plans and above for U.S. numbers. Kit does not offer native SMS. If text message campaigns are part of your strategy (appointment reminders, flash sales), Mailchimp covers both channels. With Kit, you'd need a separate SMS tool.
Which is better for e-commerce businesses?
Mailchimp, especially if you use Shopify or WooCommerce. The integration pulls purchase data directly into segments, enabling campaigns like "bought product X but not Y" or "spent over $200 in the last 90 days." Kit connects to both platforms but the e-commerce automation triggers are less granular.
Why did ConvertKit rebrand to Kit?
ConvertKit rebranded to Kit in 2024 to better reflect its evolution from an email tool to a broader creator commerce platform. The product is the same — same features, same team, same pricing. The name change has no impact on functionality or your existing account.