“1. Substack — Easiest overall”
“Easiest overall”
“Built-in free and paid subscriptions.”
“Monthly and annual billing.”
“Paid-only posts and subscriber-only newsletters.”
“Built-in audience discovery and recommendations.”
“No monthly platform subscription fee; takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus payment processing.”
“Excellent”
“Very easy”
“Limited”
“Basic”
“10%”
“2. Ghost — Best for membership tiers and control”
“Best for membership tiers and control”
“Built-in membership and recurring subscriptions.”
“Multiple paid membership tiers.”
“Member-only articles and newsletters.”
“Free, paid and complimentary memberships.”
“Stripe integration; no Ghost percentage commission.”
“Excellent”
“0%”
“Limited”
“Moderate”
“3. beehiiv — Best for newsletter growth”
“Best for newsletter growth”
“Paid subscriptions and recurring billing.”
“Free and premium newsletter content.”
“Referral programmes and subscriber recommendations.”
“Advertising and monetisation tools.”
“0% platform commission on paid subscriptions; subscription features require an eligible paid plan.”
“Very good”
“Good”
“Plan-dependent”
“4. Kit — Best for creator businesses”
“Best for creator businesses”
“Paid newsletter subscriptions.”
“Subscriber tagging and segmentation.”
“Automated email sequences.”
“Digital products and creator commerce.”
“Good”
“Easy”
“Transaction fees apply to paid subscriptions.”
“More limited”