“Best for simplicity”
“Substack makes it very easy to start publishing and introduce paid subscriptions.”
“Recommendations and discovery through the Substack network.”
“The downside is less control over your publication's design and branding compared with Ghost.”
“Best for growth”
“beehiiv is built specifically for newsletter businesses.”
“Multiple monetisation options.”
“Referral and recommendation systems.”
“beehiiv advertises 0% platform commission on paid subscriptions.”
“My strongest recommendation for publishing”
“Ghost is particularly good if you want to build a publication that looks and feels like your own media brand.”
“Multiple paid membership tiers.”
“Ghost takes no additional percentage of subscription revenue, although payment processing fees apply.”
“You get a proper publication website, not just an email list with a subscription button.”
“Ghost is particularly interesting for this because it supports multiple membership products with different prices, benefits and content permissions.”
“Kit (formerly ConvertKit) supports free and paid newsletter subscribers on one platform.”
“If the newsletter is part of a wider creator business involving courses, downloads, workshops or other products.”
“It has a free plan for up to 10,000 subscribers, although certain commerce features incur transaction fees.”
“Best for a minimalist newsletter”
“If you prefer a clean, simple newsletter without needing a sophisticated publishing website.”
“It doesn't take an additional percentage of subscription revenue.”
“MailerLite is worth considering if email marketing is more important than having a sophisticated publication website.”
“If you want a relatively straightforward system for sending newsletters, building a mailing list and monetising premium content.”
“It has native paid newsletter functionality, rather than requiring a separate membership product.”