Disclosure (#ad): We earn a commission if you sign up through links marked “paid link” (systeme.io and beehiiv), at no extra cost to you. Links marked “not a paid link” earn us nothing. Commissions never change a score or a fact on this page. How this works.
Quick verdict
Pick it if you want a sales funnel, a course and an email list in one tool: Free covers 2,000 contacts with unlimited sends, and Startup is $17/month.[Y1] Skip it if you run a newsletter-first business and want an ad network, or a bigger free list.[B1][K2] Watch the Free plan's $10,000 USD lifetime sales cap.[Y2] It meets 7 of 10 points on our newsletter checklist (how it's scored), two of them lost only because we couldn't confirm them. That's a checklist score, not a hands-on test.
What systeme.io is
systeme.io is an all-in-one tool for selling online: email marketing and newsletters, sales funnels, online courses, a website and blog, a booking calendar, communities and your own affiliate program, under one login.[Y1] Instead of paying for an email tool, a funnel builder and a course platform separately, you get them in one account, with plans priced mainly by how many contacts you have.[Y1]
Pros and cons
What's good
- A free plan that never expires, with no card: 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels, 1 course, 1 blog and 1 custom domain [Y1]
- Unlimited email sends on every plan, Free included [Y1]
- No transaction fees from systeme.io on any plan (Stripe or PayPal fees still apply) [Y1]
- Sell one-off, subscription and payment-plan products, with optional free trials [Y4]
- Unlimited sub-accounts on every plan, each with the same limits as your main plan [Y1]
What's not
- Free caps lifetime sales at $10,000 USD. After that your payment pages stop taking orders until you upgrade [Y2]
- Tight Free limits elsewhere: 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign [Y1]
- Go over the contact limit on Free and the account is restricted after three daily warnings: opt-ins and payments stop [Y3]
- Paid plans upgrade themselves to the next tier if you go over [Y3]
- No built-in newsletter ad network listed, unlike beehiiv or Kit [Y1][B1][K1]
systeme.io pricing in 2026
| Plan | Price (monthly) | Contacts | Funnels | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, never expires | 2,000 | 3 | 1 |
| Startup | $17/mo | 5,000 | 10 | 5 |
| Webinar | $47/mo | 10,000 | 50 | 20, plus evergreen webinars |
| Unlimited | $97/mo | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited, plus unlimited automation rules |
From systeme.io's pricing FAQ, checked 1 Nov 2026.[Y1] All plans include unlimited email sends, unlimited sub-accounts and 0% transaction fees.[Y1] The page advertises “2 months free” on annual billing, but the annual prices and the full plan table didn't load when we checked, so we haven't listed them. Prices are shown in dollars; systeme.io's help centre quotes its own limits in USD, so we read them as US dollars.[Y2] Check the currency, and whether GST is added, at checkout.
Start on Free, move to Startup at 2,000 contacts
Free covers a first funnel, course and list. Startup at $17/mo lifts you to 5,000 contacts, 10 funnels and 5 courses.[Y1]
The Free plan in detail
| Free includes | Free limit |
|---|---|
| Contacts | 2,000[Y1] |
| Email sends | Unlimited[Y1] |
| Sales funnels | 3[Y1] |
| Courses and students | 1 course, 500 students[Y1] |
| Automation rules / email campaigns | 1 / 1[Y1] |
| Blog, custom domain, your own affiliate program | 1 each[Y1] |
| Lifetime sales | $10,000 USD (a warning appears at $8,000; affiliate commissions don't count)[Y2] |
Before you sign up: the catches worth knowing
People search for systeme.io complaints before paying. We haven't analysed reviews or Reddit threads, so instead here's what systeme.io's own help centre says can catch you out:
- Going over 2,000 contacts on Free. You get three warning emails, one a day, and a dashboard alert. If you don't upgrade or remove contacts by day four, the account is restricted: opt-ins and payments stop, you can't add contacts by any route, new sales can't go through, email campaigns pause, and students can't open your courses. Your data isn't deleted, and enrolments and progress are kept.[Y3]
- Scheduled newsletters lose their date. If a newsletter's send date arrives while you're restricted, the date is removed for good, so it won't go out later by surprise.[Y3]
- Paid plans upgrade themselves. Go over your paid plan's limit and systeme.io moves you to the next tier automatically. To go back, you remove the extra content first and then ask support.[Y3]
- Downgrades go through support, which sends you a custom order form.[Y2] Cancelling keeps your plan until the next billing date, then the account reverts to Free.[Y1]
- PayPal upgrades aren't prorated. With a card, the time left on your current plan becomes a free trial of the new one. With PayPal you're charged the full new price and must ask support to cancel the old subscription.[Y2]
- Inactive accounts. After 6 months with no login or activity, customer data is removed after a further 1-month grace period.[Y3]
systeme.io vs Kit vs beehiiv in short
| systeme.io | Kit | beehiiv | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 2,000 contacts[Y1] | 10,000 subscribers[K2] | 2,500 subscribers[B1] |
| Entry paid plan | Startup $17/mo (monthly)[Y1] | Creator $33/mo billed yearly, 1,000 subs[K1] | Lite ≈$49/mo billed yearly, 1,000 subs[B1] |
| Platform fee on sales | 0%[Y1] | 3.5% + 30c, processing included[K1] | 0% on paid subscriptions, paid plans; Stripe fees apply[B1] |
| Funnels and courses | Yes, every plan[Y1] | Not compared here: see our three-way comparison | |
| Check the price | See systeme.io plans(paid link: we may earn a commission) | See Kit plans(not a paid link) | Try beehiiv free(paid link: we may earn a commission) |
The full side-by-side is in Kit vs beehiiv vs systeme.io. For the other two in depth, read our Kit review and beehiiv review, or see every option in the best newsletter platforms in 2026.
How the Rundown score works
One point for each item on our published checklist that the official pages confirm. Anything we couldn't confirm scores 0. Full method.
| Checklist item | Points | Result and source |
|---|---|---|
| Has a free plan | 1 | 1 ✓ Free, $0, never expires, no card [Y1] |
| Free plan covers at least 1,000 subscribers | 1 | 1 ✓ 2,000 contacts [Y1] |
| Unlimited email sends on the free plan | 1 | 1 ✓ “Emails sent are unlimited” [Y1] |
| Entry paid plan can sell paid subscriptions | 1 | 1 ✓ subscription price plans on digital products [Y4] |
| 0% platform cut on paid subscriptions | 1 | 1 ✓ “No transaction fees” on all plans; your payment processor's fees still apply [Y1] |
| Built-in ad network | 1 | 0 ✕ none listed on the pricing page [Y1] |
| Email automations on the entry paid plan | 1 | 1 ✓ automation rules and workflows on every plan (Free: 1 rule); Startup's exact limit didn't load for us [Y1] |
| Entry paid plan ≤ US$40/mo at 1,000 subscribers (annual billing) | 1 | 1 ✓ Startup $17/mo (monthly price; annual advertised as “2 months free”) [Y1] |
| Can remove platform branding on the entry paid plan | 1 | 0 ✕ not confirmed: the plan table didn't load when we checked [Y1] |
| Free trial of paid plans | 1 | 0 ✕ no paid-plan trial listed; the Free plan is the way to try it [Y1] |
| Total | 10 | 7 → 7.0 / 10 |
The same newsletter checklist we use for beehiiv and Kit. It scores what the official pages confirm, so two items score 0 only because we couldn't confirm them. systeme.io is a funnel, course and email tool, and this checklist doesn't give points for funnels or courses.
FAQ
Is systeme.io really free?
Yes. The Free plan never expires and doesn't need a card. It covers 2,000 contacts, 3 funnels and 1 course with unlimited email sends.[Y1] Your lifetime sales on Free are capped at $10,000 USD.[Y2]
How much does systeme.io cost?
Startup is $17/month, Webinar $47/month and Unlimited $97/month.[Y1] Annual billing is advertised as “2 months free”; check the annual price on systeme.io's page.
Does systeme.io take a cut of my sales?
No. It lists no transaction fees on any plan. Your payment processor (Stripe, PayPal and others) still charges its own fees.[Y1]
What happens if I go over 2,000 contacts?
On Free, three daily warnings, then the account is restricted until you upgrade or remove contacts. Nothing is deleted. On a paid plan you're moved up a tier automatically.[Y3]
Can I sell subscriptions or payment plans?
Yes. Digital products can have one-time, subscription or payment-plan pricing, with an optional free trial.[Y4]
Did The Rundowns test systeme.io?
No. This review summarises systeme.io's pricing page and help centre, all linked below. We haven't measured deliverability or support. If we test it hands-on, we'll say so here.
Ready to try systeme.io?
Start on the Free plan: no card, no expiry.[Y1] This is a paid link: systeme.io pays us a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.
See systeme.io's plans and start free(paid link: we may earn a commission)
Sources
- [Y1] systeme.io, “Choose your plan” pricing page and pricing FAQ (page states “Last updated: April 2026”): systeme.io/pricing (checked 1 Nov 2026)
- [Y2] systeme.io Help Center, “How systeme.io subscription plans are moderated” (updated 7 Oct 2026): help.systeme.io (checked 1 Nov 2026)
- [Y3] systeme.io Help Center, “What happens when my account gets restricted” (updated 7 Oct 2026): help.systeme.io (checked 1 Nov 2026)
- [Y4] systeme.io Help Center, “How to create and configure a price plan” (updated 6 Mar 2026): help.systeme.io (checked 1 Nov 2026)
- [K1] Kit, pricing page: kit.com/pricing (checked 1 Nov 2026, 1,000-subscriber setting, yearly billing)
- [K2] Kit Help Center, “The Kit Free plan”: help.kit.com (checked 1 Nov 2026)
- [B1] beehiiv, pricing page and plan comparison (USD): beehiiv.com/pricing (checked 1 Nov 2026)