Lanternbee vs Kit

Looking for a Kit alternative for your books?

An email tool for creators, with simple selling built in. Here is what it costs, where it does better than Lanternbee, and what moving would take.

What Kit is

Kit, once called ConvertKit, is a newsletter tool. Kit Commerce lets you sell ebooks, downloads and paid newsletters to your subscribers.

Who it suits

Authors whose newsletter is the center of everything, who sell a few ebooks to their list.

What Kit costs

US prices, checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.

Plan	Price	Fee on sales
Free	Free. Up to 10,000 subscribers	3.5% + 30¢ per sale, card fees included
Creator	$33 a month. For 1,000 subscribers; $390 billed yearly	3.5% + 30¢ per sale, card fees included

Kit and Lanternbee side by side

The jobs a bookstore has to do, and how each one handles them.

Kit and Lanternbee, feature by feature
What you need	Kit	Lanternbee
One book with several editions	Not listed	Yes. Ebook, audiobook, paperback and hardcover live on one book page.
Series with a reading order	Not listed	Yes, with the reading order you set.
Bundles and box sets	Not listed	Yes. Readers who own book one pay less for the rest.
Ebook and audiobook delivery	PartlyDigital products land in the buyer’s inbox.	Yes. Download links by email, and a reader library.
Send to Kindle	Not listed	Yes, from the reader library.
Print on demand for books	Not listed	Yes, through BookVault or Lulu.
Your reader list	YesIt is an email tool first.	Yes. Every buyer lands on your list, with tags.
Your own domain	Not listed	Yes. yourname.lanternbee.shop or shop.yourname.com.
Monthly cost	Free: Free. Up to 10,000 subscribersCreator: $33 a month. For 1,000 subscribers; $390 billed yearly	Free: nothing a month. Author: $45 a month, or $35 paid yearly.
Fee on sales	Free: 3.5% + 30¢ per sale, card fees includedCreator: 3.5% + 30¢ per sale, card fees included	Free: 5%, only when you sell. Author: none.

US prices. “Not listed” means we could not find it on Kit’s own pages or in the sources below, so check with them. Card fees apply everywhere; on Lanternbee they are Stripe’s, with nothing added.

What Kit does better

No store is right for every author. These are fair reasons to stay.

Newsletters. Sequences, automations, landing pages and sign-up forms are what Kit is for.
Paid newsletters with gated content.
A free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers.

Moving from Kit

There is no importer for Kit. Here is what you would do by hand.

Keep Kit for your newsletter. Lanternbee does not replace it.
Add your books on Lanternbee and link to them from your emails.
Lanternbee does not connect to Kit yet. It connects to MailerLite and Klaviyo, so for now add Lanternbee buyers to Kit by downloading your reader list.

Questions about Kit and Lanternbee

Do I need Kit if I use Lanternbee?

Lanternbee has its own reader list, newsletters and automated emails, so some authors won’t. If Kit runs your sequences and landing pages, keep it.

Does Lanternbee sync buyers to Kit?

Not yet. Lanternbee sends new buyers to MailerLite or Klaviyo. For Kit, download your reader list from Lanternbee and add it to Kit.

What does Kit charge on sales?

3.5% plus 30¢ per sale on every plan, with card processing included. On Lanternbee Free the fee is 5% plus Stripe’s card fees; on Author there is no fee.