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The best Substack alternative in 2026
Writers leave Substack for one number: Substack takes 10% of every paid subscription, on top of card fees. The three platforms below all import a Substack list - beehiiv has a dedicated Substack importer that keeps paid subscribers, and Kit and MailerLite take the CSV - and all three start at $0/mo. Every number here is read from the vendors' own pricing pages.
Prices last re-checked 2026-10-05. Numbers are read from each vendor's own pricing page; any exception is flagged under "What to watch".
Which one should you pick?
- Pick beehiiv if you need the best Substack alternative for keeping paid subscription revenue. Visit beehiiv
- Pick Kit (formerly ConvertKit) if you need the best Substack alternative for creators who want automation. Visit Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
- Pick MailerLite if you need the best Substack alternative on a small budget. Visit MailerLite
Some buttons are affiliate links — how this works.
The short answer
Short answer: Best Substack alternative for keeping paid subscription revenue: beehiiv beehiiv is the monetization pick - beehiiv Free is $0/mo for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and beehiiv Lite is $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly, and takes 0% on paid subscriptions where Substack takes 10%.
| Tool | Entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Newsletter) | $0/mo | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcast |
| Creator | $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually | Everything in Free plus unlimited visual automations, unlimited sequences, A/B s |
| Pro | $79/mo, or $65.83/mo billed annually | Everything in Creator plus Subscriber Signals, engagement analytics, unlimited u |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
Best Substack alternative for keeping paid subscription revenue: beehiiv
beehiiv is the monetization pick - beehiiv Free is $0/mo for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, and beehiiv Lite is $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly, and takes 0% on paid subscriptions where Substack takes 10%. Lite also opens the ad network and boosts at up to 100,000 subscribers. The trade-off: you pay for newsletter monetization you may never use, and both paid tiers climb with list size.
See beehiiv pricingBest Substack alternative for creators who want automation: Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit is the automation pick - Kit Free is $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, and it sells digital products. Kit Creator is $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually, at 1,000 subscribers and adds unlimited visual automations and sequences. The trade-off: the free plan runs one basic automation, and the paid tiers scale with the list - Creator is $169/mo at 15,000 subscribers.
See Kit (formerly ConvertKit) pricingBest Substack alternative on a small budget: MailerLite
MailerLite is the budget pick - MailerLite Free is $0/mo for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with 2 user seats and a website. MailerLite Comfort is $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually, with 50 automations and 5 digital products. The trade-off: the free plan is the smallest ceiling here and the ladder climbs fast with list size.
See MailerLite pricingThe prices, plan by plan
Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers on the Newsletter plan. At 1,000 subscribers Creator is $39/mo billed monthly or $390/yr and Pro is $79/mo or $790/yr. Yearly billing also prints an extra 25% off Pro for the first year only: $50/mo, $593 billed, then it renews at the standard rate. Both plans scale with list size (Creator $169/mo at 15,000, Pro $249/mo).
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Newsletter) | $0/mo | Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited broadcasts, tagging and segmentation, sell digital products |
| Creator | $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually | Everything in Free plus unlimited visual automations, unlimited sequences, A/B subject lines, SMS, remove Kit branding |
| Pro | $79/mo, or $65.83/mo billed annually | Everything in Creator plus Subscriber Signals, engagement analytics, unlimited users, deliverability reporting, newsletter referral system. Yearly billing at 1,000 subscribers prints an extra 25% off the first year ($50/mo, $593 billed). The page says that discount is the first year only and the plan then renews at the standard rate. |
What to watch: Free / Creator / Pro were read from kit.com/pricing itself, at 1,000 email subscribers, on 2026-10-12. The monthly toggle prints Creator $39/mo and Pro $79. The yearly toggle prints Creator as $33/mo ($390 billed yearly); that $33 is the page's rounding of $390/12, so the table keeps $32.50. The same yearly view prints an extra 25% off Pro for the first year ($50/mo, $593 billed) with $66 struck through, and says the plan renews at the standard rate after that year. The card does not print the standard Pro yearly total of $790. Kit's paid plans scale with list size, so the price shown is the price at 1,000 subscribers, not a flat rate. Both paid plans say the trial is 14 days and that no credit card is required.
Source: https://kit.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See Kit (formerly ConvertKit) pricingbeehiiv
beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers. At 1,000 subscribers Lite is $59/mo ($49/mo billed yearly) and Pro is $109/mo ($95/mo billed yearly). At 10,000 subscribers Lite is $139/mo ($119/mo billed yearly) and Pro is $239/mo ($199/mo billed yearly). Lite is not sold above 100,000 subscribers. The pricing-page FAQ says Lite and Pro include a free trial, no credit card is needed to start, and the trial ends when you upgrade. That answer does not say how many days the trial lasts.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo (no annual discount published) | Up to 2,500 subscribers, 1 team seat, 1 publication, 30-day analytics lookback, unlimited email sends |
| Lite | $59/mo, or $49/mo billed annually | Up to 100,000 subscribers, 2 team seats, 3 publications, paid subscriptions with 0% take rate, ad network, automations, 12-month analytics lookback |
| Pro | $109/mo, or $95/mo billed annually | Everything in Lite plus remove beehiiv branding, webinars and coaching, advanced analytics, webhooks, dynamic content, up to 250,000 subscribers, 10 team seats, 10 publications, 24/7 priority support |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom pricing and subscriber volume, SSO/SAML, dedicated IPs, concierge onboarding |
What to watch: beehiiv does not publish a price for a subscriber count between the slider stops, so those in-between prices are not on this page. Every stop that is listed was read from beehiiv.com/pricing on 2026-10-10. The plan prices in the first table are the 1,000-subscriber stop. Lite is not sold above 100,000 subscribers. Yearly figures are the per-month price when you pay yearly. On 2026-10-12 the yearly cards in the page HTML still showed Lite at $49/mo and Pro at $95/mo at 1,000 subscribers. The monthly toggle is not in that HTML, so those monthly rates stay the 2026-10-10 reading. On that same read, the Pro card carried beehiiv's own Most Popular badge. This page does not treat that badge as a count of customers. The FAQ says the Lite and Pro trial ends when you upgrade, and it does not say how many days that trial lasts. The page HTML does not contain a 14-day trial.
Source: https://www.beehiiv.com/pricing, read 2026-10-10.
See beehiiv pricingMailerLite
MailerLite is free up to 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. Comfort starts at $12/mo and Power at $25/mo at 250 subscribers, and both rise with list size.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 250 subscribers, 2,500 emails/mo, 2 user seats, 1 website, 1 landing page, 3 signup forms |
| Comfort | $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, 3 user seats, 50 automations, 10 websites and landing pages, 5 digital products |
| Power | $25/mo, or $22.5/mo billed annually | Starts at 250 subscribers, unlimited monthly emails, unlimited user seats, unlimited automations and landing pages |
| Enterprise | custom quote | Custom pricing above 200,000 subscribers |
Prices checked 2026-10-05.
What to watch: The entry prices and free-plan caps are first-party, read from mailerlite.com/pricing. The annual rates and the subscriber-tier ladder are third-party (EmailToolTester, updated 5 Aug 2026) because MailerLite computes those numbers in JavaScript.
Source: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing, read 2026-10-05.
See MailerLite pricingQuestions people ask
What is the cheapest option here?
Kit is the cheapest option here to start - Kit Free is $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers. beehiiv Free is also $0/mo but stops at 2,500 subscribers, and MailerLite Free is $0/mo for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
Do any of these have a free plan?
All three do - Kit Free at $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers, beehiiv Free at $0/mo for up to 2,500 subscribers, and MailerLite Free at $0/mo for 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
What will the first paid month cost?
MailerLite Comfort is $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually - the cheapest first paid step here. Kit Creator is $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually, at 1,000 subscribers, and beehiiv Lite is $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly.
Which one keeps the most of a paid newsletter's revenue?
Revenue-wise, beehiiv keeps the most of it - beehiiv Lite is $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly, and takes 0% on paid subscriptions where Substack takes 10%. Kit Free is $0/mo and sells digital products with no monthly fee, and MailerLite Comfort is $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually.
Which one gives a new writer the most room to grow for free?
Kit Free is $0/mo for up to 10,000 subscribers - beehiiv Launch stops at 2,500 subscribers, and MailerLite Free stops at 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month.
When does a writer outgrow the free plan?
When the list passes the ceiling - Kit Free holds up to 10,000 subscribers, beehiiv Free up to 2,500, and MailerLite Free 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month. The paid step up is MailerLite Comfort at $12/mo, or $10.8/mo billed annually, Kit Creator at $39/mo, or $32.5/mo billed annually, or beehiiv Lite at $59/mo, or $49/mo billed yearly.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We do not accept payment for placement, and the price tables are generated from the same dataset we re-check weekly. Full disclosure. How we check prices.