Best email marketing for newsletter publishers
Publish on the same day at the same time every week. Grow with an embedded form and a referral program. Watch what your tool costs at 100,000 subscribers, not at 1,000. SendFox Pro is flat by list size, with Pro 4 at 100,000 contacts.
Free up to 1,000 contacts. No card.
SendFox is the best email tool for most independent newsletter publishers: a signup page, a welcome series, a referral program, and paid newsletters on Pro with no platform fee. It's free for 1,000 contacts and $29 once for 5,000. Pick beehiiv if you sell ads and sponsorships, Kit if you grow through recommendations, and Substack if you want app discovery and don't plan to charge.
If the newsletter is the business, your email tool is your biggest recurring cost. Most tools look cheap at 1,000 subscribers and get very expensive right when the newsletter starts working.
The example is The Lisbon Letter, a made-up weekly newsletter for people moving to Lisbon. It isn't real. The issue, the setup and the screenshots are. The same playbook fits deal and coupon newsletters, expat guides and niche media.
The signup form
- Fields: Email only. Every extra field costs signups.
- Button: "Send me the guide"
- What they get: A free 22-page Lisbon neighborhood guide.
- Where signups go: the Readers list, which starts the welcome automation.
Use it as a hosted link (your bio, a QR code, the back of a book) or paste one line of code to put it on your site.
Best email tools for newsletter publishers
I make SendFox, so it's listed first. Each tool below says what it does better than us. Prices are at 5,000 subscribers. How we checked.
| # | Tool | Best for | At 5,000 subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SendFoxBest value | Publishers who want to keep what they earn | $29 once |
| 2 | beehiiv | Selling ads and sponsorships | $109/mo |
| 3 | Kit | Growing through recommendations | $89/mo |
| 4 | Substack | App discovery if you never charge | $0 + 10% of paid |
| 5 | Ghost(Pro) | A real website with 0% fees on memberships | $75/mo |
01 SendFox Best value
- Price
- Free to 1,000 contacts. $29 once for 5,000. Pro from $19/month.
- Moves
- Imports from Mailchimp, Kit, Google Contacts or a CSV
Good
- Free for 1,000 contacts and 3,000 sends a month
- $29 once for 5,000 contacts and 300,000 total sends
- Smart Pages and subscriber referrals on every plan, RSS-to-email from the $29 plan
Not so good
- The $29 plan has a send pool. Weekly to 5,000 people uses it in about 13 months, then you move to Pro
- No CRM or sales pipeline
- Paid newsletters and removing branding need Pro
02
- Price
- $109/month at 5,000 (Lite). Free to 2,500.
Good
- Ad Network and paid sponsorships
- Paid recommendations (formerly Boosts)
- Website and podcast in the same place
Not so good
- Automations and the Ad Network start on the paid Lite plan
- Removing beehiiv branding needs Pro
03
- Price
- $89/month at 5,000 (Creator). Free to 10,000 without automations.
Good
- Recommendations network and newsletter sponsorships
- Free plan up to 10,000 subscribers
- Store for digital products built in
Not so good
- The first welcome sequence needs a paid plan
- Takes 3.5% plus 30 cents per sale
- Bills for subscribers who stopped opening
04
Substack
- Price
- Free to send. Keeps 10% of paid subscriptions.
Good
- Discovery through the app and recommendations
- Free if you never charge
- Podcasts, video and a reader app included
Not so good
- 10% of paid subs plus card fees, for as long as you publish
- Email tools are thin next to the rest of this list
05
Ghost(Pro)
- Price
- $75/month at 5,000 (Publisher).
Good
- Full website and CMS
- 0% fees on paid memberships
- Posts on the open web through ActivityPub
Not so good
- Starter stops at 1,000 members
- You pay for hosting you might barely use
Consistency is the product
Every Sunday at 9am. Not "most Sundays". Readers build a habit around your issue, and a habit breaks the first time you skip without saying anything.
Pick a format and keep it. Clara's is three numbered items, one reader question, one link. People know how long it takes to read, so they read it.
An issue, start to finish
Issue #112. About 130 words in the email, with the longer version on the web.
Copy the text of this email
Bom dia,
1. The immigration office trick. Show up at 7am, not 8. The line at 8 is two hours. At 7 it's twenty minutes, and the café across the street opens at 6:30.
2. Bakery of the week. Pastelaria Estrela (made up, sadly) does a lemon custard tart that ruined me for all other tarts.
3. Avoid the 28 tram on Saturdays. Walk the route instead. You'll see more and sweat less.
Reader question: "Is Alfama too loud to live in?" Short answer: in June, yes. The other 11 months, it's perfect.
[Button: Read the full issue on the web]
Até domingo,
Clara
Pick one number to watch: opens per issue over time. Subscriber count feels good, but open rate tells you if people still want it.
From the SendFox teamHow the list grows
An embedded form
One line of code on every article on your site. The best spot is the end of the article.
Free: 1 · Lifetime & Pro: unlimitedA referral program
SendFox has a built-in referral program. Each reader gets a share link, and you choose the rewards, like a bonus guide at 3 referrals.
Every planWeb-published issues
Publish each issue to your Smart Page so search engines and new readers can find the archive.
Every planRSS to draft email
If you publish on a blog first, connect the RSS feed and each post becomes a draft email.
Every planResend to non-openers
For the big issues, like the annual guide.
Every planLists and tags to create
Create these on day one, with these exact names, so every email has an obvious place to go.
ReaderslistEveryone. Every issue goes here.
top-referrerstagReaders who've referred three or more. Send them a thank-you and the bonus guide.
Paid supporterslistIf you add a paid tier on Pro. Bonus issues only.
The welcome sequence ends with a referral ask
New readers are the most likely to share. Ask in week one, not month six:
- Right away"Your Lisbon neighborhood guide"The PDF and what to expect on Sundays.
- 2 days later"The 5 issues new readers love most"Links to past issues published on the Smart Page.
- 6 days later"Know someone moving to Lisbon?"The referral ask, with each reader's share link and the reward.
Settings for a newsletter
| Setting | What to set | Why |
|---|---|---|
| From name | Clara from The Lisbon Letter | Readers subscribe to Clara's voice. |
| From email | An address you actually read | Replies go to your from address. Replies are the best signal you'll get. |
| Send time | Sunday, 9am Lisbon time | Readers open it with breakfast. Campaigns schedule in your time zone. |
| Double opt-in | Leave it on to start | Confirmed subscribers mean fewer typos and fake signups. Single opt-in is available on Pro, or on Lifetime after a one-time domain setup. |
| Lists and tags | Readers, top-referrers, Paid supporters | So each email goes only to the people it's for. What each one is for is spelled out in the lists and tags section. |
| Engaged only | On for promos, off for must-read news | It sends only to people who opened in the last 90 days or joined recently. |
| Footer | Nothing to add | SendFox adds your mailing address and an unsubscribe link to every campaign. You'll need to enter your address before your first send. |
What it costs at 50,000 to 250,000 subscribers
| SendFox plan | Contacts | Sends a month | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro 3 | 50,000 | 400,000 | $79 / month |
| Pro 4 | 100,000 | 800,000 | $149 / month |
| Pro 5 | 250,000 | 2,000,000 | $399 / month |
Above 250,000 contacts, SendFox Enterprise is a custom quote. Here's how the rest of the market prices the same lists, monthly, as of September 2026:
| Tool (plan) | 5,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SendFox | $29 once | $39 | $79 | $79 | $149 |
Mailchimp
Standard |
$100 | $135 | $310 | $450 | $800 |
|
Creator |
$89 | $139 | $199 | $379 | $679 |
|
Lite |
$109 | $139 | $199 | $299 | $469 |
Comfort |
$49 | $89 | $179 | $319 | $439 |
|
Ghost(Pro)
Publisher |
$75 | $105 | $169 | $249 | $329 |
Lite |
$60 | $100 | $210 | $375 | $600 |
Monthly price by number of subscribers, monthly billing unless noted, read from each vendor's pricing page on October 14, 2026. n/a means the vendor does not publish a price at that list size (custom quote or no tier there). SendFox: $29 once covers 5,000 contacts and 300,000 total sends; above that, Pro plans are monthly.
Full table for 13 tools: email marketing pricing compared.
October for a weekly newsletter
- Sun Oct 4, 9am
Issue #111.
- Sun Oct 11, 9am
Issue #112 (above).
- Sun Oct 18, 9am
Issue #113, plus the referral leaderboard.
- Sun Oct 25, 9am
Issue #114: the annual "cost of living in Lisbon" issue.
- Tue Oct 27
Resend #114 to people who didn't open.
Deal and coupon newsletters can send more often, because the content expires. Everyone else: weekly is the sweet spot. Daily burns readers out, and monthly gets forgotten.
Say you have 20,000 readers. If 45% open an issue, 9,000 people read it.
If 1% of those readers refer one friend a month, that's 90 new readers a month from referrals alone.
Rough math, not a promise. Round numbers for illustration; they aren't SendFox data, and your list will do its own thing.
Subject lines
How we checked
Every price comes from the vendor's own pricing page, read on October 14, 2026, at monthly billing unless noted. We priced each tool at 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000 and 100,000 subscribers on the plan named in the table. The ranking is for newsletter publishers who email one list regularly. Nobody paid to be on this list. SendFox prices come straight from our billing system, so they match what you will pay.
FAQ
What is the cheapest email platform for a large newsletter?
Compare at your real list size. SendFox Pro is flat by list size, with plans up to 250,000 contacts; Pro 3 covers 50,000 contacts and Pro 4 covers 100,000. The table above shows what other tools charge at the same sizes.
Can SendFox send my blog posts as a newsletter?
Yes. Connect your RSS feed and SendFox creates a draft email for each new post. You review it and send.
Does SendFox have a referral program for newsletters?
Yes. Readers get a personal share link, and you set the rewards.
Can I charge for my newsletter?
Yes, on Pro. Paid newsletters run on your own Stripe account with no SendFox platform fee.
Copy this setup this afternoon
Free for 1,000 contacts. $29 once for 5,000. Import from Mailchimp, Kit or a CSV.
Free up to 1,000 contacts. No card.
Keep reading
The example senders on this page are made up. The screenshots are from a SendFox demo account set up to match them, before any emails were sent.