Putting your thoughts out into the world with a newsletter is a great way to build an audience and boost your personal brand. But which newsletter platform is best to build on?

If you're a parent (and you probably are if you're here), you're always looking for ways to supplement your income and boost your earnings.

And if you've spent much time online (rhetorical statement, I know), you've likely seen the rise in email newsletters.

It seems like everyone has a newsletter these days. Even podcasters who are a dime a dozen are building lists of subscribers and sending out weekly, if not daily, updates.

So, it's easy to think that the market is pretty saturated when it comes to newsletters, right?

Well, you may be surprised to learn that you can create a pretty nice side hustle with an email newsletter. If you have a passion, a few minutes to write, and a few friends to sign up, you can start building a newsletter in no time.

And with the rise of email marketing platforms, you can throw together a fast landing page and put your audience building and affiliate marketing on autopilot.

Two of the top email marketing platforms are Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and beehiiv. Both offer all the features you'd need to launch and maintain a newsletter, and both come with free plans and email templates to help you get started.

But the key is knowing which one to pick and stick with as you start to bring in more subscribers.

I've used both of these email marketing platforms for my own projects, so I thought I'd break down the pros and cons of each to help you decide which is the better fit for your side hustle ambitions.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links you’ll find below are affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one of these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Why I Personally Love Beehiiv

beehiiv is the better newsletter platform choice for most creators and side hustlers looking to start an email list.

While Kit (formerly ConvertKit) offers advanced features, beehiiv provides an excellent combination of ease of use, affordability, unique growth tools, and an engaged creator community - allowing you to effortlessly build your newsletter audience with fun, innovative distribution channels.

Due to beehiiv’s growth and engagement features, I saw some serious growth shortly after migrating my newsletter to beehiiv.

Total Subscribers increased from ~100 to over 1,000
Open Rate increased 8.3%
Click Rate increased 99% (my prior click rate was pretty terrible)

You can also check out my engagement metrics…

Needless to say, I’m a fan. If you do decide to check out beehiiv, use promo code KMONEY or simply click on one of my links to get a free 30-day trial plus 20% off for the first three months of any paid plan.

Why Email Newsletters Work Well as a Side Hustle

For a long time, email marketing felt like something only big businesses did.

It sounded complicated, expensive, and time-consuming. None of which are appealing when you’re already balancing work, kids, and everything in between.

That’s changed.

Email newsletters are now one of the most approachable ways for parents to build a side hustle that fits into real life. You don’t need a massive following, a complicated funnel, or hours of daily content creation.

You need a clear topic, consistency, and a way to stay in touch with people who actually want to hear from you.

You’ve already seen this model in action, even if you’ve never thought of it as “email marketing.” You sign up for something that interests you. Over time, you get helpful ideas, stories, or tips.

Eventually, an offer shows up that makes sense — a product, a recommendation, or a paid upgrade.

That same approach works incredibly well for individuals.

Parents are using newsletters to earn income through:

Sponsored ads
Paid subscriptions
Affiliate recommendations
Digital products and resources
Services tied to their existing skills or experience

The topic matters less than you think.

If you can be helpful to a specific group of people (whether that’s around food, money, work, hobbies, or home projects) a newsletter gives you a direct way to build trust and stay connected.

So why don’t more parents start one?

From my experience, it comes down to time and effort to start. It’s easy to lose momentum when you compile everything together. A few I hear….

Finding time to write consistently
Growing an audience from zero
Figuring out how to monetize (without coming off like a sleazy sales person)

My recommendation is to simply take it step by step, starting with writing consistently. The rest will follow.

As you get started, it’s important to choose the right email platform as it removes a lot of that initial friction by handling distribution, audience growth, automation, and monetization behind the scenes.

And as newsletters have grown in popularity, more tools have entered the market promising to make the process easier.

A High-Level Look at Beehiiv and Kit

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and beehiiv are email marketing services that allow you to capture subscriber emails, send out newsletters and broadcasts, sell digital products, you name it.

They're both designed specifically for bloggers, creators, coaches, course sellers, and the like - in other words, perfect for many types of online side hustles for busy parents.

Kit is a known entity in the space, having been around since 2013. It's led the way in the rise of the newsletter zeitgeist, with everything from custom landing pages to referral programs and more.

beehiiv is the younger upstart, launched in 2021, that's quickly gaining traction by offering a streamlined, user-friendly platform at an impressively low price point. If getting into the weeds of marketing is a bit overwhelming, beehiiv is built to give you a place to write and send - pretty straightforward.

Naturally, not all email newsletters are the same, nor are their email marketing platform counterparts. Let’s dive into both platforms to figure out which works best for you and your business.

What is Beehiiv?

Beehiiv is a newsletter platform launched in 2021 that’s built for creators who want to grow an audience and monetize it over time — without duct-taping together five different tools.

At the simplest level, beehiiv gives you the core newsletter essentials:

Email Campaigns - beehiiv lets you create email broadcasts, newsletters, and email sequences to send to your subscriber list. There are unlimited sends on every plan, including the free tier. Which is pretty unheard of for email software.
Subscription Forms - Generate embeddable opt-in forms to capture new subscribers from your website or landing pages.
Automations - Set up automated email journeys to nurture new subscribers, deliver lead magnets, and promote products/services.
Segmentation - Organize your list into segments based on interests, behaviors, etc., for more targeted emails.
Analytics - View performance metrics like open rates, clicks, engagement, etc., to optimize your email content.

If you’re a parent building a side hustle, that combination matters because it keeps the weekly workload realistic. You write once, publish once, and beehiiv handles a lot of the “behind the scenes” work.

Where Beehiiv really stands out in 2026 (Pros of Beehiiv)

As a relative newcomer to the email marketing space, beehiiv has some clear advantages but also some potential drawbacks - so you'll want to look closely and try it out before you put all your eggs into one basket.

Pro #1: Beehiiv can be your newsletter and your home base website

Every beehiiv publication comes with a website, and the website builder has become a real strength — especially if you want to treat your newsletter like an asset that can also bring in search traffic.

You can control key SEO settings (like metadata), manage redirects, and structure your site without needing plugins or a separate CMS.

Beehiiv is constantly making positive changes to their platform, including their new AI website builder.

The new website builder is absolutely amazing. It’s easy to use and you can create a clean site quickly if you want to get in front of customers quickly and not overthink the design build.

I’ve used it personally for another side hustle of mine and was able to launch an MVP within a day or two of tinkering with the builder.

Beehiiv also allows you to leverage AI tools directly within their email composer to generate content ideas and optimize existing text. Whether you love AI or hate it, it helps to have a creative block-breaker sometimes!

Pro #2: Automations are no longer “basic”

If your current article suggests advanced automations are “coming soon,” that’s outdated.

Beehiiv’s automation and segmentation engine is now built for practical workflows that side hustlers actually use (welcome flows, lead magnet delivery, targeting engaged readers, separating paid vs free, etc.).

Pro #3: Built-in monetization is a big advantage

Beehiiv’s Ad Network and Boosts are designed to help newsletters monetize and grow without having to source everything manually. Beehiiv also runs payouts through Stripe Express for these programs, which makes the money side cleaner.

Boosts also allow filtering by things like category/payout, which helps you keep promotions more aligned with your audience.

This is one of beehiiv’s best features - and you really feel that the team behind the platform is invested in helping creators build their audience.

When it comes to growth, beehiiv also offers a built-in referral program that lets you:

Offer custom rewards (like PDFs, merch, discounts, or free coaching)
Track exactly how many people each subscriber refers
Automate fulfillment without duct-taping together outside tools

This is huge for small business owners and creators who want to turn fans into growth drivers.

Pro #4: Segmentation is genuinely useful (not just “tags”)

Beehiiv has invested heavily in segmentation.

You can build segments around engagement (opens/clicks), subscriber attributes, time windows, and tier (paid vs free).

This is especially helpful once you start monetizing and you want to reward your best readers without blasting everyone the same way.

Pro #5: Digital products are now part of the platform

This is a key update: beehiiv now supports selling digital products (downloads like PDFs, templates, toolkits, and even services/coaching offerings) through the platform. This feature is positioned as 0% commission on beehiiv’s side.

Side note…you will need to be on a paid plan for this.

Pro #6: Affordable Pricing

One of the most practical reasons many parents start with beehiiv comes down to cost — especially in the early stages.

beehiiv’s free plan currently supports up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, which gives you meaningful runway to build consistency, test content, and grow an audience before spending anything.

That’s a generous starting point compared to Kit, whose free tier caps out earlier and can feel restrictive as soon as momentum starts building.

Where the difference really shows up is as your list grows.

beehiiv’s paid plans are designed to scale without punishing success.

As subscriber counts increase, the price steps up more gradually, which matters if your newsletter is growing before monetization fully kicks in.

In contrast, Kit’s pricing tends to rise faster as lists get larger — something that can catch side hustlers off guard once growth accelerates.

Rather than locking specific dollar amounts into this comparison (since pricing changes over time), the important takeaway is this: beehiiv generally gives you more breathing room as you grow. That flexibility makes it easier to reinvest early revenue back into your newsletter instead of feeling pressured to monetize before you’re ready.

You can check for yourself at the beehiiv pricing page.

Pro #7: SEO and Content Discoverability

Let’s talk about something most people ignore: search traffic.

If you want your posts to show up in Google (not just inboxes), beehiiv makes it easier. Every post is hosted on a clean, SEO-friendly blog format. You can:

Set custom URL slugs
Edit meta titles and descriptions
Add alt text to images
Organize content by category

That means your evergreen content — guides, reviews, product breakdowns — can attract readers long after it’s been emailed.

Kit, while solid for creators who focus on email-only content, doesn’t offer a true blog or SEO controls. Your posts are technically live on the web, but they’re not optimized for ranking.

If you want to build long-term visibility and traffic, beehiiv is the clear winner.

Pro #8: Data Portability and Content Ownership

This one’s less sexy, but super important — especially if you’re thinking long-term.

Both platforms give you ownership of your audience. You can export your subscriber list from beehiiv or Kit at any time, which is great.

But beehiiv gives you more control over what you can do with that data:

Export with segments and tags intact
Download full post archives
Re-import seamlessly if you ever change platforms

Kit allows exports too, but it’s slightly more limited in structure and may require more manual cleanup if you migrate.

Also worth noting: beehiiv was built from the start with creator independence in mind. No surprise paywalls, no weird fine print. What’s yours stays yours.

If flexibility and ownership are part of your business strategy, beehiiv gives you more levers to pull.

Potential downsides to consider (Cons of Beehiiv)

No platform is perfect, and beehiiv is no exception. The key is understanding where the tradeoffs are and whether they matter for the kind of side hustle you’re building.

Fewer native integrations than older platforms

beehiiv offers the core tools most newsletter creators need directly inside the platform. That’s a strength for simplicity, but it does mean fewer native integrations compared to longer-established tools like Kit.

For many parents, this won’t be an issue early on. But if your workflow depends on a very specific CRM, ecommerce stack, or third-party automation tool, it’s worth checking compatibility before committing.

A newer platform with a faster pace of change

beehiiv launched in 2021, which makes it younger than some competitors. At this point, it’s clearly past the “early experiment” stage — but it’s also a platform that evolves quickly.

That pace is exciting, but it does mean features and interfaces can change more often than on slower-moving tools. If you prefer a set-it-and-forget-it system that rarely changes, that’s something to factor in.

Not designed for complex ecommerce businesses

beehiiv now supports paid newsletters, ads, boosts, and digital products, which covers most newsletter-based income streams well.

Where it’s less suited is running a large, multi-product ecommerce business with advanced checkout logic, inventory management, or deep funnel customization. If that’s the core of your business, Kit or a dedicated commerce platform may be a better fit.

The bottom line

beehiiv works best for creators and parents who want to build a newsletter-first business with fewer tools, lower overhead, and clear paths to monetization.

If your needs are simple and you value momentum over complexity, these tradeoffs are often worth it.

Top Beehiiv Newsletters

Contrarian Thinking By Codie Sanchez

Codie Sanchez is well known for her content around “boring businesses” and currently owns ~26 of her own. Codie’s newsletter just surpassed over 700,000 subscribers worldwide.

Milkroad

A newsletter with over 300,000 subscribers, Milkroad brings Crypto to your inbox on a daily basis. This was one of the fastest growing newsletters on beehiiv and is extremely well known in the Crypto space.

Miss Excel

Another fun one on beehiiv is Miss Excel. Best known for combing music and dancing with Excel tips, Miss Excel powers her newsletter with beehiiv. This newsletter showcases the customization options that help automated email sequences feel like personal social posts.

What is Kit (formerly ConvertKit)?

Kit has been a staple in the creator email world since 2013. It built its reputation by focusing on one core promise: helping creators use email to run real businesses.

At its heart, Kit does the essentials well. You can collect subscribers, send newsletters and broadcasts, and build automated sequences that respond to how people interact with your content.

Where Kit differs from newer platforms is depth.

Over the years, it has added layers of functionality designed for creators who treat email as the backbone of their business — not just a publishing channel, but a system that supports products, launches, and ongoing sales.

That shows up in a few key areas.

Pro #1: A platform built around automation and control

Kit is known for its automation capabilities.

You can build detailed workflows using tags, triggers, and rules that respond to subscriber behavior over time.

This makes it well suited for things like:

Multi-step email courses
Launch sequences tied to purchases or clicks
Complex subscriber journeys based on interests or actions

If your newsletter is closely tied to selling products, running cohorts, or managing multiple offers at once, Kit gives you a lot of control.

Pro #2: Strong support for selling products and services

Kit has leaned heavily into commerce over the years.

You can sell digital products, subscriptions, and services directly through the platform using built-in checkout and payment processing.

For creators who already know they want to sell — especially courses, coaching, or paid programs this can be a meaningful advantage.

Everything lives inside one ecosystem, which reduces the need for outside tools.

Pro #3: A broad ecosystem of integrations

Because Kit has been around longer, it connects to a wide range of third-party tools.

Website builders, course platforms, webinar tools, CRMs, and payment processors are all well represented.

If your side hustle already relies on a specific tech stack, Kit is more likely to fit into it without workarounds.

Who Kit tends to work best for

Kit is a strong fit for creators who:

Run product-heavy or launch-driven businesses
Rely on detailed automation and tagging
Already have an established audience or revenue stream
Are comfortable spending time setting up systems upfront

In general, Kit caters well to bloggers, podcasters, entrepreneurs, coaches, authors, and course creators. If you jump on their website and browse the top newsletters and creators, you'll see quite a few who are well-known in the industry and are looking for a fast and simple way to keep content flowing to their audience.

That depth, however, comes with tradeoffs.

Potential downsides to consider (Cons of Kit)

More complexity than many side hustles need

Kit’s power comes from its features, but those features also introduce a learning curve. If you’re brand new to newsletters, the interface and logic can feel overwhelming at first.

For parents building something part-time, that setup time matters. There’s more to configure before things feel smooth.

Pricing rises faster as lists grow

Kit’s pricing tends to increase more quickly as subscriber counts climb.

While this may make sense for businesses already monetizing heavily, it can feel restrictive for creators whose growth outpaces their revenue early on.

This doesn’t make Kit “too expensive” across the board — but it does mean you’ll want a clearer plan for monetization sooner.

A more functional than inspiring writing experience

Kit’s email editor gets the job done, but it’s not the most modern or flexible.

Templates are usable, but many creators find themselves customizing heavily to make emails feel personal and on-brand.

If writing and publishing are the parts of the process you enjoy most, this can feel like friction over time.

Reporting that assumes some experience

Kit provides solid analytics, but they’re not especially guided. You generally need to know what you’re looking for and how to interpret it.

For experienced marketers, that’s fine.

For newer creators, it can feel like more homework than help.

The takeaway

Kit is best thought of as an email system for running a business, not just a newsletter tool.

If your side hustle revolves around products, launches, and structured automation (and you’re willing to invest time and money into setup) Kit can be a strong long-term choice.

If you’re prioritizing simplicity, publishing rhythm, and gradual monetization, this is where the comparison with beehiiv becomes especially relevant.

Top Newsletters Using Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Atomic Habits by James Clear

As the New York Times bestselling author of "Atomic Habits," James Clear has leveraged Kit to rapidly grow his newsletter audience to ~2M subscribers worldwide.

The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic" is one of the most popular newsletters on Kit, with over 320,000 subscribers. Each morning, Holiday sends out a 500-word email applying the teachings of ancient Stoic philosophy to modern life.

The Battle of Email Marketing Platforms - Beehiiv vs Kit (Formerly ConvertKit)

While both beehiiv and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) offer robust email marketing tools for creators, beehiiv has really pulled ahead lately in creating an innovative and seriously fun experience for newsletter owners.

Their modern platform is all about simplifying the process of building and growing your newsletter audience - and the generous free plan is great for those on a tight budget.

beehiiv feels like both an email marketing tool and a vibrant creator community. Their team is constantly rolling out fresh features and ways to promote your newsletter organically across their network, and the interface for writing and building your email makes it fun - not a drag that you want to avoid every week!

I personally made the switch to beehiiv for my Knocked-up Money newsletter a few months ago, and the experience has been a game-changer.

The combination of an easy-to-use product and robust distribution is hard to beat. For creators looking to rapidly grow their newsletter in a fun, innovative environment, beehiiv is definitely leading the pack right now.

Quick Tips to Launch Your Own Newsletter

You may not realize it, but people are genuinely interested in your unique thoughts, stories, and areas of expertise. An email newsletter provides the perfect platform to start sharing your voice and building a loyal audience.

If you've been thinking about finally launching that newsletter idea, here are some quick tips:

Focus on a specific niche or topic area that truly interests you. Your authentic passion will shine through.
Decide on a publishing cadence you can realistically stick to, whether that's daily, weekly, or monthly emails. Consistency is key.
Create a simple, mobile-responsive email template that's easy to read and on-brand for you.
Craft a compelling incentive like a free PDF, email course, or video series to attract new subscribers.
Promote your new newsletter through existing channels like social media, your website/blog, and offline networking events.
Make it fun! Use casual language, inject some humor and personality, and don't take yourself too seriously.

The great thing is that getting started is easy and low-risk. With beehiiv's free plan, you can publish an email newsletter for up to 2,500 subscribers without paying a cent.

It's one of the best ways that you can start dipping your toes into the newsletter world and see if this path has the potential to build you a nice side hustle (or at least an engaged audience!)

So what are you waiting for? Building an email newsletter is not a big deal when you have a tool that makes it so easy.

Sign up for beehiiv today and launch that newsletter idea you've been sitting on - your first subscribers are waiting. Plus, if you use promo code KMONEY or click one of my links to check out beehiiv, you’ll get a free 30-day trial plus 20% off for the first three months of any paid plan.

Frequently Asked Questions: beehiiv vs Kit

For most beginners, especially parents starting a side hustle, beehiiv is easier to get up and running.
beehiiv focuses on writing, publishing, and growing an audience with fewer setup steps.
You can start sending emails quickly without configuring complex automations or tags. Kit is powerful, but that power can feel overwhelming if you’re just getting started.
Yes. beehiiv supports multiple monetization paths, including paid subscriptions, affiliate links, digital products, Boosts, and its built-in Ad Network.
Many creators start earning before their list is “huge,” especially if they focus on a clear niche and consistent publishing.
beehiiv makes it easier to experiment with monetization gradually instead of forcing you into selling right away.
In many cases, yes.
Kit is well suited for creators who already plan to sell courses, coaching, or structured programs. Its automation tools and commerce features are built with launches and product funnels in mind.
If selling products is the primary goal of your newsletter, Kit can be a strong fit.
For many creators, it can.
beehiiv includes a built-in website with SEO-friendly blog posts, custom domains, and metadata controls. That’s often enough for a newsletter-first business, especially in the early stages.
If you already run a complex WordPress site or ecommerce store, you may still want a separate website.
But for many side hustlers, beehiiv can serve as both the newsletter and the home base.
In general, beehiiv tends to be more affordable as subscriber counts increase.
beehiiv offers a generous free plan and pricing that scales more gradually. Kit’s pricing often rises faster as lists grow, which can matter if your audience grows before revenue fully catches up.
Because pricing changes over time, it’s always smart to check current plans before deciding.
Yes. Both platforms allow you to export your subscriber list and content.
beehiiv makes it easier to retain structure when migrating, including segments and post archives.
That said, switching platforms always takes some cleanup, so it’s best to choose based on where you want your newsletter to go over the next year, not just where it is today.
Yes — this is one of beehiiv’s biggest advantages.
Every newsletter post can live publicly on a clean, SEO-friendly blog. You can control URLs, meta titles, descriptions, and categories, which helps evergreen content attract readers long after it’s been sent.
Kit focuses more on email-first delivery and doesn’t offer the same built-in SEO publishing tools.
No.
Many successful newsletters started with a few dozen subscribers. What matters more than size is clarity: writing for a specific group of people and showing up consistently.
Both beehiiv and Kit support small lists well, but beehiiv’s free plan makes it especially low-risk to start before you’re confident the idea will stick.
For most busy parents, beehiiv is the easier place to start.
It reduces setup time, keeps publishing simple, and offers built-in growth and monetization tools that don’t require constant attention. Kit can be a great choice later if your business becomes more complex.

beehiiv vs Kit (ConvertKit): Which Newsletter Platform Is Best for a Side Hustle in 2026?