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Newsletter platform costs: October 2026
Web edition of the Monthly Newsletter Platform Report. Built from our dated snapshots of each platform's official pricing page by the same code that writes the email, so it updates if we record another change this month.
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Your monthly snapshot of what beehiiv, Kit, MailerLite, Ghost, Buttondown, Substack, EmailOctopus, Brevo, Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign and GetResponse cost at common list sizes, plus everything that changed in October. Prices as verified on 20 Oct 2026.
What changed in October
1 Oct 2026: beehiiv renames plans and raises prices (Scale → Lite, Max → Pro)
beehiiv replaced Launch/Scale/Max with Free/Lite/Pro (Enterprise unchanged). New prices apply to new customers from October 1, 2026. Existing customers keep their current price until their first renewal on or after November 1, 2026; monthly customers get at least 30 days' notice, annual customers keep their price to the end of the term. Pro now goes up to 250,000 subscribers self-serve; the Free plan still covers up to 2,500 subscribers and beehiiv still takes 0% of paid subscription revenue.
| What changed | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan name | Scale | Lite | renamed |
| Lite (formerly Scale), up to 10,000 subscribers: price, monthly billing | $109 | $139 | +27.5% |
| Plan name | Max | Pro | renamed |
| Pro (formerly Max), up to 10,000 subscribers: price, monthly billing | $219 | $239 | +9.1% |
Sources: beehiiv blog: new plans and pricing (Oct 1, 2026) · The Verge: Beehiiv creators are buzzing about a new price increase (Oct 2, 2026) · PPC Land: Lite plan rises $30 at 10,000 subscribers (Oct 8, 2026) · beehiiv pricing page
20 Oct 2026: Kit: 25% off the first year of Pro on annual billing (limited-time offer)
On 2026-10-20 Kit's pricing page showed an 'extra 25% off first year' offer on the Pro plan with yearly billing (e.g. $1,418 first year at 10,000 subscribers vs a regular $158/mo billed yearly). The discount applies to the first year only; the plan renews at the standard rate. Our calculator uses standard prices, not the promo.
Sources: Kit pricing
Cheapest option by list size
- 1,000 subscribers: basic newsletter: beehiiv Free / Kit Free / Substack Free + 10% of paid revenue / EmailOctopus Free at $0/mo. With automations: EmailOctopus Free at $0/mo. With automations + own domain: MailerLite Comfort / GetResponse Starter at $19/mo.
- 5,000 subscribers: basic newsletter: Kit Free / Substack Free + 10% of paid revenue at $0/mo. With automations: Buttondown Paid (usage-based) at $29/mo. With automations + own domain: Buttondown Paid (usage-based) at $29/mo.
- 10,000 subscribers: basic newsletter: Kit Free / Substack Free + 10% of paid revenue at $0/mo. With automations: EmailOctopus Pro at $44.50/mo. With automations + own domain: Buttondown Paid (usage-based) / GetResponse Starter at $79/mo.
Monthly cost with automations
| Platform | 1,000 subs | 5,000 subs | 10,000 subs | 25,000 subs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $59 · Lite | $109 · Lite | $139 · Lite | $199 · Lite |
| Kit | $39 · Creator | $89 · Creator | $139 · Creator | $199 · Creator |
| MailerLite | $19 · Comfort | $49 · Comfort | $89 · Comfort | $179 · Comfort |
| Ghost | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Buttondown | $29 · Paid (usage-based) | $29 · Paid (usage-based) | $79 · Paid (usage-based) | $239 · Paid (usage-based) |
| Substack | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| EmailOctopus | $0 · Free | $31.50 · Pro | $44.50 · Pro | $94.50 · Pro |
| Brevo | $17 · Starter | $32 · Starter | $46 · Starter | $82 · Starter |
| Mailchimp | $26.50 · Essentials | $75 · Essentials | $110 · Essentials | $270 · Essentials |
| AWeber | $25 · Lite | $60 · Lite | $100 · Lite | $210 · Lite |
| Constant Contact | $30 · Lite | $80 · Lite | $120 · Lite | $280 · Lite |
| ActiveCampaign | $19 · Starter | $99 · Starter | $189 · Starter | $489 · Starter |
| GetResponse | $19 · Starter | $54 · Starter | $79 · Starter | $174 · Starter |
Cheapest plan on each platform that covers the list size and includes automations; monthly billing, USD, excluding tax. n/a = no plan with automations in our data.
Monthly cost, basic newsletter
| Platform | 1,000 subs | 5,000 subs | 10,000 subs | 25,000 subs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | $0 · Free | $109 · Lite | $139 · Lite | $199 · Lite |
| Kit | $0 · Free | $0 · Free | $0 · Free | $199 · Creator |
| MailerLite | $19 · Comfort | $49 · Comfort | $89 · Comfort | $179 · Comfort |
| Ghost | $18 · Starter | $75 · Publisher | $105 · Publisher | $169 · Publisher |
| Buttondown | $9 · Paid (usage-based) | $29 · Paid (usage-based) | $79 · Paid (usage-based) | $239 · Paid (usage-based) |
| Substack | $0 · Free + 10% of paid revenue | $0 · Free + 10% of paid revenue | $0 · Free + 10% of paid revenue | $0 · Free + 10% of paid revenue |
| EmailOctopus | $0 · Free | $31.50 · Pro | $44.50 · Pro | $94.50 · Pro |
| Brevo | $17 · Starter | $32 · Starter | $46 · Starter | $82 · Starter |
| Mailchimp | $26.50 · Essentials | $75 · Essentials | $110 · Essentials | $270 · Essentials |
| AWeber | $25 · Lite | $60 · Lite | $100 · Lite | $210 · Lite |
| Constant Contact | $30 · Lite | $80 · Lite | $120 · Lite | $280 · Lite |
| ActiveCampaign | $19 · Starter | $99 · Starter | $189 · Starter | $489 · Starter |
| GetResponse | $19 · Starter | $54 · Starter | $79 · Starter | $174 · Starter |
Cheapest fitting plan, monthly billing, USD, excluding tax. Free plans show $0 within their subscriber limits.
What we're watching
- beehiiv: existing customers move to the new Lite/Pro prices at their first renewal on or after 1 November 2026 (monthly customers get at least 30 days' notice). Source
- Kit: the 25% off first-year Pro (annual billing) offer seen on 20 October is labelled limited-time; we'll note when it ends. Source
- Brevo and Mailchimp joined our tracking on 20 October, verified from their official pricing data. Brevo prices by emails sent per month (we assume 4 sends per subscriber); Mailchimp by stored contacts, with overage charges above each tier. Brevo pricing · Mailchimp pricing
- AWeber and Constant Contact joined our tracking on 20 October, verified from their official pricing pages. AWeber prices by active subscribers (Free up to 500; Lite and Plus up to 150,000); Constant Contact by contact tier (Lite, Standard and Premium up to 50,000 contacts, no free plan), with annual prepay at 15% off. AWeber pricing · Constant Contact pricing
- ActiveCampaign and GetResponse joined our tracking on 20 October, verified from their official pricing and checkout pages. ActiveCampaign prices by contacts (no free plan; monthly billing costs about 20-28% more than yearly); GetResponse by list size with unlimited sends and a free plan for up to 500 contacts. ActiveCampaign pricing · GetResponse pricing
More: price-change log · cheapest platform for 1k / 5k / 10k · beehiiv vs Kit · beehiiv vs Substack · Kit vs MailerLite
Every price comes from the platform's official pricing page on the date shown; we never estimate list prices. Rankings are by cost only. Some links on our site are affiliate links (disclosure); they never change the order.
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Recently flagged: Kit: 25% off the first year of Pro on annual billing (limited-time offer) (20 Oct 2026) · beehiiv renames plans and raises prices (Scale → Lite, Max → Pro) (1 Oct 2026)