Clarto

Email platform cost ledger24 monthsPrices checked Oct 9, 2026

What your email platform really costs, month by month.

Kit, beehiiv, systeme.io and Mailchimp, priced from each vendor's own pricing page for every month your list grows. Sorted by cost, nothing else.

Cost over 24 months

Lowest, 24 monthsKit$0

Lowest 24-month cost: Kit at $0, $153 less than systeme.io.

Cumulative cost over 24 months. Kit $0, systeme.io $153, beehiiv $545, Mailchimp $1,064. Full numbers are in the table below.

people
% / month
Paid newsletter needed?

Yes ranks only platforms with a built-in paywall.

Automations needed?

Welcome sequences, tag-based flows and similar.

Billing

Defaults assume no paid newsletter and no automations. Nothing you type is stored.

The ledger, platform by platform

Your list: 1,000 now → 1,710 at month 12 → 3,072 at month 24.

  1. #1

    Kit (ConvertKit)

    12 months$0
    24 months$0
    Plan path Free $0/mo

    Free plan (up to 10,000) covers all 24 months.

    See Kit pricing

    No affiliate link: goes to Kit's own pricing page. Ranking is by cost only.

  2. #2

    systeme.io

    12 months$0
    24 months$153
    Plan path Free $0/mo → month 16: Startup (5k) $17/mo

    Free plan (up to 2,000) covers you until month 15; you outgrow it in month 16.

    See systeme.io pricing

    Affiliate link: goes to systeme.io's pricing page; we may earn a commission if you sign up, at no cost to you. Ranking is by cost only.

  3. #3

    beehiiv

    12 months$0
    24 months$545
    Plan path Free $0/mo → month 20: Lite (5k) $109/mo

    Free plan (up to 2,500) covers you until month 19; you outgrow it in month 20.

    See beehiiv pricing

    No affiliate link: goes to beehiiv's own pricing page. Ranking is by cost only.

  4. #4

    Mailchimp

    12 months$374
    24 months$1,064
    Plan path Essentials (1.5k) $26.50/mo → month 10: Essentials (2.5k) $45/mo → month 20: Essentials (5k) $75/mo

    Free plan (up to 250) is already outgrown at your size.

    See Mailchimp pricing

    No affiliate link: goes to Mailchimp's own pricing page. Ranking is by cost only.

Disclosure: the systeme.io link is an affiliate link (we may earn a commission, at no cost to you). Every other link is a plain link to the vendor's own pricing page. Ranking and sorting use computed cost only, never commission.

Total cost by platform for 1,000 subscribers growing 5% a month, billed monthly. Sorted by 24-month cost.
RankPlatform12 months24 monthsPlans used
#1Kit$0$0Free $0/mo
#2systeme.io$0$153Free $0/mo → month 16: Startup (5k) $17/mo
#3beehiiv$0$545Free $0/mo → month 20: Lite (5k) $109/mo
#4Mailchimp$374$1,064Essentials (1.5k) $26.50/mo → month 10: Essentials (2.5k) $45/mo → month 20: Essentials (5k) $75/mo

Assumptions and how the math works

  • Your list grows by the monthly rate you set, compounding. For each of the 24 months we pick each platform's cheapest plan that fits that month's list size and your needs, so tier jumps land in the right month.
  • Kit and beehiiv price by subscribers; Mailchimp and systeme.io by contacts. Mailchimp also counts unsubscribed contacts, so your real Mailchimp tier may be higher.
  • USD, before tax. Add-ons (SMS, extra seats, Mailchimp email-send overages above 10–15× contacts) are excluded.
  • No churn: the list only grows at your rate.
  • Free plans count when they fit. The moment your list passes a free limit, the next plan's price starts.
  • "Paid newsletter: Yes" ranks only platforms with a built-in paid-subscription paywall. systeme.io has no native paywall (you can sell a recurring membership instead), so it is shown but not ranked; Mailchimp lists no paid-newsletter feature.
  • "Automations: Yes" accepts plans with limited automations (for example a few flows); limits are shown on each result.
  • Paid newsletters: we add each platform's own share of your revenue (Kit 0.6% inside its 3.5% + 30¢; beehiiv 0%). Card processing (about 2.9% + 30¢ where stated) is similar on all of them, so it's shown but not ranked.
  • Yearly billing uses the annual price divided by 12 where the vendor publishes one. Limited-time promos are ignored.
  • Any tier without a published price is marked price not published / unverified and that platform is left out of the ranking instead of guessed.
  • HubSpot is not in the totals: HubSpot is a CRM-led marketing suite priced per seat plus marketing-contact tiers, with no paid-newsletter feature. Its pricing page publishes only starting prices (1,000 contacts on Starter, 2,000 on Professional) and not the price for larger lists, so a month-by-month total can't be built from official figures.

Every price we used

Prices checked Oct 9, 2026, only from each vendor's official pricing page or the plan data that page loads.

See all 156 price rows, tier by tier → · raw data: prices.json