ConvertKit is one such tool that’s making it their mission to make it easier for creators to build their brand. For example, they’ve recently launched the ConvertKit Sponsor Network. The pilot program is currently running with a number of great creators helping them to find and manage relationships with advertisers. Even if you don’t qualify for this program, it offers many useful features aimed specifically at creators.  All in all, it’s one of the leading platforms, but if you’re not convinced to give it a go, there are equally impressive tools. If you’re specifically searching for an alternative to help you with email marketing, here are six super solutions worthy of your time (and money). 

Top ConvertKit Alternatives for Your Marketing Strategy:

Why Should You Check Out ConvertKit Alternatives?

ConvertKit’s mission is simple — to help professional creators earn a living online and grow their businesses with email. Founded in 2013, it’s much younger than established email marketing giants like Mailchimp, but just like them they also focus on other marketing-related tools in addition to email.  As email is one of the top tools for building an audience and generating an income online, their main focus is on email. It features an email designer to help with the writing and editing part, inline styling options to make it easier to include buttons, videos, and images, and automated email funnels to mention only a few features.  As mentioned, its goal is to help creators grow their brands (aka make more money). One of the easiest ways to do that is to use it for creating a paid newsletter. Plus, thanks to their “subscriber-first” approach, you have much better control over your lists. If you want to create separate lists, ConvertKit won’t charge you double for the same subscriber.  If you’re not a creator, it makes sense why you would not be sold on ConvertKit. Perhaps because they’re aimed at creators they neglected the email template department, an area where other tools really shine. So, if you’re after loads of prebuilt customizable emails, better check out these email marketing software solutions to avoid disappointment.   Here are some of the main pros and cons of ConvertKit:

What Are the Top Alternatives to Mailchimp?

To help you decide which ConvertKit alternative will kit you out the best, here are brief, side-by-side comparisons of some of the best options. 

  1. Sendinblue Founded in 2012, Sendinblue is an all-in-one digital marketing platform that’s aimed at growing small to mid-sized businesses. Included in its list of features are many useful email marketing features like fully responsive email templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop tool, a WYSIWYG HTML editor, and A/B testing. What’s more, it also offers a number of other useful marketing tools like SMS marketing and chat. Here are some of Sendinblue’s key features: Advanced email personalization options A send time optimization feature to help you send your emails at the perfect time Sign-up forms to help you get more subscribers ConvertKit vs Sendinblue One major difference between ConvertKit and Sendinblue is how they approach pricing. Sendinblue limits the number of emails you can send, while ConvertKit uses the number of subscribers to base their pricing on. If you send a weekly newsletter to a rather huge network of subscribers this can account against you as ConvertKit can quickly become more expensive than Sendinblue if you manage to grow your email list quickly.  Also, unlike Sendinblue, ConvertKit doesn’t let you send cart abandonment emails. To do this, you’ll need to use Zapier and your eCommerce provider must have this type of transactional email available.  Both, though, have powerful email automation functionality. Thanks to the intuitive workflow editors, setting up email sequences is pretty straightforward.  Pricing: Sendinblue has a free plan, two subscription plans, and custom pricing for enterprise clients. The Lite plan is $25 per month and includes a monthly email volume of 20,000 emails. The Premium plan starts at $65 per month and includes the same monthly email volume — 20,000 emails. 4.4 out of 5 stars Sendinblue helps businesses grow and build relationships through their marketing tools. Scale faster with marketing automation, email campaigns, and more. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.6 Overall Score 4.4 Features & Pricing SegmentationEmail MarketingSMS MarketingChatShared InboxCRMMarketing AutomationLanding PagesSignup FormsFacebook AdsTransaction Email Price starting at:$25 Pros and Cons Deliver time-sensitive information quickly Advanced Automation included in freemium Track all customer interactions on one platform Support can be slow Bad deliverability rate. Limited freemium and lite plan. Bad Drag and drop options. Best for: Email marketing and marketing automation tools 4.4 out of 5 stars Sendinblue helps businesses grow and build relationships through their marketing tools. Scale faster with marketing automation, email campaigns, and more. View 2. GetResponse Unlike ConvertKit and EngageBay that only really target individuals and small brands, GetResponse is also aimed at large businesses. In addition to email marketing, it also offers a website builder as well as marketing automation and eCommerce features. With regards to email marketing specifically, it offers templates, easy-to-use design tools, advanced segmentation tools, action-based automated emails, and A/B testing to mention only a few features.  Here are some of GetResponse’s key features: Perfect Timing and Time Travel delivery tools for better timed emails Free images and GIFs to improve your email designs and create beautiful emails Transactional emails like automated purchase confirmations and abandoned cart emails Smart reporting that shares actionable data on key metrics like revenue and average order value ConvertKit vs GetResponse ConvertKit and GetResponse can both help you to sell more products. ConvertKit, though, is better tailored towards creators, whereas GetResponse is more geared towards eCommerce companies and B2B brands. That being said, both are powerful marketing tools, specifically for email, and can help you to leverage automated email campaigns. While GetResponse is more aimed at eCommerce businesses, it does include a useful webinar feature that creators might also be interested in exploring. When you use GetResponse to launch a webinar, you’ll be able to use features like an interactive whiteboard and chat room, recording, and a Facebook/YouTube streaming option.   Pricing: GetResponse offers a free plan and three subscription plans. The Email Marketing plan costs about $20 per month for 1,000 contacts. The Marketing Automation plan costs about $60 per month for 1,000 contacts. The eCommerce Marketing plan costs about $120 per month for 1,000 contacts and includes useful eCommerce features. 4 out of 5 stars GetResponse helps users create automated marketing workflows based on their customers and their customers’ behavor. Their easy-to-use system helps deliver a more personalized experience to better engage customers and grow sales. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 3.9 Support 4.0 Overall Score 4 Features & Pricing A/B TestingAnalytics/ROI TrackingDrip CampaignsDynamic ContentLanding Pages/Web FormsLead ScoringSegmentationWebsite Visitor TrackingEmail MarketingSMS MarketingMarketing AutomationSignup FormsWeb push notificationsLead funnels Price starting at:$13.12 Pros and Cons Comprehensive conversion funnels to build leads Excellent list management and segmentation Advanced automation features Host webinars through the platform Poor deliverability rates Limited pricing points; no free plan Emails from GetResponse go to “Promotions” in user’s inbox Lack of campaign visualization Best for: Small and large companies 4 out of 5 stars GetResponse helps users create automated marketing workflows based on their customers and their customers’ behavor. Their easy-to-use system helps deliver a more personalized experience to better engage customers and grow sales. View 3. SendX Founded in 2016, SendX is a 360-degree email marketing automation platform that’s used by various industries and offers virtually everything you need for email marketing. You can use it to create email drip campaigns and put your email marketing on autopilot. Then, to improve the efficiency of your campaigns, it also includes A/B testing.  Here are some of SendX’s key features: Embedded sign-up forms and pop-up forms to grow your email list A WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop editor to design eye-catching email newsletters A dedicated IP for improved email deliverability  ConvertKit vs SendX While SendX’s LinkedIn overview states that their platform is also for bloggers, their website suggests that ConvertKit is better suited for online creators than their own software. What makes SendX an attractive alternative, though, is that for a similar set of features, SendX’s monthly plan will work out cheaper.  Pricing: Instead of offering different pricing plans, SendX uses tiers. For up to 1,000 subscribers, the cost is $10 per month. For 1,001 to 2,500 subscribers, it’s $20 per month and so forth. The most expensive tier costs $80 per month and is for users with 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers. 4.7 out of 5 stars SendX is a budget-friendly, intuitive email marketing software intended for marketers and business owners. With dozens of features, this tool provides a powerful automation plan and 24/7 live support for their users. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.6 Ease of Use 4.7 Support 4.7 Overall Score 4.7 Features & Pricing A/B TestingDrip CampaignsDynamic ContentLanding Pages/Web FormsCustomer SurveysSubscriber ManagementReporting/AnalyticsCAN SPAM ComplianceEvent Triggered EmailMobile Optimized EmailsWYSIWYG Email EditorAuto-RespondersImage LibraryList ManagementTemplate ManagementEmail CampaignsEmbedded Sign Up FormsEmail Drip CampaignsEmail Pop Up FormsEmail AutomationWYSIWYG Drag & Drop Email EditorDedicated IP Price starting at:$7.49 Pros and Cons Excellent customer support Comprehensive autoresponder tool to schedule follow-up emails 500,000+ free stock images Seamless drag-and-drop editor Limited responsive features for emails Lack of email templates compared to competition Expensive price point Best for: Affordable email marketing 4.7 out of 5 stars SendX is a budget-friendly, intuitive email marketing software intended for marketers and business owners. With dozens of features, this tool provides a powerful automation plan and 24/7 live support for their users. View 4. EngageBay EngageBay offers all-in-one marketing software solutions and a free CRM aimed at startups and growing businesses. While it’s been designed to be an affordable alternative to platforms such as Hubspot, it’s also a good alternative to an email marketing platform like ConvertKit.  With regards to its email marketing solutions specifically, it offers a wide range of features that include predesigned templates, rich text formatting, and a landing page builder. Its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface and text editor make customizing and integrating images and social share buttons simple.   Here are some of EngageBay’s key features: Various filters for precision segmentation and targeting Automated A/B testing to reduce bounce rates and increase conversions Drip campaigns to help send emails at the right time ConvertKit vs EngageBay Both ConvertKit and EngageBay are sort of aimed at similar audiences as neither tries to market their software to big brands and businesses. Where ConvertKit is more aimed at the individual creator, EngageBay caters toward small businesses and startups. From a functionality point of view, EngageBay offers a whole lot more, such as live chat, for basically half the price. As it includes a free CRM, it’s much easier to get all the info you need about individual subscribers, making contact management much easier.   That being said, ConvertKit offers a number of ways that you can monetize your content (even your actual emails) easily. While EngageBay has a “deals” feature that you can use to record all the important details regarding the deal, like the deadline and the people and monetary amount involved, it doesn’t actually let you create customized product pages. So, if that’s the key attraction of ConvertKit and not the email marketing per se, it won’t tick all your boxes.  Pricing: EngageBay has a free plan and three subscription plans. The Basic plan costs $15 per user per month for up to 1,000 contacts. The Growth plan costs $50 per user per month for up to 10,000 contacts. The Pro plan costs $100 per user per month for unlimited contacts.  4.5 out of 5 stars This simple and affordable marketing and sales CRM software has everything small businesses and start-ups need to convert visitors to happy customers. Businesses can scale faster with their comprehensive tools, including marketing automation, help desk, live chat, and more. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.9 Overall Score 4.5 Features & Pricing A/B TestingSegmentationCRMMarketing AutomationEmail BroadcastsDrag and Drop Email BuilderEmail TemplatesDrag and Drop Landing Page BuilderEmail AnalyticsLanding Page AnalyticsWeb Forms & Web Pop-upsForms & Landing PagesEmail SequencesEmail Template BuilderMilestone TrackingPush Notifications Price starting at:$12.74 Pros and Cons An integrated platform enables all features to be accessed from one dashboard. Easy to design interactive emails. The customer service team is very responsive. Landing page templates are very limited. No SMS Function. Some missing features such as missing Google Meet, and location in calendar event. Best for: Small to medium size businesses 4.5 out of 5 stars This simple and affordable marketing and sales CRM software has everything small businesses and start-ups need to convert visitors to happy customers. Businesses can scale faster with their comprehensive tools, including marketing automation, help desk, live chat, and more. View 5. Mailchimp You’re probably already familiar with Mailchimp. It’s arguably the most popular marketing platform, especially for email. It offers a wide range of services and loads of automations to help you with all the main email marketing tasks. Included in its email features are drag-and-drop email features, a Customer Journey Builder, and transactional emails.  Here are some of Mailchimp’s key features: A Subject Line Helper and Content Optimizer to help make your email copy more engaging Reports (that include Click Maps) to identity what works and track your sales A Creative Assistant to help you create more effective emails ConvertKit vs Mailchimp While both ConvertKit and Mailchimp are aimed at small business owners, ConvertKit also specifically focuses on individual creators. On the other hand, Mailchimp chooses to focus on medium-sized businesses in addition to small businesses.  Mailchimp’s workflow can be more confusing than ConvertKit, while ConvertKit’s template designing process that features only text and image capabilities might leave you frustrated. So, in terms of ease of use, both have its cons.  One attractive feature of ConvertKit is that unlike Mailchimp, it uses a “subscriber-first” approach. This means that with ConvertKit you won’t have to pay twice if you have a subscriber on two different lists. While Mailchimp might make contact list management more challenging, its detailed reporting features will help you to get to the bottom of what works for your subscribers.  All in all, ConvertKit is a more sensible choice for email marketers only starting out, while Mailchimp is better suited for small businesses that are already running bigger campaigns that will find the better design flexibility and advanced reporting important.  Pricing: Mailchimp offers a free plan and three subscription plans. The Essentials plan starts at about $12 per month for up to 500 contacts. The Standard Plan starts at about $20 for up to 500 contacts. Then, there’s quite a significant jump and the Premium plan starts at about $320 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. 4.8 out of 5 stars Mailchimp has been doing email marketing since the beginning of email marketing, and you’d better believe they know a thing or two about how to do it right. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 5.0 Ease of Use 4.5 Reporting 5.0 Overall Score 4.8 Features & Pricing CRMEmail Marketing Price starting at:$13 Pros and Cons Free plan that’s actually useful Tons of automations; you can even automate some of the automations Creative Assistant enables even the most artless users to send good-looking emails Several ways to target mailings to the right people No onboarding or configuration services available Limited support at the lower end of the subscriptions Workflow is unclear Best for: Small, Medium, and Large Businesses 4.8 out of 5 stars Mailchimp has been doing email marketing since the beginning of email marketing, and you’d better believe they know a thing or two about how to do it right. View 6. ActiveCampaign ActiveCampaign is used by small, medium and enterprise clients across the B2C, B2B, and eCommerce industries. It offers powerful, flexible, intuitive tools that make automation easy, while still offering a personal touch. Whether you want to send one-time email campaigns to all your subscribers or segment your list using various factors for more targeted emails, ActiveCampaign can help.  Here are some of ActiveCampaign’s key features: Triggered emails to ensure your emails reach your subscribers when they’re most interested in the content Email autoresponders like welcome emails or lead magnets Contact and lead scoring to help identify top engagers and subscriber interests Simple split testing to improve your open and click-through rates ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign For simple marketing automation that’s limited to basic actions, ConvertKit is a solid tool. However, ActiveCampaign offers more sophisticated automation and personalization. That said, you might find that ConvertKit’s user experience is better and the interface more intuitive.  ActiveCampaign also offers other channels like SMS marketing and live chat, for those looking to explore these strategies. So, if you’re searching for a more comprehensive tool that offers a whole suite of marketing tools, this can be an excellent alternative.  Pricing: ActiveCampaign offers three subscription plans and a customized plan for enterprise clients. The Lite plan costs $39 per month for up to 1,000 contacts. The Plus plan costs $70 per month for the same number of contacts, while the Professional plan will set you back $187 per month.

Wrapping Things Up

There are a range of tools available on the market that can help with email marketing. Though, what makes it challenging to find an excellent alternative to ConvertKit is that it has quite a niche market. It doesn’t try to target its range of tools to businesses. Instead, it focuses on creators.  Here are some of Sendinblue’s key features:

Advanced email personalization options A send time optimization feature to help you send your emails at the perfect time Sign-up forms to help you get more subscribers

ConvertKit vs Sendinblue

One major difference between ConvertKit and Sendinblue is how they approach pricing. Sendinblue limits the number of emails you can send, while ConvertKit uses the number of subscribers to base their pricing on. If you send a weekly newsletter to a rather huge network of subscribers this can account against you as ConvertKit can quickly become more expensive than Sendinblue if you manage to grow your email list quickly.  Also, unlike Sendinblue, ConvertKit doesn’t let you send cart abandonment emails. To do this, you’ll need to use Zapier and your eCommerce provider must have this type of transactional email available.  Both, though, have powerful email automation functionality. Thanks to the intuitive workflow editors, setting up email sequences is pretty straightforward.  Pricing: Sendinblue has a free plan, two subscription plans, and custom pricing for enterprise clients. The Lite plan is $25 per month and includes a monthly email volume of 20,000 emails. The Premium plan starts at $65 per month and includes the same monthly email volume — 20,000 emails. Here are some of GetResponse’s key features:

Perfect Timing and Time Travel delivery tools for better timed emails Free images and GIFs to improve your email designs and create beautiful emails Transactional emails like automated purchase confirmations and abandoned cart emails Smart reporting that shares actionable data on key metrics like revenue and average order value

ConvertKit vs GetResponse

ConvertKit and GetResponse can both help you to sell more products. ConvertKit, though, is better tailored towards creators, whereas GetResponse is more geared towards eCommerce companies and B2B brands. That being said, both are powerful marketing tools, specifically for email, and can help you to leverage automated email campaigns. While GetResponse is more aimed at eCommerce businesses, it does include a useful webinar feature that creators might also be interested in exploring. When you use GetResponse to launch a webinar, you’ll be able to use features like an interactive whiteboard and chat room, recording, and a Facebook/YouTube streaming option.   Pricing: GetResponse offers a free plan and three subscription plans. The Email Marketing plan costs about $20 per month for 1,000 contacts. The Marketing Automation plan costs about $60 per month for 1,000 contacts. The eCommerce Marketing plan costs about $120 per month for 1,000 contacts and includes useful eCommerce features. Here are some of SendX’s key features:

Embedded sign-up forms and pop-up forms to grow your email list A WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop editor to design eye-catching email newsletters A dedicated IP for improved email deliverability 

ConvertKit vs SendX

While SendX’s LinkedIn overview states that their platform is also for bloggers, their website suggests that ConvertKit is better suited for online creators than their own software. What makes SendX an attractive alternative, though, is that for a similar set of features, SendX’s monthly plan will work out cheaper.  Pricing: Instead of offering different pricing plans, SendX uses tiers. For up to 1,000 subscribers, the cost is $10 per month. For 1,001 to 2,500 subscribers, it’s $20 per month and so forth. The most expensive tier costs $80 per month and is for users with 10,001 – 15,000 subscribers. With regards to its email marketing solutions specifically, it offers a wide range of features that include predesigned templates, rich text formatting, and a landing page builder. Its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface and text editor make customizing and integrating images and social share buttons simple.   Here are some of EngageBay’s key features:

Various filters for precision segmentation and targeting Automated A/B testing to reduce bounce rates and increase conversions Drip campaigns to help send emails at the right time

ConvertKit vs EngageBay

Both ConvertKit and EngageBay are sort of aimed at similar audiences as neither tries to market their software to big brands and businesses. Where ConvertKit is more aimed at the individual creator, EngageBay caters toward small businesses and startups. From a functionality point of view, EngageBay offers a whole lot more, such as live chat, for basically half the price. As it includes a free CRM, it’s much easier to get all the info you need about individual subscribers, making contact management much easier.   That being said, ConvertKit offers a number of ways that you can monetize your content (even your actual emails) easily. While EngageBay has a “deals” feature that you can use to record all the important details regarding the deal, like the deadline and the people and monetary amount involved, it doesn’t actually let you create customized product pages. So, if that’s the key attraction of ConvertKit and not the email marketing per se, it won’t tick all your boxes.  Pricing: EngageBay has a free plan and three subscription plans. The Basic plan costs $15 per user per month for up to 1,000 contacts. The Growth plan costs $50 per user per month for up to 10,000 contacts. The Pro plan costs $100 per user per month for unlimited contacts.  Here are some of Mailchimp’s key features:

A Subject Line Helper and Content Optimizer to help make your email copy more engaging Reports (that include Click Maps) to identity what works and track your sales A Creative Assistant to help you create more effective emails

ConvertKit vs Mailchimp

While both ConvertKit and Mailchimp are aimed at small business owners, ConvertKit also specifically focuses on individual creators. On the other hand, Mailchimp chooses to focus on medium-sized businesses in addition to small businesses.  Mailchimp’s workflow can be more confusing than ConvertKit, while ConvertKit’s template designing process that features only text and image capabilities might leave you frustrated. So, in terms of ease of use, both have its cons.  One attractive feature of ConvertKit is that unlike Mailchimp, it uses a “subscriber-first” approach. This means that with ConvertKit you won’t have to pay twice if you have a subscriber on two different lists. While Mailchimp might make contact list management more challenging, its detailed reporting features will help you to get to the bottom of what works for your subscribers.  All in all, ConvertKit is a more sensible choice for email marketers only starting out, while Mailchimp is better suited for small businesses that are already running bigger campaigns that will find the better design flexibility and advanced reporting important.  Pricing: Mailchimp offers a free plan and three subscription plans. The Essentials plan starts at about $12 per month for up to 500 contacts. The Standard Plan starts at about $20 for up to 500 contacts. Then, there’s quite a significant jump and the Premium plan starts at about $320 per month for up to 10,000 contacts. Here are some of ActiveCampaign’s key features:

Triggered emails to ensure your emails reach your subscribers when they’re most interested in the content Email autoresponders like welcome emails or lead magnets Contact and lead scoring to help identify top engagers and subscriber interests Simple split testing to improve your open and click-through rates

ConvertKit vs ActiveCampaign

For simple marketing automation that’s limited to basic actions, ConvertKit is a solid tool. However, ActiveCampaign offers more sophisticated automation and personalization. That said, you might find that ConvertKit’s user experience is better and the interface more intuitive.  ActiveCampaign also offers other channels like SMS marketing and live chat, for those looking to explore these strategies. So, if you’re searching for a more comprehensive tool that offers a whole suite of marketing tools, this can be an excellent alternative.  Pricing: ActiveCampaign offers three subscription plans and a customized plan for enterprise clients. The Lite plan costs $39 per month for up to 1,000 contacts. The Plus plan costs $70 per month for the same number of contacts, while the Professional plan will set you back $187 per month. While a number of these tools also claim to help, for example, bloggers, ConvertKit remains one of the best solutions if you’re a creator. It might not be the most versatile tool as it’s not labeled an all-in-one platform, but it’s still a powerful tool for content creators specifically looking to grow their brand via email marketing campaigns.   

Sendinblue GetResponse SendX EngageBay Mailchimp ActiveCampaign