The short answer
- Moving from Mailchimp Essentials to Kit (ConvertKit) (free tier) saves $106 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time (Stackcut's model: modeled, not measured).
- Kit (ConvertKit)'s official migration guide moves 1 kind of data in full and 1 partly; 4 things stay behind. What moves
- 4 public accounts of making this switch: 4 switched. Read them
- 3 comparison pages checked, each labeled with who wrote it. What they claim
- Switching help: Kit's team will move your email setup (subscribers, tags, groups, segments, forms, templates, automations) to Kit for free when you sign up for a paid plan; Kit also provides a dedicated API-key beehiiv importer and a step-by-step beehiiv-to-Kit migration guide. help.kit.com
What Mailchimp and Kit (ConvertKit) cost
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Essentials | $13/mo | not shown | 500-contact tier; sends 10x contacts; 3 seats; up to 50,000 contacts |
| Mailchimp Standard | $20/mo | not shown | 500-contact tier; sends 12x contacts; 5 seats; automation flows; up to 100,000 contacts |
| Mailchimp Premium | $350/mo | not shown | 10,000-contact tier; sends 15x contacts; unlimited seats |
| Mailchimp Essentials (50,000 contacts) | $385/mo | not shown | Top Essentials tier: up to 50,000 contacts, sends 10x contacts |
| Kit (ConvertKit) Creator | $39/mo | $32.50/mo | 1,000-subscriber tier ($390 billed yearly); unlimited visual automations and sequences; 2 users |
| Kit (ConvertKit) Pro | $79/mo | $65.83/mo | 1,000-subscriber tier ($790 billed yearly); unlimited users |
- Mailchimp free plan: Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/month (250/day), 1 seat, 1 audience mailchimp.com
- Kit (ConvertKit) free plan: Newsletter (free): up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, landing pages and forms, 1 user; no visual automations or automated sequences kit.com
What comparison pages say
Each claim as the page makes it, and who it favors. Vendor pages are labeled; weigh them accordingly.
3 pages compared, 1 of them written by one of the two vendors. Claims are the pages' own, paraphrased; prices in them may be older than the catalog prices above.
| About | The page says | Favors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Kit's free plan has higher limits than Mailchimp's; Kit charges a flat per-subscriber rate while Mailchimp's paid plans cap monthly sends at 10x-15x your contact count. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Gravity Forms independent |
| Ecosystem | Mailchimp offers roughly 300 integrations versus Kit's 18 native integrations. | Mailchimp | Gravity Forms independent |
| Other | Neither vendor wins outright: Kit suits creators, Mailchimp suits general small-business marketing needs. | Even | Gravity Forms independent |
| Price | Kit's free plan covers 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends; Mailchimp's free plan is capped at 250 contacts. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Zapier affiliate page |
| Other | Kit is incredibly simple for non-technical users, while Mailchimp has a steeper learning curve but a broader marketing suite (SMS, social, landing pages). | Even | Zapier affiliate page |
| Features | Mailchimp offers more powerful automation with conditional logic and cross-channel triggers than Kit's simpler rule-based automations. | Mailchimp | Zapier affiliate page |
| Features | Kit has dedicated creator monetization (sponsorships, digital products, paid subscriptions) that Mailchimp lacks natively. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Zapier affiliate page |
| Price | Kit charges once per active subscriber regardless of how many lists they're on; Mailchimp can bill the same person twice across lists. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Kit vendor page |
| Features | Kit's Subscriber Signals add job title, social reach and purchase history, plus a creator referral network Mailchimp lacks. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Kit vendor page |
| Features | Kit offers unlimited visual automations with 25+ templates and AI-agent (MCP) integration. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Kit vendor page |
| Support | Kit advertises 24/7 support and free migrations for switchers. | Kit (ConvertKit) | Kit vendor page |
Moving from Mailchimp to Kit (ConvertKit)
What Kit (ConvertKit)'s importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To Kit (ConvertKit)
Official guide help.kit.com · Tools: Kit Mailchimp Importer, Kit Migrations team
Moves: Subscribers and merge/custom fields (full); List/tag structure (partial). help.kit.com
Doesn't move: Forms and landing pages (must be rebuilt in Kit's builder); Email templates (must be recreated); Campaigns (recreated manually as Email Sequences); Automations (rebuilt manually as Kit Visual Automations). help.kit.com
Watch out for:
- Kit has a single list per account (versus Mailchimp's multiple audiences), organized instead by tags/segments help.kit.com
- Visual design parity with Mailchimp templates isn't guaranteed help.kit.com
Switching help: Kit's team will move your email setup (subscribers, tags, groups, segments, forms, templates, automations) to Kit for free when you sign up for a paid plan; Kit also provides a dedicated API-key beehiiv importer and a step-by-step beehiiv-to-Kit migration guide. help.kit.com
Switching help: Migration is included free with every paid Kit plan: a self-serve 'Essentials' move (subscribers, tags, lists, segments) in about 2-5 business days under 10K subscribers, or a free 'Concierge' team that also rebuilds forms, templates, automations and integrations for 10K+. kit.com
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
People who moved from Mailchimp to Kit (ConvertKit)
4 public accounts of leaving Mailchimp: 4 switched. Summaries are ours; each links the original, and each was checked against its page before it appeared here.
After Mailchimp cut its free tier to 250 contacts and dropped free automation, the author moved 3,400 subscribers to Kit in an afternoon, rebuilding automations in about two hours with no data loss. BlogRecode
A services strategist switched from Mailchimp to Kit (ConvertKit) after deliverability and segmentation problems, and reports noticeably higher open rates plus easier form-building and automation afterward. Quest for 47
A blogger switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit for tagging, automations and built-in landing pages, and reports friendlier customer support plus simplified list management despite migration effort. Sara Rosett
A blog owner switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit after being charged twice for subscribers on multiple lists, and reports better automation and segmentation despite a more basic template designer. Just a Girl and Her Blog
How to leave Mailchimp
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
How to leave Mailchimp
Export first
- Account data: emails, audiences, reports, templates and more: Profile icon → Account → Settings → Manage my data → Export Data (ZIP of CSV and HTML files). Large exports can take up to 24 hours, and you get 1 export per 24-hour period. mailchimp.com
What you lose
- Audiences, campaign archives and reports, if you delete rather than pause
Cancel
- Export your account data first (see export).
- To stop billing but keep your data: profile icon → Account & billing → Settings → Manage my plan → Pause my plan, for 3 or 6 months.
- To leave for good: Manage my plan → Delete my account → type DELETE → confirm.
- After you cancel
- Deleting removes all data tied to audiences, campaign archives and reports. Pausing is limited to 2 pauses in 12 months.
FAQ
Is Kit (ConvertKit) cheaper than Mailchimp?
Modeled, not measured: moving from Mailchimp Essentials to Kit (ConvertKit) (free tier) saves $106 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time at $50/hour. It depends on your plan, seats and usage. the math
Can I move my Mailchimp data to Kit (ConvertKit)?
Kit (ConvertKit)'s official guide moves: Subscribers and merge/custom fields; List/tag structure. It doesn't move: Forms and landing pages (must be rebuilt in Kit's builder); Email templates (must be recreated); Campaigns (recreated manually as Email Sequences); Automations (rebuilt manually as Kit Visual Automations). help.kit.com
What do I lose when I leave Mailchimp?
Per Mailchimp's own pages, leaving or downgrading loses: Audiences, campaign archives and reports, if you delete rather than pause. mailchimp.com
Does Kit (ConvertKit) help people switch from Mailchimp?
Kit's team will move your email setup (subscribers, tags, groups, segments, forms, templates, automations) to Kit for free when you sign up for a paid plan; Kit also provides a dedicated API-key beehiiv importer and a step-by-step beehiiv-to-Kit migration guide. help.kit.com
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