Kit (formerly ConvertKit) vs Square Marketing
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and Square Marketing are both email and automation tools, but they serve completely different audiences. Kit is built for digital creators like writers and podcasters. Square Marketing is built for local businesses using Square POS.
Best for: Authors and writers building a reader community, Newsletter creators focused on subscriber growth
Best for: Local retail stores, cafes, and restaurants using Square POS, Service businesses needing appointment reminders via text
Creator-friendly, but check support.
We find Kit a capable and intuitive email marketing platform tailored specifically for creators, offering strong automation and a clean interface. Overall, it's a great starting point for growing an audience, though users should weigh the mixed customer support reviews and potential pricing scale against their needs.
Pros
- Intuitive, clean interface designed for creators and non-technical users.
- Powerful visual automations and sequences to nurture audiences.
- Generous free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers.
- Strong focus on deliverability and building owned audiences.
Cons
- Customer support responsiveness and quality receive frequent criticism.
- Pricing can become steep as subscriber counts increase significantly.
- Some users report unexpected account suspensions or deliverability issues.
- Advanced analytics and collaboration features are limited.
Integrated Marketing Built for Square Users.
We find that Square Marketing provides exceptional value through its deep integration with the Square ecosystem. Its user-friendly design simplifies automated email and text campaigns effectively. Overall, we believe this is the best marketing solution available for current Square users who prioritize seamless connectivity and actionable sales data.
Pros
- Excellent integration with Square POS and Customer Directory.
- Highly user-friendly and supports easy campaign setup and tracking.
- Automated campaigns available for emails, texts, and Google review collection.
- Reliable platform performance and consistent payment processing.
Cons
- General Square processing fees are frequently viewed as high by some users.
- Interface navigation can sometimes be challenging for complex features.
- Support responsiveness varies, especially for deep technical or billing inquiries.
- Initial merchant account verification process may take several days.
AboutKit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit is an email marketing platform specifically for creators like authors, podcasters, YouTubers, and entrepreneurs. It's the hub for growing your email list, sending beautiful newsletters, and selling digital products—all while keeping the experience intuitive and straightforward. 💡
AboutSquare Marketing
Square Marketing is an integrated solution designed to help you connect directly with your customers. You can easily expand your business using personalized email and text campaigns. These campaigns can be sent once or set up as recurring automations. Square Marketing helps you promote new products, announce events, or share last-minute deals. It drives traffic directly to your online or physical stores. ✅
This system also works well with the free Square Customer Directory. This built-in CRM tool is integrated with your Square Point of Sale. It gives you a complete view of your customers, including their purchasing habits. This integration allows you to sync sales data and track sales attribution across all your channels and store locations.
Highlights
Feature Comparison
Features Overview
We highlight the main differences and pick a winner for each feature.
Core Automation
Kit offers powerful visual automations for complex sequences. Square offers simpler, set-and-forget automations.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) lets you build visual automation maps for welcome series, sales funnels, and nurture sequences. You can connect multiple steps and conditions for granular control. One creator reported 30% sales growth from a targeted automation. Square Marketing provides automated campaigns for welcome emails, birthday wishes, and lapsed customer reminders. Setup is a one-time process. It's designed for simplicity, not complex branching logic. The key difference is depth versus ease. Kit is for building intricate, personalized journeys. Square is for sending reliable, recurring messages with minimal setup.
CRM & Customer Data
Square has a deep, integrated CRM with purchase history. Kit uses basic tagging for audience segmentation.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) uses tags and segments to organize subscribers. You can add or remove tags based on actions, but it doesn't store detailed transaction history. Focus is on email engagement. Square Marketing integrates with the Square Customer Directory. This free CRM automatically syncs with your POS. It tracks every customer's purchase history, visit frequency, and spending across all locations. For a local business, Square's data is a game-changer. You can target customers based on what they actually bought, not just what they clicked.
Multi-Channel Outreach
Kit is email-only. Square Marketing combines email and high-impact text messages.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is a pure email platform. It helps you send newsletters, broadcasts, and automated sequences. There's no native SMS or text messaging feature built in. Square Marketing offers both Email Marketing and Text Message Marketing as separate, integrated services. Texts have a 98% open rate. You can send flash sales, appointment reminders, or cart recovery texts directly. The ability to combine email and text campaigns gives Square a significant edge for time-sensitive promotions. Kit remains focused on owned email audiences.
E-commerce & Sales
Kit lets you sell digital products directly. Square is designed to drive sales to your existing store.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) allows you to sell digital products, courses, and subscriptions through its platform. It handles checkout and delivery. You own the entire customer relationship from lead to sale. Square Marketing doesn't sell products itself. Instead, it promotes your existing Square store. It drives traffic with coupons and tracks redemptions. It connects marketing spend directly to POS revenue. The choice depends on your business model. If you're a creator selling digital goods, Kit is a storefront. If you're a retailer, Square is a promotional engine.
Analytics & Reporting
Kit provides email performance metrics. Square provides sales attribution across all channels.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) shows open rates, click rates, and subscriber growth. The Pro plan adds a deliverability dashboard. Reporting is focused on email engagement metrics. Square Marketing syncs campaign data with sales data. You can see which email or text campaign led to a coupon redemption and a specific transaction in your Square Dashboard. It measures real revenue impact. For marketers, Kit's metrics are essential. For business owners, Square's sales attribution is more valuable for calculating ROI.
Ease of Use
Both are user-friendly, but Kit is for marketers. Square is integrated for business owners.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has a clean, intuitive interface praised by creators. It simplifies email building and automation for non-technical users. The learning curve is gentle. Square Marketing is built directly into the Square Dashboard. If you already use Square, there's no new software to learn. The tools are straightforward for sending basic campaigns. Both avoid complexity. Kit excels at marketing tasks. Square excels at being part of a business management system you already use daily.
Pricing Value
Kit offers a generous free plan. Square's value depends on your contact list size.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers. Paid plans start at $39/month. This is excellent value for growing an audience from zero. Square Marketing's Email service starts at $15/month for up to 500 contacts. Price scales up with more contacts. Text Marketing has a $10 base fee plus per-message costs. Kit provides more features at the entry level. Square's pricing is straightforward but costs more as your customer list grows significantly.
Reputation Management
Kit has no review collection feature. Square automates Google Review requests.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) focuses entirely on email communication and audience growth. It does not offer tools to solicit or manage online reviews. Square Marketing includes an automated feature to send campaigns requesting Google Reviews after a purchase. This happens via email or text at no extra cost. This built-in reputation tool is a major advantage for local businesses. It helps build social proof automatically, a feature Kit doesn't attempt to match.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) costs between $0 and $790 per year for 1,000 subscribers with 3 plans: Newsletter at $0, Creator at $390 billed yearly, and Pro at $790 billed yearly.
Take a look at the breakdown below to see which features fit your current creative goals.
Newsletter
Price: $0 per month Best For: New creators starting out Other Features: Unlimited landing pages, Audience tagging, Digital product sales, 1 basic Visual Automation
- 1 basic Visual Automation
- Unlimited landing pages & forms
- Unlimited email broadcasts
- Audience tagging & segmentation
- Sell digital products & subscriptions
- Everything in Newsletter plan
- Unlimited Visual Automations
- Unlimited email sequences
- A/B test subject lines
- Remove Kit branding
- Everything in Creator plan
- Unlimited users
- Insights dashboard
- Deliverability reporting
- Newsletter referral system
Square Marketing costs between $10 and $3,760 per month, depending on usage tiers for two distinct products: Email Marketing (based on contacts) and Text Message Marketing ($10 base plus usage fees).
The pricing below is structured around the entry points for the two main services offered, detailing the features included with any subscription.
Square Email Marketing (Up to 500 Contacts)
Price: $15 per month Best For: Small businesses just starting email outreach, or those with highly focused, small customer bases. Other Features:
- Unlimited email sends
- Square Dashboard and POS integration
- Automated email collection
- Automated campaigns and prebuilt templates
- Seamless coupon redemption
- Sales and campaign data
- Unlimited email sends
- Square Dashboard and POS integration
- Automated email collection
- Automated campaigns and prebuilt templates
- Seamless coupon redemption
- Square Dashboard and POS integration
- Complimentary toll-free phone number
- Automated campaigns
- Seamless coupon redemption
- Sales and campaign data
Pricing Notes
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit) offers a permanent free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, which is ideal for beginners.
- Square Marketing has no free plan. Email pricing is based on contact tiers starting at $15/month for 500 contacts.
- Square Text Marketing has a $10 monthly base fee, even if you send zero texts.
- Kit's paid plans (Creator, Pro) are priced per subscriber count. Square's services are priced separately.
- Kit charges a 3.5% + $0.30 transaction fee on digital product sales, which is a cost to factor in.
- Square Marketing offers a 30-day free trial, while Kit offers a 14-day trial.
Pricing Head-to-Head
User Reviews
On Trustpilot, Kit (formerly ConvertKit) receives mixed feedback. Users frequently praise its ease of use, highlighting a simple, intuitive interface perfect for creators and beginners.
Many appreciate the automation features and clean design for emails and landing pages. However, a significant number of reviews cite poor customer support, with long response times and unhelpful agents.
ConvertKit is super easy to use. I love how simple it is to set up automations and sequences without any tech headaches. It's perfect for my newsletter.
Users widely praise the reliability and straightforward design of the Square platform. They frequently highlight its effectiveness for small businesses, citing the ease of setup and operational simplicity.
The deep integration with Square POS and the ability to track sales attributes stand out as major operational benefits. Many users also compliment the customer support team, describing interactions as quick and kind, especially for simple inquiries.
I love the user friendly software for many reasons. Scheduling, payment, and customer communication are handled smoothly. It feels like Square designed this platform specifically with small business owners in mind.
Our Verdict
This isn't a close race—it's a choice between two entirely different tools for different jobs. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is the creator's champion. Its superpower is building automated email systems that nurture an audience and sell digital products. If you're a writer or podcaster, Kit helps you turn followers into true fans and customers. Square Marketing's superpower is being the perfect sidekick to your Square Point of Sale. It automatically reaches out to your existing customers via email or text, bringing them back into your store. It even asks for Google Reviews for you. The deciding factor is your business model. Pick Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you need to grow an audience from zero online. Pick Square Marketing if you already have a customer base and a Square register. For most digital creators, Kit is the clear winner. For most local brick-and-mortar businesses, Square Marketing is the obvious choice. There's no need to overthink it—match the tool to your actual daily operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for small teams: Kit (formerly ConvertKit) or Square Marketing?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is designed for solo creators. Its Pro plan allows unlimited team members. Square Marketing is better for local business teams, as it integrates with the Square POS system used by staff.
Does Kit (formerly ConvertKit) have text message (SMS) marketing like Square Marketing?
No, Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is an email-only platform. Square Marketing offers dedicated Text Message Marketing with a 98% open rate, perfect for urgent notifications and promotions.
Can I use Kit (formerly ConvertKit) and Square Marketing together?
Yes, but they serve different purposes. You could use Kit (formerly ConvertKit) to nurture a global online audience. You could use Square Marketing to send receipts and promotions to local customers from your POS. They are separate systems.
Is Square Marketing worth it if I already use Square POS?
Yes, highly recommended. Square Marketing is deeply integrated with your Customer Directory. It allows you to send automated campaigns and track attributed sales directly from your dashboard with zero extra setup.
Which platform is cheaper for a list of 5,000 contacts?
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) would be cheaper. Its paid plans scale with subscribers. Square Marketing's Email plan price is based on contact tiers, which can become expensive for larger lists. Check both calculators.
Can I sell digital products with Square Marketing?
No, Square Marketing is for promoting products, not selling them. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) includes built-in sales pages and checkout for digital products, courses, and subscriptions.
Ready to Choose?
Both tools have their strengths. Choose based on your specific needs.