Which tool for running a newsletter?

Ghost if you plan to charge for the newsletter: a flat price with 0% Ghost fee from $29 a month billed yearly and your own website. Substack if you want to start free and be found through its app and recommendations, accepting a 10% cut of paid revenue. beehiiv for growth and ads, Kit if you sell products, Buttondown for a simple indie newsletter.

Substack is free at any list size and only takes 10% if you charge. Kit is free up to 10,000 subscribers and can sell paid subscriptions at 3.5% + $0.30 per sale; beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers with its recommendation network but needs Lite for paid subscriptions. Buttondown is free only up to 100 subscribers, and Ghost is free only if you self-host it.

Substack is better for writers who want to start free and grow through a reader app and Notes; beehiiv is better for newsletters run like a media business, with referral programs, an ad network, automations and your own sending domain. Substack takes 10% of paid revenue; beehiiv takes 0% from Lite ($49 a month billed yearly at 1,000 subscribers), so it is cheaper once paid revenue passes about $490 a month.

Substack for a free start and built-in discovery. Ghost for a paid publication you want to own: your own site, domain and sending address, open-source software and a flat price (0% Ghost fee from Publisher, $29 a month billed yearly) instead of 10% of revenue. At $8 a month per subscriber, Ghost costs less from about 37 paid subscribers.

Ghost (0% Ghost fee from Publisher), beehiiv (0% take rate from Lite) and Buttondown (0%, with a $9 a month paid-subscriptions add-on) charge a flat plan price instead. Substack keeps 10% and Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 per sale. Stripe card fees apply on every platform.

Yes, on all five: each lets you export your subscriber list, and Ghost, beehiiv and Buttondown import Substack publications. Paid subscribers that sit in your own Stripe account can usually be moved without readers re-entering cards. What does not move is a platform's discovery network: readers who found you through Substack's app or beehiiv's recommendations stay subscribed, but new ones from that network stop.

For a business sending updates to customers, yes, but for a publication it is a weaker fit: no paid subscriptions, no reader network and pricing built around contacts and marketing automation. Writers usually do better on the five platforms above; for business email marketing see Brevo, Klaviyo or Kit.