Buttondown vs. ConvertKit

Buttondown is lighter, cheaper, and better for starting out.

ConvertKit should be thought of more as automation software than newsletter software; it is for businesses who have complex needs for automated workflows and analytics.

It's also extremely expensive; if you have just one thousand subscribers you'll be paying $49/month on ConvertKit, as opposed to only $10/month on Buttondown.

Buttondown allows you to customize and organize your subscribers (through tags and analytics) while still giving you an easy way to compose great emails and grow your audience. It offers the same rich API and easy embeddable widgets that ConvertKit does, while being a more pleasant tool.

Buttondown lets you focus on writing, rather than spending all day working on templates and automation workflows.

Feature	Buttondown	ConvertKit
Free for your first thousand subscribers	Because it shouldn't take a credit card to get a newsletter off the ground.
Free archives	Because sometimes you don't want your newsletters to disappear into the ether.
Embeddable widget	Have your own personal site? We'll hook you up with the code.
Analytics	Dive into individual email performance, client information, and more
Drag and drop image uploading	Images are uploaded quickly and securely.
Email scheduling	Write an email on Thursday and send it out on Friday; queue up an entire month's worth of letters.
Clean, usable design	Design is more than just how it looks, and Buttondown is designed top to bottom to make it easy to use.
Smart embeds	Embed tweets, Youtube videos, and more just by dropping in the link.
Autosaving	Never worry about accidentally closing a tab ever again.
First-party API	Everything you can do on Buttondown's interface, you can also do with our REST-ful API.
Paid subscriptions	Buttondown makes it easy and painless for you to get paid for your newsletters. Want to have a free tier? That's possible, too!
Third-party integrations	Setting up your Buttondown account to work with Zapier, IFTTT, Weebly, Squarespace, Ghost, and more.
Privacy-first	Buttondown is GDPR-compliant — and then some. I don't collect any data about you (or your subscribers), and you can turn off pixel tracking and link tracking with a click of a button.
Markdown support	Buttondown also supports HTML and good old fashioned plain text: whatever your preference is!
Free RSS support	I mean, some people _really_ like RSS.
Multiple newsletters	Want to run more than one newsletter from the same account? Buttondown's got you covered.
'Pay what you want' mode
Discussion threads

Kind words from happy writers.

Although ConvertKit is aimed at creatives and bloggers, their pricing seems more apt for big businesses. There are definitely more affordable tools available, with similar (and even better) features.

Josep
Email Tool Tester

For a while I’ve been following Buttondown on Twitter and am subscribed to some newsletters that use your service. Today I finally signed up for my own business, and I’m digging it very much so far.

Philipp Bosch
WEG+

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