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How to Switch from MailerLite to Kit (The Creator Upgrade You've Been Putting Off)

Switching from MailerLite to Kit is the right move for creators — Kit’s Newsletter plan is free for up to 10,000 subscribers while MailerLite charges $25–$73/month for equivalent list sizes, and Kit includes paid newsletter subscriptions, digital product sales, and a tip jar that MailerLite will never support. The migration takes one afternoon: export your CSV, import to Kit with tag mapping, rebuild your sequences, and activate the creator monetization features you’ve been missing. This guide covers every step.

MailerLite costs $25/month for 1,000 subscribers. Kit's Newsletter plan costs $0 for up to 10,000 subscribers. But the price isn't even the main reason to switch.

MailerLite was built for businesses sending email newsletters. Kit was built for creators who sell things — paid newsletters, digital products, tip jars, course access. If you've ever wanted to charge for a newsletter, sell a digital download, or offer exclusive subscriber tiers, MailerLite makes you duct-tape third-party tools together. Kit has all of it built in.

You've outgrown MailerLite. Here's how to move.

1. Why MailerLite Users Are Leaving in 2026

MailerLite is a solid, reliable email platform. That's not the issue. The issue is that it was designed for businesses — retail, SaaS, agencies — not for individual creators building subscriber-supported businesses.

What MailerLite charges:

What MailerLite doesn't have:

Every one of those features is in Kit — and Kit's Newsletter plan is free for up to 10,000 subscribers. You're paying $25–$57/month for a platform that literally cannot do what you want to do next.

2. Kit Is Built for What You're Actually Trying to Do

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) was rebuilt from the ground up for creators. The pricing model reflects that.

Feature MailerLite Growing Business Kit Newsletter (Free) Kit Creator
1,000 subscribers $25/mo Free $29/mo
5,000 subscribers $57/mo Free $59/mo
10,000 subscribers $73/mo Free $99/mo
Paid newsletter subscriptions ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Digital product sales ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Tip jar ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Automation sequences ✅ Yes Limited ✅ Full
Visual automation workflows ✅ Yes Limited ✅ Full
Creator network (Recommend) ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes

If you have under 10,000 subscribers and don't need advanced automation branching, Kit's free Newsletter plan costs you nothing and unlocks monetization features MailerLite will never have.

If you need full automation sequences and visual workflow builders, Kit Creator at $29/mo (1k subs) is still comparable or cheaper than MailerLite Advanced — with the creator monetization stack included.

Kit also offers free migration assistance built into the platform. Go to Settings → Migration after you sign up and Kit's team will help move your list.

Claim your free Kit account: → Start on Kit for free

3. What Transfers vs. What to Rebuild

Element Transfers? How
Subscriber list (email, name) ✅ Yes CSV export/import
Custom fields ✅ Yes Map during import
Tags ✅ Yes Export as column; import as tags in Kit
Segments ⚠️ Partial Recreate filter logic in Kit
Email sequences ❌ No Rebuild in Kit's sequence editor
Automation workflows ❌ No Rebuild in Kit's visual automations
Email templates ❌ No Kit uses its own template system
Landing pages / forms ❌ No Rebuild in Kit (better creator-focused options)
Unsubscribes ✅ Yes Export; import as unsubscribed in Kit
Open/click history ❌ No Kit starts fresh

The forms and landing pages are worth rebuilding. Kit's creator-focused forms convert better for newsletter and product audiences than MailerLite's generic designs.

4. Step-by-Step: Export from MailerLite

  1. Log in to MailerLite
  2. Go to Subscribers in the left navigation
  3. Click Export subscribers (top right)
  4. Choose All subscribers or filter by group
  5. Select fields to include: Email, Name, Status, Groups, Custom Fields
  6. Export as CSV
  7. Download the file (MailerLite emails a download link for large lists)

Also export unsubscribed and bounced contacts:

Document your automation sequences:

5. Step-by-Step: Import to Kit

  1. Log in to Kit (sign up free here)
  2. Go to Subscribers in the left navigation
  3. Click Import subscribers
  4. Upload your MailerLite CSV
  5. Map fields: Email, First Name (Kit uses first name by default)
  6. Add a tag during import to mark these as "MailerLite import" — useful for filtering later
  7. Click Import

Use Kit's built-in migration tool:

Set up your sending domain:

Set up your forms:

→ Start importing to Kit now

6. Rebuild Sequences, Activate Creator Features, Then Cancel MailerLite

Run both platforms in parallel for 7–14 days. New subscribers flow into Kit; existing MailerLite subscribers finish active sequences before cutover.

Rebuild your sequences in Kit:

  1. Go to Sequences → New Sequence
  2. Name it and set the sending schedule
  3. Add each email from your MailerLite sequence
  4. Set delays between emails
  5. Send test emails before activating

Activate the creator features you switched for:

Cancel MailerLite:

You just freed up $25–$57/month and unlocked a monetization toolkit MailerLite can't match.

7. Deliverability After Migration: Getting Your Sending Reputation Right

The biggest invisible risk in any platform switch is deliverability. MailerLite has been building sender reputation on your domain's behalf. When you move to Kit, that relationship resets — and how you handle the first 30 days determines whether your emails land in inboxes or spam folders.

Domain authentication is step one. Go to Settings → Email in Kit and add a custom sending domain. This means adding DKIM and SPF records to your domain's DNS. Kit walks you through the exact records to add. Without authentication, Kit sends from shared IPs — and shared IPs carry the reputational baggage of every sender using them. Authenticated sends from your own domain are always the better choice.

Start warm, not cold. Your full MailerLite list is cold to Kit's infrastructure. Don't import 5,000 subscribers and blast them all on day one. Identify your 500–1,000 most engaged contacts — people who opened or clicked a MailerLite email in the last 90 days — and start your Kit sends with them. Their positive engagement signals build your sender reputation with inbox providers.

Increase volume over two to three weeks. After a successful first send to your engaged segment, expand to 50% of the list, then the full list. The gradual ramp tells inbox providers you're a legitimate, consistent sender — not a source with a sudden burst of volume from a new platform.

Check your first send in Mail-Tester. Mail-Tester.com is a free tool that scores your email configuration. Send a test email to the address Mail-Tester provides and you'll get a deliverability score with specific issues flagged. Do this before your first real send. A score of 8/10 or above means your setup is solid.

8. Common MailerLite to Kit Migration Mistakes

Moving before rebuilding your welcome sequence. New subscribers who sign up during your migration period need to land somewhere. If your Kit welcome sequence isn't built and tested before you update your signup forms, they'll hit an empty inbox and never hear from you. Build the welcome sequence in Kit first — then redirect your forms.

Skipping the unsubscribe import. MailerLite's unsubscribed and bounced contacts are suppressed for legal compliance. Before you import active subscribers to Kit, import your MailerLite unsubscribed and bounced contacts as suppressed. Kit makes this straightforward under Subscribers → Unsubscribes. Skipping it risks emailing someone who explicitly opted out.

Importing the whole list without tagging by group. If your MailerLite list includes subscribers from multiple groups — course buyers, free newsletter subscribers, lead magnet optins — import them with tags that preserve that segmentation. Tagging during import takes 10 extra minutes and saves hours of manual re-segmentation later.

Treating the free tier as the end goal. Kit's free Newsletter plan is genuine — no tricks, 10,000 subscriber limit, real creator features. But if you have automation sequences and conditional workflows in MailerLite, you'll need Kit Creator for the full automation suite. Account for this in your planning; the free plan doesn't cover every MailerLite Advanced use case.

Not testing the Stripe connection before going live. If you're switching to Kit partly to launch paid newsletters or sell products — test the Stripe integration before announcing it. Connect Stripe in Earn → Paid Newsletter, run a test payment, confirm the subscriber is tagged correctly in Kit. The monetization features are the reason you switched; verify they work before telling your audience.

9. FAQ: MailerLite to Kit Migration

Will Kit's free plan limit my automation options? Yes — Kit's free Newsletter plan has limited automation. You get basic sequences (linear drip campaigns) but not full visual workflow automations with conditional branching. If you relied on MailerLite's automation workflows, you'll want Kit Creator ($29/month for 1,000 subscribers, $59/month for 5,000). Still cheaper than MailerLite Advanced, and with the full creator monetization stack included.

Can I sell digital products immediately after migrating? Yes. Kit's digital product sales — ebooks, templates, courses, tip jar — are available on all plans including the free Newsletter tier. Go to Earn → Products, upload your file, set a price, and Kit generates a purchase page instantly. You need a connected Stripe account to receive payments, but setup takes under 10 minutes.

What happens to MailerLite subscribers who are mid-sequence? They'll continue in your MailerLite sequence until it ends. Run MailerLite and Kit in parallel for 7–14 days — new subscribers go to Kit, existing subscribers finish active MailerLite sequences. Once those sequences end, you can close the MailerLite account without disrupting anyone's journey.

Does Kit have a group/list structure like MailerLite? Kit doesn't use traditional lists. Instead, it uses tags and segments to organize subscribers. This is actually more flexible — a single subscriber can hold multiple tags (newsletter subscriber, course buyer, VIP tier) without being duplicated across lists. During import, map your MailerLite groups to Kit tags and you'll have equivalent segmentation with a cleaner structure.

How long does the full migration take? A simple migration — one list, a few automations, basic forms — takes a focused afternoon. A complex setup — multiple groups, elaborate automation workflows, landing pages — might take a weekend. The parallel-run period adds 7–14 days of validation before canceling MailerLite. Budget a full week from start to finish for a smooth transition.

10. What to Check on Day 30

One month after migration is the right moment to run a health check on your Kit setup and confirm the switch is paying off.

Is This Migration Right For You?

Make this switch if:

Stay on MailerLite if:

The Bottom Line

MailerLite is a good email platform. Kit is a creator business platform. If you want to charge for your newsletter, sell digital products, or grow a subscriber-supported brand — Kit is where you need to be, and for up to 10,000 subscribers, it costs you nothing to find out.

Stop putting this off. The migration takes one afternoon.

→ Start on Kit for free today

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