In this guide
TL;DR: For a small business that wants email to bring in customers, the choice comes down to cost and automation. Kit’s free plan covers the most subscribers (10,000) and its Creator plan is the cheapest paid entry we found at 1,000 subscribers ($33 a month billed yearly). beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue, and its Free plan covers 2,500 subscribers. Substack costs nothing to start but keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue, so it suits paid writing more than lead generation.
Disclosure: The beehiiv link marked “affiliate link” on this page is an affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you sign up through it, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we say about beehiiv. See our affiliate disclosure. We have no affiliate relationship with Kit or Substack. We publish our own newsletter, OneSignalDesk Weekly, on beehiiv. This is a sourced comparison from each platform’s public pricing pages, checked October 18, 2026. We haven’t tested Kit or Substack.
The short answer by goal
- Capture leads for a local or service business: Kit or beehiiv. Both offer landing pages on their free plans, and Kit’s Free plan includes unlimited forms. Kit’s free plan holds four times as many subscribers.
- Run automated welcome and follow-up emails: compare Kit Creator with beehiiv Lite. Automations sit on paid plans on both (Kit lists “Unlimited Visual Automations” from Creator; beehiiv lists Automations from Lite).
- Charge for a paid newsletter: beehiiv’s 0% take rate is the lowest platform cut of the three. Kit charges 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction with card fees included. Substack keeps 10% plus card fees.
- Write and grow inside a reader network: Substack is free to publish and handles payments for you.
| Feature | beehiiv | Kit | Substack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Free, up to 2,500 subscribers | Free, up to 10,000 subscribers | Free to publish |
| Entry paid plan (1,000 subscribers, billed yearly) | Lite: $49/mo | Creator: $33/mo ($390/yr) | No paid plan |
| Fee on paid subscriptions | 0% (plus Stripe 2.9% + $0.30) | 3.5% + 30¢, card fees included | 10%, plus card fees |
| Email automations | Lite and up | Creator and up (visual automations) | Not listed on its going-paid page |
| Remove platform branding | Pro only | Paid plans | Not listed on its going-paid page |
Free plans compared
beehiiv Free is “free forever,” with no credit card, for up to 2,500 subscribers. beehiiv’s pricing page lists unlimited email sends, email templates, landing pages, the recommendation network, and API and integrations on Free, with 1 team seat, 1 publication and a 30-day analytics lookback. beehiiv’s October 1, 2026 announcement says Free now includes its website, podcast and community features too.
Kit Free is $0 for “up to 10,000 subscribers,” with unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions. Kit’s visual automation builder isn’t included on Free.
Substack is free to start. Substack says writers “keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees,” which means Substack’s cut comes from paid subscriptions rather than a monthly plan.
What the first paid plan costs at 1,000 subscribers
- beehiiv Lite: $49 a month on yearly billing. beehiiv says yearly billing saves up to 20% compared with monthly. Lite adds paid subscriptions, ad monetization, automations, polls and A/B testing.
- Kit Creator: $33 a month, or $390 billed yearly (“save $78 per year”). Creator adds unlimited visual automations, and there’s a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
- Substack: no subscription. You pay through the 10% revenue share once you charge readers.
All three paid prices rise as your list grows, so check each pricing page at your real list size.
A promo to know about: Kit’s pricing page currently shows Pro at $50 a month instead of $66 for the first year ($593 billed for the first year). Kit labels it a limited-time offer (its site banner says it ends November 7, 2026) that renews at the standard rate, so budget for $66.
Fees when you charge readers
On $1,000 a month of paid subscriptions, before card processing:
- beehiiv: $0 platform fee. Stripe’s standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction still applies, per beehiiv’s FAQ.
- Kit: 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction. Kit says this is “inclusive of credit card processing fees, so Kit only takes 0.6%.” Kit’s page shows both figures; the 3.5% + 30¢ is what you pay in total.
- Substack: 10%, so $100, plus card fees.
For a business that mainly sells services rather than subscriptions, these fees matter less than the monthly plan price.
Branding, team seats and growth tools
- Branding: beehiiv removes its branding only on Pro ($95 a month billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers). Kit lists “Remove Kit branding” on paid plans.
- Team seats: beehiiv allows 1 seat on Free, 2 on Lite and 10 on Pro.
- Growth: beehiiv’s recommendation network is on Free. Kit lists free recommendations and a creator network, and paid recommendations on its paid plans, where Kit keeps 23.5% of paid-recommendation earnings.
Which one should you pick?
- Pick Kit if you want the biggest free list and the cheapest automation tier at 1,000 subscribers.
- Pick beehiiv if you plan to sell paid subscriptions or digital products and want 0% platform fees, or if you also want a website and podcast in the same tool. Try beehiiv (affiliate link)
- Pick Substack if writing is the product and you’d rather share revenue than pay a monthly fee.
Free or self-hosted alternatives
If none of the three fits, Buttondown and MailerLite offer free tiers (check their pricing pages for current limits), and Listmonk is free, open-source software you host yourself. Self-hosting means you handle sending, deliverability and updates.
FAQ
Which has the best free plan? By subscriber count, Kit (10,000) beats beehiiv (2,500). Substack’s going-paid page lists no plan tiers or subscriber caps; it takes 10% of paid revenue.
Does beehiiv take a cut of paid subscriptions? No. beehiiv says it takes 0%, minus Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
Is there a free trial of the paid plans? beehiiv says Lite and Pro include a free trial with no credit card. Kit offers a 14-day free trial of Creator and Pro, also without a card.
Which is cheapest at 1,000 subscribers? Of the paid plans, Kit Creator at $33 a month billed yearly. Substack charges no subscription but takes 10% of paid revenue.
Sources & method
Sources
Method. Last checked October 18, 2026. We read each platform’s public pricing pages and compared the published prices, limits and fees. We run our own newsletter on beehiiv but haven’t tested Kit or Substack. Prices change with list size and billing period; check before you buy. Header graphic: OneSignalDesk. Affiliate links: beehiiv only (marked). How we work.
