You can monetize a newsletter in six main ways: paid subscriptions, sponsorships you sell directly, ad networks run by your platform, paid recommendations of other newsletters, affiliate links, and digital products of your own. The right starting point depends on who pays, readers or advertisers, how much of each payment your platform keeps, and how much selling you are prepared to do. Begin with the option that suits your list as it is today, then add others as it grows; the matrix below shows how they compare.
Revenue-option matrix
Platform cuts below are as published on each provider's own pages on 1 October 2026. Card processing fees from Stripe come on top of most of them.
| Option | Who pays | Suits a list that | Platform cut, as published | Effort | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid subscriptions | Readers, monthly or yearly | already asks for more than the free issues provide | Substack keeps 10%; beehiiv and Ghost(Pro) take 0% before Stripe fees | Ongoing, because paid issues must keep arriving on schedule | Substack, beehiiv, Ghost |
| Direct sponsorships | Brands you deal with yourself | serves a clearly defined niche that brands want to reach | Nothing if you invoice sponsors yourself; beehiiv's Direct Sponsorships invoicing has a $10 flat fee per transaction | High at first: finding, pitching, scheduling and reporting | beehiiv Direct Sponsorships |
| Platform ad networks | Advertisers, through your platform | is engaged but has no time for ad sales | Kit keeps 23.5% of Newsletter Sponsorships revenue; beehiiv's pages describe CPM and CPC payouts without stating a separate cut | Low: browse, claim, place and send | Kit sponsorships, beehiiv Ad Network |
| Paid recommendations | Other newsletters that want subscribers | gains new sign-ups every week | Kit charges a 20% service fee plus a 3.5% transaction fee; beehiiv builds a 20% fee into marketplace prices | Low once your recommendation slots are set up | Kit Paid Recommendations, beehiiv paid recommendations |
| Affiliate links | Merchants paying commission on sales | trusts your product recommendations | None from the newsletter platform; the merchant sets the commission | Moderate, since products need honest testing first | FTC Endorsement Guides FAQ for disclosure |
| Digital products | Readers buying once | shares a problem you can solve with a template, guide or course | beehiiv takes 0% of digital product revenue; Kit charges 3.5% + $0.30 per USD sale | High up front, lighter after launch | Kit selling FAQ, beehiiv pricing FAQ |
The options combine well. One workable sequence is a free issue with a single ad slot and an occasional affiliate link, followed by a paid tier or a product once readers start asking for more. Switching everything on at once, before you know what your readers value, makes it hard to tell which option is working.
Which option to start with
List size matters less than what your readers already do. Match your first option to the signals you can see in your own replies and clicks:
- Readers are still finding you. Add affiliate links only for things you genuinely use and mention anyway, and put your energy into growth rather than a paywall.
- Readers reply and click every issue. Try one platform ad slot or a first direct sponsor, and watch whether clicks or unsubscribes move afterwards.
- Readers keep asking for the same thing. That request is your paid tier or your first product; build it around the exact words they use.
- Brands are already contacting you. Answer with a rate card rather than a one-off quote; our rate card template shows how to lay out slots and add-ons.
- Your sign-up flow is busy. Paid recommendations can earn from new subscribers without touching the issues themselves, as long as the newsletters you recommend suit your readers.
Paid subscriptions: decide what sits behind the paywall
A paid tier needs a promise as clear as the free one. Common choices are extra issues, the full archive, a deeper weekly piece, access to a community, or early access to your other work. Keep the free issue good enough that readers want more of it; a free issue that only advertises the paid one gives readers little reason to stay.
- Decide the split between free and paid issues before launch, and write it on the upgrade page.
- Set a monthly price and a discounted annual price, and decide whether a higher supporter tier is worth offering.
- Choose whether to offer a free trial, and what happens to a reader's access when it ends.
- Write a refund and cancellation policy you can apply consistently, in line with consumer law where your readers live.
- Check how tax is handled: Kit's FAQ on selling digital products says it collects VAT only, so other sales taxes remain your job there.
Substack's launch steps, including pledges, founding members, in-app purchase pricing and Stripe setup, are covered in our Substack monetization guide. If you have not chosen a platform yet, our Substack vs beehiiv vs Ghost fee comparison includes a worksheet for your own subscriber numbers.
Sponsorships and ad networks
Selling sponsorships directly gives you control over price and partners, but it means finding sponsors, agreeing terms, scheduling and reporting yourself. Platform ad networks do that work for you in exchange for less control and, in some cases, a cut. Kit's Newsletter Sponsorships article says potential revenue depends on factors including the number of US-based subscribers you email, how many emails you send each month, your average open rate, your average ad click rate and the average cost per click, which is worth noting if most of your readers live outside the US.
beehiiv's Ad Network pays per thousand unique opens or per payable click, and our guide to the beehiiv Ad Network and its payouts walks through eligibility, claiming offers and the Wallet. For pricing your own slots, our guide to newsletter sponsorship rates sets out CPM, CPC and flat-fee calculations, a rate card and a sponsor brief.
Paid recommendations
Paid recommendations pay you for each new subscriber you send to another newsletter, usually through the recommendation screen people see straight after joining yours. Kit's guide to enabling Paid Recommendations says creators will pay anywhere between $1 and $4+ for each subscriber you send, before Kit's fees, and that a paid recommendation carries a Sponsored tag. On beehiiv, each offer shows its payout per subscriber, and earnings reach your Wallet once a subscriber passes verification.
The trade-off is attention. A paid recommendation points a brand-new reader elsewhere at the moment they are most interested in you, so choose newsletters that complement yours rather than compete with it. Our Kit guide for creators covers the Creator Network's settings, including how many slots appear at once.
Affiliate links and digital products
Affiliate links suit newsletters that already recommend tools, books or gear. The FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ suggests wording such as “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post” and warns that “affiliate link” on its own may not tell readers you are paid. Our affiliate program scorecard helps you compare programs before you join, and our comparison of affiliate links and discount codes explains which tracks better in email.
Digital products turn the newsletter's expertise into something readers buy once. Kit's selling FAQ says commerce is available on every plan, including Free, with payouts on Fridays and a first payout that usually arrives 7–14 days after your first sale. Our checklist for selling digital products as a creator covers pricing, checkout, tax and refunds across platforms.
Label every paid mention
Newsletters fall under the same advertising rules as other media, so sponsored blocks, paid recommendations and affiliate links all need clear labels:
- United States. The FTC's native advertising guide lists terms likely to be understood, such as “Ad”, “Advertisement”, “Paid Advertisement” and “Sponsored Advertising Content”, and says terms like “Promoted” are at best ambiguous. Our FTC disclosure guide covers the endorsement side.
- United Kingdom. The CAP Code's section on recognition of marketing communications requires them to be obviously identifiable and asks publishers to make advertorials clear, for example with an “advertisement feature” heading. Our ASA labeling guide has more examples.
- Australia. Ad Standards' page on distinguishable advertising quotes section 2.7 of the AANA Code of Ethics, which says advertising shall be clearly distinguishable as such, and the ACCC's guidance on social media promotions notes that the rules for all advertising and promotions apply there too, including the ban on false or misleading claims. Our Australian disclosure guide goes further.
First-revenue worksheet
Work through these steps with your own numbers before switching anything on:
- Record a baseline from your last few sends: delivered emails, unique clickers and replies per issue, plus total subscribers.
- Pick one option from the matrix that matches who would pay and the hours you can give it each week.
- Write the offer in one sentence: what the reader or sponsor gets, at what price, starting when.
- Estimate it with your own figures. For subscriptions, multiply expected paying readers by price, then subtract the platform cut and card fees. For CPM ads, divide unique opens by 1,000 and multiply by the offered CPM, which is how beehiiv describes CPM payouts. For CPC ads, multiply clicks by the rate. For affiliate links, multiply clicks by your own conversion rate and the commission.
- Set a review date and decide in advance which result would make you continue, change or stop.
- Prepare the disclosure label and decide exactly where it will sit in the issue.
- Tell readers what is changing and why before the first paid element appears.
Limitations of this guide
Fees and plan details were read from each provider's pages on 1 October 2026 and can change at any time, so check the live pages before relying on them. The matrix describes how each option works and what the platform keeps; it does not estimate what any newsletter will earn, and results depend on your audience, niche and consistency.
Tax and legal duties are only touched on here. Newsletter income can bring income tax, GST, VAT or sales tax obligations depending on where you and your readers are, so speak to a registered tax agent or accountant, and have a lawyer review sponsorship contracts with exclusivity or usage terms. Treat all of it as general information rather than financial, tax or legal advice.