Overview

Listmonk and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) serve fundamentally different audiences. Listmonk is for technical users wanting free, simple newsletters. Kit is for creators building businesses around content, courses, and digital products. One prioritizes cost savings and control. The other prioritizes commerce and growth.

The Creator Question

Are you a content creator? Do you want to sell digital products, paid newsletters, or courses? Do you need landing pages and growth tools?

If yes, Kit is designed for you. Commerce features, creator network, monetization tools.

If no, and you just want to send newsletters, Listmonk does that for free.

Cost Comparison

Listmonk: ~$15/month total (hosting + SMTP). Kit: $89/month at 5k subscribers (after October 2025 price increase).

Difference: ~$74/month or ~$888/year.

Kit's free tier offers 10k subscribers with limitations. For testing, it's generous. For business, paid plans are needed.

Commerce Features

Kit offers: digital product sales, paid newsletters, tip jars, commerce integrations.

Listmonk offers: campaigns and list management.

If you're monetizing content, Kit has native tools. Listmonk would require external solutions.

Growth Tools

Kit provides landing pages, advanced forms, creator network for cross-promotion, and referral integrations (Spark Loop).

Listmonk provides basic embed forms. No landing pages. No growth features.

For building an audience, Kit offers more help.

Technical Reality

Kit: Sign up, start writing, sell products. No technical skills required.

Listmonk: Install Docker, configure PostgreSQL, set up SMTP, manage server. Technical skills required.

For creators (who are usually not DevOps engineers), Kit removes friction.

Kit's Price Increase

Kit raised prices ~35% in October 2025, their first increase in 12 years. At 5k subscribers, Creator plan went from ~$66 to $89/month. This makes the cost difference with Listmonk even more significant.

For SaaS Companies

Neither is ideal. Kit lacks transactional email and user event tracking. Listmonk lacks automation. For SaaS companies with Stripe billing, consider Sequenzy. Built for subscriptions at lower cost than Kit.

Making the Choice

Choose Listmonk if you're technical, want free software, and just need basic newsletters. Choose Kit if you're a creator, want commerce features, and prefer managed simplicity. For SaaS companies needing subscription lifecycle features, consider Sequenzy.