Marketing automation is vital to a business on the rise.
As you begin to scale, managing your marketing campaigns can become too much for a single employee (or even a team of employees) to tackle on their own.
That’s why, if you’re going to remain competitive, you’re going to need a marketing automation platform.
ConvertKit is a popular option for automating a number of key marketing functions. It’s primarily centered around email outreach for bloggers.
How much does ConvertKit cost? How does it compare to some of its largest competitors in the email marketing tool universe?
In this resource, we’ll give you a complete overview of ConvertKit. We’ll focus first on pricing and what it offers, then move to its competition, and last (but not least) give a clear recommendation for whether ConvertKit is right for you.
Introduction to ConvertKit
What the Vendor Says: “Email Marketing for Online Creators”
Introduction to ConvertKit
ConvertKit was designed to help bloggers drive revenue from their email lists.
It’s an email marketing platform that provides resources to aid bloggers in growing their online business. It does this through a number of included features, such as inclusive reporting, widgets and automated workflows.
What’s Offered by ConvertKit?
There are a number of great and useful features offered by ConvertKit that are useful for bloggers all over the world.
Simply put, ConvertKit gives these bloggers an opportunity to monetize their email subscription list, drawing on an existing pool of untapped potential customers.
Some of the main features that make ConvertKit a useful tool include:
- Customizable opt-in forms
- Reporting services
- Visual automation
- Personalized sequence builders
- Subscriber management services
- Email content editing
- Broadcasts
How Much Does ConvertKit Cost?
ConvertKit’s pricing is determined by a blogger’s subscriber count. The larger your email list is, the more you’ll pay for your ConvertKit account. This makes sense, as a deeper prospect pool will lead to the potential to generate more revenue.
Here’s a breakdown of each of ConvertKit’s pricing plans:
- $29 per month for up to 1,000 subscribers
- $49 per month for up to 3,000 subscribers
- $79 per month for up to 5,000 subscribers
- $99 per month for up to 8,000 subscribers
- $119 per month for up to 10,000 subscribers
- $149 per month for up to 15,000 subscribers
- $179 per month for up to 20,000 subscribers
- $199 per month for up to 25,000 subscribers
- $259 per month for up to 35,000 subscribers
- $319 per month for up to 45,000 subscribers
- $379 per month for up to 55,000 subscribers
- $439 per month for up to 65,000 subscribers
- $499 per month for up to 75,000 subscribers
- $559 per month for up to 85,000 subscribers
- $619 per month for up to 95,000 subscribers
To learn more, check out our complete review of ConvertKit.
ConvertKit Alternative #1: Constant Contact
What the Vendor Says: Email Marketing and More, Made Easy
Introduction to Constant Contact
Our first ConvertKit alternative service is Constant Contact.
This is an email marketing solution and marketing automation tool that can be used by bloggers and businesses alike. It helps with both email and social advertising efforts.
Constant Contact was designed to help businesses find, convert and retain customers. It does this through advanced targeting.
Constant Contact also has a mobile application that helps you manage your email marketing while on the go.
What’s Offered by Constant Contact?
There are a number of beneficial features offered by Constant Contact. Some of them are:
- Marketing automation, including an autoresponder series, anniversary or birthday emails, welcome emails and more.
- Contact management dashboard
- Email template library
- E-commerce integration, including abandoned cart emails
- Statistical reporting that shows clicks, unsubscribes, forwards, spam reports, opens and more
- Event marketing tools to help you drive event attendance, including the ability to create invitations and registration forms for events
How Much Does Constant Contact Cost?
Constant Contact has three monthly pricing plans with a 60-day free trial and a 15% discount if companies pay annually. The Lite plan includes basic features and starts at $12 per month for up to 500 contacts.
The Standard plan adds on A/B testing, email resends to non-opens, prebuilt automation template, contact segmentation and social media ads integration. It starts at $35 per month for up to 500 contacts.
The Premium plan adds advanced email marketing features, custom automation, search engine optimization (SEO) and advanced ads. It starts at $80 per month for up to 500 contacts.
Constant Contact offers a Marketing Automation+ platform for organizations that need robust functionality. It starts at $449 per month and includes features like sales automation, lead scoring, advanced workflows, tracking and analytics and a dedicated onboarding expert.
To learn more, check out our complete review of Constant Contact.
ConvertKit Alternative #2: Mailchimp
What the Vendor Says: “All-In-One Integrated Marketing Platform for Small Businesses”
Introduction to Mailchimp
Another well-known alternative to ConvertKit, Mailchimp is an email marketing and marketing automation tool designed for companies of all sizes, from bloggers to enterprise-level corporations.
Mailchimp is specifically designed to improve communication with prospects and create conversions.
One major benefit of Mailchimp is that it gives users complete control over their campaigns. It also uses a built-in analytics reporting system and has an intuitive drag-and-drop builder to make creating email marketing messages a breeze.
What’s Offered by Mailchimp?
Some of the major features of Mailchimp include:
- The ability to personalize marketing automation (e.g., creating an onboarding series for new customers, generating win-back automated emails)
- The ability to connect to an e-commerce store to reach out to prospects for cart abandonment and personalized product recommendations
- Audience segmentation to help you separate your target audience for future campaigns
- A/B Testing on subject lines for your email campaign
- Performance tracking
How Much Does Mailchimp Cost?
With Mailchimp, you can choose either the free plan or a paid plan.
The Free plan is only for one audience, which can include 500 contacts and 2,500 monthly emails.
The Essentials Plan lets you market to three different audiences. This includes 5,000 monthly emails. Prices start at $13 per month (500 contacts).
The Standard Plan works for five audiences and 6,000 emails per month. Prices start at $13 per month (500 contacts).
The Standard plan provides five audiences, 6,000 monthly emails, advanced customer journeys, predictive segmentation, send time optimization, custom-coded templates and dynamic content. Prices start at $20 per month (500 contacts).
The Premium plan includes unlimited audiences, 150,000 monthly emails, advanced segmentation, multivariate testing and phone support. The price starts at $350 per month (500 contacts).
To learn more, check out our complete review of Mailchimp
ConvertKit Alternative #3: HubSpot
What the Vendor Says: “There’s a Better Way to Grow”
Introduction to HubSpot
HubSpot is marketing software that was designed for businesses of all sizes. It creates measurable inbound marketing campaigns with increased efficiency.
With HubSpot, you’ll be provided with tools that can be used to manage website analytics, blogging, email marketing and social media all from one centralized platform.
What’s Offered by HubSpot?
Some popular features of HubSpot include:
- No-code email creation
- A visual editor that lets you envision workflows in real time
- Social media marketing, tracking and contact capabilities
- Lead management contact profiles
- Landing page creation and launch
- Built-in analytics across your landing pages, website, blog posts, social media, emails and more
How Much Does HubSpot Cost?
HubSpot has one free plan and three paid plans.
The Starter plan costs $18 per month and has email marketing and lead tracking features for 1,000 contacts. An extra 1,000 contacts can be added for $45 per month.
The Professional plan is $800 per month and offers marketing automation, landing pages, reporting and content creation tools for 2,000 contacts. Companies must pay a one-time onboarding fee of $3,000 and can add an additional 5,000 contacts for $225 per month.
The Enterprise plan is priced at $3,600 per month for 10,000 contacts, advanced features and unlimited site visits. There’s a mandatory one-time onboarding fee of $6,000 and a $100 per month charge for each extra 10,000 contacts added.
To learn more, check out our complete review of HubSpot.
ConvertKit Alternative #4: Salesforce Pardot
What the Vendor Says: “Do More, Stress Less.”
Introduction to Pardot
Pardot is a part of the Salesforce suite of services. It’s B2B marketing automation software that allows marketers to improve lead generation results and pair marketing with the goals of your sales team.
Salesforce is a well known and respected name in the workflow software field, most notably for its CRM service, which monitors the entire sales funnel.
What’s Offered by Pardot?
Pardot has a number of features that make it a strong alternative to ConvertKit. They include:
- Email marketing campaigns with features such as an email builder, automation/personalization and A/B testing
- A dynamic lead management tool to create workflows for each audience
- Sales alignment that integrates with the Salesforce CRM so both systems can work together to drive conversions
- Lead generation through landing page construction
- Integration with Google Adwords to track return on investment (ROI) on ad campaigns
- ROI reporting
How Much Does Pardot Cost?
Pardot has four monthly pricing plans. Pardot’s Growth Plan costs $1,250 per month. The Plus Plan is $2,750 per month. The Advanced Plan comes out to $4,000 per month. The Premium Plan, designed for enterprises, costs $15,000 a month.
To learn more, check out our complete review of Pardot
In Conclusion
If you’re a blogger, ConvertKit is a tremendous resource that will automate your email marketing efforts and help you monetize your growing web presence. However, for businesses that aren’t blogs, the alternative solutions listed here all have their pros and cons.
By understanding the structure, pricing and features of ConvertKit and four of its biggest competitors, you can make a more informed decision when it’s time to invest in a marketing automation platform that suits your needs.