What does a newsletter really cost?
Eight newsletter platforms, priced by how many subscribers you have. Most are free for a small list and then charge by list size; one charges by emails sent — so pick a number.
Last checked: 30 Oct 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, monthly billing · no affiliate links
The short answer
Cheapest at 1,000 to 5,000 subscribers: Buttondown — £6.76 a month for 1,000 subscribers, £21.78 a month for 5,000 subscribers.
Cheapest at 10,000 to 25,000 subscribers: EmailOctopus — £36.00 a month for 10,000 subscribers, £76.00 a month for 25,000 subscribers.
Free, if you can live with the limits: Kit's free plan holds up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts but keeps Kit branding on every email; Beehiiv and EmailOctopus are free up to 2,500. Substack is free at any size and keeps 10% of paid-subscription revenue.
Several pages open on the yearly price. Kit shows $33 a month billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers; billed monthly it is $39. Ghost shows $15 against $18, Beehiiv $49 against $59. Every figure here is the monthly-billing price.
Removing the platform's branding often costs extra. Beehiiv removes it only on Pro ($109 a month at 1,000); Brevo Starter needs an £8 add-on; Buttondown's whitelabel is extra below 10,000. Ghost is whitelabel on every plan.
If you'll charge readers: Beehiiv Lite and Ghost Publisher take 0%; Kit takes 3.5% + 30c per payment, card fees included; Substack keeps 10%.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- A free plan may be all you need. If your list is small and you don't mind the platform's branding, Kit, Beehiiv and EmailOctopus cost nothing to start.
- Sending limits differ. MailerLite Comfort and EmailOctopus Pro allow 10 sends per subscriber a month; Brevo charges by emails sent, so sending more often costs more.
- Ghost is a website too. Its price covers a publication site as well as the newsletter, which matters if you would otherwise pay for both.
- Moving later is work. Lists export easily; templates, automations and paid subscribers take longer. Pick for the size you expect in a year, not today.
- Prices are as shown to a UK visitor, before any VAT. Dollar prices move with the exchange rate.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each platform's pricing page in a real browser, switched it to monthly billing, set each list size on the page's own control, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used.
There are no affiliate links on this page. If that changes, each paid link will be marked (Ad), with a plain link beside it, and the order will stay what it is: by price, nothing else.
How the numbers are worked out
monthly cost = the cheapest paid plan that holds that many subscribers and allows at least a weekly send, billed monthly
| Platform | 1,000 subscribers | 5,000 subscribers | 10,000 subscribers | 25,000 subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitfree up to 10,000 with Kit branding; Creator removes it | £29.29Creator, 1,000 · $39.00 | £66.83Creator, 5,000 · $89.00 | £104.38Creator, 10,000 · $139.00 | £149.44Creator, 25,000 · $199.00 |
| Beehiivfree up to 2,500; branding removed only on Pro | £44.30Lite, 1,000 · $59.00 | £81.85Lite, 5,000 · $109.00 | £104.38Lite, 10,000 · $139.00 | £149.44Lite, 25,000 · $199.00 |
| MailerLiteComfort allows 10 sends per subscriber a month | £14.27Comfort, 1,000 · $19.00 | £36.80Comfort, 5,000 · $49.00 | £66.83Comfort, 10K · $89.00 | £134.42Comfort, 25K · $179.00 |
| Ghostwebsite and newsletter; Starter can't take payments | £13.52Starter, 1,000 members (no paid subscriptions; Publisher $35 for those) · $18.00 | £56.32Publisher, 5,000 · $75.00 | £78.85Publisher, 10,000 · $105.00 | £126.91Publisher, 25,000 · $169.00 |
| Brevopriced by emails sent, sized for five sends a month | £12.00Starter, 10k emails / 1,500 contacts | £30.00Starter, 30k emails | £40.00Starter, 50k emails | £145.00Standard, 150k emails (Starter tops out at 100k) |
| Mailchimpregular price after any first-year discount | £20.07Essentials, 501-1,500 contacts | £56.81Essentials, 2,501-5,000 | £83.32Essentials, 5,001-10,000 | £204.50Essentials, 20,001-25,000 |
| Buttondownup to one email a day; whitelabel extra below 10,000 | £6.76$9 tier (no plan names shown) · $9.00 | £21.78$29 tier · $29.00 | £59.32$79 tier · $79.00 | £179.47$239 tier · $239.00 |
| EmailOctopusfree up to 2,500 with branding; Pro from £11.20 | £11.20Pro, 1,000 | £24.50Pro, 5,000 | £36.00Pro, 10,000 | £76.00Pro, 25,000 |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 29 October 2026: 1 EUR = 0.83578 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1130 USD, so 1 USD = 0.75093 GBP.
Left out: Substack — free at any size and takes 10% of paid subscriptions instead of a price, so it is described in the findings rather than ranked.
If you'll recommend one: what each pays you
Many readers of this page run sites of their own. This is what each platform pays someone who refers a paying customer, from its own affiliate page. It plays no part in the order above.
| Platform | Commission | Cookie |
|---|---|---|
| Kit | 50% for the first 12 months; then +10/15/20% indefinitely if you refer 10+/50+/100+ paying customers a year | not stated |
| Beehiiv | 50% (Bronze) rising to 55% and 60% of referral revenue, every month for a year | 60 days |
| MailerLite | 30% of every payment, for life | 45 days |
| Ghost | 30% of every Ghost(Pro) payment, for life | 90 days |
| Brevo | fixed reward per referred subscriber; amount not published | 90 days |
| EmailOctopus | 30% of referral revenue for 365 days | 31 days |
| Buttondown | 25% lifetime commission on every new user | not stated |
| Mailchimp | no public affiliate programme; Mailchimp & Co is an agency/freelancer partner programme with unstated commission | not stated |
| Substack | no affiliate programme found | not stated |
There are no affiliate links on this page. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pricing pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.