Buttondown
Buttondown runs a daily bug fix cadence — passkey autofill and automation display fixes are the highlights.
Comparison · Mkt Auto
Act-On vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Act-On and Kit (formerly ConvertKit) — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Act-On vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit): at a glance
What is Act-On?
Marketing-blog feed crawled as a changelog — thought-leadership posts, no product releases.
The tracked feed is Act-On's marketing blog: posts on AI in marketing, deliverability policy changes, and vertical playbooks for manufacturing and financial services. These are content-marketing pieces, not product release notes. As product signal, they carry no information about what shipped in the platform.
What is Kit (formerly ConvertKit)?
Kit handed page-building to an agent, then went back to cleaning up the subscribers list
The Kit MCP crossing from reading a creator's list to building and editing landing pages remains the defining recent release. Since then the work has been ordinary interface repair on the subscriber surface: the Subscribers page was reorganised around search and filtering, and bulk actions became a floating menu that follows the scroll instead of sitting at the top of the list. Creator Network connection requests and custom favicons round out the window.
Act-On vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit): editorial side-by-side
Act-On
2.5MKT AUTO
Marketing-blog feed crawled as a changelog — thought-leadership posts, no product releases.
◆ Current state
The tracked feed is Act-On's marketing blog: posts on AI in marketing, deliverability policy changes, and vertical playbooks for manufacturing and financial services. These are content-marketing pieces, not product release notes. As product signal, they carry no information about what shipped in the platform.
◆ Where it's heading
The feed will keep publishing SEO-oriented thought leadership, heavily weighted toward AI-in-marketing themes and industry verticals. No product-development trajectory is visible from this source.
◆ Prediction
Expect more blog posts on AI, lifecycle marketing, and vertical strategies. To track actual Act-On product changes, the crawl source needs pointing at a release-notes feed rather than the blog.
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
6.3MKT AUTO
Kit handed page-building to an agent, then went back to cleaning up the subscribers list
◆ Current state
The Kit MCP crossing from reading a creator's list to building and editing landing pages remains the defining recent release. Since then the work has been ordinary interface repair on the subscriber surface: the Subscribers page was reorganised around search and filtering, and bulk actions became a floating menu that follows the scroll instead of sitting at the top of the list. Creator Network connection requests and custom favicons round out the window.
◆ Where it's heading
The Kit MCP is the axis, and it has already made its jump — from read-and-analyze in May to producing the published artifact in July. What follows is consolidation: the manual surfaces are being tidied so the things an agent can do and the things a creator does by hand sit on comparable footing. Nothing in this window extends the MCP itself, which makes the current period a pause rather than a redirection.
◆ Prediction
Expect the MCP surface to extend to more of the artifacts Kit publishes now that landing pages have proven the pattern. The subscriber-page work reads as a finished cleanup rather than the start of a larger rebuild.
Alternatives to Act-On and Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Other Mkt Auto products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Act-On or Kit (formerly ConvertKit).
Activepieces
Activepieces ships six hotfixes in ten days stabilizing a worker piece-cache warm-up regression.
Optimove
Optimove's Gamify API closes the loyalty commerce loop with store catalog and purchase endpoints.
Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms added an MCP adapter in Forms API v2.0, making its form data accessible to AI agents.
Gumloop
Gumloop agents now trigger from webhooks and Monday.com events — the automation surface widens significantly.
Systeme.io
Systeme.io publishes cost-savings case studies and AI copywriting guides — no product features this window.
See all Act-On alternatives → · See all Kit (formerly ConvertKit) alternatives →
Recent activity from Act-On and Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 29d agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Subscribers page: New navigation and search
- 1mo agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Subscriber bulk actions, always in reach
- 1mo agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Build and edit landing pages with the Kit MCP ⚡
- 1mo agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Request to connect with other creators in the Creator Network
- 1mo agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Your favicon, your brand
- 2mo agoKit (formerly ConvertKit)Try the new Kit navigation
- 2mo agoAct-OnThe More AI Advances, the More Lifecycle Marketing Matters
- 3mo agoAct-OnThe Key to AI Success in Marketing Tech: Offer Real Value, Not Hype
- 4mo agoAct-OnGoogle Now Allows Users to Change Their Gmail Address: Deliverability Impact
- 4mo agoAct-OnRetail Bank Marketing Trends to Watch in 2026
- 5mo agoAct-OnSmarter Digital Marketing Strategies for Manufacturing Teams
- 5mo agoAct-OnFinancial Services Advertising Regulations Marketers Need to Know
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Act-On and Kit (formerly ConvertKit)?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Act-On better than Kit (formerly ConvertKit)?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Mkt Auto products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Act-On?
Top Act-On alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Act-On alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/act-on for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Kit (formerly ConvertKit)?
Top Kit (formerly ConvertKit) alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Kit (formerly ConvertKit) alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/convertkit for the full list with editorial commentary on each.