Newsletter edition · Updated October 8, 2026

Email software for newsletters, chosen by list size and paid plans.

For most independent newsletter writers, Kit is the best starting point. Its free plan covers unlimited email broadcasts to up to 10,000 subscribers, and its Creator plan is $33 a month billed annually once you need automated sequences.

By the editorial team · Prices checked on 7 October 2026 from each vendor’s pricing page

This guide is for writers who publish on a schedule and want the list, the paid relationship and the archive under their own control. That need is narrower than a general marketing team’s, and it changes the comparison. Free-plan limits and daily send caps matter more than template libraries. Export options matter more than dashboards. Sponsor reporting and paid subscriptions matter more than abandoned-cart flows.

The price figures in this guide come from each vendor’s public pricing page. Where a vendor does not publish a price for a given list size, the tables say “pricing on request” rather than estimating. Read the vendor’s page again before you commit, because plan names and limits change.

What a newsletter writer actually needs

Four factors decide the choice for most writers, and they matter in this order.

The free plan has to last. A letter with 300 readers and a letter with 30,000 readers buy very different software. Find the subscriber count where the free plan stops, and check whether the limit is on subscribers, on sends per month or on sends per day. A daily cap can block a single large issue even when your monthly volume is low.

The path from free to paid must work. When readers pay for extra depth, the platform has to handle recurring subscriptions, access rules and renewals. A checkout link on a page is not the same thing. Some tools include paid subscriptions in the base product; others need a separate plan or a different platform.

Sending rules must suit your cadence. A weekly letter and a daily letter put very different loads on a plan. Work out your monthly volume before you read a price, because plans scale on contacts, on monthly emails or on both.

You need a way out. Ask how a subscriber list exports, whether consent records travel with it and whether you keep control of your sending domain. A platform that makes leaving hard is a poor home for a list you intend to keep for years.

The newsletter platforms compared

The table lists each platform’s best-fit newsletter type, its entry price with the billing view and the main limitation for a writer.

Platform	Best for	Entry price (plan and billing)	Key limitation
Kit	Independent letters that want growth tools and paid tiers	Free up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/month billed annually	Visual Automations and sequences start on Creator; the referral system is on Pro at $66/month billed annually
MailerLite	Writers starting with a small free list	Free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails/month; Comfort from $12/month billed monthly ($10.80 billed annually) for 500 subscribers	The free plan stops at 250 subscribers
Substack	Writers who want no upfront cost and paid subscriptions in one product	Free to publish; paid subscriptions carry a revenue share	The list sits on a platform you do not control; export a copy regularly
Ghost	Writers who want their own website, archive and membership	Starter $15/month for up to 1,000 members	Priced by member count; above 1,000 members the Business plan at $199/month applies
Brevo	Large free lists and low-cost sends	Free for up to 100,000 contacts with 300 sends a day; Starter from $9/month	The free plan’s daily cap blocks a single large issue
Mailchimp	Writers who want a familiar editor for the first issues	Free up to 250 contacts and 500 sends/month; Standard $20/month at 500 contacts	The price rises with each contact tier, and the monthly send allowance rises with it
Moosend	Lean budgets that want automation	Pro at 500 contacts from $7/month billed annually ($9 billed monthly)	No free plan; email credit packs are bought separately
Campaign Monitor	Long-form writers who care about layout	Lite $13/month billed monthly ($11.70 billed annually) for the 500-contact band	No free plan; the 30-day trial is capped at 500 contacts
ActiveCampaign	Writers running the newsletter alongside a sales pipeline	Starter $15/month at 1,000 contacts	Price and complexity rise with the contact count and plan level
GetResponse	Writers selling courses or webinars next to the letter	Starter $19/month billed monthly ($15.58 billed annually), unlimited sends	Starter includes one automation workflow; no ongoing free plan
AWeber	Traditional writers who want simple broadcasts	Lite $15/month for 500 subscribers and 5,000 sends/month	No ongoing free plan; 14-day trial
Drip	Writers selling digital products with launch sequences	From $39/month for 1 to 2,500 people with unlimited sends	No ongoing free plan; 14-day trial

What the plans cost at three list sizes

The cost table assumes one issue a week to the whole list, which is about four sends per subscriber per month. At 500 subscribers that is roughly 2,000 emails a month, at 5,000 it is 20,000, and at 10,000 it is 40,000. A list mailed daily multiplies those figures by about seven, so rework the table with your own cadence before you choose.

Platform	500 subscribers (about 2,000 emails/month)	5,000 subscribers (about 20,000 emails/month)	10,000 subscribers (about 40,000 emails/month)
Kit	Free for unlimited broadcasts; Creator $33/month billed annually for sequences	Free for unlimited broadcasts; Creator $33/month billed annually for sequences	Free for unlimited broadcasts up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/month billed annually for sequences
MailerLite	Comfort $12/month billed monthly, or $10.80 billed annually	Pricing on request	Pricing on request
Mailchimp	Standard $20/month at 500 contacts	Contacts 2,501–5,000: $100/month, up to 60,000 emails	Contacts 5,001–10,000: $135/month, up to 120,000 emails
Moosend	Pro $7/month billed annually ($9 billed monthly)	Pro $48/month billed monthly ($38 billed annually)	Pro $88/month billed monthly ($70 billed annually)
Brevo	Starter from $9/month (5,000 emails/month plan)	Pricing on request	Pricing on request
Campaign Monitor	Essentials $31/month billed monthly ($27.90 billed annually), 500-contact band	Pricing on request	Pricing on request
Ghost	Starter $15/month, up to 1,000 members	Business $199/month, up to 10,000 members	Business $199/month, up to 10,000 members
Substack	Free to publish; revenue share on paid subscriptions	Free to publish; revenue share on paid subscriptions	Free to publish; revenue share on paid subscriptions

“Pricing on request” means the vendor’s pricing page showed no published price for that list size when checked on 7 October 2026. Ask the vendor for a quote before you assume a cost.

The platforms in detail

Best starting point

Kit

Kit suits independent letters that grow through referrals, landing pages and a single paid product line. Its free plan includes unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited email broadcasts, audience tagging and segmentation, and the ability to sell digital products and subscriptions. For a writer who sends one issue a week and has no automated series yet, the free plan can carry the newsletter until the list outgrows 10,000 subscribers.

The paid plans add what the free plan leaves out. Creator, at $33 a month billed annually, adds unlimited Visual Automations, unlimited email sequences, subject-line A/B testing and removal of Kit branding. Pro, at $66 a month billed annually, adds Subscriber Signals, unlimited users, deliverability reporting and the newsletter referral system. Paid plans carry a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Where it falls short: the welcome series and any other automated sequence sit behind the Creator plan, so a writer who wants new readers to receive a set of emails from the first day pays from the start. The referral system is on Pro, which costs twice as much as Creator. If you need a per-issue sponsor report, confirm it is in the plan you intend to use before you sign a sponsor.

Price: free up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $33/month billed annually; Pro $66/month billed annually. Kit pricing

Starting small

MailerLite

MailerLite is the right fit for a letter that has not yet found its readers. The free plan covers up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, which is enough to test a format for several months. Its paid Comfort plan starts at $12 a month billed monthly, or $10.80 billed annually, for the 500-subscriber tier. On that tier, the monthly email allowance is ten times the subscriber ceiling, so a 500-subscriber list mailed weekly fits comfortably. The Power plan at $25 a month billed monthly, or $22.50 billed annually, removes the monthly email cap.

Where it falls short: the free plan stops at 250 subscribers, so a list that grows quickly moves to a paid plan early. The published pricing does not show a price for list sizes above the 500-subscriber starting tier, so ask for a quote before you plan for a larger audience. Writers who rely on a sponsor-reporting workflow should check the reporting in the plan they choose.

Price: free up to 250 subscribers; Comfort from $12/month billed monthly ($10.80 billed annually) at 500 subscribers; Power from $25/month billed monthly ($22.50 billed annually). MailerLite pricing

No upfront cost

Substack

Substack lets a writer publish and collect paid subscriptions without paying a monthly fee. A writer who wants the simplest route from first issue to first paying reader gets both in one product. The cost comes through a revenue share on paid subscriptions, so the platform’s cut grows with your income instead of with your list size.

Where it falls short: the reader list and the publication sit on a platform you do not run. Keep a copy of the subscriber list outside it, and read the export and data terms on Substack’s pages before you build a large archive there. Design and automation control are also narrower than on a standalone email tool. If you plan to run a welcome sequence or branch readers by interest, check whether that fits the product.

Price: free to publish; paid subscriptions carry a revenue share. Substack pricing and paid subscriptions

Own site and membership

Ghost

Ghost pairs a website with a newsletter and member management, so the archive, the sign-up page and the paid tier all live on a domain you control. Ghost(Pro) plans are priced by member count. Starter at $15 a month covers up to 1,000 members, one staff user, the website and the email newsletter. Publisher at $29 a month covers up to 1,000 members with three staff users, custom themes, paid subscriptions and analytics. Business at $199 a month covers up to 10,000 members with 15 staff users and priority support.

Where it falls short: Ghost asks for more setup than an inbox-only tool. You are building a publication, not only a list, and the plan cost jumps sharply above 1,000 members. Ghost is also open-source software, which is a separate option from the Ghost(Pro) hosted plans in this table; the figures here apply only to the hosted plans.

Price: Starter $15/month; Publisher $29/month; Business $199/month, all listed on Ghost’s pricing page with annual billing at the same monthly rate. Ghost pricing

Large free lists

Brevo

Brevo’s free plan allows up to 100,000 contacts, which makes it a sensible home for a large list you are not yet monetizing. The Starter plan from $9 a month covers 5,000 emails a month and removes the daily sending limit. Standard at $18 a month adds automation, A/B testing and advanced reports, which matter once you run a sequence or need to compare issues.

Where it falls short: the free plan caps sends at 300 a day, so a large single issue cannot go out on it. A list of several thousand readers needs a paid plan for the send day. Paid-tier and membership features are thinner than on Kit or Ghost. Above Standard, the published prices are volume-based and you should request a quote for your monthly volume.

Price: free for up to 100,000 contacts with 300 sends a day; Starter from $9/month; Standard from $18/month. Brevo pricing

Familiar editor

Mailchimp

Mailchimp gives a new writer a familiar editor and a quick first send. Its free plan covers up to 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with a cap of 250 sends a day. The Standard plan starts at $20 a month for the 500-contact tier, which includes up to 6,000 emails a month at that size. Above that, the price follows the contact tier: $100 a month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts and $135 a month for 5,001 to 10,000 contacts.

Where it falls short: billing follows your subscriber count, so a list that grows steadily gets more expensive each tier, even when your sending pattern does not change. The Standard trial lasts 14 days. For a writer whose main concern is the growth of the list rather than the quality of the letter, that cost curve is worth modelling before you commit.

Price: free up to 250 contacts; Standard from $20/month at 500 contacts; $100/month for 2,501 to 5,000 contacts. Mailchimp pricing

Newsletter as a business

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign fits a newsletter that runs alongside leads, consultations or a sales pipeline. Its Starter plan is $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, with Plus at $49, Pro at $79 and Enterprise at $145 at the same contact count. The higher tiers add standard and advanced segmentation, landing pages and a dedicated account team at the top level.

Where it falls short: most writers who only send issues will not use the CRM and journey depth, and paying for it adds cost and setup time. The starting prices are quoted at 1,000 contacts, so a list smaller or larger than that needs a quote. There is no free plan; only a free trial is offered.

Price: Starter $15/month, Plus $49/month, Pro $79/month and Enterprise $145/month, all at 1,000 contacts. ActiveCampaign pricing

Courses and webinars

GetResponse

GetResponse is useful for a writer who sells courses, webinars or a premium newsletter next to the free letter. Starter at $19 a month, or $15.58 billed annually, includes unlimited monthly sends, a welcome series, one automation workflow, landing pages and sign-up forms. Marketer at $59 a month, or $48.38 billed annually, adds unlimited workflows, advanced segmentation, abandoned-cart recovery and sales funnels. Creator at $69 a month, or $56.58 billed annually, adds webinars, a website builder, a course creator and premium newsletter subscriptions.

Where it falls short: there is no ongoing free plan, and the Starter tier includes just one automation workflow, which is limiting for a writer who wants several sequences. If you only need a newsletter, most of the Creator feature set will go unused.

Price: Starter $19/month ($15.58 billed annually); Marketer $59/month ($48.38 billed annually); Creator $69/month ($56.58 billed annually). GetResponse pricing

Lean automation

Moosend

Moosend suits a budget newsletter that wants automation without a large monthly bill. Pro for 500 contacts starts at $7 a month billed annually, or $9 billed monthly, with unlimited emails. The price rises with contacts: $16 billed monthly or $13 billed annually at 1,000 contacts, and $48 billed monthly or $38 billed annually at 5,000.

Where it falls short: there is no free plan, and the free trial is 30 days with no credit card needed. Email credit packs at $350 for 350,000 credits or $500 for 500,000 credits are bought separately, so check whether your send pattern needs them.

Price: Pro from $7/month billed annually at 500 contacts; $48/month billed monthly at 5,000 contacts. Moosend pricing

How to choose

Start from the job, not the brand. The table below pairs the most common writer situations with the platform that matches each one, and it names the reason in each row.

If you need	Pick	Because
A free start that can grow into paid tiers	Kit	Free for unlimited broadcasts up to 10,000 subscribers, with the referral system on Pro
A list under 250 readers at no cost	MailerLite	Free plan with 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month
No upfront cost and paid subscriptions in one product	Substack	Publishing is free; paid subscriptions carry a revenue share
Your own website, archive and membership	Ghost	Starter at $15/month covers the website and newsletter for up to 1,000 members
A large free list and low-cost sends	Brevo	Free for up to 100,000 contacts, with a 300-send daily cap to plan around
A familiar editor for the first issues	Mailchimp	Free up to 250 contacts; cost rises by contact tier
Automation on a small budget	Moosend	Pro at 500 contacts from $7/month billed annually
Courses or webinars next to the letter	GetResponse	Creator adds webinars, a course creator and premium newsletter subscriptions
Digital products with launch sequences	Drip	From $39/month for 1 to 2,500 people, with unlimited email sends
A newsletter inside a sales pipeline	ActiveCampaign	Starter at $15/month at 1,000 contacts, with CRM depth on higher plans

Three questions narrow the field quickly. First, how many subscribers will you have in twelve months, not today? Second, do you need automated sequences from the first week, or can the first months run on broadcasts alone? Third, will your income come from sponsors, from paid subscriptions or from a product? A sponsor-funded letter needs clear per-issue reporting. A paid letter needs billing and access rules. A product-led letter needs sequences and checkout flows.

Then check the limits, not only the entry price. The daily send cap on a free plan, the subscriber ceiling on a starter plan and the feature gate on a sequence can each force a move earlier than the price suggests.

When to add a paid tier

A paid tier works best when the free letter already has a regular readership and the paid part adds something clear, such as deeper issues, archives, templates or a community. Keep the free issue on schedule. Readers who pay for depth should never be the only readers who receive the letter on time.

Pick a platform that handles recurring payments and access rules in the same product as the letter. Ghost and Substack include paid subscriptions as a built-in feature. Kit can sell digital products and subscriptions on its free plan, and its newsletter referral system sits on Pro. GetResponse’s Creator plan includes premium newsletter subscriptions. If you need custom billing logic, check the vendor’s documentation before you move your list.

Do not move paid readers to a new platform without a written plan. Paid subscribers are the people most likely to notice a broken link or a missed renewal, so test every access rule against a test account before the move, and keep the old access working until the new one is confirmed.

Deliverability for a newsletter

For a newsletter, the inbox is the product. A platform can be cheap and still fail if the letters land in spam. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your sending domain before the first send from any new platform. Those records prove to mailbox providers that you own the domain and that the message was not forged.

Prune subscribers who have not opened in a long time instead of mailing them every week, and watch complaint rates in whatever reporting your platform offers. Kit’s Pro plan includes deliverability reporting; on other plans, check what the platform gives you and what your mailbox provider publishes. Shared sending infrastructure is common on lower-cost plans, so ask the vendor how it handles reputation for smaller senders.

Moving a newsletter to a new platform

A move is safest when each step has a check before the next one starts. The checklist below is written for a list of any size.

Step	What to do	Check before you continue
1. Export	Download the full subscriber list with join dates, tags and the source of each opt-in	The row count in the export matches the count on the old platform
2. Consent	Keep only subscribers with a recorded opt-in, and carry the consent label across	Every imported record shows its consent source
3. Authenticate	Set SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain before the first import send	A test message shows the authentication results you expect
4. Import	Load the list in batches rather than in one large import	The first batch is reviewed for bounces and complaints before the next batch goes in
5. Rebuild flows	Recreate the welcome sequence and any paid-tier access rules on the new platform	Each flow sends a test to a seed address you control
6. Cut over	Point the sign-up form and any archive links to the new platform; keep the old form live until the new one works	New sign-ups arrive in the new platform and archive links resolve

Sponsor reporting and what to ask for

Sponsors judge an issue on opens, clicks and the reader’s place in the list, so the platform should export these numbers per issue. Before you sign a sponsor, ask the vendor for an example export and confirm it is included in your plan. Kit’s Pro plan lists deliverability reporting; for other platforms, read the reporting section of the pricing page rather than assuming a feature.

Keep a simple spreadsheet of issue date, subject line, send count, open and click rates from the platform, and any sponsor booked against that issue. Sponsors ask for this history more often than they ask for the list size.

Questions newsletter writers ask

Answers use the list prices on each vendor’s pricing page as checked on 7 October 2026.

Which email software should a brand-new newsletter start with?

Kit or MailerLite, depending on list size. Kit’s free plan covers unlimited email broadcasts, landing pages and forms for up to 10,000 subscribers. MailerLite’s free plan is limited to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, so it suits a letter that is still small. If you expect the list to pass 250 readers within a few months, start on Kit so you do not move the list later.

Is Substack a good choice for a newsletter?

It is a good choice for writers who want no upfront cost and who plan to sell paid subscriptions inside the same product. Publishing is free, and paid subscriptions are shared with Substack as a revenue share. The trade-off is that the list and the reader relationship sit on a platform you do not control, so export a copy of the subscriber list on a regular schedule.

What does a newsletter cost to run at 5,000 subscribers?

It depends on the platform and on how often you send. Kit’s free plan includes unlimited broadcasts up to 10,000 subscribers, so a weekly letter costs nothing on Kit until you need sequences, which start on Creator at $33 a month billed annually. On Mailchimp, the 2,501 to 5,000 contact tier is $100 a month. Moosend’s Pro plan at 5,000 contacts is $48 a month billed monthly or $38 billed annually. Ghost’s Business plan at $199 a month covers up to 10,000 members. Check each vendor’s pricing page before you commit, because the figures above are the monthly list prices at checking on 7 October 2026.

Can I keep my subscribers if I switch platforms?

Usually yes, but only if you export the list with the right fields. Take the full subscriber list with join dates and the source of each opt-in, and keep only people who gave consent. Import in batches, authenticate your sending domain first, and keep the old sign-up form live until the new one is confirmed working. The migration checklist in this guide lists each step.

Do I need a paid plan to send a welcome sequence?

On Kit, yes. The free plan includes unlimited email broadcasts, but Visual Automations and email sequences start on the Creator plan at $33 a month billed annually. A welcome sequence is an automated sequence, so plan for that cost if you want new readers to receive a series of emails without you sending each one by hand. Other platforms in this guide draw the line between free and paid features differently, so compare the plan lists before you choose.

When does an audience-building CRM like ActiveCampaign make sense?

When the newsletter is one part of a business with leads, sales conversations or a pipeline to track. ActiveCampaign’s Starter plan is $15 a month at 1,000 contacts, but its price and feature set rise through Plus, Pro and Enterprise. For a letter that only needs issues and reader lists, that depth is rarely worth paying for.