Systeme.io vs Kit: What You'll Really Pay at 1K, 2K, 5K and 10K Contacts

You want an email list, and you want to sell something to it: a course, a template pack, a paid workshop. Systeme.io says you can do all of that for free. Kit says it's free up to 10,000 subscribers. Both are true, and both free plans stop short, just in different places.

This Systeme.io vs Kit comparison (Kit was called ConvertKit until its rebrand) puts numbers on it. You'll see what each costs per month at 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts, what each free plan can actually automate, and what selling a $50 course costs once fees are in. Then we cover who should pick which, and when using both makes sense.

On this page

1. Systeme.io vs Kit: who wins each category
2. How we compared
3. Real monthly cost at 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts
4. What each free plan can actually automate
5. Selling a course or digital product: fees and setup
6. Systeme.io: the all-in-one
7. Kit: the email-first creator platform
8. Email depth and deliverability: what we could verify
9. Can you use both? A combined setup
10. Who should pick which
11. FAQ
12. The bottom line

Systeme.io vs Kit: who wins each category

Here's the short version. Prices are monthly billing at the time of our last check. Please confirm on each official pricing page before you buy.

Systeme.io wins on price and selling tools. Kit wins on free list size and on email automation once you pay. Which matters more depends on whether email is your business or one part of it.

How we compared

We compared the monthly bill at four list sizes, what each free plan does without paying, and the cost of selling a product. Prices and limits come from official pricing pages, plan data and help centers, and vendor claims are attributed. We didn't run paid accounts for this comparison. Our full method is on how we review.

Real monthly cost at 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts

Each cell shows the cheapest plan that fits. For Kit we show both the free plan (broadcasts only) and Creator, the first plan with email sequences.

Prices are monthly billing at the time of our last check. Please confirm on the official pricing page before you buy.

How we got these numbers:

• Systeme.io: Free covers 2,000 contacts, Startup ($17) 5,000, Webinar ($47) 10,000, and Unlimited ($97) beyond. Every plan sends unlimited email. Free runs one automated sequence; add a second freebie or a paid product and you usually need Startup. Our Systeme.io review shows where Free runs out.
• Kit Creator is priced in tiers: 1,000 ($39), 3,000 ($59), 5,000 ($89), 8,000 ($119) and 10,000 ($139). A list of 2,000 lands on the 3,000 tier.
• Kit Free is listed as "Free—up to 10,000 subscribers". Past that, Kit Creator at 15,000 is $169, and Systeme.io Unlimited is $97.

The gap once you need a welcome sequence

Comparing the cheapest plan on each that can send an automated sequence:

• At 1,000: Kit Creator $39 vs Systeme.io Startup $17, a $22 monthly gap (Systeme.io Free can run one sequence for $0).
• At 5,000: $89 vs $17. Over a year on monthly billing, that's $1,068 vs $204, a gap of $864.
• At 10,000: $139 vs $47. That's $1,668 vs $564 a year, a gap of $1,104.

Yearly billing narrows it a little. Kit charges 10 times the monthly price for a year ("save 17%"), so Creator is $890 a year at 5,000 and $1,390 at 10,000. Systeme.io gives "2 months free": Startup is $170 a year and Webinar is $470. We'd stay on monthly billing until you're sure a tool fits.

Drag the slider to your list size, or where you expect it to be in a year, and choose whether you need an automated welcome sequence. You'll see the cheapest plan on Systeme.io, Kit and other email tools, plus what happens to the bill if your list doubles.

Comparing course platforms as well? Our real cost calculator adds plan prices and platform fees by monthly sales.

What each free plan can actually automate

Both free plans are generous on paper. The difference is what happens after someone signs up.

Systeme.io Free: one complete funnel

Systeme.io Free gives you one of each automation building block: enough for one freebie, one tag such as "lead", one rule that applies it and one welcome sequence. Add a second freebie or tag buyers separately, and you're out of slots.

The free plan caps you at 500 students, 1 tag, 1 automation rule and 1 workflow, so it is fine for testing but too limited for a real email funnel. Students are unlimited on paid plans, and Startup ($17) raises tags, rules and campaigns to 10 each.

Kit Free: a big list, sent by hand

Kit Free covers a much larger list, with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, plus tagging and segmentation. What it leaves out is the part that runs on autopilot: no email sequences and no visual automations. Those start on Creator, along with removing Kit branding, A/B subject lines and RSS campaigns.

Kit's help center says the automatic confirmation email after a form signup can deliver your freebie. Anything after that, like emails 2 and 3 of a welcome series, goes out by hand as a broadcast until you upgrade.

Selling a course or digital product: fees and setup

Systeme.io: its pricing page says "No transaction fees. Accept payments using Stripe or PayPal at no extra cost." You pay Stripe's or PayPal's own processing fee and nothing on top. Courses live inside Systeme.io, with a members' area, and the checkout includes order bumps, one-click upsells and coupons (one of each on Free, 10 on Startup).

Kit: Kit's help center says selling in USD "costs 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction" and that "Commerce is available on every plan, including the Free plan." It adds: "The 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction is the only cost of selling through Kit." Payments run through Stripe; Kit says you'll create a new Stripe account when you set up payments in Kit, even if you already have one.

Kit's help center lists products such as "e-books, courses, templates, presets, music, or a paid newsletter", delivered as a download or as "access to a link, which covers things like a members-only page or a hosted course." So Kit handles the sale and delivery. For lessons, drip scheduling and a student login, check Kit's current features or plan on a separate course host.

What selling a $50 course costs per month

Assumptions: a $50 product, Stripe's standard US card rate of 2.9% + 30¢ on Systeme.io (the rate other platforms' pricing pages quote), and Kit's 3.5% + $0.30 treated as all-in, as its help center describes it.

The math:

• Systeme.io Startup at $1,000: $17 plan + $29 (2.9%) + $6 (20 × 30¢) = $52. At $5,000: $17 + $145 + $30 = $192.
• Kit Free at $1,000: $35 (3.5%) + $6 (20 × $0.30) = $41. At $5,000: $175 + $30 = $205.
• Kit Creator: add $39 (1,000 subscribers) or $89 (5,000) to the Kit Free figure.

The selling fees are close: about $6 more per $1,000 on Kit. The real gap is the plan around them. At $1,000 in sales, Systeme.io Free would cost $35 in processing alone, within its 500-student cap. Once you need sequences or a course area, Systeme.io comes out ahead.

Systeme.io: the all-in-one

Systeme.io

Best for: Creators who want email, funnels, checkout and a course in one place

Free plan; paid from $17/mo

Free plan

2,000 contacts, 1 sequence, 1 course

Platform fee

0% on every plan

Startup ($17/mo)

5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses

Sender email

your own domain (no Gmail or Yahoo)

Skip it if: email is your whole business and you want rich automation branching, or you'd rather not set up a sender address on your own domain.

Start Systeme.io free →Opens systeme.io · affiliate link

Systeme.io bundles funnels, checkout, email, courses, communities, a website and blog, and your own affiliate program. Everyone who opts in, buys or enrolls lands on one contact list, so there are no apps to connect.

Startup allows 10 funnels and 5 courses; Webinar allows 50 funnels and 20 courses (Systeme.io's own plan data; the pricing FAQ's "unlimited" wording overstates this).

One setup step to plan for: Systeme.io's help center says you can no longer send from an @gmail.com address, and Yahoo is blocked by its own email policy. Without your own domain, Systeme.io sends from a generic address and forwards replies to you, so budget for a domain and a mailbox on it.

Start Systeme.io free →Free plan: 2,000 contacts, 0% transaction fees

Kit: the email-first creator platform

Kit

Best for: Email-first creators who sell digital products

Free up to 10,000 subscribers · Creator from $39/mo

Free plan

Up to 10,000 subscribers, no sequences

Creator

$39 at 1,000 · $89 at 5,000 · $139 at 10,000

Selling fee

3.5% + $0.30 per sale (all plans)

Trial

14 days of paid plans, no card required

Skip it if: you want funnels, upsells and a full course area in the same tool, or you need automated sequences on a budget under $40 a month.

Try Kit free →Opens kit.com

Kit is built around email. The free plan lets you grow a large list and send broadcasts to it, with tagging and segmentation to send each group the right message, and you can sell digital products and subscriptions from day one.

Creator is where Kit's strengths show: "Unlimited Visual Automations" and "Unlimited email sequences", plus A/B subject lines, RSS campaigns and branding removal. Kit also lists free migrations from another platform.

For a writer whose newsletter is the product, that focus is the point. For a course seller who also needs a sales funnel and a student area, Kit is one piece of the setup.

Try Kit free →Free up to 10,000 subscribers

Email depth and deliverability: what we could verify

On paper, Kit gives you more email automation once you pay: Creator lists unlimited sequences and visual automations. Systeme.io Startup gives you 10 automation rules, 5 workflows and 10 email campaigns, and Webinar raises that to 100 rules, 20 workflows and 100 campaigns. For one or two products, Startup is usually enough. For many lead magnets, each with its own follow-up, Kit Creator has more room.

We didn't test either editor hands-on, so we won't rank how they feel. The quickest check is to build the same three-email welcome series on both free plans.

On deliverability, no tool can promise the inbox, and we found no independent data comparing these two that we'd stand behind. What helps is mostly in your hands: send from your own domain, authenticate it, only add people who opted in, and remove addresses that bounce.

Can you use both? A combined setup

Some creators run Kit for email and a separate platform for the course. It can make sense, with trade-offs.

Kit Free + Systeme.io Free ($0). Kit sends your newsletter to up to 10,000 subscribers, and Systeme.io hosts one course with a 0% checkout. The catch: two contact lists to keep in sync, Systeme.io Free's 2,000-contact and 500-student caps, and no automated sequence on the Kit side. Check each tool's integration options before you rely on them talking to each other.

Kit Creator + a course platform. At 1,000 subscribers, Kit Creator ($39) plus Thinkific Basic ($54) is $93 a month, with no Thinkific platform fee on Thinkific Payments. That's a fair setup for a course-first creator with an active newsletter. For most beginners, it's more cost and more logins than Systeme.io Startup at $17.

Our take: start with one tool, and add a second only when a missing feature is costing you sales. Weighing a premium all-in-one instead? See Systeme.io vs Kajabi.

Who should pick which

Match the tool to what you sell and how you sell it:

• Selling a course or coaching program through a funnel: Systeme.io. Start on Free, then move to Startup ($17) when you add a second freebie or product.
• Newsletter-first, products second: Kit. Use Free while you grow, then Creator when automated sequences would earn their cost.
• Big list, small budget, simple downloads: Kit Free. Broadcasts to up to 10,000 subscribers cost $0, and a sale costs 3.5% + $0.30.
• List of 5,000 to 10,000 and you want sequences: Systeme.io at $17 to $47, unless you specifically need Kit's automation depth at $89 to $139.

New to list building? Our guide on how to start an email list walks through the first freebie and welcome sequence step by step, and our best email marketing for creators compares Kit and Systeme.io with MailerLite, beehiiv and GetResponse.

FAQ

Is Systeme.io better than Kit?

For creators selling a course or product through a funnel, Systeme.io is usually the better value: email, checkout and a course for $0 to $47 a month up to 10,000 contacts, with 0% platform fees. For creators whose business is the newsletter, Kit's email tools and larger free list are a better fit.

Is Kit's free plan really free up to 10,000 subscribers?

Yes, per Kit's pricing page ("Free—up to 10,000 subscribers"). It includes unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, tagging, and product sales. It doesn't include email sequences or visual automations, which start on Creator at $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers.

Can Kit host an online course?

Kit's help center says you can sell courses as digital products, delivered as a download or as access to a link, such as a members-only page or a hosted course. For lessons and student logins, check Kit's current features or pair it with a course platform. Systeme.io includes a course area on every plan.

Does Kit take a cut of my sales?

Kit's help center says selling in USD costs 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction and calls that "the only cost of selling through Kit." Systeme.io takes 0% on every plan; you pay Stripe's or PayPal's processing fee.

Which is cheaper at 5,000 subscribers?

If you need an automated sequence, Systeme.io Startup at $17 a month against Kit Creator at $89. If broadcasts are enough, Kit Free is $0 at 5,000, while Systeme.io needs Startup past 2,000 contacts.

Can I switch between Kit and Systeme.io later?

Yes. Both let you export your list. Kit lists free migrations, and Systeme.io lists a free migration service on its Unlimited plan. The real work is rebuilding forms, tags and sequences.

The bottom line

Kit is an email platform that can sell. Systeme.io is a selling platform with email built in.

If you're selling a course or digital product and want one low-cost system, Systeme.io is the easier recommendation: a free plan that runs one complete funnel, $17 a month up to 5,000 contacts, and no platform cut. If your newsletter is the business, Kit's free plan carries you to 10,000 subscribers, and Creator adds automation depth when you're ready to pay.

Create your free Systeme.io account →Free plan: 2,000 contacts, no card needed

Try Kit free →Free up to 10,000 subscribers