Best Substack alternatives (no 10% revenue cut)

Substack is free to publish but keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus Stripe fees. These alternatives charge a flat monthly plan instead, and several have free plans, so they can cost less once a paid newsletter earns more than a few hundred dollars a month.

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: Ordered by lowest listed paid entry price. Check each plan's subscriber limit and whether it supports paid subscriptions. Pricing verified against vendor pages (latest check 2026-11-11). 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	Price (vendor-published)	Free plan	Channels
Moosend Visit Moosend ↗	Low-cost email marketing and automation platform with landing pages, sign-up forms and an AI writer.	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
MailerLite	Email marketing platform with newsletters, automations, landing pages and sign-up forms, plus an MCP server for AI assistants.	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.	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.	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.	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.	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.	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.	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 8 tools change often. Get verified pricing changes and new tools in one free weekly email.

FAQ

When is a Substack alternative cheaper?

Substack's cost is 10% of paid revenue. At $1,000 a month in paid subscriptions that is $100 a month, more than beehiiv Lite ($49/mo billed yearly, 0% take on paid subscriptions), Kit Creator ($33/mo billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers) or Ghost(Pro) Publisher ($29/mo billed yearly at 1,000 members). For a free newsletter, Substack costs nothing.

Which Substack alternatives support paid subscriptions?

beehiiv, Ghost (Publisher plan and above) and Kit support paid subscriptions. beehiiv lists 0% take on paid subscriptions and Ghost says there are no payment fees; your payment processor still charges its own fees.

Which Substack alternatives are free?

Kit's free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers, beehiiv's up to 2,500 and MailerLite's 250, and Mailchimp and GetResponse list free plans with limited features.

Compare tools from this list

Related roundups

Free weekly newsletter

The SDR List Weekly

One quick email a week on AI sales tools: pricing changes (with sources), new tools worth a look, and one useful comparison. Less tab-hopping, more pipeline.

No spam, unsubscribe anytime. You'll get a quick confirmation email first.