Newsletter economics, written down

Every dollar figure in these articles is computed from our verified pricing data at build time — when a platform changes its pricing, the prose updates with it.

The cheapest newsletter platform at 5,000 subscribers

At 5,000 subscribers the plan fee runs from $0 to $63/month before you sell anything, and Kit is cheapest once you do. Here is the computed ranking, the paid-subscriber count where Substack stops winning, and why subscriber number 5,001 raises two platforms' bills at once.

2026-09-10

Switching from Kit to Substack: what happens to your fees

Moving a paid newsletter from Kit to Substack replaces a 3.5% commerce fee with a 10% revenue share plus Stripe — and above 10,000 subscribers, drops Kit's plan fee in exchange. For most paid lists that raises the bill. Here is the computed premium at three sizes, the number of new subscribers Substack's network has to deliver to cover it, and the one range where the move saves money.

2026-09-10

Ghost Starter vs Publisher vs Business: what each plan actually costs

Ghost sells three hosted plans and only two of them can take a payment. Business costs $170/month more than Publisher at 1,000 members and $125/month more at 100,000 — a premium that shrinks as you grow, which is the opposite of how plan upgrades usually behave. Here is the gap at every bracket.

2026-09-03

Switching from Substack to Buttondown: what happens to your fees

Buttondown takes 0% of your subscription revenue and charges a small flat plan fee instead of Substack's 10% cut. Here's the computed before-and-after, where it pays off, and where Buttondown's own limits stop the comparison.

2026-09-03

Kit Creator vs Pro: what the upgrade actually costs

Pro costs $33.33/month more than Creator at 1,000 subscribers and $156.67/month more at 95,000 — a premium that shrinks as a percentage while growing 4.7× in dollars. Here is the gap computed at every bracket, and the number of extra paid subscribers it has to earn back.

2026-08-27

What conversion rate do you need before leaving Substack saves money?

Substack's bill tracks your revenue; a flat-fee platform's tracks your list. So the question isn't what you earn — it's what share of your readers pay. On Ghost that bar is 2.80% of your list at 1,000 subscribers and 0.26% at 100,000, computed at every bracket in between.

2026-08-27

The subscriber counts where your newsletter bill jumps

Newsletter platforms bill in brackets, not per subscriber — so your plan fee sits still for thousands of new readers and then jumps at a boundary. Here is every boundary on Ghost, Kit and Buttondown, computed, with what each step costs.

2026-08-20

Three years of platform fees: what growth actually costs you

Every price comparison freezes your list at one size. Run it forward instead — a list growing for 36 months — and the cheapest platform in month one isn't the cheapest by month 36, and a flat fee takes far longer to pay for itself than the monthly numbers suggest.

2026-08-20

How many paid subscribers does it take to cover your platform bill?

Every platform with a monthly plan fee starts you underwater. Here's the computed number of paying subscribers each one needs before your newsletter covers its own costs — and why the answer is smaller than most people expect.

2026-08-13

Should you offer readers an annual subscription? The fee math

Billing readers yearly instead of monthly cuts eleven payments a year out of your fee bill — a real, computable saving. It's also almost always smaller than the discount you'd offer to get it. Here's both numbers.

2026-08-13

Does your subscription price change what you pay in fees?

Collect $1,000 a month from 200 readers at $5 and it costs more to collect than the same $1,000 from 40 readers at $25 — on every platform. Here's the computed difference, and the one thing your price point doesn't change.

2026-08-06

What does one newsletter subscriber cost you per month?

Somewhere between 0.27¢ and 4.60¢ on Ghost — and which end you're at depends less on your list size than on where that list sits relative to the nearest pricing bracket. Here's the computed unit cost, and why it moves in steps.

2026-08-06

Switching from beehiiv to Kit: what happens to your fees

If your list is small enough to sit on Kit's free plan, beehiiv's flat plan fee is money you don't need to spend. Here's the computed savings, the exact revenue point where the math flips back in beehiiv's favor, and why the switch isn't a good idea once your list outgrows Kit's free tier.

2026-07-30

When does a newsletter platform's free tier actually end?

Three of the five platforms we track are free to start. Each ends at a different subscriber count, and two of them end the moment you take a single paid subscriber — no matter how far below the ceiling you are. Here's the computed cliff on each.

2026-07-30

Switching from Buttondown to Kit: what happens to your fees

Buttondown's free plan can't sell subscriptions at all; Kit's can, up to 10,000 subscribers. Here's the computed before-and-after — where Kit is the clear upgrade, and the point above 10,000 subscribers where Buttondown's 0% take rate wins the fee war back.

2026-07-25

Switching from Buttondown to beehiiv: what happens to your fees

Buttondown's free plan stops at 100 subscribers; beehiiv's runs to 2,500. Here's the computed before-and-after — where beehiiv is a clean free upgrade, and why Buttondown gets cheaper again the moment you turn on paid subscriptions.

2026-07-25

The cheapest newsletter platform at 100,000 subscribers

At 100,000 subscribers most platforms stop publishing a price you can compute — the field narrows to Ghost and Substack. Here's the computed all-in cost for both, and why Kit, beehiiv, and Buttondown drop out of the table.

2026-07-23

Switching from Kit to Ghost: what happens to your fees

Moving a paid newsletter from Kit to Ghost usually lowers your bill — Ghost's 0% take rate replaces Kit's commerce fee, and its plan brackets run cheaper at most sizes. Here's the computed before-and-after at three list sizes, and the one range where the move costs you.

2026-07-23

Switching from Ghost to Kit: what happens to your fees

Moving a paid newsletter from Ghost to Kit usually raises your bill — Kit charges a commerce fee on revenue that Ghost doesn't. Here's the computed before-and-after at three list sizes, and the one range where Kit is actually the fee cut.

2026-07-16

How much does it cost to send a newsletter to 10,000 subscribers?

If you're not charging readers, a 10,000-subscriber newsletter costs anywhere from $0 to about $88 a month depending on the platform. Here's the computed bill on every platform we can verify at that size — and why 'free' isn't always the end of the story.

2026-07-16

Switching from Ghost to beehiiv: what happens to your fees

Ghost and beehiiv both take 0% of your subscription revenue, so moving between them is a pure plan-fee decision. Here's the computed before-and-after — where Ghost's entry plan wins, where beehiiv's flat price pulls ahead, and the honest limit on how far the numbers go.

2026-07-09

Annual vs monthly billing: how much does paying yearly actually save?

Every newsletter platform with a plan fee offers a cheaper annual price — usually 12 to 17 percent off. Here's the computed discount on each one, why Kit's is the cleanest, and the catch nobody mentions when you commit to a year up front.

2026-07-09

How much does a paid newsletter cost at 50,000 subscribers?

At 50,000 subscribers the platform you're on can swing your bill by thousands a month. Here's the computed cost on the three platforms with pricing verified at that scale — and why the other two aren't in the table.

2026-07-02

Switching from Kit to beehiiv: what happens to your fees

Kit's Commerce fee is a small revenue share; beehiiv takes 0% and charges a flat plan fee instead. But Kit's free plan sells paid subscriptions up to 10,000 subscribers, so at every size we can verify both platforms the move raises your bill. Here's the computed before-and-after, where the case for beehiiv actually begins, and why we stop quoting there.

2026-07-02

Switching from Substack to Kit: what happens to your fees

Moving a paid newsletter from Substack to Kit swaps a 10% revenue share for a 3.5% commerce fee — with no plan fee at all up to 10,000 subscribers, and a flat plan fee above that. Here's the computed before-and-after at both sizes, the point where it pays off, and what to check first.

2026-06-25