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The best email marketing for authors in 2026
An author needs an email list they own, free until it works, and a plain answer on what the first paid month costs. These are the four email platforms we track, with prices re-checked this week: what each free plan really covers, where its ceiling is, and what you pay the month you outgrow it.
Prices last re-checked 2026-10-04. Numbers are read from each vendor's own pricing page; any exception is flagged under "What to watch".
Which one should you pick?
- Pick Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you want the longest free runway. Visit Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- Pick MailerLite if you want a website too. Visit MailerLite
- Pick beehiiv if you want a public newsletter. Visit beehiiv
- Pick Systeme.io if you sell courses or workbooks. Visit Systeme.io
Some buttons are affiliate links — how this works.
The short answer
Short answer: Best email marketing for authors: Kit (formerly ConvertKit) Kit Free is $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and it sells digital products - the longest free runway here, so an author can grow a real reader list before paying anything.
| Tool | Entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Newsletter) | $0/mo | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcast |
| Creator | $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually | Everything in Free plus unlimited visual automations, unlimited sequences, A/B s |
| Pro | $79/mo, or $65.83/mo billed annually | Everything in Creator plus Subscriber Signals, engagement analytics, unlimited u |
Prices checked 2026-10-04.
Best email marketing for authors: Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit Free is $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers, with unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and it sells digital products - the longest free runway here, so an author can grow a real reader list before paying anything. The trade-off: the free plan is one basic automation, and unlimited visual automations and sequences wait until Kit Creator at $39/mo, or $32.50/mo billed annually.
See Kit (formerly ConvertKit) pricingBest email marketing for authors who want a website too: MailerLite
MailerLite Free is $0/mo for 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails a month, 2 user seats, 1 website and 1 landing page - the only free plan here that throws in an author website with the list. The trade-off: 250 subscribers is the tightest ceiling of the four, and MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo, or $10.80/mo billed annually, is where 3 seats and 50 automations start.
See MailerLite pricingBest email marketing for authors who want a public newsletter: beehiiv
beehiiv Free is $0/mo for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends and 3 publications - the only free plan here built newsletter-first, so every issue lives on the web where new readers can find it. The trade-off: 2,500 subscribers and 1 team seat are the whole free account, and 0% take on paid subscriptions, the ad network and boosts start at beehiiv Lite for $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly.
See beehiiv pricingBest email marketing for authors who sell courses or workbooks: Systeme.io
Systeme.io Free is $0/mo for 2,000 contacts with unlimited emails, 3 sales funnels and 1 course - a reader list with a store attached from day one. The trade-off: 2,000 contacts is a small ceiling, and the first paid step is Systeme.io Startup at $17/mo, or $14/mo billed annually.
See Systeme.io pricingThe prices, plan by plan
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers on the Newsletter plan. At 1,000 subscribers Creator is $39/mo billed monthly or $390/yr and Pro is $79/mo or $790/yr. Yearly billing also prints an extra 25% off Pro for the first year only: $50/mo, $593 billed, then it renews at the standard rate. Both plans scale with list size (Creator $169/mo at 15,000, Pro $249/mo).
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Newsletter) | $0/mo | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products |
| Creator | $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually | Everything in Free plus unlimited visual automations, unlimited sequences, A/B subject lines, SMS, remove Kit branding |
| Pro | $79/mo, or $65.83/mo billed annually | Everything in Creator plus Subscriber Signals, engagement analytics, unlimited users, deliverability reporting, newsletter referral system. Yearly billing at 1,000 subscribers prints an extra 25% off the first year ($50/mo, $593 billed). The page says that discount is the first year only and the plan then renews at the standard rate. |
What to watch: Free / Creator / Pro were read from kit.com/pricing itself, at 1,000 email subscribers, on 2026-10-12. The monthly toggle prints Creator $39/mo and Pro $79. The yearly toggle prints Creator as $33/mo ($390 billed yearly); that $33 is the page's rounding of $390/12, so the table keeps $32.50. The same yearly view prints an extra 25% off Pro for the first year ($50/mo, $593 billed) with $66 struck through, and says the plan renews at the standard rate after that year. The card does not print the standard Pro yearly total of $790. Kit's paid plans scale with list size, so the price shown is the price at 1,000 subscribers, not a flat rate. Both paid plans say the trial is 14 days and that no credit card is required.
Source: https://kit.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See Kit (formerly ConvertKit) pricingMailerLite
MailerLite is free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Comfort starts at $12/mo and Power at $25/mo at 250 subscribers, and both rise with list size.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms |
| Comfort | $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, 3 user seats, 50 automations, 10 websites and landing pages, 5 digital products |
| Power | $25/mo, or $22.5/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, unlimited monthly emails, unlimited user seats, unlimited automations and landing pages |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom pricing above 200,000 subscribers |
Prices checked 2026-10-04.
What to watch: The entry prices and free-plan caps are first-party, read from mailerlite.com/pricing. The annual rates and the subscriber-tier ladder are third-party (EmailToolTester, updated 5 Aug 2026) because MailerLite computes those numbers in JavaScript.
Source: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See MailerLite pricingbeehiiv
beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers. At 1,000 subscribers Lite is $59/mo ($49/mo billed yearly) and Pro is $109/mo ($95/mo billed yearly). At 10,000 subscribers Lite is $139/mo ($119/mo billed yearly) and Pro is $239/mo ($199/mo billed yearly). Lite is not sold above 100,000 subscribers. The pricing-page FAQ says Lite and Pro include a free trial, no credit card is needed to start, and the trial ends when you upgrade. That answer does not say how many days the trial lasts.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends |
| Lite | $59/mo, or $49/mo billed annually | Up to 100,000 subscribers, 2 team seats, 3 publications, paid subscriptions with 0% take rate, ad network, automations, 12-month analytics lookback |
| Pro | $109/mo, or $95/mo billed annually | Everything in Lite plus remove beehiiv branding, webinars and coaching, advanced analytics, webhooks, dynamic content, up to 250,000 subscribers, 10 team seats, 10 publications, 24/7 priority support |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom pricing and subscriber volume, SSO/SAML, dedicated IPs, concierge onboarding |
What to watch: beehiiv does not publish a price for a subscriber count between the slider stops, so those in-between prices are not on this page. Every stop that is listed was read from beehiiv.com/pricing on 2026-10-10. The plan prices in the first table are the 1,000-subscriber stop. Lite is not sold above 100,000 subscribers. Yearly figures are the per-month price when you pay yearly. On 2026-10-12 the yearly cards in the page HTML still showed Lite at $49/mo and Pro at $95/mo at 1,000 subscribers. The monthly toggle is not in that HTML, so those monthly rates stay the 2026-10-10 reading. On that same read, the Pro card carried beehiiv's own Most Popular badge. This page does not treat that badge as a count of customers. The FAQ says the Lite and Pro trial ends when you upgrade, and it does not say how many days that trial lasts. The page HTML does not contain a 14-day trial.
Source: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing, read 2026-10-10.
See beehiiv pricingSysteme.io
Systeme.io is free up to 2,000 contacts, then $17/mo Startup, $47/mo Webinar and $97/mo Unlimited on monthly billing. Annual billing gives you two months free. Every plan includes unlimited email sends, unlimited sub-accounts, and 0% transaction fees. The free plan never expires and does not require a credit card.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, unlimited emails. Never expires, no credit card. |
| Startup | $17/mo, or $14/mo billed annually | 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses |
| Webinar | $47/mo, or $39/mo billed annually | 10,000 contacts, 50 funnels, 20 courses, evergreen webinars |
| Unlimited | $97/mo, or $80/mo billed annually | Unlimited contacts, funnels, courses, and automation rules |
What to watch: Monthly rates $17, $47, and $97 were read on systeme.io/pricing on 2026-10-13, in the page's own FAQ. That FAQ prints Webinar as 50 funnels and 20 courses, Unlimited as unlimited courses and automation rules, and every plan as unlimited email sends, unlimited sub-accounts, and 0% transaction fees. The free plan never expires and does not require a credit card. The same FAQ lists extra free-plan caps of 1 blog, 1 affiliate program, 1 custom domain, 1 automation rule, 1 email campaign, and 500 students. The pricing page prints Annual billing and 2 months free. The page HTML does not print the annual dollar amounts. Those dollars stay the 2026-10-05 reading from systeme.io's own affiliate page.
Source: https://systeme.io/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See Systeme.io pricingMailchimp, Brevo and Constant Contact: what they cost
Every email-marketing comparison starts with these three names, so here is what each one actually charges. Every price below was read on the vendor's own pricing page and is re-checked weekly - the link goes to the full plan tables and the fine print:
- Mailchimp is free under 250 contacts. The free-plan column prints a max of 500 emails a month or 250 a day. Paid plans start at $13/mo for Essentials, $20/mo for Standard and $350/mo for Premium at the 0-500 contacts tier, and every price climbs as the contact count grows.
- Brevo is free at 300 emails a day, then Starter is $9/mo, Standard $18/mo and Professional $499/mo billed monthly, with yearly billing taking 10% off. Brevo prices by monthly email volume, not by contact count.
- Constant Contact starts at $12/mo on Lite, $35/mo on Standard and $80/mo on Premium billed monthly, or $10.20 / $29.75 / $68 per month billed annually. There is no permanent free plan. Constant Contact's own landing page says the trial is 30 days and no credit card is required. A paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cheaper first paid month: Brevo Starter at $9/mo is below the cheapest paid step among the picks above (MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo). Those entry prices are for the smallest list or send volume each vendor sells, so price them at your own size before you switch.
Compare these numbers against the picks above at your own list size: the cheapest tool for a 500-contact shop is rarely the cheapest at 10,000 subscribers, and the free tiers stop at very different places.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest option here?
Kit is the cheapest option here to start - Kit Free is $0/mo with room for 10,000 subscribers, the biggest free ceiling of the four. MailerLite Free, beehiiv Free and Systeme.io Free are also $0/mo; their ceilings are 250 subscribers, 2,500 subscribers and 2,000 contacts, so the real question is which ceiling you outgrow last.
Which email platform is best for authors who plan to sell?
Systeme.io Free is the author pick for selling - $0/mo with 3 sales funnels and 1 course included, and the first paid step is Systeme.io Startup at $17/mo, or $14/mo billed annually. Kit is the other route: Kit Free at $0/mo includes selling digital products, and Kit Creator at $39/mo, or $32.50/mo billed annually, adds the visual automations and sequences that do the selling.
What happens when the free plan runs out?
The first paid steps are MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo, or $10.80/mo billed annually, Systeme.io Startup at $17/mo, or $14/mo billed annually, Kit Creator at $39/mo, or $32.50/mo billed annually, and beehiiv Lite at $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly. Each replaces the free ceiling with a bigger one: MailerLite Comfort starts at 250 subscribers and beehiiv Lite goes up to 100,000 subscribers.
Can an author sell paid subscriptions or digital products?
Yes - beehiiv Free at $0/mo gives every issue a public web home, and beehiiv Lite at $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly, adds 0% take on paid subscriptions, the ad network and boosts. Kit Free at $0/mo includes selling digital products, and Systeme.io Free at $0/mo adds 3 sales funnels and 1 course.
How often are these prices re-checked?
Every week. The prices on this page - Kit Creator at $39/mo, beehiiv Lite at $59/mo, MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo and Systeme.io Startup at $17/mo - are re-checked weekly against the vendors' own pricing pages; the date under the title is the oldest check behind this page. A number we can no longer find on the vendor page is flagged and keeps its previous check date instead of claiming a fresh one.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not accept payment for placement, and the price tables are generated from the same dataset we re-check weekly. Full disclosure. How we check prices.