The short answer
- Up to 10,000 subscribers, Kit's free plan covers broadcasts, landing pages and forms; up to 2,500, so does beehiiv's. Neither free plan has automations. kit.com
- Automations from day one: MailerLite includes its automation builder on the free plan (250 subscribers), and Comfort starts at $12/mo for 500. the math
- At 10,000 subscribers: MailerLite Comfort costs $89/mo and Ghost(Pro) Publisher $105/mo. mailerlite.com
- listmonk is free, self-hosted and AGPL-3.0; pair it with Amazon SES to send if you'd rather run a server than pay per subscriber. the math
The economics
Every tool here prices by list size. Prices are the cheapest published tier in the Stackcut catalog that covers the list, billed monthly.
Monthly cost by list size
| Subscribers | 500 | 2,500 | 10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitfree plan: no automations | $0Free | $0Free | $0Free |
| beehiivfree plan: no automations | $0Free | $0Free | tier not in the catalog |
| MailerLiteautomations on every plan | $12Comfort | $33Comfort (2,500 subscribers) | $89Comfort (10,000 subscribers) |
| Ghost(Pro) | $18Ghost(Pro) | $55Publisher (2,500 members) | $105Publisher (10,000 members) |
| Mailchimp Essentials | $13Essentials | tier not in the catalog | tier not in the catalog |
| listmonk (self-hosted)AGPL-3.0; send through Amazon SES | $0+ your server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server |
What the free tiers really are
Pick by situation
- Writing to grow, no automations yet: Kit Free up to 10,000 subscribers, or beehiiv Launch up to 2,500. kit.com
- Welcome sequences from the start: MailerLite, whose free plan already includes 3 active automations. the math
- A paid newsletter with a website: Ghost(Pro) from $18/mo for 1,000 members; Ghost is also free to self-host. ghost.org
- Lowest cost at scale, if you run servers: listmonk with Amazon SES. the math
A real workflow: ask your agent
- Give your agent the list size you expect in a year. choose_stack compares newsletter tools at that size, links every price, and flags free plans that don't cover it. stackcut.io
choose_stack({"project": "weekly newsletter", "needs": [
{"job": "newsletter",
"volume": {"amount": 2500, "unit": "contacts"}}]})Fit
A good fit if
Questions
Which free newsletter plan goes furthest?
Kit's: up to 10,000 subscribers with 1 user, but no visual automations or automated sequences. kit.com
What does beehiiv cost after the free plan?
Paid plans start at $49/mo for the Scale plan's 1,000-subscriber tier, which adds automations. The price at 10,000 isn't in our catalog, so check beehiiv's slider. beehiiv.com
How do I move my list from Mailchimp?
Export your data from Mailchimp's Manage my data page, which bundles audiences into one ZIP of CSV files, then import the CSV into the new tool. mailchimp.com
Is Mailchimp's free plan an option?
Only for a small list: Up to 250 contacts, 500 sends/month (250/day), 1 seat, 1 audience. mailchimp.com
Next steps
Check your own stack
Get your free stack audit
Stackcut finds every software subscription in your inbox and shows what to cancel, what to pay per use, and what AI can replace, with a spec and a cost for each. Your stack audit is free and takes about 2 minutes.
Or ask your agent
Connect the Stackcut MCP server (https://stackcut.io/mcp, no API key) and ask: “We're starting a newsletter and expect 2,500 subscribers in a year. What should we use?”
choose_stack({"project": "weekly newsletter", "needs": [
{"job": "newsletter",
"volume": {"amount": 2500, "unit": "contacts"}}]})