Monetization
How to make money from a newsletter, and what each platform keeps
By FlockStackPublished
A newsletter earns money in two main ways: readers pay for it, or sponsors pay to reach those readers. Readers can pay for a paid subscription or for a digital product. Which platform you use decides how much of each sale you keep, because some take a share and some don't, and every card payment also carries Stripe's fees. This post sets out what eight platforms take, works through one month of subscription revenue on each, and shows how many paying readers it takes to cover a plan. It uses no earnings statistics: none of the platforms' pages gives one, and a figure with no source would be made up.
Three ways a newsletter earns
- Paid subscriptions. Readers pay each month or year for the issues, or for the paid ones. This is what most of the platforms below sell.
- Digital products. A reader buys a guide, a template or a download once. Kit, MailerLite and FlockStack list them.
- Sponsors and ads. A sponsor pays you, or an ad network does. beehiiv's pricing page lists an ad network from its Lite plan and a sponsorship storefront on Pro, as we read it on October 20, 2026. FlockStack has neither, and the rest of this post does not price them, because what a sponsor pays depends on your audience and no platform page says.
What each platform takes of a paid subscription
| Platform | Its share of a paid subscription | Where paid subscriptions start |
|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | 0%, with Stripe's fees on top | Lite; the Free plan has none |
| Buttondown | No cut beyond Stripe's fees | An add-on on the free tier, included on the paid tiers we read |
| FlockStack | 0%, with Stripe's fees on top | Every plan, the Free plan included |
| Ghost | 0%, with Stripe's fees on top | Publisher; Starter has none |
| Kit | 3.5% + $0.30 a transaction, card processing included | Every plan, the Free plan included |
| Mailchimp | Not listed: its pricing pages list no paid newsletter feature | Not listed |
| MailerLite | 0%, with Stripe's fees on top | Comfort; the Free plan has none |
| Substack | 10%, with Stripe's fees on top | Every publication, at no charge to publish |
Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + $0.30 for a domestic card. Substack's help center also lists a Stripe Billing fee of 0.7% on recurring payments, which the next table leaves out.
One month, worked out
A weekly newsletter to 10,000 subscribers, 500 of them paying $8 a month, so $4,000 in subscription revenue a month. The "Left" column is revenue less the plan, the platform's share and card processing. Kit's fee includes card processing, so its processing column is zero. Mailchimp lists no fee for paid newsletters, so it is shown as not listed rather than zero. Taxes, Apple's fee on in-app purchases and Stripe Billing's own fee are left out of every row.
| Platform | Plan a month | Platform's share of sales | Card processing | Left of $4,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $139 (Lite) | $0 | $266 | $3,595 |
| FlockStack | $29 (Growth) | $0 | $266 | $3,705 |
| Ghost | $105 (Publisher) | $0 | $266 | $3,629 |
| Kit | $0 (Free) | $290 | $0 | $3,710 |
| Mailchimp | $110 (Essentials) | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| MailerLite | $89 (Comfort) | $0 | $266 | $3,645 |
| Substack | $0 (Free to use) | $400 | $266 | $3,334 |
Two things to read in it. First, a platform that takes nothing of sales can still leave less than one that takes a share, if its plan costs more: read the Left column against the plan and share columns, not the share alone. Second, Kit's Free plan sells subscriptions for its transaction fee with no plan to pay, which is why it can come out close to a paid plan elsewhere. It has no automations on Free, and its price rises as the list passes its limit.
How many paying readers cover the plan
Divide the plan's monthly price by what one paying reader leaves after the platform's share and card processing. The result is the number of paying readers whose subscriptions pay for the plan, and nothing else.
| Platform | Plan for 10,000 subscribers, a month | What one reader paying $8 leaves | Paying readers to cover the plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $139 (Lite) | $7.47 | 19 |
| FlockStack | $29 (Growth) | $7.47 | 4 |
| Ghost | $105 (Publisher) | $7.47 | 15 |
| Kit | $139 (Creator) | $7.42 | 19 |
| MailerLite | $89 (Comfort) | $7.47 | 12 |
Substack has no plan to cover, so it is not in the table: it takes its share of each sale instead. These are the platforms' prices at 10,000 subscribers, billed monthly, read on October 21, 2026. The figure leaves out your time, your other costs and whether any reader pays. A smaller list has a smaller plan: FlockStack's Free plan costs nothing.
Choosing by what you keep
- You will charge from the start and have a small list. A plan with no fixed price, such as Substack's, costs nothing until you earn, then 10% of each sale. Against that 10%, a platform that lists 0% costs less once its monthly price is under a tenth of your subscription revenue: FlockStack's smallest paid plan ($9 a month) costs the same as 10% on $90 a month.
- You expect to earn a lot. A percentage grows with revenue and a plan does not, so the plan price matters less and the share matters more.
- You want to sell products as well. Check that the plan you need sells them. Kit, MailerLite and FlockStack list digital products; the paid newsletter platform page says how FlockStack does.
- You want sponsors. Look at the ad tools each platform lists before you decide. FlockStack has none.
What this post leaves out
It compares what each platform's own pages say, read on October 21, 2026, for one example month. It does not rate any platform, and it cannot say how many readers will pay you. Platforms change their fees and plans, so check the pages in the sources before you decide. What Substack costs, Kit pricing, beehiiv pricing and FlockStack vs Ghost go deeper on four of them. FlockStack is one of the eight, so read this as a vendor's page, and not affiliated with any of the others.
Sources
- Substack's help center: the 10% fee on paid subscriptions, Stripe's processing fees on top, and that publishing is free: support.substack.com, checked
- beehiiv's pricing page: a 0% take rate on paid subscriptions and digital products, paid subscriptions from the Lite plan, and the price by list size: www.beehiiv.com, checked
- Kit's help center on selling: the 3.5% + $0.30 transaction fee with card processing included, on every plan: help.kit.com, checked
- Kit's pricing page: the Creator plan's price by list size, and the Free plan's limit: kit.com, checked
- Ghost's help center on transaction fees: none from Ghost, Stripe's only: ghost.org, checked
- Ghost's pricing page: paid subscriptions from the Publisher plan, and the price by members: ghost.org, checked
- MailerLite's page on paid newsletters: 0% commission and Stripe's fees only, from the Comfort plan, and its price by subscribers: www.mailerlite.com, checked
- Buttondown's page on its Stripe integration: no cut of paid subscriptions beyond Stripe's fees: buttondown.com, checked
- Mailchimp's pricing pages, which list no paid newsletter feature: mailchimp.com, checked
- Stripe's US pricing: 2.9% + $0.30 for a domestic card payment: stripe.com, checked
- beehiiv's pricing page as first read on October 20, 2026: an ad network from Lite and a sponsorship storefront on Pro: www.beehiiv.com, checked
- FlockStack's README: selling with no application fee, on every plan: github.com, checked
Questions
- How do newsletters make money?
- Mostly three ways: readers pay for paid subscriptions, readers buy digital products, or sponsors and advertisers pay to reach the audience. Platforms differ in which they support and in what they keep. Substack keeps 10% of paid subscriptions, while beehiiv, Ghost, MailerLite and FlockStack list 0%, and Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 a transaction. Stripe's processing fees apply on top at most of them.
- Can you make money on Substack?
- Yes, by turning on paid subscriptions. Publishing is free, and Substack's help center says it keeps 10% of subscription revenue, with Stripe's processing fees on top. On the example month in this post, Substack keeps $400 of $4,000 in subscription revenue.
- How many subscribers do you need to make money?
- No platform page we read gives a figure, and this post does not invent one. What can be worked out is how many paying readers cover the platform's own price, which the break-even table shows, at 10,000 subscribers and $8 a month. It leaves out your time.
- Which newsletter platform keeps the least of your sales?
- It depends on the plan you need. On the example month, platforms that list 0% leave more than ones that take a share, but their plan prices differ, and Kit's Free plan sells subscriptions at a transaction fee with no plan to pay. The table shows what is left on each.
- Does FlockStack take a cut of paid subscriptions?
- No. FlockStack sets no application fee, so it takes 0% of subscriptions, gifts and products, on every plan including Free. Readers pay your own Stripe account, and Stripe's processing fees apply.
Work out your own month
Enter your subscribers, how often you send and how many readers pay you, and compare the estimates.
Open the calculator