Best newsletter platform to make money in 2026: beehiiv, Kit, Substack and Ghost compared

We earn a commission if you sign up through our links, at no cost to you.

The best newsletter platform for making money depends on two numbers: how much you earn from readers and how large your list is. A 10% fee is trivial at $100 a month and painful at $5,000. This guide compares beehiiv, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), Substack and Ghost on what each charges and what each lets you sell, using the vendors’ own pages read on 6 November 2026. We earn from beehiiv links, so we have tried to say plainly where beehiiv loses.

The comparison table

	beehiiv	Kit	Substack	Ghost
Free plan	Up to 2,500 subscribers	Up to 10,000 subscribers	Free at any size	None shown; plans have a “Try for free” button
Cheapest plan that charges readers	Lite, $49/mo at 1,000 subscribers (yearly billing)	Free plan includes subscriptions and products	Free, 10% fee when you charge	Publisher, $29/mo at 1,000 members (yearly billing)
Platform cut of paid revenue	0%	Included in 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction	10%	0% transaction fees listed
Payment processor	Stripe, 2.9% + $0.30	Stripe (included in the 3.5% + $0.30)	Stripe, 2.9% + $0.30, plus 0.7% Billing	Not listed on pricing page
Ads	Ad monetization on paid plans	Kit Ads (programmatic) exists; plan terms not verified	Not covered on pages checked	Ad networks listed from Publisher
Sell digital products	Yes, 0% commission	Yes, every plan	Not covered on pages checked	Not listed on pricing page
Sends	Unlimited	Unlimited broadcasts	Not capped on fee page	Unlimited

What an $8 monthly reader is worth

Per web payment of $8 a month, using the published rates:

Platform	Fees per $8 payment	You keep (approx.)
beehiiv Lite	$0.53 (Stripe)	$7.47
Kit	$0.58 (3.5% + $0.30)	$7.42
Substack	$0.80 + $0.53 + $0.06 = $1.39	$6.61
Ghost	0% from Ghost; processor fees not listed	Not stated

The numbers are our arithmetic on published rates. beehiiv’s page does not mention a recurring-billing charge, and Ghost’s page does not state processor fees, so treat those rows as incomplete.

A worked example: 250 paying readers at $8

That is $2,000 a month gross. All-in monthly cost, platform plan plus fees, assuming a 5,000-subscriber list:

Platform	Monthly cost	Calculation
Kit (free plan, under 10,000)	about $145	250 x ($0.28 + $0.30)
beehiiv Lite (5,000 subscribers)	about $228	$95 plan + 250 x $0.532
Substack	about $347	$200 platform + 250 x $0.588
Ghost	not computed	Prices at 5,000 members were not verified

Kit comes out cheapest here because its free plan covers the list and its per-sale rate is low. beehiiv beats Substack at this size because $95 is less than the $200 Substack takes. It does not beat Kit on cost, so the reason to pick it is its ad tools and paid-plan features, or a list that outgrows Kit’s free cap (Kit’s paid prices for larger lists are not verified here).

Platform by platform

beehiiv

beehiiv’s pricing page lists paid subscriptions with a 0% take rate and ad monetization from Lite, which is $49 a month at 1,000 subscribers, $119 at 10,000 and $249 at 50,000 on yearly billing. Digital product sales also carry 0% commission. Pro, at $95, $199 and $399 for the same sizes, adds webinars and coaching, advanced analytics and branding removal. The page shows an “average” ad income of $39 a month at 1,000 subscribers, rising to $255 at 50,000; that is beehiiv’s own figure, not a promise. The weak spots: the free plan cannot charge readers, and the monthly price grows with your list. See the full price table in our beehiiv pricing guide or test it on the free plan.

Kit (ConvertKit)

Kit’s help center says the Free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers and includes digital products and subscriptions, A/B testing on broadcasts and the Creator Network. Selling in USD costs 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction, with no monthly fee for commerce. Automations, sequences and earning from Paid Recommendations need a paid plan. Its help center lists starting prices for up to 1,000 subscribers of $39 a month for Creator and $79 for Pro. Kit’s pricing page blocked our automated browser, so we could not read prices for larger lists. Kit’s help center also says Paid Recommendations in the Creator Network carry a 20% service fee plus a 3.5% transaction fee per successful referral. See beehiiv vs Kit (ConvertKit) for a feature-by-feature view.

Substack

Publishing is free at any size, and Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue plus Stripe’s fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment and 0.7% for recurring billing. A custom domain is a one-time $50. Its about page says writers keep 90% minus card fees, and claims more than half of new subscribers come from within Substack’s network. That network is the case for Substack: it can bring readers you would not reach alone. The case against is the fee once revenue grows. At $2,000 a month the platform cut is $200; at $10,000 it is $1,000. Details in beehiiv vs Substack.

Ghost

Ghost is priced by members. Its pricing page, at the 1,000-member setting, shows Starter at $15 a month, Publisher at $29 and Business at $199 (billed yearly), with a custom tier above. Paid subscriptions, tips and donations, and premium tiers need Publisher or above; Starter has none of them. Publisher includes 3 premium tiers and 15 special offers, and Business raises that to 10 tiers and 50 offers. Ghost lists 0% transaction fees on the plans that can charge. Starter and Publisher show 1,000 members, Business shows 10,000, so list size matters. The page lists “ad networks” as a feature from Publisher. We did not verify prices at 5,000 or 50,000 members, so work out Ghost’s cost for your list on its slider.

What each plan does not do

• beehiiv: no paid subscriptions on the free plan; price rises with list size.
• Kit: automations and sequences are paid-only; we could not verify its pricing beyond 1,000 subscribers.
• Substack: 10% of every payment, plus Stripe fees; its fee page lists no tiers or ad tools.
• Ghost: no free plan on the pricing page; Starter cannot charge readers.

Which to pick

Your situation	Pick
New, no audience, unsure you will earn	Substack (nothing upfront) or Kit Free
Under 10,000 subscribers, selling products and a paid newsletter	Kit Free
Earning from ads and subscriptions, growing past 2,500	beehiiv Lite or Pro
You want a custom website and membership tiers	Ghost Publisher
Earning enough that 10% is real money	beehiiv or Ghost

Verdict

For most writers who expect to earn from both ads and subscriptions, beehiiv is the best fit among the four because both are on one paid plan with no cut. For the smallest budgets, Kit’s free plan is the better start. If you expect little revenue, Substack costs the least until you earn. Ghost fits publishers who want their own site and membership tiers more than a newsletter tool. Try beehiiv free and compare against the numbers above, or see how it handles a move from Mailchimp in beehiiv vs Mailchimp. When you are ready to monetize, check beehiiv’s Lite plan for your list size.