Comparison

systeme.io vs Kit (ConvertKit): Which is Better for Selling Your First Course?

July 9, 2026 · 10 min read

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You've built your first online course and you're ready to sell it. But which platform should you use to actually deliver it, collect payment, and build your email list? systeme.io and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) are both popular with creators, but they're designed for fundamentally different business models.

Kit is built for newsletter creators who want to grow an audience through email, with course sales as a secondary feature. Systeme.io is an all-in-one platform built specifically for selling digital products—courses, memberships, and coaching—with email as one piece of a complete sales system. By the end of this article, you'll know exactly which tool fits your business model, what each one will actually cost you per sale, and when the free plan of either platform is enough to get started.

This matters because choosing wrong means either paying for features you'll never use, or scrambling to connect three separate tools just to deliver your course and get paid.

Quick Comparison Table

Systeme.io: The All-in-One Course Selling Platform

Systeme.io is designed to replace your entire tech stack for selling digital products. Instead of connecting Teachable + ConvertKit + ClickFunnels + Stripe, you get everything in one dashboard: email marketing, course hosting, sales funnels, checkout pages, and affiliate management.

What It's Actually Good At

Complete sales infrastructure out of the box. You can build a landing page, host your course videos, set up a checkout that accepts payment, deliver the course automatically, and send email sequences—all without leaving Systeme.io or paying for additional tools. For someone selling their first course, this is the fastest path from "I have content" to "I'm making sales."

Zero transaction fees on every plan. Whether you're on the free plan or paying $17/month, Systeme.io takes 0% of your course sales. If you sell a $297 course, you keep $297 (minus payment processor fees, which everyone pays). This alone makes it dramatically cheaper than Kit for active course sellers—more on the math below.

Generous free plan for testing your idea. The free plan includes 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 automation rule, and hosting for 1 complete course. You can validate your course idea, make your first sales, and build a small list without spending a dollar. The 1 automation rule is limiting—you can't build complex sequences—but it's enough to deliver your course and send a welcome series.

Built-in affiliate management. Once you're on a paid plan, you can recruit affiliates to promote your course and Systeme.io tracks their sales and commissions automatically. Most creators end up buying a separate tool like Rewardful or ThriveCart for this; here it's included.

Real Downsides

The email editor is functional, not beautiful. If you're coming from Kit or another newsletter-focused platform, Systeme.io's email builder feels basic. It works fine for course delivery emails, promotional sequences, and simple newsletters, but it doesn't have the polish or template variety that dedicated email platforms offer. If your primary business model is publishing a newsletter three times a week, you'll feel the limitation.

Smaller ecosystem and fewer integrations. Kit connects to hundreds of tools through Zapier and has native integrations with most major creator platforms. Systeme.io has fewer pre-built connections. It integrates with Stripe, PayPal, and the essentials, but if your workflow depends on niche tools, you might hit walls.

Steeper learning curve because you're learning a complete system. Kit does one thing (email) really well, so you can master it quickly. Systeme.io does six things (email, funnels, courses, automation, affiliates, webinars), so there's more to learn. For someone who just wants to "send emails," this feels like overkill. For someone building a course business, it's appropriate complexity.

Contact limit on free plan is tight. 2,000 contacts sounds like a lot when you're starting, but if you're running Facebook ads or growing quickly through a lead magnet, you can hit that ceiling in weeks. Kit's 10,000-contact free plan gives you much more breathing room for audience growth before you have to pay.

Pricing Reality

• Free: 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels, 1 course, 1 automation rule, 0% transaction fees
• Startup ($17/month): 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels, 5 courses, unlimited automation, 0% transaction fees, affiliate management
• Webinar ($47/month): 10,000 contacts, unlimited everything, evergreen webinars
• Enterprise ($97/month): 15,000 contacts, unlimited everything, priority support

The Startup plan at $17/month is where most course sellers land. It removes the automation restriction and lets you run a real business.

Kit (ConvertKit): The Newsletter-First Email Platform

Kit is the email platform built specifically for creators who make money by growing an audience. It's optimized for newsletter publishing, audience segmentation, and building a loyal subscriber base over time. Course sales are possible through Kit Commerce, but they're a secondary feature grafted onto an email-first tool.

What It's Actually Good At

The best free plan for pure list building. 10,000 subscribers with unlimited email broadcasts is an absurdly generous free plan. If your strategy is "build a big email list first, monetize later," Kit gives you years of runway before you need to pay anything. No other email platform comes close to this free tier for creators.

Refined email and automation tools. Kit's email editor, visual automation builder, and segmentation tools are polished and intuitive. The tagging system makes it easy to organize subscribers by interest, purchase history, or engagement level. If you're sending three newsletters a week and want sophisticated automation based on subscriber behavior, Kit is built for this.

The Creator Network for cross-promotion. Kit runs a network where newsletter creators can recommend each other to their audiences. If you're growing a newsletter in a specific niche (productivity, solopreneurship, design), this can be a meaningful discovery channel. Systeme.io has no equivalent feature.

Strong reputation with newsletter creators. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has been the default email tool for creators since 2014. The community, tutorials, and third-party resources are extensive. If you get stuck, you'll find answers easily.

Real Downsides

You're paying for multiple tools to sell a course. Kit handles email beautifully, but to actually sell and deliver a course, you need to integrate with Teachable, Thinkific, Podia, or another course platform. Then you need landing pages (Leadpages? Carrd? Webflow?). Then you need checkout (Gumroad? ThriveCart?). Each integration is another monthly bill, another login, another thing that can break. For someone selling their first course, this fragmentation is exhausting.

Transaction fees eat into every sale. Kit Commerce charges 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction. On a $297 course, that's $10.70 per sale. On a $997 course, that's $35.20. If you sell 50 courses a year at $297, you're paying Kit $535 in transaction fees—on top of your monthly subscription. Systeme.io charges $0 in transaction fees. This difference compounds quickly.

Paid plans are expensive for small lists. The Creator plan starts at $39/month for 1,000 subscribers (or $33/month annually). That's more than double Systeme.io's $17/month Startup plan, and Kit's plan doesn't include course hosting, funnels, or checkout. You're paying $39/month just for email, then paying additional tools for everything else.

No native course hosting or funnel builder. Kit is email software, period. If you want to build a sales funnel, you'll use ClickFunnels or Leadpages. If you want to host course videos, you'll use Teachable or Kajabi. Kit integrates with these tools, but you're managing multiple platforms. For a first-time course creator, this is a lot of overhead.

Pricing Reality

• Newsletter (Free): 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, 1 basic visual automation, basic landing pages
• Creator ($39/month, or $33/month annually): 1,000 subscribers, unlimited automation, automated funnel templates, subscriber scoring, third-party integrations
• Creator Pro ($79/month, or $66/month annually): 1,500 subscribers, newsletter referral system, advanced reporting, subscriber scoring

Kit's pricing scales with subscriber count—1,000 subscribers is $39/month, 3,000 is $79/month, 5,000 is $119/month. This gets expensive fast if you're growing your list aggressively.

Transaction fees (Kit Commerce): 3.5% + $0.30 per digital product sale, on top of your monthly subscription.

The Math That Actually Matters: Transaction Fees

Let's say you sell a $297 course. Here's what you pay per sale on each platform:

Systeme.io (Startup plan, $17/month): - Platform fee: $0 - You keep: $297 (minus Stripe/PayPal ~2.9% + $0.30)

Kit (Creator plan, $39/month + Kit Commerce): - Platform fee: 3.5% + $0.30 = $10.70 - You keep: $286.30 (minus Stripe/PayPal ~2.9% + $0.30)

If you sell 10 courses a month at $297: - Systeme.io total cost: $17/month subscription = $17 - Kit total cost: $39/month subscription + $107 in transaction fees = $146

Kit costs you $129 more per month at just 10 sales. At 20 sales, it's $253 more. The transaction fee is the real killer for active course sellers.

Verdict: Who Should Pick What

Choose Systeme.io if: - You're selling a course, membership, or digital product and need the complete infrastructure to deliver it and get paid - You want to avoid paying for three separate tools (email + course platform + funnel builder) - You're making more than a handful of sales per month and transaction fees would add up - You're okay with a functional-but-not-fancy email editor in exchange for having everything in one place - You're on a tight budget and need to start on a free plan that includes course hosting

Choose Kit if: - Your primary business model is publishing a newsletter and building a large email audience, with course sales as occasional revenue - You already have a course platform (Teachable, Podia, Kajabi) and just need email marketing - You're growing your list aggressively and need the 10,000-subscriber free plan - You value email automation sophistication and editor polish over all-in-one convenience - You're willing to pay more per month and per sale for best-in-class email tools

Skip both and use a free option if: - You haven't validated your course idea yet and just need to send a few emails to test interest—use Kit's free plan or Brevo's free tier - You're not ready to commit to monthly software costs—build your landing page on Carrd ($19/year), deliver your course through Google Drive or Notion, and collect payment through Gumroad (5% + $0.30 per sale, no monthly fee)

Final Recommendation

If you're reading this article's title—"Which is Better for Selling Your First Course?"—the honest answer is Systeme.io for most people.

Kit is a better tool if you're a newsletter creator first and course seller second. But if your goal is to sell a course, Systeme.io gives you everything you need in one platform, charges you nothing per sale, and costs half as much per month. The email editor isn't as refined, but it's good enough to deliver your course, send promotional sequences, and build your list.

Start on Systeme.io's free plan. Host your course, build a simple funnel, and make your first sales. If you hit 2,000 contacts and need more automation, upgrade to the $17/month Startup plan. You'll know pretty quickly if the email tools are limiting you—but for most first-time course creators, they won't be.

If you discover that email is your primary channel and you're sending newsletters three times a week to a growing audience, then consider switching to Kit. But don't start there. Start with the tool that lets you sell your course today, not the tool that's optimized for a business model you might build later.