Substack Newsletter Revenue Calculator
Calculate Substack newsletter net revenue from paid subscribers and price after the 10% fee and Stripe processing.
Returns monthly and annual income.
The Substack revenue stack
Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue. Stripe processes the payment at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Combined, you keep roughly 86 to 87% on a typical $7/month subscription.
paid subscribers = free subscribers × conversion rate gross monthly = paid subscribers × monthly price substack fee = gross × 0.10 stripe fee ≈ gross × 0.029 + paid subscribers × $0.30 net monthly = gross − substack fee − stripe fee
A 5,000-person list converting at 3% = 150 paid subscribers. At $7/month:
- Gross: $1,050
- Substack fee: $105
- Stripe fee: $30.45 + $45 = $75.45
- Net: $869.55/month, or about $10,435 a year
Conversion rate is the variable that decides everything
Substack’s published averages put free-to-paid conversion at 5 to 10% for top performers, with 2 to 4% being typical for active newsletters. Below 1% means your free list is bloated with cold subscribers or your paywall offers too little marginal value.
| Free list | 1% conversion | 3% conversion | 5% conversion | 10% conversion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 10 paid | 30 paid | 50 paid | 100 paid |
| 5,000 | 50 | 150 | 250 | 500 |
| 10,000 | 100 | 300 | 500 | 1,000 |
| 50,000 | 500 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
At $7/month and 3% conversion, you need about 12,000 free subscribers to hit $30,000/year — full-time income for most writers in low-cost areas.
Pricing — the most-asked question
Substack’s default $5/month or $50/year is the minimum that allows the platform’s payment system to work without unprofitable Stripe fees. Most successful newsletters price between $7 and $15/month with $70 to $150/year annual options. Beyond $15/month, conversion drops sharply unless the content is professional-grade or B2B specific (Stratechery at $15/month and Lenny’s Newsletter at $20 are outliers built on years of free content).
Annual subscriptions at a 15 to 20% discount over monthly are a smart default — they smooth cash flow, dramatically lower churn (annual subs forget to cancel), and front-load revenue.
What Substack actually pays you vs the alternative
| Platform | Take rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Substack | 10% + Stripe | Hosted, simple, built-in network |
| Beehiiv | 0% on basic; $39 to $99/month plans | More features but less brand |
| Ghost (self-hosted) | 0% (you pay hosting) | Full control; requires technical setup |
| ConvertKit / Kit | 0% + Stripe + monthly $25 to $300 | More marketing tools |
| Patreon | 8 to 12% + processing | Better for non-text creators |
| Direct invoicing | 2.9% + $0.30 only | Most profitable; zero infrastructure |
Substack’s 10% is reasonable for the writer who values simplicity, the built-in recommendation network, and zero infrastructure. Writers with 5,000+ paid subscribers often migrate to Ghost or Kit, where the same revenue keeps 8 to 10% more after platform fees pay for the cost of hosting and tooling.
Churn — the silent killer
Substack doesn’t display churn prominently in its dashboard, but it matters more than acquisition. Most newsletters lose 5 to 10% of paid subscribers per month. Without consistent acquisition, a 200-paid newsletter losing 8%/month is back to 84 paid after a year of no new signups. Free → paid funnel hygiene is what holds the line.
The “founding member” tier
Substack lets you offer a third tier (typically $100 to $500/year) for super-fans. Conversion is low (about 0.5 to 1% of free subscribers) but the revenue per subscriber is huge. A 5,000-list with 50 founding members at $200/year = $10,000 with no additional content burden. Worth offering once you have any paid subscribers at all.