# Substack vs Beehiiv vs ConvertKit vs Flodesk vs Kajabi…Which One’s the Cheapest?
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**Author:** Paul
**Published:** 2023-07-27
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If you’re a creator with an audience, there is a long list of places you can post content to.

I’m not talking about Twitter or TikTok, but about online publishing platforms. The ones combining a personal website, a blog, [a podcast](https://www.tella.tv/blog/starting-podcast-checklist), videos and email newsletters.

In this article, we’re looking at platforms in which you can post content and send emails to your subscribers.

The popular ones include [*Substack*](https://substack.com/), [*Beehiiv*](https://www.beehiiv.com/), [*ConvertKit*](https://convertkit.com/), [*Flodesk*](https://flodesk.com/) and [*Kajabi*](https://kajabi.com/).

But have you ever wondered which ones gives you the most bang for your buck?

We have.

### The platforms that give you the most $

By that we mean: which platforms take the smallest cut, leaving you with the most $ in your pocket.

First, a few things we noticed:

- The cost of all 5 platforms rise as the number of subscribers increases (free and/or paid).
- All 5 platforms use Stripe for payment processing (justifying the previous point).
- Stripe charges 3.4% + 30 cents per payment ([2.9% per card charge + 0.5% billing fee](https://stripe.com/en-gb-us/pricing)).
- Only Substack has a commission-only business model.
- Beyond a certain size, some platforms direct you to the ‘enterprise’ plan.

If you’re a starting creator or have no paid subscriptions yet, here’s how much each platform costs you, per month:

[![](https://ucarecdn.com/73d0f655-4930-492e-90ca-b6b239bae06a/)](https://ucarecdn.com/73d0f655-4930-492e-90ca-b6b239bae06a/)

*Substack* is the clear winner here: it’s always free, as long as you have no paid subscriptions (according to their [pricing article](https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037607131-How-much-does-Substack-cost-)).

Keep in mind *Substack* is mainly for online publications and emails. The other platforms like *ConvertKit* or *Kajabi* offer many more features (landing pages, forms, marketing automation, products, etc.) justifying a higher price.

If you’re a creator with paid subscribers (recurring subscriptions paid to you), everything changes:

[![](https://ucarecdn.com/867a053e-c189-4756-b621-9d0faee84e98/)](https://ucarecdn.com/867a053e-c189-4756-b621-9d0faee84e98/)

To calculate the above, we picked

- a monthly subscription of $10 for your paid subscribers
- a ratio of 1:10 between your paid vs free subscribers
- a monthly billing vs annual billing for all platforms

Stripe costs are included in this table.

Once you cross ∼200 paid subscribers, *Substack* is now the most expensive platform as soon, and quickly becomes 2-3x more expensive that the others.

Across *Beehiiv*, *ConvertKit*, *Flodesk* and *Kajabi*, the cost is roughly the same. We can’t say for sure once you have >100k free subscribers or >10k paid subscribers as it becomes ‘enterprise’ territory and we don't have visibility in that.

*Flodesk* is the winner here, with a flat monthly [fee](https://flodesk.com/pricing) of $64 regardless of your paid [subscriber count](https://www.tella.tv/definition/subscriber-count) + the Stripe fees (3.4% + 30 cents per payment).

Finally, let’s look at what you would actually earn, monthly, after those fees:

[![](https://ucarecdn.com/11ee2dbd-ecb8-4bbe-9a08-af524eb0113e/)](https://ucarecdn.com/11ee2dbd-ecb8-4bbe-9a08-af524eb0113e/)

Margins fluctuate between 79 to 94%.

Morale of the story: *Substack* is the go-to-platform if you have simple needs and no paid subscriptions.

But if you have paid subscriptions, I would stay away from *Substack*, especially over 1,000 paid subscriptions.

You’ll get much more from the other platforms, all at a better price, especially *Flodesk*.