Kit and ActiveCampaign both run email sequences and automations, but they are built for different people. Kit is made for creators and coaches who sell from their list. ActiveCampaign is built for businesses that want deeper automation, a sales pipeline and more data on each contact. We compared them on price, free plans, automation, selling and support, using each official pricing page in October 2026.
Kit is better for most coaches and creators: it is free for up to 10,000 subscribers, and Creator costs $39 a month ($33 billed yearly) with unlimited automations. ActiveCampaign is better if you need branching automation, a sales pipeline and lead scoring. It has no free plan, and Starter is $15 a month billed yearly.
Who this is for: Coaches, consultants and creators choosing between Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and ActiveCampaign for their email list and automations.
Choose Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you are a coach, creator or course seller who wants a big free plan, no sending limits and simple automations that tag people by what they download and click. Choose ActiveCampaign if you need automations that branch on lots of conditions, a sales pipeline for enquiries and calls, and you are happy to pay from day one.
For most coaches we work with, Kit is the better fit. You can build your list for free up to 10,000 subscribers, and Creator gives you unlimited sequences and visual automations, which covers a lead magnet, a welcome series and a launch. ActiveCampaign earns its price when your business runs on calls and proposals and you want email, deals and follow-up tasks working together.
If your current set-up already works, read the section on who should not switch before you move anything.
Independent comparison, last reviewed 29 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Unbury is not affiliated with, sponsored by or paid by any company compared here. Features and prices change, so check each vendor before you decide.
Both tools price by the size of your list, and both pricing pages show yearly prices first, so read the small print. We checked Kit's official pricing page and ActiveCampaign's official pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). All prices are in US dollars, for 1,000 contacts.
Kit has three plans. Free covers up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages, forms and broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, and selling digital products and subscriptions. It has 1 user and no automations or sequences.
Creator is $39 a month on monthly billing, or $33 a month billed yearly ($390 a year). It adds unlimited visual automations and email sequences, A/B tests on subject lines, 2 users, removal of Kit branding, 24/7 email and chat support and free migration. Pro is $79 a month on monthly billing, or $66 a month billed yearly, and when we checked Kit was offering 25% off the first year of Pro on yearly billing. Pro adds unlimited users, deliverability reporting, engagement scoring and a newsletter referral system. Kit says there are no sending limits on any plan, and it counts only unique, active subscribers. Paid plans have a 14-day free trial with no card needed.
ActiveCampaign has four plans and no free plan, but there is a 14-day free trial with no card needed. Its pricing page shows prices billed yearly: Starter $15 a month, Plus $49 a month, Pro $79 a month and Enterprise $145 a month, each for 1,000 contacts. On monthly billing the same plans cost $19, $59, $99 and $179 a month, according to ActiveCampaign's own pricing data.
Starter includes 10,000 email sends a month, 1 user and multi-step automation, but no landing pages. Plus adds landing pages, cross-channel marketing and the option to add the Enhanced CRM (pipelines and sales engagement). Pro has 12,000 sends a month, 3 users, predictive sending and conditional content. Enterprise has 15,000 sends, 5 users, single sign-on and a dedicated account team.
Say you have 800 subscribers and want a welcome series plus a sales sequence. On Kit that means Creator at $39 a month, or $33 billed yearly. On ActiveCampaign, Starter at $15 a month billed yearly can run it, but if you want landing pages or a pipeline for discovery calls, you move to Plus at $49 a month billed yearly, plus the CRM add-on.
Kit's Free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited forms and landing pages. ActiveCampaign has no free plan at all. For a coach building a list from a podcast or a free guide, that means you only start paying when you are ready to automate.
Kit's visual automations read like a flowchart: someone downloads your guide, gets a tag and drops into a sequence. A coach can set that up without help. Our guide to a high-converting welcome email sequence shows what to write in it.
Every Kit plan, including Free, lets you sell digital products, paid newsletters and recurring subscriptions, with a fee of 3.5% plus 30 cents per sale. You can sell a $47 workshop or a monthly group coaching membership without a separate checkout tool. ActiveCampaign leaves selling to your shop or payment tool and connects to it.
Kit says you can send as many emails as you like on any plan. ActiveCampaign sets a monthly send limit of 10 to 15 times your contacts, depending on plan. If you run launches with several emails a day, Kit is simpler to budget.
Kit's team will move your subscribers, forms and automations for free on paid plans. ActiveCampaign also offers free contact migration, but Kit's offer explicitly covers rebuilding automations, which is the slowest part of any move.
ActiveCampaign automations can branch on many conditions at once: what someone clicked, which pages they visited, whether they booked a call, what stage their deal is at. Pro adds predictive sending (each email goes out when that contact usually opens) and conditional content, so one email shows different paragraphs to different people. If you sell several programmes to different audiences, that depth is useful.
From Plus, you can add the Enhanced CRM with pipelines and sales engagement tools. A coach who runs discovery calls can see every lead as a deal, move it through stages and trigger follow-up emails when a deal stalls. Kit has no pipeline, so you would need a separate CRM. Our guide to the best CRM for coaches and consultants covers the options.
ActiveCampaign Starter is $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts, below Kit Creator at $33 billed yearly. If you only need automations and do not want landing pages, Starter is the cheaper way to automate a small list.
ActiveCampaign lets you set business goals inside automations (15 active goals on Starter, up to 200 on Pro), and Pro adds attribution and conversion tracking. If you want to see which sequence turned into a booked call or a sale, that data is built in. For a closer look at ActiveCampaign against another big name, read ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp.
This table uses each vendor's own pricing page at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices are for 1,000 contacts. "From" means the cheapest plan that includes the feature.
| What you need | Kit | ActiveCampaign |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free, then $39 a month or $33 billed yearly (Creator) | $15 a month billed yearly (Starter) |
| Free plan | Up to 10,000 subscribers | No, 14-day free trial |
| Contacts on the cheapest paid plan | 1,000 at $39 ($33 billed yearly) | 1,000 at $15 billed yearly |
| Email sends | No sending limits on any plan | 10 times contacts on Starter and Plus, 12 on Pro, 15 on Enterprise |
| Automation | Unlimited sequences and visual automations from Creator | Multi-step automation on every plan, predictive sending and conditional content from Pro |
| Landing pages and forms | Unlimited, even on Free | Forms on Starter, landing pages from Plus |
| CRM and pipeline | Not included | Enhanced CRM add-on from Plus |
| Selling products | Digital products and subscriptions on every plan, 3.5% plus 30 cents a sale | Through integrations with your shop or payment tool |
| Deliverability help | Deliverability reporting on Pro | Predictive sending on Pro |
| Users | 1 on Free, 2 on Creator, unlimited on Pro | 1 on Starter and Plus, 3 on Pro, 5 on Enterprise |
| Best for | Coaches, creators and course sellers | Businesses with sales calls, pipelines and complex journeys |
Comparing Kit with a cheaper all-rounder instead? Read Kit vs Mailchimp, or see our list of ConvertKit alternatives.
Do not switch just because the other tool has a feature you might use one day. If your sequences send on time and people reply and buy, rebuilding tags, automations and forms can cost you weeks. Coaches often move to ActiveCampaign for its depth and then use a fraction of it. If you do move, plan for automations, tags and sequences to be rebuilt, not copied across.
Neither tool decides where your emails land. Inbox placement depends on your domain set-up, how clean your list is and whether people engage with what you send. If your Kit emails sit in Promotions, read why Kit emails go to Promotions before you blame the platform, and check your records with our free email deliverability checker.
Neither tool will write a lead magnet people want or answer a new enquiry within minutes. A clear offer and fast follow-up do more for bookings than any automation feature. Fix the leakiest step first, then decide if the tool is really what is holding you back.
1. Do you need a free plan? If you are still building your list and do not want to pay yet, Kit, which is free up to 10,000 subscribers. ActiveCampaign has no free plan.
2. How do you sell? Digital products, courses, workshops or a paid newsletter: Kit, because selling is built in. Discovery calls, proposals and a sales pipeline: ActiveCampaign Plus with the CRM add-on.
3. How complex are your automations? A welcome series, a nurture sequence and a launch: Kit Creator does it simply. Journeys that branch on site visits, deal stages and engagement, with different content per person: ActiveCampaign Pro.
A done-for-you studio fits when you know email should be bringing in clients but you do not have the time to write the sequences, build the automations and check the numbers every week. That is what we do at Unbury: we find where your marketing loses people, build the fix on the tool that suits you, Kit or ActiveCampaign, and run it week to week. You can start with a free marketing audit.
Yes. ConvertKit renamed itself Kit, and the product, accounts and features carried over. Older guides that talk about ConvertKit are describing the same tool, though prices and plans may have changed since they were written.
For coaches, creators and course sellers, usually yes. Kit has a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, no sending limits and simple automations built around lead magnets and launches. ActiveCampaign is the better pick if you need a sales pipeline, lead scoring or automations that branch on many conditions.
No. ActiveCampaign offers a 14-day free trial with no card needed, then you choose a paid plan. Starter is $15 a month billed yearly for 1,000 contacts, or $19 a month on monthly billing.
For a list you are still building, Kit, because it is free up to 10,000 subscribers. Once you need automation, ActiveCampaign Starter ($15 a month billed yearly) is cheaper than Kit Creator ($33 a month billed yearly, or $39 on monthly billing), but Kit includes landing pages, selling and unlimited sends at that price.
Yes. Export your subscribers as a CSV and import them into ActiveCampaign, turning your Kit tags into ActiveCampaign tags. Automations, sequences and forms need to be rebuilt, so allow time for that and test every form before you close your Kit account.
Send us your setup and we will tell you honestly where it is leaking customers and what to fix first. Free, no pitch.