What's the cheapest newsletter platform when you're starting out?

The honest answer: it depends on whether you charge yet

There's no single cheapest newsletter platform — but for someone just starting out, the answer splits cleanly in two. Before you charge anyone, the cheapest platform is whichever has a free tier that fits your list. Once you turn on paid subscriptions, a flat plan fee you pay before you have revenue becomes the thing to avoid. Every figure below is computed from each platform's published pricing (verified as of 2026-06-11) and kept at or below 2,500 subscribers, where all five platforms' prices are fully confirmed.

Before you charge: the free tiers

If you're pre-revenue — building an audience before selling anything — three platforms cost you nothing. Substack is free for unlimited free subscribers (it only ever charges once you sell paid subscriptions). beehiiv's Launch plan is free up to 2,500 subscribers. Kit's free plan covers up to 1,000 subscribers — and unusually, it can sell paid subscriptions on that free tier.

The other two charge from early on. Buttondown is free only to 100 subscribers, then moves to a low flat fee. Ghost has no free tier at all — its entry plan is $18/month, though that Starter plan doesn't support paid subscriptions, so monetizing creators start higher. For pure list-building, beehiiv's 2,500-subscriber free ceiling is the most generous runway of the group — details in beehiiv pricing explained.

Your first paid subscribers

Now turn on paid subscriptions. Take 1,000 subscribers with 50 paying $8/month — $400/month gross. The cheapest platform is Kit at $29/month (7.25% of gross), because it charges little or no fixed fee at this size. The most expensive results come from the opposite ends: beehiiv's flat $43.08 plan fee costs $69.68/month when spread over just 50 paid subscribers, and Substack's 10% cut plus processing comes to $69.40/month.

That's the trap at the starting line: a flat fee is a fixed cost no matter how little you earn, so paying one before you've built a paid base can make an otherwise-cheap platform the priciest. A free plan (Kit, or beehiiv while you're not yet charging) or a small flat fee (Buttondown) wins while your paid count is low.

As the list grows, the ranking shifts

Scale up a little — 2,500 subscribers, 100 paying $10/month ($1,000/month gross) — and the order changes. Buttondown is now cheapest at $88/month, while Substack rises to $166/month (16.6%) as its 10% takes a bigger bite of higher revenue. The flat-fee platforms that looked expensive with a tiny paid base get cheaper per subscriber as you fill the tier.

This is the same crossover that decides every platform choice, just at the small end — a revenue share is cheap when you earn little and expensive when you earn more; a flat fee is the reverse. The full version of that math is in flat fee or revenue share. When you have your own numbers, the calculator ranks all five for your exact list, and the methodology shows the sources.

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