Newsletter platform take rates in 2026

Substack takes 10% of every paid subscription transaction, in addition to the standard Stripe processing fee (roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). The 10% is the Substack platform fee and it does not phase out at any subscriber count. There is no plan to upgrade to that removes it; the rev share IS the business model.

What this looks like at three sizes, on a $10/month subscription:

• 100 paying subscribers ($1k MRR): $100/mo to Substack, plus ~$60 Stripe. You keep ~$840/mo. Annualized Substack take: $1,200.
• 1,000 paying subscribers ($10k MRR): $1,000/mo to Substack, plus ~$590 Stripe. You keep ~$8,410/mo. Annualized Substack take: $12,000.
• 5,000 paying subscribers ($50k MRR): $5,000/mo to Substack, plus ~$2,950 Stripe. You keep ~$42,050/mo. Annualized Substack take: $60,000.

You get the discovery network, Notes, the recommendations system, and the Substack reader app in exchange. Whether that distribution surface is worth the rev share is a judgment call that depends on how much of your subscriber growth actually comes from it. For publications that grew on Substack early and the network effect was real, it often was. For publications that grew through off-platform channels (X, podcast, SEO), the distribution surface delivered less than the rev share cost.

The migration we see most often: substack-to-beehiiv for publications that want a like-for-like product without the rev share, and substack-to-ghost for publications that want to own the platform end-to-end.

beehiiv takes 0% of paid subscription revenue on every paid plan. You pay a flat monthly platform fee that scales with subscriber count: free up to 2,500 subscribers (Launch), $43/mo (Scale), $96/mo (Max). Stripe processing fees still apply.

The structural insight: beehiiv has converted the rev share into a flat fee. At small subscriber counts the flat fee can be more expensive than 10% of a tiny revenue line; past the crossover point the flat fee is a strictly cheaper deal. The crossover depends on your conversion rate (free-to-paid) and your average subscription price.

Same three sizes on a $10/month subscription, comparing platform cost only (Stripe is identical):

• 100 paying subscribers, 2,000 free total ($1k MRR): beehiiv Launch is free at this scale. Platform cost: $0/mo. Substack at the same revenue would cost $100/mo in rev share. beehiiv saves ~$100/mo.
• 1,000 paying subscribers, 5,000 free total ($10k MRR): beehiiv Scale at $43/mo (above 2,500 free-tier limit). Platform cost: $43/mo. Substack at the same revenue would cost $1,000/mo. beehiiv saves ~$957/mo, or ~$11,484/yr.
• 5,000 paying subscribers, 20,000 free total ($50k MRR): beehiiv Max at $96/mo. Platform cost: $96/mo. Substack at the same revenue: $5,000/mo. beehiiv saves ~$4,904/mo, or ~$58,848/yr.

Beyond the math, beehiiv ships a referral program (subscriber- driven growth without paid acquisition), an opt-in recommendations network with other publications, and an ad network for sponsorship monetization. Detailed split rates for the ad network vary and are not publicly enumerated; talk to beehiiv directly before modeling that revenue line.

Try beehiiv Affiliate link. We earn a commission if you sign up; this does not change ranking or pricing.

The three remaining 0%-take-rate platforms in our spine each arrive at it through a different product shape.

Ghost (open-source). Ghost is open-source publishing software with built-in newsletter, member-only content, and paid subscriptions. There is no Ghost rev share at any plan. You can self-host Ghost on your own infrastructure (zero platform cost, your sysadmin time) or use Ghost(Pro) for managed hosting starting at $9/mo Starter. Stripe fees still apply on paid subscriptions. The migration pattern: substack-to-ghost for publishers who want to own the stack and have the technical comfort to run a CMS.

Kit (formerly ConvertKit). Kit's Creator plan starts at $33/mo with built-in tag-based subscriber organization, digital-product commerce, and paid newsletter subscriptions. Kit itself takes 0% on paid subscriptions; if you sell digital products through Kit Commerce, that surface charges a small processing fee (Kit Commerce + Stripe combined, separate from subscription billing). Best fit: creators where email plus commerce is the stack, not just the publication. substack-to-kit is the canonical move when you want commerce alongside the newsletter.

Buttondown. Buttondown is the indie minimalist newsletter tool: clean markdown editor, transparent a-la-carte add-on pricing ($9 / $29 / $79 add-ons that toggle features like analytics, paid subs, custom-domain archive). 0% take rate on paid subs; the $9 add-on enables paid-subscription billing itself. Best fit: technical writers, indie hackers, and privacy-first publications where the writing experience and the editorial control matter more than growth tooling.

Three honest cases where Substack's 10% is the right call despite the math above:

• You have not validated paid demand yet. Below roughly $200/mo in paid subscription revenue, the rev share takes $20 and you save zero meaningful platform cost elsewhere. Substack is functionally free for unvalidated publications and that is genuinely useful.
• Substack's distribution is doing real work for you. The Notes social layer, the recommendations engine, the reader app: if these are net new subscribers (not subscribers you would have gotten from other channels anyway), the rev share is paying for distribution at a CAC most newsletter operators cannot match elsewhere. Track the source of new paid subs before deciding.
• You publish a podcast as the primary format. Substack's podcast hosting is bundled and the player surfaces in the reader app. beehiiv supports a podcast feed but is text-first; Ghost has no native podcast hosting. The audio-first publication is the case where Substack's bundle economics genuinely beat the alternatives.

Outside those three, the migration math tilts against Substack progressively as you scale. We track the live pricing for every platform in this post on /pricing/email-marketing and the side-by-side editorial-fit ranking on /best/email-marketing . The full set of migration guides between these tools is indexed on /migrate .