beehiiv vs Substack vs Kit vs Ghost: real fees, limits and who owns your list (2026)

The short answer

For a free newsletter, Substack and Kit cost nothing up to 10,000 subscribers, and beehiiv is free up to 2,500. For a paid newsletter, the platforms with a flat monthly price beat Substack's 10% cut once you earn more than a few hundred dollars a month. On our own arithmetic, 500 subscribers paying US$8 a month nets about US$3,334 on Substack and between US$3,675 and US$3,710 on beehiiv, Ghost and Kit.

The bigger differences aren't price. Substack gives you a network of readers and asks for nothing up front. beehiiv and Kit are built for growing and segmenting a list. Ghost is a full website you control, with no cut of your revenue. All four take payments through Stripe, so if you live somewhere Stripe doesn't fully support, that's your first problem to solve.

This guide uses only each platform's own pricing and help pages, all opened on 26 October 2026. Where a page wouldn't load, we left the figure out rather than borrow one from a comparison blog.

Why the prices you've seen don't match

Most answers online quote old plan names and old fees, because these platforms reprice often. beehiiv's pricing page today shows three self-serve plans: a free plan, Lite and Pro, plus Enterprise on request. Anything quoting other tier names is out of date.

Kit's figures also get mixed up. Kit's Newsletter plan article says paid plans start at US$39 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers, and its selling article gives a single US dollar fee of 3.5% plus US$0.30 per transaction. Kit's own pricing page blocked our request on 26 October, so we've worked only from its help centre.

The platforms, from their own pages

beehiiv

beehiiv suits newsletters that want to grow fast and keep all their subscription revenue. Its pricing page lists:

• Free: US$0 for up to 2,500 subscribers. Paid subscriptions aren't included.
• Lite: US$59 a month billed monthly, or US$588 a year (about US$49 a month), at up to 1,000 subscribers. At up to 10,000 subscribers it's US$139 a month, or US$1,428 a year.
• Pro: US$109 a month billed monthly, or US$1,140 a year, at up to 1,000 subscribers. At up to 10,000 subscribers it's US$239 a month, or US$2,388 a year.

The pricing FAQ says "beehiiv takes 0% of your paid subscription revenue", and that Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% plus US$0.30 per transaction still applies. You connect your own Stripe account, and beehiiv's Stripe setup article says Stripe doesn't support every country and is available in India by invitation only.

The pricing page is inconsistent on custom domains for the free plan. beehiiv's DMARC article is marked for all paid plans, so plan on Lite if you want your own domain.

Substack

Substack is the easiest start: no monthly fee, no limit, and a reader network built in. Its features page says "Substack is free to use", with no upfront costs, no monthly fees and no subscriber limits on the free tier. It takes a 10% revenue share only when you earn through paid subscriptions, and standard Stripe processing fees apply on top. Substack's going-paid page puts it the other way: writers keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees.

Two more details from Substack's legal pages matter. The Publisher Agreement says the revenue share percentage is set between you and Substack when you register, and that you're the controller of your list. The Terms of Use say that from 1 December 2026, local VAT, GST, sales or use tax may be added to the purchase price of paid subscriptions.

Substack's help centre returned "403 Forbidden" every time we tried it on 26 October, so we haven't printed its exact Stripe billing fee or custom domain price.

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Kit has the most generous free plan here, and it's built around email marketing rather than a publishing network. Its Newsletter plan article (updated 23 September 2026) says the plan is "completely free for up to 10,000 subscribers", with unlimited forms, landing pages and email sends, A/B testing, one basic visual automation with one email sequence, and unlimited digital products and subscriptions. Go over 10,000 and you need a paid plan to keep sending.

Paid newsletters run through Kit's selling tools. Kit's selling article (updated 3 September 2026) says:

• Fee. Selling in US dollars costs 3.5% plus US$0.30 per transaction, with no monthly fee. Kit calls this "the only cost of selling through Kit". It's available on every plan, including Free.
• Currencies. You can sell in USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and NZD.
• Payouts. Stripe processes payments through a new Stripe account set up in Kit. Payouts go out weekly on Fridays, and the first arrives 7 to 14 days after your first sale.
• Countries. Kit lists the countries you can sell from. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are on it; Indonesia, India and the Philippines aren't.
• Tax. Kit collects VAT only. US sales tax and Canada QST aren't charged or collected for you.

Ghost

Ghost is a full publishing website with newsletters built in, and it never takes a cut. Its pricing page lists:

• Starter: US$18 a month billed yearly, 1,000 members, one newsletter. No paid subscriptions and no custom sending domain.
• Publisher: US$29 a month billed yearly, 1,000 members, paid subscriptions with a 0% Ghost fee.
• Business: US$199 a month billed yearly. The comparison table says 10,000 members, but the plan's feature list says 1,000, so check the slider before you buy.
• Custom: priced on request, unlimited members.

The pricing page has a member slider but didn't show prices for larger audiences when we read it. It says you'll be notified to upgrade based on your member count.

Ghost's Stripe integration page says Ghost "does not take a transaction fee, commission, or cut of your payments", and that all revenue is paid directly to you from Stripe. You pay Stripe's own fees.

MailerLite and Buttondown

Both are worth a look for small lists, but neither pricing page showed prices for larger lists when we checked. MailerLite's pricing page lists a free plan for up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with Comfort starting at US$12 a month and Power at US$25. Buttondown's pricing page is free for your first 100 subscribers, with paid subscriptions as a US$9 a month add-on. Neither page states a transaction fee, so we left both out of the worked examples.

Worked example: a free newsletter

On our own arithmetic, a free newsletter costs nothing on Substack and Kit at both 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers. The other two charge once you grow or want your own domain.

How we got there, from each platform's printed prices:

• Substack: free with no subscriber limit, from its features page.
• Kit: free "for up to 10,000 subscribers". The 10,001st subscriber moves you to a paid plan.
• beehiiv: the free plan stops at 2,500, so 10,000 subscribers needs Lite. US$1,428 a year divided by 12 is US$119 a month. Lite also adds a custom domain, which the free plan may not have.
• Ghost: Starter covers exactly 1,000 members at US$18 a month, or US$216 a year. We couldn't read a 10,000-member Publisher price, so the only figure we can give is Business at US$199, which the comparison table pairs with 10,000 members.

Worked example: 500 paid subscribers at US$8 a month

On our own arithmetic, the gap between Substack and the cheapest option at this size is about US$376 a month. That's 500 charges and US$4,000 gross. We assumed every subscriber pays monthly on a US domestic card, the list stays under 1,000 subscribers in total, and there are no refunds, taxes or currency conversion.

How we worked each one, all our own arithmetic:

• Card processing: Stripe's pricing page lists 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful domestic card charge. 2.9% of US$8 is 23.2 cents, plus 30 cents, is 53.2 cents a subscriber, or US$266 for 500.
• Kit: 3.5% of US$8 is 28 cents, plus 30 cents, is 58 cents a subscriber, or US$290. Kit says this is the only cost of selling, so we haven't added Stripe on top. Kit doesn't say outright whether Stripe's fee sits inside it, so check your first payout.
• Ghost Publisher: US$29 plus US$266 in Stripe fees.
• beehiiv Lite: US$59 plus US$266. Billed yearly, the plan is about US$49 a month.
• Substack: 10% of US$4,000 is US$400, plus US$266.

Three things move these numbers:

• Stripe Billing. Stripe's pricing page lists Billing at 0.7% of billing volume. If it applies to your account, take another US$28 a month off the Stripe-based rows.
• International cards. Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% if currency conversion is needed. On US$4,000 of international cards, that's another US$60.
• List size. Paid subscribers usually sit inside a bigger free list. If your total list is 10,000, beehiiv Lite rises to US$139 a month and Ghost moves up a plan, while Kit and Substack stay free.

When a flat fee beats Substack

A flat-fee plan beats Substack's 10% once your paid revenue passes the plan price times ten. beehiiv Lite at US$59 breaks even at US$590 a month, or about 74 subscribers at US$8. Ghost Publisher at US$29 breaks even at US$290 a month, about 37 subscribers (our arithmetic). Below those points, Substack's 10% costs less than the subscription.

Beyond price: your list, your domain and your inbox

Who owns the list and how to export it

All four platforms say you can take your list with you.

• Substack: the Terms of Use list subscriber lists among the things you own, and the features page says you can export your full publication data at any time, including your subscriber list.
• beehiiv: its export article, marked for all plans, offers a quick basic export or a full export with custom fields and statistics, from Settings, Export Data. The emailed download link is valid for 24 hours.
• Kit: its export article uses a bulk action on the Subscribers page. Exports include name, email, created date, status, tags, location, attribution data and custom fields. The emailed link expires after five days.
• Ghost: its exports article says owners and administrators can export members with their labels and subscription status as a CSV, from Settings, Advanced, Import/Export. On Ghost(Pro), the download link is emailed and expires after seven days.

Exporting emails isn't the same as moving paid subscribers. Their payment details sit in Stripe, so moving platforms is far easier when you hold the Stripe account yourself. If you're weighing that up, our guide to merchant of record vs Stripe explains who holds what.

Custom domains

Ghost includes a custom website domain on every plan; the others vary.

• Substack: the features page says it supports custom domains, including buying one through Substack. It doesn't print a price.
• beehiiv: custom domains are documented for paid plans.
• Kit: its domain article covers a verified sending domain but doesn't say which plans include it.
• Ghost: the pricing page marks a custom domain as included on all four plans. A custom sending domain is a separate thing: its help article says it needs Publisher or higher.

Deliverability, as each platform describes it

None of these platforms publish an inbox rate, so here's what each says it does.

• Substack: lists "managed email infrastructure" on its features page, with no figures.
• beehiiv: lists "optimized deliverability" on every plan. Its DMARC article says that once your domain is verified, beehiiv handles SPF and DKIM, and that since February 2024 every account on a custom domain needs a valid DMARC record.
• Kit: a verified sending domain sets up SPF, DKIM and DMARC through your DNS host. Kit warns that open rates may dip at first and should settle after two to three weeks of steady sending.
• Ghost: sends from its own ghost.io domain by default. If you add a custom sending domain, Ghost requires a DMARC record and phases it in over about six weeks.

Payouts outside the US

All four platforms pay you through Stripe, so Stripe's country list decides who can charge. Stripe's global availability page lists Australia, New Zealand and Singapore with direct sign-up. Indonesia and India appear only as Preview markets that route to Stripe's sales team, and the Philippines and Vietnam aren't listed.

Kit's own list of countries you can sell from leaves out Indonesia, India and the Philippines. beehiiv's Stripe article says Stripe is invitation-only in India. If your country isn't covered, the usual fix is a company in a supported country; our merchant of record guide covers the trade-offs.

Comparison table

All prices and fees checked on 26 October 2026 from the pages linked above.

Which one fits you

The right platform depends on what the newsletter is for, more than on the fee.

• Writers testing an idea: Substack. It costs nothing until you earn, and you can export everything later.
• Founders using a newsletter to find customers: Kit. 10,000 free subscribers, automations and a clean export suit a list that feeds a product. Our guide to getting your first customers without ads shows where a newsletter fits.
• Creators selling courses or templates alongside the newsletter: Kit or beehiiv; see our guide to selling digital products.
• Paid newsletters past about US$590 a month: beehiiv Lite or Ghost Publisher, so the 10% stays with you.
• Agencies and publishers who want a real website: Ghost, with 0% fees and your domain on every plan.

Common mistakes

Most people pick a newsletter platform on the headline price and regret one of these:

• Forgetting the fixed 30 cents. On an US$8 subscription, Stripe's 30 cents is 3.75% of every charge before any percentage fee.
• Staying on Substack too long. Above about US$590 a month in paid revenue, Substack's 10% costs more than beehiiv Lite.
• Comparing yearly and monthly prices. Ghost's prices are billed yearly, and beehiiv Lite at 1,000 subscribers is US$588 a year against US$708 if you pay monthly.
• Sizing the plan on paid subscribers only. beehiiv and Ghost price on your whole list, free readers included.
• Assuming Stripe works where you live. Check Stripe's country list before you launch a paid tier, especially from Indonesia, India or the Philippines.
• Skipping DMARC. beehiiv and Ghost both require it for a custom domain, and Kit's verified domain sets it up.
• Letting export links expire. beehiiv's link lasts 24 hours. Download your list as soon as the email arrives, and keep a copy every few months.
• Ignoring tax. Kit collects VAT only, and Substack starts adding tax to paid subscriptions from 1 December 2026. If you sell worldwide through your own Stripe account, the rest is on you.

Getting your first readers

A platform won't bring readers on its own; most newsletters start with people who already know you. Sharing what you're building in public is one of the cheapest ways to start, and our guide to building in public covers how. To compare notes with other founders growing an audience, join Remote Builders (it's free).