Softwr

News · head to head

ConvertKit vs Keila

ConvertKit logo

ConvertKit

News

The creator platform for digital professionals

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Keila logo

Keila

Email Marketing

AGPL newsletter tool from Germany, self-hostable or hosted in the EU with no free plan

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: ConvertKit the free Newsletter plan allows only one basic visual automation, so sequences beyond a single flow require paying; Keila there is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • They diverge on capability: ConvertKit covers Email marketing, Keila covers Priced by emails sent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ConvertKit and Keila actually diverge.

Attributes where ConvertKit and Keila differ
AttributeConvertKitKeila
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month by emails sent
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Self-hosted
CategoryNewsEmail Marketing
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ConvertKit

  • Email marketing
  • Landing pages
  • Subscriber tagging
  • Automation workflows
  • Digital product sales
  • Broadcast emails
  • Subscriber segments
  • Email templates

Only in Keila

  • Priced by emails sent
  • Bring your own sender
  • Self-hosting
  • EU hosting
  • Sign-up forms
  • Segmentation
  • Markdown and block editor
  • Multiple projects

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ConvertKit

  • Sending newsletters and email sequences to an audiencenot Keila
  • Selling paid subscriptions and digital products to a mailing listnot Keila

Keila

  • A membership organisation holding forty thousand contacts but sending only one newsletter a month, where contact-metered pricing would cost many times morenot ConvertKit
  • A European publisher or public body that needs subscriber data held in the EU under a GDPR-friendly arrangementnot ConvertKit
  • A technical team that wants to self-host its newsletter tool and route sending through its existing AWS SES accountnot ConvertKit
  • An agency running several separate client lists that does not want to pay per project or per additional listnot ConvertKit

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ConvertKit

  • The free Newsletter plan allows only one basic visual automation, so sequences beyond a single flow require paying
  • The free plan is a single user, and the Creator plan at $33 a month allows two
  • Subscriber signals, engagement analytics and paid recommendations are Pro only, at $66 a month
  • A/B testing is capped at 2 subject lines below Pro, which allows 5
  • Paid pricing is banded by subscriber count, so the published figures apply only at the smallest band

Keila

  • There is no free hosted plan at all, stated as deliberate policy, so unlike almost every competitor there is no way to run a small list at zero cost without self-hosting it yourself.
  • Marketing automation is minimal, with none of the behavioural triggers, journey builders or e-commerce revenue attribution that Klaviyo, Brevo and Mailchimp treat as table stakes.
  • The self-hosted route puts deliverability entirely on you: reputation, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, warm-up and bounce handling are your problem, and a badly configured instance will land in spam folders.
  • It is a small project from a small company, so the integration ecosystem is thin and there is no partner network, template marketplace or large body of community expertise to draw on.
  • Email volume tiers step in fixed blocks, so an organisation whose sending is uneven across the year either overbuys at the annual peak or has to change plan repeatedly.

Pricing, plan by plan

ConvertKit

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 10,000 subscribers
    • Unlimited landing pages and forms
    • Unlimited email broadcasts
  • Creator$33/month
    • Up to 1,000 subscribers
    • Unlimited visual automations
    • Email sequences
  • Pro$66/month
    • Up to 1,000 subscribers
    • Everything in Creator plan
    • Subscriber engagement scoring

Keila

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • AGPL-3.0-or-later licence with no fee
    • Official Docker image and sample compose file
    • You supply hosting and a sending backend
  • Keila XS$8/month
    • Two thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Send with Keila or bring your own email server
  • Keila M$32/month
    • Fifteen thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Sign-up forms and segmentation
  • Keila XXL$256/month
    • Two hundred and fifty thousand emails per month
    • Unlimited contacts and projects
    • Intermediate tiers at 16, 64 and 128 EUR for 5,000, 50,000 and 100,000 emails

Which should you pick?

Choose ConvertKit if

  • You need email marketing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want landing pages.
ConvertKit review

Choose Keila if

  • You need priced by emails sent.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want bring your own sender.
Keila review

Questions people ask

Is ConvertKit or Keila better?
Neither clearly leads. ConvertKit starts at Free and Keila at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ConvertKit or Keila?
ConvertKit starts at Free and Keila at Free.
Does ConvertKit or Keila run on more platforms?
ConvertKit runs on Web. Keila runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use ConvertKit for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is ConvertKit best used for?
ConvertKit is most often used for sending newsletters and email sequences to an audience, selling paid subscriptions and digital products to a mailing list. Of those, sending newsletters and email sequences to an audience and selling paid subscriptions and digital products to a mailing list are not what Keila is typically brought in for.
What can ConvertKit do that Keila cannot?
ConvertKit covers Email marketing, Landing pages, Subscriber tagging, Automation workflows. Keila covers Priced by emails sent, Bring your own sender, Self-hosting, EU hosting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ConvertKit: How much does ConvertKit cost?

ConvertKit offers a free tier and two paid plans: Creator at $33/month (annual $390/year saving $78) and Pro at $66/month (annual $790/year saving $158). All plans include unlimited landing pages, email broadcasts, and audience management features.

Source
Keila: Is Keila free?

The software is, under AGPL-3.0-or-later, if you self-host. The hosted service has no free plan by deliberate policy and starts at 8 EUR a month.

ConvertKit: What does the free ConvertKit plan include?

The free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited landing pages, forms, email broadcasts, audience tagging, and digital product sales. No credit card required to start.

Source
Keila: How is the hosted service priced?

By emails sent, from 8 EUR for two thousand up to 256 EUR for two hundred and fifty thousand a month. Contacts and projects are unlimited on every tier.

ConvertKit: What are the subscriber limits on ConvertKit plans?

The free plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers. Both Creator and Pro paid tiers support up to 1,000 subscribers. This creates a subscriber limit decrease when upgrading from free to paid plans.

Source
Keila: Can I use my own email provider?

Yes. AWS SES, Sendgrid, Mailgun, Postmark, generic SMTP or a personal inbox are all supported as sending backends.

Keila: Are there discounts?

Pentacent offers reduced rates to nonprofits and open source projects on request.

Share

Related pages

More on ConvertKit

More on Keila

Keep looking

Other head to heads