Price table
Each row is read from the vendor’s own page on October 24, 2026 (Podia, Skool, MailerLite, Patreon, Buttondown, Mailchimp and MailCheap: October 25, 2026). Where a page was ambiguous, the table says so instead of guessing.
Newsletter and membership platforms (newsletter prices at 1,000 subscribers, yearly billing)
| Vendor / plan | Source summary | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Substack Paid newsletter | 10% share of paid-subscription revenue and no monthly fee on the paid-newsletter model; card fees come off separately. Exact wording: “Writers keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees.” The page does not state the card rate, so the generic Stripe rate is assumed. | substack.com/going-paid checked October 24, 2026 |
| beehiiv Lite | Lite is $49/mo on yearly billing at 1,000 subscribers; paid subscriptions carry a 0% take rate; the FAQ says Stripe's standard processing fee applies. Exact wording: “0% take rate” “Stripe's standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction” | www.beehiiv.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| beehiiv Pro | Pro is $95/mo on yearly billing at 1,000 subscribers; same 0% take rate and Stripe processing statement as Lite. | www.beehiiv.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Kit Free | Free plan (up to 10,000 subscribers) with Kit's commerce fee of 3.5% + 30¢ per sale, which the page says includes card processing. Exact wording: “inclusive of credit card processing fees” Kit's 3.5% + 30¢ already includes card processing, so no separate processing is added. | kit.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Kit Creator | Creator shows $33/mo and a $390 yearly invoice at 1,000 subscribers. The model uses the invoice: $390 / 12 = $32.50 per month; the displayed $33 is a rounded marketing figure. Same 3.5% + 30¢ commerce fee including card processing. Arithmetic uses $32.50 (annual invoice ÷ 12); the vendor displays $33. | kit.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| MailerLite Comfort | Comfort at the 1,000-subscriber tier is $19/mo on monthly billing and $17.10/mo billed yearly (the page shows a 10% yearly saving). Its plan table lists “Send paid newsletters” on Comfort and Power but not Free. The page states no platform percentage on paid newsletters and no card-processing rate. Exact wording: “Every paid plan gets our full feature set. You only pay more for a bigger list or more sending.” The page lists no platform share or card rate for paid newsletters; the model uses 0% and the generic Stripe rate (assumed). Arithmetic uses the yearly-billing $17.10; monthly billing is $19. | www.mailerlite.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Patreon Standard rate | Free to start; Patreon states 10% of the income you earn, plus payment processing, currency conversion and payout fees and applicable taxes. The page does not give those processing, conversion or payout rates, and does not describe older (legacy) plans. Exact wording: “Plus payment processing, currency conversion, and payout fees, and applicable taxes.” Processing is assumed at the generic Stripe rate; currency-conversion and payout fees are not modeled. Accounts created before Patreon’s current pricing may be on different legacy terms, which this page does not describe and this model does not cover. | www.patreon.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Ghost(Pro) Publisher | Publisher is $29/mo billed yearly at 1,000 members and includes paid subscriptions; Ghost adds no transaction fee but says payment-processor fees still apply. The page does not give the processor rate. Exact wording: “Payment processor fees still apply.” The processor rate is assumed (generic Stripe rate); Ghost's page only says processor fees apply. Ghost's Starter plan ($18) has no paid subscriptions and is not modeled. | ghost.org/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Buttondown Paid subscriptions add-on not modeled | Free for the first 100 subscribers; priced on active subscribers (not all contacts) via a subscriber slider whose tier prices are not in the saved page. Paid subscriptions are a +$9/month add-on. Prices assume at most one email a day to the whole list. Not modeled, because the price at 1,000 subscribers was not captured. Exact wording: “Absolutely nothing for your first 100 subscribers.” “We charge for active subscribers — you only pay for the people who are actively receiving your emails.” | buttondown.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
Read this before comparing: vendor facts and processor assumptions are separate layers. Prices are quoted at 1,000 subscribers/members. Plans re-price as your list grows (Kit, beehiiv and Ghost all scale by audience); this site does not model other list sizes. Promotional prices on vendor pages (for example Kit’s limited-time Pro offer) are excluded from the calculator. Patreon is a percentage model with no list-size pricing; its legacy plans are not described on the captured page.
Course platforms
| Vendor / plan | Source summary | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Teachable Starter | Starter is $39/mo on monthly billing ($29/mo billed annually) with a 7.5% transaction fee. Exact wording: “Only on the Starter plan, which has a 7.5% transaction fee.” Processing rate not stated for this route; the generic Stripe rate is assumed. | teachable.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Teachable Builder | Builder is $89/mo monthly ($69/mo billed annually). The FAQ conditions the 0% transaction fee on using Teachable Payments and says standard payment processing fees may still apply. Exact wording: “Builder, Growth, and Custom plans have 0% transaction fees when you use Teachable Payments.” “Standard payment processing fees may still apply.” Model assumes the Teachable Payments route and the generic Stripe processing rate; Teachable's own processing rate was not on the captured page. | teachable.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Kajabi Basic | Basic is $179/mo monthly ($143/mo with annual billing); the page says no revenue sharing and lists Kajabi Payments at 2.9% + $0.30 (US entities). Exact wording: “No hidden fees. No revenue sharing.” Uses Kajabi Payments' published rate for the Basic plan. | kajabi.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Kajabi Growth | Growth is $249/mo monthly ($199/mo with annual billing); Kajabi Payments lists 2.8% + $0.30 (US entities). Uses Kajabi Payments' published rate for the Growth plan. | kajabi.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Skool Hobby | Hobby is $9/month with a 10% transaction fee and unlimited members and courses; the page’s description offers a 14-day free trial. Exact wording: “10% transaction fee” The page does not say whether card processing is inside the 10% or charged on top, and shows no per-payment fixed fee. The model adds no processing, so this row may understate cost. The Yearly toggle says “2 months free” but its prices were not captured, so monthly billing is used in both views. | www.skool.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Skool Pro | Pro is $99/month with a 2.9% transaction fee and unlimited members and courses. Exact wording: “2.9% transaction fee” Same gap as Hobby: processing treatment is not stated and no fixed per-payment fee is shown, so no processing is added and the row may understate cost. Monthly billing used in both views. | www.skool.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Podia Mover | Mover is $49/mo monthly or $42/mo billed yearly ($504/yr) with a 5% transaction fee and 100 email subscribers included. The FAQ says Stripe or PayPal charge a standard 2.9% + 30¢ that may vary by location and is not a Podia fee. Exact wording: “On the Mover plan, we charge a 5% transaction fee.” Processing modeled at the editable standard rate, which Podia’s FAQ names as the typical Stripe/PayPal fee. | www.podia.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Podia Shaker | Shaker is $99/mo monthly or $84/mo billed yearly ($1,008/yr) with no Podia transaction fee and 500 email subscribers included. Earthquaker is $179/mo monthly or $150/mo yearly, also with no Podia fee and 1,000 email subscribers included (listed, not modeled separately). Exact wording: “There are no Podia fees on the Shaker or Earthquaker plans.” Processing modeled at the editable standard rate (Stripe/PayPal, per the FAQ). | www.podia.com/pricing checked October 25, 2026 |
| Thinkific Start | Start is $109/mo on monthly billing and $82/mo billed annually. The plan-by-plan third-party gateway fee is only linked, not shown, on the saved page, and Thinkific Payments is described only as in line with other processors at 2.9%. Not modeled. | www.thinkific.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
| Stripe standard card rate | Stripe's published US rate for domestic cards on its standard pricing page. Exact wording: “2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards” | stripe.com/pricing checked October 24, 2026 |
Not captured: Circle, Mighty Networks, Memberful and other community/membership platforms were not read for this site, so community-first operators are only partly covered (Skool and Patreon are now included). See limits.
Email tools priced by contacts or sends (not in the calculator)
| Vendor / plan | Source summary | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mailchimp Free / Essentials / Standard / Premium | Free plan with a limit of 250 contacts. The page shows Essentials $13/mo, Standard $20/mo and Premium $350/mo, each labeled “Save 50%” for 12 months, then a higher starting price that was not captured. Which contact tier these promo prices belong to is unconfirmed (we infer the first, 0-500, tier from the list order). Standard is shown with up to 6,000 emails a month and Premium up to 150,000. Prices follow contact-count tiers from 0-500 up to 1,000,000+, and overages apply if the contact or email-send limit is exceeded. Exact wording: “Overages apply if contact or email send limit is exceeded.” Exact wording: “Under 250 contacts? It's free.” | mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing checked October 25, 2026 |
| MailCheap Starter and up | Plans are priced on emails sent per month, not on list size: Starter $19/mo for 20,000 emails (page: for up to 10,000 subscribers, $0.95 per 1,000 emails), then $39 / 75K, $79 / 200K, $149 / 500K, $349 / 2M and $799 / 5M a month, with a yearly option that says 2 months free. The page says there is no free trial, and that over-limit sends wait until you upgrade or the next month. The code is open source and can be run on your own server; the page gives no self-hosting cost. Exact wording: “Plans grow with the emails you send, not the size of your list.” “Is there a free trial? No. Plans start at $19 a month, and you can cancel anytime.” | mailcheap.ai checked October 25, 2026 |
Why these are separate: neither saved page shows a revenue share or a paid-subscription price, so there is no take rate to compare. See the Mailchimp guide and send-based vs subscriber-based pricing.