Kit

KEEP IT

The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying.

Email marketing aimed at writers and creators: a subscriber list with tags, visual automation sequences, hosted signup forms and landing pages, and the sending infrastructure behind them.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Build me the newsletter layer around a sending provider. Do not build the sending.

STACK
- Astro with a Node adapter, SQLite via better-sqlite3
- Amazon SES, Postmark or Resend as the relay — deliverability is rented on purpose
- A cron worker for scheduled sends

SUBSCRIBERS
- Address, source, consent timestamp, confirm token, unsubscribe token, tags
- Double opt-in, so consent is provable years later
- Import from CSV with a dry run that reports duplicates and invalid addresses before writing

WRITING AND SENDING
- Compose in Markdown, render to table-based HTML with a plain-text alternative
- Preview in the browser at 320px and 600px before sending
- Send in batches with a configurable rate limit, resumable if the process dies halfway

SEQUENCES
- A sequence is an ordered list of emails with a delay in days between them
- Enrolment by tag; leaving on unsubscribe or on a tag being removed
- Every enrolment and every send recorded append-only, so a subscriber's history is reconstructible

BOUNCES AND COMPLAINTS
- Webhook endpoints from the provider, writing to a suppression list every future send consults
- One-click unsubscribe honouring both the List-Unsubscribe header and the link

STATS
- Opens and clicks from provider webhooks only — no tracking pixel of your own unless enabled deliberately

Include a README covering SPF, DKIM and DMARC, warming a new sending domain, and what to do the first time a campaign lands in spam.

What you lose

Deliverability: warmed IPs, domain reputation and the relationships that decide whether you reach the inbox
Visual automations — sequences, tags and conditional branches a non-developer can edit
Landing pages and forms hosted for you, with the subscriber flow already wired
The recommendation network that puts your newsletter in front of other writers’ audiences
Compliance plumbing: double opt-in records, one-click unsubscribe headers and suppression across every send

If you would rather not build

Beehiiv — paid, closest competitor, stronger on growth tooling
MailerLite — paid, cheaper at small list sizes

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

listmonk

Newsletter and mailing list manager with subscriber import and bounce processing.

knadh/listmonkfree · open source

Keila

Newsletter tool built on Elixir that sends through your own provider.

pentacent/keilafree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

26/100

Verdict no at 26: the interface is a weekend and the infrastructure is years. Deliverability is a reputation with mailbox providers that cannot be coded, and for a newsletter business the inbox is the business.

History

tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 dayspeak 1/day

0113 Jul18 Jul23 Jul28 Jul2 Aug7 Aug11 Aug

— views— prompt copies none yet— votes none yet

Questions about Kit

answered from the record above

Is Kit free?

No — the plan we track is $29 a month. Creator from $29/month at 1,000 subscribers; free below 10,000 with limited features, and the price steps up with list size.

Can you replace Kit by building your own?

KEEP IT. The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying. Replacement score 26 out of 100, build time longer than it saves. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Kit cost?

$29 a month on Creator — $348 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Kit?

Deliverability: warmed IPs, domain reputation and the relationships that decide whether you reach the inbox; Visual automations — sequences, tags and conditional branches a non-developer can edit; Landing pages and forms hosted for you, with the subscriber flow already wired; The recommendation network that puts your newsletter in front of other writers’ audiences; Compliance plumbing: double opt-in records, one-click unsubscribe headers and suppression across every send. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Kit?

Yes: listmonk, Keila. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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