I spent a month tracking down the real numbers. What I found surprised me. Some platforms have stayed honest. Others have quietly doubled what they charge while offering half as much.

My friend Sarah sent me an email last Tuesday. She’d been writing a newsletter about parenting for two years, had grown it to 3,000 subscribers, and Mailchimp was now charging her $75 a month. She wanted to know if this was normal.

I told her no. It’s not normal. She was getting ripped off.

This got me curious. So I started digging. I went through pricing pages, historical data, and acquisition documents for the ten newsletter platforms people actually use: beehiiv, MailerLite, Kit (the platform formerly known as ConvertKit), Flodesk, Ghost, Substack, Mailmodo, AWeber, Campaign Monitor, and Mailchimp.

What I learned is that choosing a newsletter platform in 2026 isn’t really about features anymore. The features have converged. Everyone has automation now. Everyone has analytics. Everyone has decent templates.

The real decision is this: do you trust this company not to change the deal on you in two years?

The Numbers Nobody Shows You

Newsletter platforms don’t want you to compare prices. They use dynamic calculators that hide the real cost. They offer annual discounts that make the monthly price look better. They count “contacts” differently than “subscribers,” which is like measuring distance in kilometers and then billing in miles.

So I did the work. Below is what you’ll actually pay each month at different subscriber counts. These are real numbers, not marketing promises.

What Happened Over Five Years

The real story isn’t the current price. It’s what a company has done with pricing over time.

Intuit bought Mailchimp in November 2021 for $12 billion. What followed was predictable if you’ve ever watched what happens when a massive corporation buys a beloved product. The free plan went from 2,000 contacts to 250. Monthly sends dropped from 10,000 to 500. They removed automation from the free tier. Then they raised prices on the paid plans by 43%.

Every quarter, another feature disappeared or another price went up. This isn’t a platform. It’s a slow-motion shakedown.

Kit took the opposite approach. They held prices flat for twelve years. Not twelve months. Twelve years. Then in September 2025, they raised prices by 35%. Existing customers got 38 days’ notice. People were upset, understandably. But here’s the thing: they still offer 10,000 free subscribers. They gave away an enormous amount of value for over a decade, then raised prices once. I’m not sure what people expected.

Flodesk was built on a simple promise. Flat rate pricing. $38 a month, unlimited subscribers. In December 2025, they abandoned this model entirely. New users now pay based on subscriber count, and it scales up to $500 or more. They say existing customers keep the old pricing “for now.” Which means nothing. That phrase “for now” is how companies test whether you’ll notice when they change it later.

Substack has never changed its pricing. 10% of revenue since 2017. Ghost is a nonprofit with no investors, so their incentives are different. They raise prices gradually and grandfather existing customers. Mailmodo hasn’t raised prices since launch.

These patterns matter.

What Actually Matters

I built a scoring system to compare these platforms. Not based on marketing promises, but on five things that determine whether you’ll be happy two years from now.

First, price efficiency. What you pay per subscriber, weighted against what you get. Second, core features. Do they have the automation, analytics, and segmentation you actually need? Third, deliverability. Your emails are worthless if they never reach the inbox. Fourth, ease of use. Can you figure this out without a manual? Fifth, support quality. When it breaks, can you get help?

I weighted these: 30% for price, 25% for features, 20% for deliverability, 15% for ease of use, 10% for support.

A Few Specific Situations

If you’re just starting out with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, use MailerLite or Substack. MailerLite gives you automation and customization. Substack gives you simplicity. You can set up Substack in ten minutes and start writing. No learning curve.

If you’re between 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers and want growth tools, use beehiiv. Its referral program and ad network can actually generate revenue. If you’re selling products, use Kit. Their e-commerce features are better than anyone else’s.

If you’re switching from another platform, beehiiv has the best migration tools. They built importers for every major platform. Kit offers free concierge migration if you have 5,000 or more subscribers. An actual human moves everything for you.

If you just need the cheapest option that works, Kit’s free plan at 10,000 subscribers is unbeatable. You get one automation and basic reporting, but for a straightforward newsletter, that’s enough.

Where This Is Going

Prices are going up. A survey last year found that 55% of marketing professionals expect email costs to rise in 2026. The email marketing industry is projected to grow from $15.8 billion this year to $21.8 billion by 2030. When an industry grows, prices follow.

Mailchimp will almost certainly raise prices again within twelve months. Intuit’s pattern has been consistent. MailerLite was acquired by private equity around the same time Mailchimp was bought. Private equity acquisitions tend to end one way. Expect 10 to 20% increases over the next two years.

beehiiv’s CEO said publicly they “drastically undercharged for years.” That’s a signal. Expect increases on their higher-tier plans, especially for accounts above 25,000 subscribers.

The safest bets for stable pricing are Substack (no incentive to change their percentage model), Ghost (nonprofit structure), and Mailmodo (no documented increases since launch). Kit is probably stable in the near term. Another price hike within 18 months would destroy whatever trust remains after the September increase.

The Real Question

The most expensive platform isn’t the one that costs the most per month. It’s the one you outgrow and have to leave.

Switching platforms when you have 500 subscribers is annoying. You can do it in an afternoon. Switching when you have 25,000 subscribers, paid tiers, complex automations, and a custom domain setup is a nightmare. It’s a multi-week project that can break your entire operation.

So don’t choose based on where you are today. Choose based on where you’ll be in a year.

The newsletter landscape changed while we weren’t paying attention. The platforms that will serve you well in 2026 are the ones that price honestly, respect your work, and help you grow without extracting every dollar they can.

Choose accordingly.