- beehiiv is our pick and the one we run ourselves: three publications, free up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, but automations need the $49/mo Lite plan (billed yearly, shown for 1,000 subscribers).
- Kit and Mailchimp were not tested by us. Kit's free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers; Mailchimp's free plan stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month.
- At 1,000 subscribers with a welcome series, Kit's Creator plan ($390 billed yearly) lists lower than beehiiv Lite ($588 billed yearly).
- Prices and limits were checked on each vendor's pricing page on 2026-10-08; confirm before you buy.
The best newsletter platform for small business owners who run a vending route, or any local business, is beehiiv for most people. You want a way to send one short email a week to the locations you serve, the customers who know you and the other operators in your area, without it eating your evenings. Kit is the cheaper way to get automatic email sequences, and Mailchimp makes sense if you already live inside it. Prices and limits below were checked on each company's own pricing page on 2026-10-08.
Part of our complete guide: how to find vending machine locations.
The short answer
- Pick beehiiv if you plan to send a real issue every week and want the list to grow from other newsletters and referrals. The free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. It is the one we run ourselves.
- Pick Kit if you mostly want automatic email sequences at the lowest paid price, or a free plan that holds up to 10,000 subscribers. We have not tested it.
- Pick Mailchimp if you already have an account, or you need text messages and a long list of app connections. Its free plan stops at 250 contacts. We have not tested it.
- Skip all three if your whole list is a dozen property managers you already email by name. A normal email thread does that job for free.
Affiliate link. We earn a commission if you sign up through it, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which tool we recommend.
VendBuddy is our product, and the VendBuddy Operator Brief is one of the newsletters we send on beehiiv. That is why beehiiv is the pick we can speak about first-hand. For Kit and Mailchimp we only have what their pricing pages say, and we label that every time.
Quick answer: three tools, one we actually use
- beehiiv: our pick. We run three publications on it (VendBuddy Operator Brief, Dev List and Endzone Entertainment). Read the full beehiiv review for small business for what we do with it.
- Kit: not tested by us. Free up to 10,000 subscribers, automations start on the paid Creator plan. Head to head: beehiiv vs Kit.
- Mailchimp: not tested by us. Free only up to 250 contacts, with a 500-a-month send cap. Head to head: beehiiv vs Mailchimp.
How we checked
On 2026-10-08 we read the pricing pages for beehiiv, Kit and Mailchimp and copied the plan names, prices and limits into the table below. For beehiiv we also use our own setup: three publications, welcome and win-back automations, a referral program, a signup box on our blog posts and recommendations from other newsletters. We did not run Kit or Mailchimp, so everything about them comes from their pages and not from using them.
We do not give 1-to-5 scores, because a score for a tool we have not used would be invented. We looked at five things: price for a small list, what the free plan really allows, whether automatic emails are included, ways to grow the list, and how much setup it takes. One more honest note: our VendBuddy list is small, around 200 people. We cannot tell you anything about inbox placement or open rates at a big size, and we are not going to guess.
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Start building free →Side-by-side table (checked 2026-10-08)
| What you care about | beehiiv | Kit | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited sends, 1 publication, landing pages | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, unlimited landing pages and forms | 250 contacts, 500 sends a month or 250 a day, 1 audience |
| First paid plan | Lite, $49/mo billed yearly (shown for 1,000 subscribers) | Creator, $33/mo, $390 billed yearly (shown for 1,000 subscribers) | Essentials from $13/mo, Standard from $20/mo (starting prices, up to 500 contacts) |
| Automatic emails (welcome series) | Lite and up | Creator and up | Essentials has 4 flow steps; Standard up to 200 flows |
| Free trial | Lite and Pro include one, no card | 14 days on Creator and Pro, no card | 14 days on Standard and Essentials, payment details needed |
| Text messages | Not listed on the pricing page | Listed on Creator | Add-on on paid plans |
| Not tested by us? | Tested: we use it | Not tested by us | Not tested by us |
Sources: the three pricing pages linked above, read on 2026-10-08. Monthly (not yearly) prices for beehiiv and Kit were not shown on the pages we read. Plans and prices change, so confirm on the vendor page before you buy.
The free plan is the easy way to find out if you will actually send the thing every week.
Affiliate link. We earn a commission if you sign up through it, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which tool we recommend.
beehiiv: the one we use
Best for: an owner who wants a weekly or monthly note to go out reliably, and a list that can grow without paid ads. Price: free to 2,500 subscribers, then Lite at $49 a month billed yearly and Pro at $95 a month billed yearly, both as shown for a 1,000-subscriber list on 2026-10-08.
What we do with it, in plain terms. The VendBuddy Operator Brief goes out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have a welcome series for new subscribers, a win-back email for people who go quiet, a free 7-day challenge and a paid 30-day sprint, all run as automations. Subscribers who click on location links get sorted into interest groups, so someone who reads about machines does not get the same follow-up as someone reading about money. We also have a referral program with milestones, a signup box on our blog posts that drops people into the list, and a recommendations screen where other newsletters can pay to be shown.
Real downsides we ran into:
- The free plan has no automations. They start on Lite, so a welcome series is a paid feature.
- It is built for people who publish a newsletter as a product. Words like Boosts, tiers and recommendation network take a little time to learn if you only want to email your locations.
- Embedded forms and the hosted subscribe page do not fill in an email address from a link, so you cannot pre-fill it from your own page.
Skip it if you only ever email a handful of people you know by name, or you need text messages from the same tool.
Kit: unrated, not tested by us
Best for (per its pricing page): a creator who wants automatic sequences and a free list that holds up to 10,000. Free covers unlimited landing pages, unlimited broadcasts and subscriber tagging. Creator is $33 a month, billed $390 yearly, for 1,000 subscribers. It adds visual automations, unlimited sequences, text messages and 24/7 email and chat support. Kit's page also lists a 30-day refund and free migration help on paid plans.
Downside from the page: sequences and automations are not on Free. Kit also describes itself as a platform for creators, so check that the wording fits a local business before you commit. Read the full comparison in beehiiv vs Kit.
Mailchimp: unrated, not tested by us
Best for (per its pricing page): a business that already has a Mailchimp account, or one that wants text messaging and more than 300 app connections. Plans start at $13 a month for Essentials and $20 a month for Standard at up to 500 contacts, with a 14-day trial of each.
Downside from the page: the Free plan stops at 250 contacts and caps sending at 500 emails a month or 250 a day. It has no scheduling and no automations, and Mailchimp says it bills overages automatically if you pass your contact or send limit. Full comparison: beehiiv vs Mailchimp.
What it costs over 12 months
Two stated cases, using only the prices we read on 2026-10-08.
| Case | beehiiv | Kit | Mailchimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300 contacts, one plain email a week, no automations | $0 (free plan) | $0 (free plan) | $156 on Essentials at $13/mo, or $240 on Standard at $20/mo. Free only works under 250 contacts |
| 1,000 subscribers, with an automatic welcome series | $588 (Lite, $49 x 12, billed yearly) | $390 (Creator, billed yearly) | Not verified. We only captured starting prices, not the 1,000-contact price |
Read that second row honestly: at 1,000 subscribers with automations switched on, Kit's listed price is lower than beehiiv's. We still pick beehiiv first because the free plan carries a small list a long way and because it is the one we can describe from daily use. If a welcome series is the only reason you would pay, price Kit before you decide.
How to choose
Ask three questions. First, will you write something every week? A newsletter you skip for two months does nothing for you, so pick the tool that makes the next send feel small. Second, do you need automatic emails on day one? If yes, budget for a paid plan on any of the three. Third, does the list live mostly in your head? If so, start free and add people who actually asked to hear from you.
What to send is simpler than people think. A short note to the locations you serve: what has been selling in their break room, a thank-you for the space, a heads up about a restock or a new machine. Written once a month, that is a few minutes of work that keeps you on a property manager's mind when a contract comes up for renewal. We have no numbers on how much time it saves, so we will not promise any. If you want ideas for who to write to, see how to market your vending business and Google Business Profile for vending operators.
Two rules apply on any platform. In the US, marketing email needs a working unsubscribe link and your mailing address, and these tools add both to the footer for you. And a newsletter is for people who asked to hear from you. Do not paste a cold prospect list into one. For first-touch outreach use a plain one-to-one email, as in our cold email scripts for vending contracts, and see how to find business owner contact information to find who to write to.
If the newsletter is part of a bigger move to own your inbound traffic, a simple site helps. Our best website builder for vending business guide covers that side, and business phone for vending business covers the other channel owners forget. To find buildings worth writing to in the first place, VendBuddy is built for that.
Compare in more depth
- beehiiv vs Mailchimp: free plan limits, automations, and what changes when you pass 250 contacts.
- beehiiv vs Kit: two creator-first tools, side by side.
- beehiiv review for small business: what we run on it, what it costs and where it falls short.
Start with the free plan, send three issues, then decide whether a paid plan earns its keep.
Affiliate link. We earn a commission if you sign up through it, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which tool we recommend.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best newsletter platform for a small business?
For most small business owners who will send a regular issue, we pick beehiiv, because it is the one we run ourselves and its free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, per its pricing page on 2026-10-08. Kit is a strong alternative if you want automations at a lower listed price, and Mailchimp suits owners who already use it. We have not tested Kit or Mailchimp.
Is there a free newsletter platform for small business?
Yes, all three have a free plan. beehiiv's covers up to 2,500 subscribers, Kit's up to 10,000, and Mailchimp's only 250 contacts with a cap of 500 sends a month or 250 a day. Checked on each vendor's pricing page on 2026-10-08. Automatic emails are not on the free plans of beehiiv or Kit, and Mailchimp's free plan does not include them either.
How much does a newsletter platform cost for 1,000 subscribers?
On the pricing pages we read, beehiiv Lite is $49 a month billed yearly ($588 a year) and Kit Creator is $33 a month, $390 billed yearly. Both prices were shown for 1,000 subscribers. We did not verify Mailchimp's price at 1,000 contacts; its starting prices are $13 (Essentials) and $20 (Standard) a month at up to 500 contacts.
Do I need a newsletter if I only have a few vending machines?
Not on day one. If your list is a handful of property managers you already email by name, a normal email does the job. A newsletter starts to pay for itself when you want to reach many locations, customers or other operators on a schedule without writing each message by hand.
Can I email a list of businesses I found online with a newsletter tool?
Treat a newsletter as a list of people who asked to hear from you. For cold first contact, send a short one-to-one email instead. US rules for marketing email also require a working unsubscribe link and your mailing address, which these platforms add to the footer for you.
What is selling, which buildings say yes, and the numbers before you buy a machine. Free, confirm from your inbox, unsubscribe in one click. Refer one friend and get 25 VendBuddy credits.
General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change, so check the official source. Revenue and income figures are examples, not promises. See our terms.