Best Free Newsletter Platforms 2026: 8 Options Compared

When people search for a free newsletter platform, they are really choosing a growth ceiling. Every free plan stops somewhere: Buttondown at 100 subscribers, MailerLite at 250, Beehiiv at 2,500 and Kit at 10,000. Where the stop sits tells you who the plan is for. A tiny list can live on almost anything, while a list you hope to grow should start where the cap is high, because moving subscribers between tools is the part that loses engagement. The second thing to check is how the platform makes money from you. Substack is free to publish but takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, so it costs nothing until a newsletter earns, and then costs a lot. Self-hosted tools such as Listmonk and Ghost have no subscriber cap or revenue cut, but you pay for hosting and, for Listmonk, for an outside email-sending service as well. Deliverability is the hidden variable in all of this. A sender with a strong reputation reaches the inbox more often, and that is a service you are renting from the hosted platforms. Decide whether you need paid subscriptions, a landing page, automations or just a plain list, then choose the cheapest tool that does exactly that.

Kit

The free plan allows up to 10,000 subscribers, the highest ceiling here, and it is built for creators selling products. Paid starts around $33 a month for 1,000 subscribers on the Creator plan, but the monthly rate was not read.

Price: Free (Free plan: up to 10,000 subscribers); paid from $33 per month (Creator, based on 1,000 subscribers; $390 billed yearly) (Kit pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Creators who expect a large free list.

Compare: Kit alternatives

beehiiv

Free for up to 2,500 subscribers with unlimited sends, plus a built-in site for the newsletter. The first paid tier, Lite, is $49 a month on annual billing, a big jump once you pass the cap.

Price: Free (Free plan: up to 2,500 subscribers and unlimited email sends); paid from $49 per month, billed annually (Lite, up to 1,000 subscribers; $59 billed monthly) (beehiiv pricing, checked 2026-10-28).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Newsletter-first writers who want growth tools.

Compare: beehiiv alternatives

Substack

Free to publish, with Substack taking 10% of paid subscription revenue plus card fees. There is no subscriber cap, so it suits writers who plan to charge, not those with a free list who want to stay cheap.

Price: Free (Free to publish; Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue and writers also bear credit card fees) (Substack pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Writers who plan paid subscriptions.

Compare: Substack alternatives

Buttondown

Free for your first 100 subscribers, a small cap, but a clean writing-first tool. The pricing page lists add-ons at $9 a month but no base paid plan we could confirm, so check upgrade costs first.

Price: Free (Free for your first 100 subscribers) (Buttondown pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web. Proprietary.

Best for: Small, independent newsletters.

MailerLite

The free plan covers 250 subscribers and 2,500 emails a month, with a drag-and-drop builder and automations. The first paid plan is $12 a month billed monthly, so upgrading is cheap.

Price: Free (250 subscribers, 2,500 emails per month); paid from $12 per month, billed monthly (stated as starting price in the pricing FAQ) (MailerLite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Small businesses wanting a simple builder.

Worth knowing: Yearly billing saves 10%.

Compare: MailerLite alternatives

Mailchimp

Free tier covers 250 contacts, 500 sends a month or 250 per day, with one seat and one audience. Small caps mean it works best as a way to try the tool before paying.

Price: Free (250 contacts, 500 sends per month or 250 per day, 1 seat, 1 audience) (Mailchimp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.

Best for: Existing Mailchimp users and tiny lists.

Compare: Mailchimp alternatives

listmonk

AGPL-3.0 self-hosted newsletter manager with no subscriber cap. It needs Postgres and your own SMTP or email-sending service, and sending costs depend on the provider you connect.

Price: Free (Self-hosted and free; needs Postgres and your own SMTP or sending service) (listmonk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, Docker. AGPL-3.0 (open source).

Project activity: 24k GitHub stars · latest release v7.0.0-beta.1 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Developers who want to own the list and the code.

Worth knowing: Sending costs depend on the SMTP provider you connect.

Ghost

Open-source publishing platform with newsletters and memberships built in. Self-hosting is free, while Ghost(Pro) starts at $18 a month billed yearly; check the project site for the license.

Price: Free (Self-hosted Ghost is open source (source linked from the pricing page); no self-host price shown); paid from $18 per per month, billed yearly (Ghost(Pro) Starter) (Ghost pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web. Open source (license not named on ghost.org/pricing) (open source).

Project activity: 55.6k GitHub stars · latest release v6.73.0 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Publishers who want a site and newsletter together.

Compare: Ghost alternatives

Which one to pick

• You want the highest free subscriber cap: Kit
• You are a writer growing a list with referrals: beehiiv
• You plan to charge readers and want no upfront cost: Substack
• You have a developer and want no subscriber limit: listmonk
• You want a website and newsletter in one open-source tool: Ghost