Best newsletter platforms in 2026

Newsletter platforms for founders, small businesses and creators who want to grow an opted-in list, from free publishing with a revenue share (Substack) to subscription-priced email platforms with automations (Kit, MailerLite, AWeber) and publishing sites with paid memberships (beehiiv, Ghost). Every price comes from the vendor's own pricing page and most rise with your subscriber count.

For small teams: see every small team friendly sales tool (free plan or free trial, self-serve, $50/mo or less) and your first sales tool stack for under $100/month.

How this list works: Substack (free to publish, revenue share on paid subscriptions) first, then ordered by lowest listed paid entry price. Entry prices are quoted at each vendor's smallest list size, so compare at your own subscriber count. Pricing verified against vendor pages (latest check 2026-11-12). No placement here is paid. Methodology.

Affiliate links: we may earn a commission; it never affects rankings. Disclosure

Black Friday 2026: Kit has a confirmed, vendor-published deal. See verified Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals (codes, dates and sources).

Tool	What it is	Priced by	Price (vendor-published)	Free plan	Channels
Substack	Newsletter, podcast and community publishing platform that is free to use and takes 10% of revenue when you charge for subscriptions.	10% of paid subscriptions	Free to publish, no matter how many subscribers; if you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment, plus Stripe fees (2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment and 0.7% Stripe Billing on recurring payments); optional custom domain one-time $50; no monthly plans	Yes	email
Moosend Visit Moosend ↗	Low-cost email marketing and automation platform with landing pages, sign-up forms and an AI writer.	Contacts	Pro $9/mo paying monthly, $7/mo billed annually (save 20%) or 15% off biannual, as shown for its smallest contact tier; price rises with contacts; Moosend+ (larger lists, transactional email, dedicated IPs, SSO) by quote; 30-day free trial, no card (unlimited sends for up to 1,000 contacts)	—	email
Brevo	Email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing platform with a built-in sales CRM (formerly Sendinblue).	Emails sent per month	Marketing plans billed annually (10% off): Starter $8.08/mo ($9 monthly, from 5,000 emails/mo), Standard $16.17/mo ($18), Professional $449.08/mo ($499, from 150,000 emails); Enterprise from $2,499/mo; Sales CRM add-ons: Sales Essentials $27.92/mo, Sales Advanced $58.50/user/mo	—	email, sms
MailerLite	Email marketing platform with newsletters, automations, landing pages and sign-up forms, plus an MCP server for AI assistants.	Subscribers (from 500)	Priced by subscribers (shown for 500): Free $0 (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats); Comfort $10.80/mo billed yearly ($129.60/yr; $12 monthly, 5,000 emails/mo); Power $22.50/mo billed yearly ($270/yr; $25 monthly, unlimited monthly emails); prices rise with subscribers; 14-day free trial, no card	Yes	email
AWeber Visit AWeber ↗	Email marketing platform for small businesses and creators, with automations, landing pages, sign-up forms and an AI writing assistant.	Subscribers (from 500)	Priced by subscribers (shown for 500): Lite $12.50/mo billed annually ($15 monthly; 1 email list, 3 landing pages, 3 automations, 3 users); Plus $20/mo billed annually ($30 monthly; unlimited lists, landing pages, automations and users, removes AWeber branding); Plus at 1,000 subscribers $45/mo monthly ($450/yr); 100,000+ subscribers by quote; optional Done For You setup shown at $79 (limited-time, list $599); 14-day free trial	—	email
Mailchimp	Email marketing platform with automations, audience management and basic CRM features.	Contacts	Free plan (limited features); paid plans start at Essentials $13/mo, Standard $20/mo and Premium $350/mo, rising with contacts; 15% off on 10,000+ contacts; 14-day Standard trial; pay-as-you-go email credits also sold; overages apply above contact or send limits	Yes	email, sms
Ghost	Open-source publishing platform for newsletters, membership sites and paid subscriptions, sold as hosted Ghost(Pro) plans.	Members (from 1,000)	Ghost(Pro) hosted plans priced by members (shown for 1,000): Starter $15/mo billed yearly ($18 monthly; website, email newsletter, free custom domain); Publisher $29/mo yearly ($35 monthly; 3 staff users, paid subscriptions, custom themes, 8,000+ integrations); Business $199/mo yearly ($239 monthly; 15 staff users, 10,000 members); Custom plans via sales; "no payment fees"; free trial	—	email
GetResponse	Email marketing platform with automations, landing pages, webinars and course tools for marketers and small businesses.	Contacts (from 1,000)	Priced by list size (shown for 1,000 contacts), unlimited monthly sends: Starter $19/mo monthly ($15.58/mo paid annually), Marketer $59 ($48.38), Creator $69 ($56.58); Enterprise custom; 12-month prepay saves 18%; Free account with a GetResponse badge and limited features; 14-day free trial of premium features	Yes	email
Kit Visit Kit ↗	Email marketing and newsletter platform for creators (formerly ConvertKit), with automations, landing pages, paid newsletters and digital product sales.	Subscribers (from 1,000)	Priced by subscribers (shown for 1,000): Free $0 up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/mo billed yearly ($390/yr, pay yearly saves 17%); Pro $66/mo billed yearly, shown at $50/mo ($593) for the first year in a limited-time offer; unlimited email sends on every plan; 14-day free trial of Creator and Pro, no card; 30-day refund	Yes	email
beehiiv	Newsletter platform with a website, paid subscriptions, ad network monetization, automations and referral tools.	Subscribers (from 1,000)	Priced by subscribers (shown for 1,000): Free $0 forever (up to 2,500 subscribers); Lite $49/mo billed yearly ($59 monthly, up to 100,000 subscribers); Pro $95/mo billed yearly ($109 monthly, up to 250,000, removes branding); Enterprise custom; unlimited email sends; 0% take on paid subscriptions; free trial on Lite and Pro, no card	Yes	email

Prices for these 10 tools change often. Get verified pricing changes and new tools in one free weekly email.

FAQ

What is the best free newsletter platform?

Substack is free to publish with any number of subscribers and keeps 10% only if you charge for subscriptions. Among subscription platforms, Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, beehiiv's up to 2,500 and MailerLite's 250; Mailchimp and GetResponse also list free plans with limited features.

Substack vs beehiiv vs Kit: which costs less?

For a free newsletter, Substack and the free plans of Kit and beehiiv all cost $0. For a paid newsletter, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue plus Stripe fees, while beehiiv (Lite $49/mo billed yearly) takes 0% of paid subscriptions and Kit Creator is $33/mo billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers. At about $490 a month in paid revenue, Substack's 10% already equals beehiiv Lite's yearly-billed price, and Kit Creator or Ghost(Pro) Publisher (both priced at 1,000 subscribers or members) cost less than that.

What is the cheapest paid newsletter platform?

On published entry prices: Moosend Pro $7/mo billed annually ($9 monthly), Brevo Starter $8.08/mo billed annually, MailerLite Comfort $10.80/mo billed yearly at 500 subscribers, AWeber Lite $12.50/mo billed annually at 500 subscribers and Mailchimp Essentials from $13/mo.

Can I use a newsletter platform for cold email?

No. Newsletter and email marketing platforms require opted-in subscribers. For outbound prospecting, use a cold email tool with separate sending mailboxes; see our cold email software pricing page.

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