Best Newsletter Platforms for Indie Makers (2026)

The best newsletter platform for an indie maker depends on what the list is for. If your newsletter exists to sell your product, start on Kit's free plan (up to 10,000 subscribers). If the newsletter is the product, use beehiiv, which takes 0% of paid subscriptions. Choose Ghost for an owned website with paid memberships, and Substack if its reader network matters more to you than the 10% it keeps from paid subscriptions.

This is a tool comparison. If you want the tactics for getting subscribers in the first place (lead magnets, signup placement, launch lists), read our companion guide on how to build an email list as a bootstrapped founder. Every price, limit and fee below comes from the vendor's own page, checked on 6 Nov 2026. The recommendations are ours.

TL;DR#

• Kit: free up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited broadcasts, forms, landing pages and digital product sales. Paid Creator and Pro plans are priced by subscriber count and add automations and sequences (Kit help).
• beehiiv: free up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends. Lite starts at $49 a month billed annually and Pro at $95, and both take 0% of paid subscription revenue (beehiiv pricing).
• Ghost(Pro): Starter is $18 a month billed yearly for a website, custom domain and newsletter. Paid subscriptions need Publisher at $29 a month. Ghost takes 0% in transaction fees (Ghost pricing).
• Substack: free to publish at any list size. On paid subscriptions it keeps 10%, plus Stripe fees (Substack help).
• Pick by goal: lead gen goes to Kit, newsletter-as-product to beehiiv, owned site to Ghost and network discovery to Substack.

Disclosure: ZeroRaised publishes this guide and is a launch site for bootstrapped products. Facts come from the linked sources as checked on 6 Nov 2026. ZeroRaised has no commercial or affiliate relationship with beehiiv, Kit, Ghost or Substack.

Comparison table: beehiiv vs Kit vs Ghost vs Substack#

Two notes on the table. beehiiv and Kit both scale paid prices with list size, so the figure you pay depends on your subscriber count. And none of the 0% take rates make payments free: Stripe or another processor still charges its own fee on every paid subscription.

1. Kit (formerly ConvertKit): best for lists that sell a product#

Kit's free plan is the strongest $0 offer here for a maker who wants a list to support a product. According to Kit's help article on the free plan (updated 23 Sep 2026), it includes:

• Up to 10,000 email subscribers
• Unlimited forms and landing pages
• Unlimited email broadcasts
• Audience tagging and segmentation
• Digital products and subscriptions
• A/B testing on broadcasts
• Creator Network free recommendations
• API access

That last point matters for SaaS founders. With API access on the free plan, you can push signups from your app or waitlist straight into Kit and tag them by plan, feature interest or launch cohort.

What you pay for later: Kit's paid Creator and Pro plans unlock visual automations, email sequences, and rules and RSS campaigns. Kit's help article on Creator vs Pro says Creator is limited to two users. Pricing scales with subscriber count, so check Kit's pricing page for your tier rather than relying on a figure from a third party. Kit's pricing FAQ says there are no sending limits on any plan.

The trade-off: the free plan has no automated sequences. If you want a welcome series or onboarding drip to run on its own, budget for Creator. Until then, you can send a manual welcome broadcast to each week's new subscribers.

Pick Kit if: your newsletter is a way to warm people up for a product, a launch or a paid course, and you want segmentation and selling tools before you pay anything.

2. beehiiv: best when the newsletter is the product#

beehiiv is built for people whose newsletter is the business: sponsorships, paid tiers and audience growth. Its pricing page lists:

• Free: $0, up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited email sends, newsletter, website and podcast, and access to the recommendation network. beehiiv describes it as free forever up to 2,500 subscribers.
• Lite: from $49 a month billed annually, or $59 billed monthly.
• Pro: from $95 a month billed annually, or $109 billed monthly.

Paid prices rise with list size, so read the pricing slider for your own subscriber count.

Fees: beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on Lite and Pro (the 0% does not apply during a trial). Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 still applies to each payment. For a paid newsletter with a meaningful number of subscribers, that 0% is the main reason to choose beehiiv over Substack.

The trade-off: the free tier is a quarter the size of Kit's, and paid subscriptions mean moving to a paid plan. You are paying a monthly fee instead of a percentage, which works in your favour as paid revenue grows and against you if it never does.

Pick beehiiv if: you plan to charge readers, sell sponsorships or grow the newsletter as its own product, and want growth tools like the recommendation network in the same place.

3. Ghost: best for an owned site with memberships#

Ghost is a publishing platform first: a full website and blog with newsletters and memberships built in. Ghost(Pro) is the hosted version. Prices from Ghost's pricing page, billed yearly:

• Starter, $18/mo: your own website, free custom domain, email newsletter, 1,000 members, 1 staff user.
• Publisher, $29/mo: 3 staff users, custom themes, paid subscriptions, advanced analytics, 1,000 members.
• Business, $199/mo: 15 staff users, 10,000 members.

Fees: Ghost charges 0% in transaction fees. Your payment processor's fees still apply.

The trade-off: there is no hosted free plan, and if you want to charge readers you need Publisher or above. The member limits on the lower tiers are also tighter than Kit's or beehiiv's free subscriber caps. Ghost is open source, so technical makers can self-host it instead of paying for Ghost(Pro), at the cost of running the server and email delivery themselves.

Pick Ghost if: you want your blog, SEO content and newsletter on one domain you control. This pairs well with a content marketing system for a bootstrapped SaaS, where every post you publish is also an email and a search page.

4. Substack: best for network discovery#

Substack's pitch is reach. Readers already use its app and network, and publications can be found through it. According to Substack's help article on costs (updated 29 Oct 2026):

• Publishing is free regardless of subscriber count.
• On paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue.
• Stripe charges card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards, plus 0.7% for Stripe Billing on recurring payments.
• A custom domain is an optional one-time $50 fee.

The trade-off: you never pay a monthly bill, but every paid subscription carries Substack's 10% on top of Stripe's fees. For a free newsletter that is irrelevant. For a paid one, it is a percentage that grows with your revenue forever.

Pick Substack if: you are writing for an audience that already reads on Substack, discovery matters more than margin, and you want to start today with no setup cost.

Which newsletter platform should you pick? Decide by goal#

The four platforms overlap a lot. The fastest way to choose is to decide what job the newsletter does.

Your list is lead gen for a product: Kit#

If the newsletter exists to tell people about your app, your launch or your next paid release, you need a big free list, tagging and a way to sell. Kit's free plan gives you all three up to 10,000 subscribers, plus API access to connect your product. Upgrade when you need automated sequences.

The newsletter is the product: beehiiv#

If readers pay you, or sponsors do, the take rate becomes the biggest cost. beehiiv's 0% cut on paid subscriptions (on Lite and Pro) means you keep everything except processing fees, and its recommendation network helps you grow.

You want an owned site: Ghost#

If you care about owning the domain, the design and the SEO value of every post, Ghost gives you a full site with the newsletter attached. It is the closest thing to a self-hosted blog with memberships, and you can self-host the open source version if you prefer.

You want network discovery: Substack#

If you are starting from zero followers and your topic suits Substack's readers, its network can do some distribution for you. Accept the 10% as a marketing cost, and treat it as one of several free marketing channels for bootstrapped makers rather than your only one.

Fees and take rates, side by side#

Here is what happens to a paid subscription on each platform, using only the fees each company publishes:

• beehiiv (Lite or Pro): 0% to beehiiv, then Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30. You also pay the monthly plan fee.
• Ghost(Pro) Publisher and up: 0% transaction fee to Ghost, then your processor's fees. You also pay the monthly plan fee.
• Substack: 10% to Substack, plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 (US cards) and 0.7% Stripe Billing. No monthly fee.
• Kit: digital products and subscriptions are on the free plan. Check Kit's own pages for any fees on sales, because we did not verify a figure for this guide.

The rule of thumb: a flat monthly fee (beehiiv, Ghost) beats a percentage (Substack) once your paid revenue is large enough that 10% of it exceeds the plan price. Below that point, Substack's zero monthly cost is cheaper. Run the sum with your own numbers before you decide.

Can you switch platforms later?#

Yes, and you should plan for it. Your subscriber list is the asset, not the tool. Whichever platform you choose:

1. Export your list regularly so you are never locked in.
2. Use your own domain for the newsletter and signup pages where the plan allows it. Ghost includes a free custom domain, and Substack charges a one-time $50.
3. Keep signup forms on your own site pointing at the platform, so you can swap the destination without changing every link.
4. Move paid subscribers carefully, because payment migration is the hardest part of any switch. Read the destination platform's import docs before you announce anything.

Kit's free plan includes API access, which makes it easier to keep your app and your list in sync whichever tool you end up on.

Common mistakes when choosing a newsletter platform#

• Choosing on features you will not use for a year. Paid automations matter less than sending consistently. Start free.
• Ignoring the take rate on a paid newsletter. A percentage cut feels free at the start and expensive later.
• Picking a platform before deciding the newsletter's job. Lead gen and newsletter-as-product need different tools.
• Building only on someone else's network. Discovery is useful, but your own site and list are what you keep.
• Treating the platform as the strategy. No tool grows a list on its own. The tactics in our email list guide matter more than which logo is on the send button.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the best free newsletter platform for indie makers?#

Kit's free plan is the most generous of the four we checked, with up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, unlimited forms and landing pages, and digital product sales. beehiiv's free plan covers up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and Substack is free to publish at any list size if you never charge readers.

Which newsletter platform takes the smallest cut of paid subscriptions?#

beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on its paid plans, and Ghost says its transaction fee is 0%. In both cases Stripe's payment processing fees still apply. Substack keeps 10% of subscription revenue plus Stripe's fees.

Is Substack or beehiiv better for a paid newsletter?#

If you want to keep the most revenue and use growth tools, beehiiv is the better fit because it takes 0% of paid subscriptions on paid plans. Substack costs nothing up front but keeps 10% of paid revenue, which you are paying in exchange for its reader network and app.

Can I use Ghost as my product's blog and newsletter at the same time?#

Yes. Every Ghost(Pro) plan includes a website, a free custom domain and an email newsletter, so posts and emails live in one place. Starter is $18 a month billed yearly; you need Publisher at $29 a month for paid subscriptions and custom themes. Ghost is also open source, so you can self-host it instead.

How much does Kit cost once I outgrow the free plan?#

Kit's paid Creator and Pro plans are priced by subscriber count, so check Kit's pricing page for your tier. They add visual automations, email sequences and RSS campaigns. Kit says there are no sending limits on any plan.

Where ZeroRaised fits#

A newsletter compounds best when people keep finding your product in the first place. ZeroRaised is a launch directory for products built without institutional VC or accelerator equity, and listing is free: submit your product and link your newsletter signup from the listing. For more tool comparisons and growth guides for bootstrapped makers, join the ZeroRaised newsletter.

Sources#

• beehiiv pricing, checked 6 Nov 2026
• Kit help: the Kit free plan, checked 6 Nov 2026
• Kit pricing, checked 6 Nov 2026
• Ghost pricing, checked 6 Nov 2026
• Substack help: how much does Substack cost?, checked 6 Nov 2026