The surprising cost difference between newsletter platforms 🫣

Been diving deep into newsletter platform pricing while building NewsletterStack, and honestly, the differences are wild.

Here's something I learned: if you're just starting out, Substack is genuinely the best choice. Why? It's completely free until you start charging subscribers. No upfront costs, no subscriber limits. You can build your audience without worrying about monthly fees.

But here's where it gets interesting. Once you hit around 5k-10k subscribers, the math changes completely. A platform that seems "cheap" at 1k subscribers might cost you hundreds more per month at scale.

And cost per subscriber isn't even the full picture. You need to consider:

• Email deliverability features
• Monetization options (paid subscriptions, ads, sponsorships, and more)
• Design flexibility and customization
• Analytics and growth tools
• Migration difficulty if you want to switch later (⚠️super important!!)

That's why I built a Newsletter Cost Calculator for NewsletterStack. Just enter your audience size and see real pricing across Beehiiv, Substack, Kit, Ghost, Buttondown, and more popular platforms, all in one place. Everything's up to date so you can actually compare apples to apples.

#BuildinPublic #NewsletterStack