Practical notes for writers who'd like their publishing setup to stay theirs.
I've been building custom content management tools for newsrooms and media businesses since 1998, and I've watched platforms change underneath the people using them more than once.
I have built custom content management tools for newsrooms and media businesses since 1998, and I have learned one lesson repeatedly: writers do not want to work with a CMS. They want to publish. At 5,000 subscribers, as many as 50,000 email messages per month, and a mix of free and paid tiers, the practical cost of a newsletter stack lands around $89 per month for Kit, $239 for Ghost, or $149 for WordPress, before Stripe’s 2.9% plus 30 cents on each successful charge for standard US cards, as of September 2026, and the $10–20 annual domain cost. This comparison draws on the current live alternatives chart, and the decision is less about feature counts than about how each writer actually works.
Substack doesn't send you a bill. That's the pitch, and a lot of writers feel like it's the right one. But a platform that takes a share of every paid subscription gets more expensive the better you do.
Start with the platform comparison or the story behind the name.
