Welcome to 2025!
My goal in 2025 is to bring you news, tips, and trends in marketing software to help you promote your business effectively.
Solopreneurs are consumed with choice. Which can lead to being stuck with tools that cost too much, take too much time to implement or don’t deliver a return on your investment.
Software ROI Guide aims to cut through the clutter by serving the needs of solopreneurs who DIY their marketing.
Why I use Kit to send the newsletter
Before 2024, I have been (and still am) an avid Mailchimp user. But I did not choose Mailchimp to start my newsletter for these reasons:
Mailchimp is more geared towards service and information based businesses. It’s also trying to capture the e-commerce market.
If you’re sending out a newsletter via email software, at a bare minimum you need:
- A newsletter feed that allows you to simultaneously post your newsletter on your website and send broadcasts
- Referrals to other newsletters via recommendations or an ad network
- Ability to send your subscribers an instant welcome email and/or gift*
- A/B testing*
- Integrations with other tools*
- Monetization features, such as the ability to sell digital products, or earn income via affiliate recommendations
- Ability to tag or segment your audience so you can send them targeted content*
*Mailchimp provides these features, but not the others.
Kit’s costs and deliverability
Cost wise, Kit is affordable. I could have stayed with the Newsletter plan (free for up to 10,000 subscribers), but I wanted the automation features, which meant I had to upgrade to the paid Creator plan.
The cost for this plan is $25 (US) a month for 1,000 subscribers. Luckily, I got a deal during Black Friday, so I am paying $75 for my first year, instead of $108. This will cover 300 subscribers.
A note about the Newsletter plan: Without the automation features, the free Kit plan is not relevant for a newsletter business. However if your business sends information only emails, the Newsletter plan can save you money for a long time.
Kit is also pretty reliable. In terms of deliverability, according to Email Report Deliverability.com, 83.81% of emails landed in their recipients’ inboxes.
Alternative: Mailchimp
Mailchimp previously had a free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers. This has now been limited to 500 contacts. To get any automation features, you also have to upgrade to a paid plan.
Mailchimp’s pricing is based on the number of emails you send.
Essentials: 500 contacts (5,000 emails per month): $13.00 (US) per month. 4 automation features.
Standard: 500 contacts (6,000 emails per month): $20.00 (US) per month. Comes with more automation features.
Premium: 10,000 contacts (150,000 emails per month): $350 per month.
One advantage over Kit is that you could use your Mailchimp paid accounts for more than one audience. If you run multiple businesses, that’s a plus.
Alternative: Beehiiv
Beehiiv is Kit’s direct competitor. To the point where the founders of both have playfully dragged each other on X (Twitter).
Beehiiv is exclusively geared towards newsletter creators. It includes all the features that Kit does, but it does not work well for information only emails or service based business emails. Kit can also be used to run a business that is not newsletter focused.
Kit tutorials
Here’s a detailed article on everything you need to know about Kit
This 10 minute video shows you how to set up a landing page to capture email addresses