Answers that mention MailerLite

For a one-person shop with <5,000 subscribers, I’d pick kit.com (formerly ConvertKit) if your main goal is automated welcome + winback sequences that actually lead to sales.

My ranking

Why I'd choose Kit

Kit's automation system is particularly well suited to a small creator business: you can trigger sequences based on signups, clicks, purchases, inactivity, tags, and other subscriber behavior, then branch people into different journeys. Kit Kit Help Center

That matters for your two sequences:

Welcome
→ Subscribe
→ Deliver promised freebie/content
→ Establish credibility
→ Identify their problem
→ Give a quick win
→ Introduce your offer
→ Sales CTA

Winback
→ Subscriber becomes inactive
→ "Still interested?" email
→ Best/useful piece of content
→ Specific problem/offer
→ Final "should I stop emailing you?" email
→ Remove/segment disengaged people

Kit explicitly supports re-engagement campaigns, and its Visual Automations can respond to engagement and inactivity rather than simply sending everyone the same fixed sequence. Kit Kit

The killer part for a <5k list

You can actually start on Kit's free Newsletter plan, which currently supports up to 10,000 active subscribers, unlimited sends, and one basic Visual Automation + one Email Sequence. Kit Help Center Kit Help Center

There's an important catch: one sequence isn't enough if you want both a welcome and a separate winback sequence. For unlimited sequences and automations, you'd move to the Creator plan. Kit Help Center Kit Help Center

So if welcome + winback are both non-negotiable, I'd budget for the paid Creator tier rather than trying to hack everything into one sequence.

When I'd pick MailerLite instead

mailerlite.com is my value pick. It offers multi-trigger automations, segmentation, unlimited sends, and A/B/multivariate testing, with plans starting at $12/month. MailerLite

I'd choose it over Kit if you're not really a "creator" business—for example, you're primarily an ecommerce/service company and don't care much about creator-oriented features.

Bottom line: If you're a solo creator/consultant/coach/author/course or digital-product seller, Kit is the one I'd use. The important thing isn't just having an autoresponder; it's being able to turn behavior → segmentation → different email journey → offer, without building a giant marketing machine.

For a one-person shop with under 5,000 subscribers, I’d pick Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if your priority is automated welcome + winback sequences that actually drive sales, rather than just sending newsletters.

My ranking

1. 🥇 Kit — my pick

Kit is particularly good when your funnel looks like:

Opt-in → welcome → educate → offer → follow-up → winback

Its Visual Automations can branch based on subscriber behavior, clicks, purchases and engagement, so you can do more than simply send a fixed drip sequence. Kit Kit Help Center

The big advantage for a solo operator is that you can build the automation once and let it run. Kit also has tagging and segmentation, which is useful for separating, say, clicked-but-didn't-buy from never-engaged. Kit

There's also an unusually generous current free tier: Kit's Newsletter plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers, but only one email sequence and one basic visual automation. Kit Help Center Kit

Catch: if you want a separate welcome funnel and a separate winback funnel, you'll likely need the Creator plan, currently listed at $33/month for 1,000 subscribers (pricing increases with list size). Kit

kit.com

2. 🥈 MailerLite — best if keeping costs low matters

MailerLite is probably the better choice if you're selling conventional products/services and want a very capable automation system without paying for creator-specific features.

It explicitly supports welcome sequences, inactive-subscriber re-engagement, segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery, and other triggered workflows. MailerLite

Its Comfort plan starts at $12/month, while the free tier is currently only 250 subscribers, so at 5k you'll be on a paid plan. MailerLite

I'd choose MailerLite over Kit if you care more about landing pages, forms, websites, ecommerce-style automations and straightforward small-business marketing than creator funnels.

mailerlite.com

What I'd actually build

Don't over-engineer this. For a <5k list, I'd start with just two evergreen systems:

Welcome sequence — 5 emails

1. Deliver the promised freebie + establish the problem you solve
2. Quick win / useful result
3. Your story + why your approach is different
4. Proof/case study + objection handling
5. Offer + clear CTA

Winback — 3 emails

1. "Still interested in X?" — useful content, not a sales pitch
2. Strongest proof/result + relevant offer
3. "Should I stop sending these?" — final engagement email

The important bit is behavior-based branching. Someone who clicks your offer but doesn't buy should get a different follow-up from someone who hasn't opened anything in 90 days. That's where Kit becomes especially attractive. Kit

Bottom line:
If you're a solo creator/business owner and conversion automation is the priority, I'd start with Kit. If you're trying to minimize monthly cost and want a more traditional small-business marketing platform, MailerLite is the runner-up.

The big advantage for a solo operator is that you can build the automation once and let it run. Kit also has tagging and segmentation, which is useful for separating, say, clicked-but-didn't-buy from never-engaged. Kit

There's also an unusually generous current free tier: Kit's Newsletter plan supports up to 10,000 subscribers, but only one email sequence and one basic visual automation. Kit Help Center Kit

Catch: if you want a separate welcome funnel and a separate winback funnel, you'll likely need the Creator plan, currently listed at $33/month for 1,000 subscribers (pricing increases with list size). Kit

kit.com

2. 🥈 MailerLite — best if keeping costs low matters

MailerLite is probably the better choice if you're selling conventional products/services and want a very capable automation system without paying for creator-specific features.

It explicitly supports welcome sequences, inactive-subscriber re-engagement, segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery, and other triggered workflows. mailerlite.com

Its Comfort plan starts at $12/month, while the free tier is currently only 250 subscribers, so at 5k you'll be on a paid plan. mailerlite.com

I'd choose MailerLite over Kit if you care more about landing pages, forms, websites, ecommerce-style automations and straightforward small-business marketing than creator funnels.