If you’ve been in my world for more than five minutes, you already know I’m not shy about recommending Kit. It’s the email platform I use, the one I teach inside my courses, and honestly the one I tell every small business owner to at least consider before they build their list somewhere else.

Quick note if the name doesn’t ring a bell: Kit is the same platform you may know as ConvertKit. They rebranded a while back, but it’s the same tool under the hood — so if you’ve been searching for “ConvertKit,” you’re in the right place.

But Kit just made some changes to their free plan, and since I talk about it so much, I wanted to walk you through exactly what’s different — and use it as an excuse to talk about why I still think Kit is one of the best tools you can put behind your content.

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: I SOMETIMES LINK TO PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO HELP COVER THE COSTS OF RUNNING THIS BLOG. THERE’S NO EXTRA COST TO YOU – AND I ONLY RECOMMEND PRODUCTS THAT I’VE BOTH USED PERSONALLY AND THINK ARE QUALITY PRODUCTS THAT HELP WITH EFFICIENCY. PLEASE READ MY AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFORMATION. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! 

What Changed on the Kit Free Plan

Here’s the quick version, straight from Kit:

• The Newsletter plan is now called the Free plan. Same thing, new name. It still lets you build your list up to 10,000 subscribers before you pay a cent.
• Visual automations and sequences moved to the paid plans. If you’re brand new to Kit and sign up under the Free plan, those two features now live under Creator and Pro instead. This is the one that actually matters, so don’t skip past it — more on why in a second.
• New signups get a 14-day free trial of Creator. You’re not dropped straight into the Free plan’s limits on day one. You get two full weeks to build out automations and sequences before it reverts to Free — plenty of time to see whether they’re worth paying for.
• Existing Newsletter plan users aren’t affected. If you’re already on Kit, none of this changes anything about your account. It only applies to new signups going forward.

Why This Actually Matters for What You’re Building

I want to be straight with you about this part, because it’s the kind of detail that’s easy to gloss over.

Visual automations and sequences are the features that let your email list work without you. They’re what deliver your freebie the second someone signs up. They’re what walks a brand-new subscriber through a welcome sequence so they get to know you before you ever ask them to buy anything. On the Kit free plan, you won’t have access to those — which is fine if you’re just getting your list started, but worth knowing going in.

If you’re serious about using email to grow a small business — not just to send the occasional newsletter — automations are the piece that turns your list into a system instead of a task on your to-do list. So if that’s the direction you’re headed, Creator is where you want to be. The good news is you get a 14-day trial to test that out before you decide, and Creator is still priced in a way that makes sense for a small operation.

You can see exactly what’s included in each plan on Kit’s pricing page, so you can look at your own numbers and decide what makes sense.

Related Article: The 3 Things You Actually Need to Start a Website

Why I Chose Kit (And Why I’m Still Here)

Okay, changes aside — here’s the actual reason I keep sending people to Kit, free plan or not.

I don’t think you need to use every single feature a platform offers. I think you need to use the handful of features that actually match how you create content and how you make money. That’s true for email platforms just like it’s true for social media or Pinterest — pick what fits your business, not everything the tool can technically do.

With that in mind, here’s what I actually lean on inside Kit, depending on what someone’s doing:

If most of your audience finds you through social media, the win is turning followers into subscribers you actually own — and you can do all of this on the Kit free plan:

• Landing pages — a simple destination for a bio link or a freebie, no full website page required
• Forms — plug straight into your landing page or bio link to start collecting subscribers
• Automated delivery — your guide or template goes out the second someone signs up, no manually attaching a PDF at 11pm
• Welcome sequences — introduce new subscribers to your best content instead of hoping they scroll back through months of posts to find it

If you’re coming from blogging or Pinterest, this is where Kit really shines for evergreen traffic:

• Content upgrades — offer something specific to each blog post instead of one generic freebie plastered everywhere
• Automatic delivery — someone finds an old post through Google or Pinterest at 2am? They still get their resource instantly
• Source tracking — see which content and traffic sources are actually growing your list
• Tags and segmentation — sort readers by what they’re interested in, not just which form they filled out

A pageview isn’t the goal. Where that pageview leads is.

If you’re selling digital products, this is where visual automations earn their keep — and it’s the one use case where the Kit free plan alone won’t be enough, since these features live on Creator:

• Visual automations — build the whole path (opt-in → nurture → sales sequence → purchase → customer follow-up) without touching it manually once it’s live
• Purchase-based automations — move someone out of your sales funnel and into a customer sequence the moment they buy
• Tags and customer segmentation — separate leads from customers from repeat customers, so you’re never sending the wrong email to the wrong person
• Kit Commerce — sell directly inside the platform if you don’t want a separate checkout tool

Notice none of those three lists are the same. That’s the point. A social-first creator’s job is turning followers into subscribers. A blogger’s job is turning evergreen traffic into subscribers and nurturing those readers over time. A digital product creator’s job is turning subscribers into customers, and customers into repeat customers. Kit has features that support all three — you just don’t need to touch all of them to get real value out of it.

Related Article: What Is Content Marketing Strategy? A Simple Guide for Small Businesses

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The Bottom Line

Kit’s free plan changed its name and moved automations and sequences behind the Creator plan for new signups — but you still get 10,000 free subscribers to start, and a 14-day trial to test the paid features in Creator before committing to anything.

If you’ve been building your list somewhere else, or you haven’t started building one at all, this is a genuinely easy on-ramp. Start on the Free plan, use your Creator trial to see what automations actually do for your business, and decide from there.

If you want to try it out, here’s my Kit link — it’s the same platform I use every day for my own list, and it’s the one I recommend without hesitation.

Done beats perfect. Pick the plan that fits where you are right now, and build from there. I started my list on the free plan, and I had over 200 people before I ever started actually using it the right way. Once I started emailing regularly and using the automations, my list grew even more.

Related Article: Best Link in Bio Tools: Which should you choose?

Frequently Asked Questions About Kit’s Free Plan

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