Mailchimp vs ConvertKit vs Beehiiv: Email Marketing Compared

Email marketing platforms have diverged into distinct categories. Mailchimp has grown into a broad marketing platform serving small and mid-size businesses. ConvertKit (now Kit) focuses on creators — writers, podcasters, course builders, and independent professionals. Beehiiv targets the newsletter market specifically, positioning itself as the modern platform for building and monetizing email publications.

The three tools overlap in their ability to send emails, but their design philosophies, feature sets, and pricing structures reflect different user needs. This comparison covers what matters for someone deciding where to invest their email infrastructure.

Feature Comparison

Pricing

Pricing varies dramatically at scale. Beehiiv becomes the cheapest option as subscriber counts grow because its pricing tiers are designed for newsletter-scale audiences. Mailchimp's pricing scales linearly with contacts, which becomes expensive at higher volumes. ConvertKit's pricing is between the two.

The free tiers serve different purposes. ConvertKit's free tier allows up to 10,000 subscribers but limits automation and features. Beehiiv's free tier is generous for starting a newsletter. Mailchimp's free tier is the most restrictive at 500 contacts but includes basic features.

Email Builder and Design

Mailchimp has the most sophisticated email builder. The drag-and-drop editor supports complex layouts, branded templates, dynamic content blocks, and product recommendations for e-commerce. For businesses that need visually rich emails — product announcements, event invitations, seasonal promotions — Mailchimp provides the most design flexibility.

ConvertKit deliberately keeps its email editor simple. The default is a plain-text-like format that emphasizes the writing. You can add images, buttons, and dividers, but the overall design is minimal. This is intentional — plain text emails often achieve higher deliverability and engagement rates for creator audiences. Creators who want their emails to feel personal rather than promotional prefer this approach.

Beehiiv's editor is designed for newsletters. It supports rich content with images, embeds, polls, and recommendations, but the layout remains newsletter-focused rather than marketing-campaign-focused. The writing experience is clean and focused, similar to a blog editor. For publishing regular content, the editor workflow is the most efficient of the three.

Automation and Sequences

Mailchimp's automation builder is the most powerful. Customer journeys map out complex, multi-path automations with triggers, conditions, delays, and actions. You can build onboarding sequences, abandoned cart flows, re-engagement campaigns, and purchase follow-ups. The visual builder makes complex automations understandable.

ConvertKit's automations are well-designed for creator workflows. Visual automation sequences trigger based on subscriptions, purchases, tag additions, or custom events. The most common use case — welcome sequences, course drip campaigns, and launch sequences — is handled elegantly. ConvertKit's automations are less complex than Mailchimp's but cover what most creators need.

Beehiiv's automation capabilities are the most limited. Basic sequences and welcome emails are supported, but complex multi-path automations are not the platform's focus. Beehiiv prioritizes publishing and growth tools over marketing automation. If automation is central to your email strategy, Beehiiv is not the strongest choice.

Growth and Audience Building

Beehiiv's growth tools are its standout feature. The built-in referral program (similar to Morning Brew's model) incentivizes subscribers to share your newsletter. Boosts let newsletter operators promote each other for a fee. Recommendations surface other newsletters to new subscribers and vice versa. These growth features are unique to Beehiiv and can meaningfully accelerate subscriber growth.

ConvertKit offers landing pages, forms, and integrations with platforms where creators have audiences (YouTube, podcasts, social media). The commerce features — paid newsletters, digital products, and tip jars — help creators monetize directly. Growth is driven by the creator's existing audience rather than platform-specific tools.

Mailchimp's growth tools focus on traditional marketing channels — social media ads, postcards, Google remarketing, and website pop-ups. These tools are more relevant for businesses than for individual creators or newsletter operators.

Monetization

Beehiiv offers multiple monetization paths. Paid subscriptions let you gate premium content. The ad network connects newsletter operators with advertisers. Boosts generate revenue from recommending other newsletters. For newsletter operators who want to build a media business, Beehiiv provides the most comprehensive monetization toolkit.

ConvertKit supports paid newsletters and digital product sales (ebooks, courses, presets) directly within the platform. The commerce features are simple but effective for creators who sell to their audience. The tip jar feature allows one-time supporter payments.

Mailchimp does not offer native content monetization. It integrates with e-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce) to support product sales, but the monetization happens outside Mailchimp. For businesses selling physical or digital products through a separate store, this works. For newsletter monetization specifically, Mailchimp lacks the tools.

Deliverability

All three platforms maintain good deliverability rates when used properly. Mailchimp's scale means it invests heavily in deliverability infrastructure and compliance. ConvertKit's focus on text-based emails and engaged creator audiences tends to produce high open rates. Beehiiv's deliverability has improved as the platform has matured, and its newsletter-focused sending patterns align well with email provider preferences.

Deliverability depends more on sender behavior than platform — list hygiene, engagement rates, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and content quality matter more than which platform you use. All three support custom domain authentication and provide deliverability monitoring.