Substack Pricing Explained: What It Costs, What to Charge, and What Works
Everything you need to know about Substack’s fees, creator earnings, and how to set the right price for your newsletter.
👋 Hey, I’m Casandra. I share research-backed ideas to help you start and grow a business, including on Substack. Subscribe for weekly ideas to help you grow faster and earn more on Substack.
How much does Substack really cost? And how much should you charge?
Whether you’re launching your first newsletter or switching from free to paid, pricing on Substack can feel confusing. Between platform fees, payment processors, and choosing your own subscription tiers, it’s hard to know what’s “normal” or profitable.
This guide breaks it all down: how much Substack takes, what most creators charge, and how to pick a pricing strategy that actually works.
Table of Contents
How Much Does Substack Cost?
Let’s start with the good news: Substack is free to use. No monthly fee, no upfront payment.
How does Substack make money? Substack charges transaction fees on paid subscriptions. So, the cost of using Substack depends on the success of your newsletter.
Substack takes a 10% cut of any paid subscriptions.
Stripe (their payment processor) takes 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.
So what does that look like in practice?
If you charge $5/month and have 100 subscribers:
Gross revenue: $500/month
Substack takes 10% = $50
Stripe takes 2.9% + 50*($0.30) = $14.50 + $15 = $29.50
You keep around $420/month
That means for every $5 subscription, you actually take home about $4.05. And on a $50/year subscription, you'll keep closer to $40.55.
While that might sound like a lot of fees, here’s what you get in return for Substack’s cut:
A customizable website with built-in newsletter functionality.
Unlimited email sending to as many subscribers as you can accumulate. (This is why list cleaning isn’t important on Substack).
Analytics and subscriber data dashboards.
Built-in comment sections and community features.
A robust growth engine that helps you expand your reach by tapping into other Substack audiences through Substack Notes, Recommendations, and more.
Substack's pricing proposition is simple: they only make money when you do. That means you can test and grow without upfront costs or subscription fees eating into your budget.
Comparison: Substack Pricing vs Other Platforms
Substack is the only platform that gives you full access to its entire feature set for free, only taking a cut out of what you actually earn in subscription fees.
Other platforms like Beehiiv, Ghost, and Kit also offer free or low-cost starter plans, but these plans often come with feature limitations or subscriber caps, and access to their full suite of features requires a paid plan.
That said, these flat-fee platforms can become more cost-effective than Substack at scale, especially for high-earning newsletters. Once your revenue crosses a certain threshold, the 10% Substack fee can outweigh the fixed monthly cost of platforms like Ghost or Beehiiv. For example, a newsletter earning $10,000/month on Substack would pay $1,000 in platform fees, whereas a flat-fee platform would likely cost less than half that (depending on list size). For established creators, that difference can add up quickly.
Substack Pricing Pros:
No upfront cost.
Simple setup.
Built-in network effects.
Substack Pricing Cons:
Fees scale with your income (vs. flat fee platforms).
Less flexibility on design and branding.
TL;DR: When you’re early-stage and focusing on content (not infrastructure), Substack is the clear winner.
How Much Should You Charge on Substack?
Now comes the harder part: deciding your price. Unlike Substack’s platform fees, what you charge your readers is entirely up to you. And that flexibility can be both empowering and paralyzing.
The most common price point is $5/month or $50/year. It’s what Substack recommends by default, and it’s where many successful newsletters start. It’s low-friction for new subscribers, easy to remember, and often feels like a no-brainer for casual readers.
But if you offer something especially valuable—whether that's deep industry analysis, high-frequency publishing, or a particularly strong personal voice—you may be able to charge more. Some creators find success at $7, $10, or $15/month, or even higher. The key is aligning price with perceived value.
Here's what most creators do:
Standard pricing: $5/month or $50/year (this is Substack’s suggested default).
Founding memberships: $100–$500/year (used to capture early excitement and offer extra support). This tier typically includes the same content as regular paid subscriptions, but allows your biggest fans to show extra support and feel like insiders. Some creators also offer unique perks at this level, like shoutouts, bonus content, behind-the-scenes access, or (in my case), one-on-one consultation with me.
But there’s no magic number. Your pricing should reflect your content, audience, and business goals. Many creators price higher than the default ($7, $10, $15/month, or even more) based on their content type and perceived value.
How Many Paid Subscribers Can You Expect?
Most Substack creators convert around 2–4% of their free subscribers into paying ones, though results can vary based on your niche, audience trust, and pricing strategy. In simple terms: for every 100 free subscribers you gain, you can typically expect 2 to 4 to upgrade to a paid plan.
Questions to Guide Your Pricing Decisions
How often do you publish? Daily or multi-weekly newsletters provide more value and justify higher prices.
How loyal is your audience? Readers who deeply trust and value your voice are more likely to pay, especially for personal essays, commentary, or lived expertise.
How niche is your content? The more specialized your expertise, the more people may be willing to pay.
How exclusive is your content? Are you offering behind-the-scenes insights, market analysis, original reporting, or access to you personally?
Are you including any unique perks? Things like community access, shoutouts, AMAs, or bonus content can increase perceived value and justify a higher price point. The more specialized your expertise, the more people may be willing to pay.
Substack Pricing Best Practices:
$5/month is a low-friction, accessible starting point that works well for most readers.
$10/month and up signals premium value and works best if you publish frequently or include bonus perks.
Discounted annual plans can reduce churn by encouraging longer-term commitment.
Price anchoring1 can work in your favor: offering a higher-tier option, like a $100 founding membership, makes your $5/month plan feel much more affordable.
Real-World Pricing Examples From Top Substack Publishers
A cross-section of top Substack newsletters spanning multiple categories, pricing tiers, and audience sizes, so you can see how different creators structure their paid offerings.
🎁 Really Good Business Ideas Premium members can also access a database of pricing information for more than 100 publications at the end of this article.
What’s the Right Pricing Strategy for Your Substack Publication?
There’s no universally correct answer, but my strong recommendation is to start with Substack’s default settings and iterate from there:
Pick a simple price ($5/month is a great default).
Add an annual plan ($50/year, which is a 17% discount).
If you want to add premium features, include them in a $100 Founding member package (but I consider this optional to start).
Launch, learn, and evolve based on your audience’s behavior.
One major advantage of starting with a lower price is that you can always raise it later. Your early supporters will be grandfathered in at the original rate, which rewards them for being first and gives them a compelling reason to stick around.
The beauty of Substack is that you can always update your pricing. But the biggest mistake? Not launching at all.
To endless possibilities,
Casandra
🎁 Premium Bonuses: Substack Pricing Tools
For members of Really Good Business Ideas Premium: here is all the data you need to price your newsletter with confidence.
These tools are designed to help you take the guesswork out of Substack pricing, whether you’re going paid for the first time or optimizing an existing paid offering. From calculators to real-world examples, you’ll get clear, actionable insights to support smarter monetization decisions.
Substack Revenue Calculator
Not sure what to charge or how much you’ll actually keep?
This Substack Revenue Calculator helps you estimate your subscription earnings based on subscriber count, pricing tiers, and platform fees. See how different price points would affect your revenue, compare monthly vs. annual plans, and get clarity on what you really take home after Substack and Stripe fees.
Substack Paid Offer Subscriptions Database
Wondering what other newsletters charge, and what they actually offer behind the paywall? This directory curates real-world examples from Substack, including pricing tiers, perks, and content insights.
Whether you’re just getting started or rethinking your monetization strategy as you iterate and grow, use this information to set pricing that accurately reflects the value of your work.