# Substack pricing (2026): plans, cost, and compliance

**Entry price:** $0 (free)/mo (Free to publish). Among the 8 newsletter platforms we track it is the cheapest; median entry $0/mo.
**Domain:** substack.com
**Free tier:** Yes
**Compliance:** HIPAA Not published · SOC 2 Not published · GDPR Not published
**Best for:** writers; independent journalists; community builders; paid newsletter creators starting out

## Plans

| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Billing | Notes | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free to publish | $0 | — | flat | Free to publish and send email newsletters to any size list. Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue when monetization is enabled, plus Stripe processing fees. No monthly fee at any subscriber count. | substack.com |

**Key features:** Fully free to publish at any list size; Built-in discovery network and recommendations; Podcast, video, and chat alongside newsletters; No monthly platform fee — cost only triggers on paid subscriber revenue.

**Plan limits:** 10% revenue cut on all paid subscriptions; No self-serve removal of Substack branding on free tier.

Sources: 1 · Last verified 2026-06-18
Provenance: substack.com/about and substack.com/going-paid both load (HTTP 200) and explicitly state writers keep 90% of revenue (Substack takes 10%), with no platform fees/tiers/contracts; publishing is free at any list size. Stripe processing fees apply on top of the 10% cut. Corroborated via ruzuku.com Substack pricing article.
Canonical: https://frontdeskreview.com/software/newsletter-platforms/substack/
Cite: Per The Front Desk Review, Substack's entry plan was $0 (free)/mo as of 2026-06-18 — https://frontdeskreview.com/software/newsletter-platforms/substack/
License: CC BY 4.0. Price history: https://frontdeskreview.com/data/price-history.jsonl