MailerLite vs Substack
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for MailerLite and Substack, verified . Both are primarily email marketing tools.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
MailerLite
- Free
Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month
Free - Growing Business
Most popular paid tier, starts at 500 subscribers
$10/mo - Advanced
Power features for active senders
$20/mo - Enterprise
100,000+ subscribers, custom contracting
Custom
Substack
- Standard
Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue
Free
When MailerLite wins
- Solo creators and small businesses replacing Mailchimp
- Teams that want one tool for emails, landing pages, and a small website
- Nonprofits (30% discount on paid plans)
Where MailerLite is the wrong fit
- B2B teams needing deep CRM and pipeline workflows (use HubSpot or ActiveCampaign)
- Operators wanting native ad network or paid subscriptions (use beehiiv)
- API-first transactional senders (use Postmark or Resend)
When Substack wins
- New writers with no list yet who want platform-driven discovery
- Writers who would rather give 10% of revenue than pay a flat $20-100/month with no readers
Where Substack is the wrong fit
- Established creators with a paid list above ~5,000 subscribers; the 10% share exceeds what Kit, Ghost, or beehiiv would charge in flat fees at that scale
- Operators who want full control over deliverability, subscriber data, and migration optionality
- Brands needing automations, segmentation, or marketing tooling
Common questions
- Is MailerLite cheaper than Substack?
- Both MailerLite and Substack have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does MailerLite or Substack have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. MailerLite: Up to 500 subscribers, 12,000 sends/month. Substack: Free to publish; 10% of paid subscription revenue.
MailerLite: https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing · Substack: https://substack.com/going-paid
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.