MailerLite #6 vs Substack #8 of 9 on /best/email-marketing
MailerLite vs Substack
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for MailerLite and Substack, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Substack
- Standard
Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue
Free
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
When Substack wins
- New writers with no list yet who want platform-driven discovery
- Writers who would rather give 10% of revenue than pay a flat $20-100/month with no readers
Where Substack is the wrong fit
- Established creators with a paid list above ~5,000 subscribers; the 10% share exceeds what Kit, Ghost, or beehiiv would charge in flat fees at that scale
- Operators who want full control over deliverability, subscriber data, and migration optionality
- Brands needing automations, segmentation, or marketing tooling
Compare across the category
This page is MailerLite vs Substack. To put both side by side with every other email marketing tool we track on a single price-only table, see the email marketing pricing comparison . Free tiers, entry paid plans, and mid-tier plans for the full email marketing cohort.
Common questions
- Is MailerLite cheaper than Substack?
- Both MailerLite and Substack have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does MailerLite or Substack have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. MailerLite: Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month. Substack: Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue.
- Are MailerLite and Substack in the same category?
- Yes. Both are primarily email marketing tools, which is why this is a natural head-to-head comparison.
- Which has more plans, MailerLite or Substack?
- MailerLite ships 4 plans; Substack ships 1. MailerLite's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to MailerLite or Substack?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/mailerlite for MailerLite and /alternatives/substack for Substack. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing · Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.