We may earn a commission when you sign up through some links on this page, and the owner of this site is an investor in beehiiv. Prices below are what each platform publishes on its own site, read on November 10, 2026.
A blog lives on search and social traffic that someone else controls. A newsletter is the part of your audience you keep: when an algorithm changes, your list still opens your email. The hard part is choosing where to run it, because every platform is free to start and the costs show up later, as a monthly fee by list size or as a cut of what you charge. Here are five platforms bloggers commonly use, what each one is built for, and what each one says it costs.
The short version
- Built to grow a list and earn from it: beehiiv.
- The biggest free list, and selling your own products: Kit, free up to 10,000 subscribers.
- A built-in reader network, and paying only when you charge: Substack, which keeps 10% of paid subscriptions.
- Your blog and your newsletter on one site you own: Ghost.
- The cheapest way to email a small list: MailerLite, free for 2,500 emails a month.
| Platform | Free plan | First paid step | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | Yes | Lite, $49 a month | Growing a list and earning from it |
| Kit | Up to 10,000 subscribers | Creator from $39 a month | Creators selling products and courses |
| Substack | Free to publish | 10% of paid subscriptions, plus Stripe fees | Writers who want a built-in reader network |
| Ghost(Pro) | No | Starter $21 a month, billed yearly | Blog and newsletter on one site you control |
| MailerLite | 2,500 emails a month | From $12 a month | Small lists on a small budget |
1. beehiiv, built to grow a newsletter and earn from it
Published price: a free plan for creators getting started, then Lite at $49 a month for those ready to grow faster and start monetizing. Pro and Enterprise sit above it, and paid plans are priced by subscriber tier.
Why bloggers pick it: growth and monetization are the product, not add-ons, so it suits a blog that wants the newsletter to become a business of its own.
2. Kit, the largest free plan
Published price: free for up to 10,000 subscribers. The Creator plan starts at $39 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers, and Pro at $79, with two months free on annual billing.
Why bloggers pick it: the free plan carries a large list for a long time, and Kit is built for creators who sell their own products and courses to that list.
3. Substack, a reader network and no fee until you charge
Published price: free to publish. If you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue, and Stripe charges its own processing fees.
Why bloggers pick it: readers discover writers inside Substack itself, and you pay nothing until readers pay you. The trade-off is that the 10% grows with your success.
4. Ghost, your blog and newsletter on one site
Published price: Ghost(Pro) Starter is $21 a month and Publisher $29 a month for up to 1,000 members, and Business $199 a month for up to 10,000, each billed yearly.
Why bloggers pick it: Ghost is a full publishing platform, so the blog, the members and the newsletter live on one site you control, instead of a blog in one place and a list in another.
5. MailerLite, the cheapest start for a small list
Published price: free for up to 2,500 emails a month, with paid plans from $12 a month.
Why bloggers pick it: for a blog that sends one roundup a week to a few hundred readers, it costs the least while the list is small.
Questions people ask
Is a newsletter worth it for a small blog?
Yes, if readers come back for your topic. Search and social traffic changes with every algorithm update; an email list is the part of the audience that stays reachable.
Which platform is cheapest?
For a small list, MailerLite and Kit’s free plans cost nothing; Substack costs nothing until you charge readers. Check each one’s price at 5,000 and 25,000 subscribers before you commit.
Can I move my list later?
Every platform here exports subscribers, so the list stays yours. Paid subscriptions and design take more work to move.
How to choose
If the newsletter is the business, pick for growth and monetization tools, because those decide your income, not the monthly fee.
If the blog is the business, pick for what is cheapest at your list size, and check what the price becomes at 5,000 and 25,000 subscribers before you commit.
If you plan to charge readers, compare a flat monthly fee with a percentage of revenue at the income you expect in a year. A percentage is cheap at the start and expensive at scale.
Whichever you pick, put the signup form on your blog from the first day. Every reader who leaves without subscribing is one you have to win again from search.
