Last verified: October 14, 2026
Mailchimp Alternatives: beehiiv vs Kit (and How to Migrate)
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Do you actually need to leave Mailchimp?
Mailchimp is still a strong fit for ecommerce stores that want automation flows, SMS, and 300+ integrations. Its Free plan covers 250 contacts and 500 sends a month (max 250/day) with 1 audience (source: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/, verified 2026-10-14). Paid plans, monthly billing:
| Contacts | Essentials | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $26.50/mo | $45/mo | $350/mo |
| 5,000 | $75/mo | $100/mo | $350/mo |
| (source: https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/, verified 2026-10-14. Monthly prices only; annual options require contacting sales for 10,000+ contacts, per the same page.) | |||
| People usually leave because of price as their list grows, or because they're really publishing a newsletter or creator business, not a store. |
Jump to: Mailchimp → beehiiv · Mailchimp → Kit · Which one?
Which one? {#which-one}
| You are… | Pick |
|---|---|
| A newsletter publisher who wants ads, recommendations, and paid subs | beehiiv |
| A creator selling courses or products who needs tagging and visual automations | Kit |
| An ecommerce store with heavy Shopify/Woo flows | Probably stay with Mailchimp, or compare Klaviyo [not covered here] |
Mailchimp → beehiiv {#mailchimp-to-beehiiv}
Cost at common list sizes
| List size | beehiiv Lite (monthly / annual ≈/mo) | beehiiv Pro (monthly / annual ≈/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,000 | $59 / $49 | $109 / $95 |
| Up to 10,000 | $139 / $119 | $239 / $199 |
| Up to 50,000 | $299 / $249 | $469 / $399 |
| beehiiv Free: up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends (source: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing, verified 2026-10-14). Mailchimp at the same sizes: see the table at the top. At 1,000 contacts, Mailchimp Standard is $45/mo vs. beehiiv Lite at $59/mo monthly (or $0 on beehiiv Free up to 2,500). At 5,000, Standard is $100 vs. Lite at $109 monthly / $95 annual (sources above). |
Pros and cons
Pros: unlimited sends on every plan; ad network and paid recommendations on Lite+; 0% take on paid subscriptions (beehiiv pricing, verified 2026-10-14). Cons: weaker ecommerce automation than Mailchimp; Free has no automations or custom domain; branding removal requires Pro (same source).
How to migrate
- Export from Mailchimp: Audience → (pick the audience) → Export audience → Export CSV. The file arrives by email and on the Audience exports page (source: https://mailchimp.com/help/view-export-contacts/, verified 2026-10-14). Export each audience, and keep tags as columns.
- Clean: remove unsubscribed and cleaned contacts. Never import people who didn't opt in.
- Create your beehiiv publication and import the CSV (Subscribers → Import subscribers). Before the import starts, you must confirm that everyone opted in. Duplicate, invalid and disposable emails are rejected (source: https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/4412705350679-how-to-import-free-subscribers-and-map-custom-fields-or-tags, verified 2026-10-14).
- Rebuild your welcome email and automations. Mailchimp flows don't transfer; automations need Lite or higher (beehiiv pricing).
- Warm up: authenticate your domain (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) and send to engaged subscribers first.
Mailchimp → Kit (formerly ConvertKit) {#mailchimp-to-kit}
Cost
| Subscribers | Kit Free | Creator (monthly / yearly ≈/mo) | Pro (monthly / yearly ≈/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $0 (Free covers up to 10,000) | $39 / $33 | $79 / $66 |
| 5,000 | $0 | $89 / $75 | $139 / $116 |
| (source: https://kit.com/pricing, verified 2026-10-14) |
Also verified on that page: Kit offers free migration from another platform (an in-house team rebuilds your forms, templates, and automations), and digital product and subscription sales are charged 3.5% + 30¢ (source: https://kit.com/pricing, verified 2026-10-14).
Pros and cons
Pros: a tag-based subscriber model; a visual automation builder; selling digital products and paid newsletters; a newsletter referral system and A/B testing on higher plans; free concierge migration (Kit pricing, verified 2026-10-14). Cons: fewer ecommerce and design features than Mailchimp; transaction fees on products; Paid Recommendations carry a 23.5% Kit fee (same source).
How to migrate
- Request Kit's free migration, which is the easiest route. It's included on paid plans (Creator/Pro), not Free. Sign up for Kit, then request migration (source: https://kit.com/pricing, verified 2026-10-14).
- DIY: use Kit's Mailchimp importer (Subscribers → Add Subscribers → Other provider → Mailchimp, with your Mailchimp API key). It turns Mailchimp tags, lists and groups into Kit tags (source: https://help.kit.com/en/articles/2502565-migrating-from-mailchimp-to-kit, verified 2026-10-14). A plain CSV import only maps a column labeled "Comma-separated list of tags".
- Forms and landing pages: rebuild them in Kit and swap the embed codes on your site.
- Automations: rebuild them as Visual Automations.
- Deliverability: authenticate your sending domain, and use a custom tracking domain if your plan includes it (Kit pricing page lists custom tracking domains).
FAQ
Will subscribers have to re-confirm? No, if you have their consent. Kit auto-confirms imported subscribers and beehiiv sends no re-confirmation, but both require you to attest that subscribers opted in (sources: https://help.kit.com/en/articles/5027047-importing-subscribers-into-kit-what-to-know-faqs and https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/4412705350679-how-to-import-free-subscribers-and-map-custom-fields-or-tags, verified 2026-10-14). Can I move automations? Not automatically, except through Kit's concierge migration, which rebuilds them for you.
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