Free calculator
Substack earnings calculator
How much can you make on Substack? Enter your free list, the share who pay and your price. We take off Substack's 10% and Stripe's fees so you see the money that reaches your bank.
Fees checked Nov 2026Rates linked to sourcesSee all benchmark rates
Your estimate
An estimate from the inputs you set, not a promise of income. Inputs marked Example input are not from a published source.
How the calculator works
Substack fee page (10% of each payment, Stripe 2.9% plus $0.30, Stripe Billing 0.7%), checked Nov 2026.
What decides your Substack income
Three numbers do almost all the work. How many people read you for free, how many of them pay, and what you charge. Substack keeps 10% of every subscription payment and Stripe takes its card fee on top, so the money that reaches you is a little under 84% of what readers pay when the price is $10.
The share who pay matters most and it is the number people guess wrong. Substack's own going paid checklist says writers are likely to convert between 3% and 10% of their free list. That guidance dates from 2022. beehiiv looked at thousands of paid newsletters in 2026 and found a median of 0.62%, about six paying readers for every thousand. Both are real figures from different platforms and years, so try the calculator with each and treat the gap as your range of outcomes.
A worked example
Say you have 2,000 free subscribers, 3% pay and you charge $10 a month. That is 60 paying readers and $600 a month gross. Substack keeps $60, Stripe card fees come to about $35 and Stripe Billing about $4, so you take home roughly $501 a month, or about $6,000 a year. At the 0.62% median the same list gives about 12 paying readers and roughly $100 a month.
The fixed 30 cents per payment hurts most at low prices. On a $5 plan it is 6% of the payment on its own, which is one reason the market has settled around $10 a month and $100 a year.
How to raise the number
Grow the free list first, because every other number multiplies it. Then give readers a clear reason to pay, such as a paid only issue each week, an archive or a community thread. beehiiv found that the top quarter of publishers in most niches convert about 2% to 5%, and niche matters a lot. Investing newsletters charge a median $27 a month while travel newsletters charge $7.
If the 10% cut starts to sting, compare it with a flat plan. Our Substack vs beehiiv calculator shows the subscriber count where a monthly plan becomes cheaper than a percentage.
Benchmarks used on this page
| Channel | What it measures | Value | Audience size | Audience type | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newsletter | Free to paid conversion, Substack guidance | 3% to 10% of the free list | All sizes | general | Substack, going paid checklist Aug 2022 |
| Newsletter | Free to paid conversion | 0.62% median, about 6 paying per 1,000 | All sizes | general | beehiiv, State of Paid Newsletters 2026 22 Jun 2026 |
| Newsletter | Paid newsletter price | $10 a month or $100 a year (median) | All sizes | general | beehiiv, State of Paid Newsletters 2026 22 Jun 2026 |
Every figure above comes from our Creator Benchmark Rates table, with filters by audience size and type.
Tools that help
Substack
Free to publish; 10% of paid-subscription revenue
beehiiv
Free up to 2,500 subscribers; paid plans from $49/mo (annual)
Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no cost to you, and it never changes the numbers.
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Guides to read next
Substack fees, what you actually paybeehiiv vs Substack, which newsletter platform should you use?Substack alternatives that don’t take 10% of your revenue
Frequently asked questions
How much does Substack take from paid subscriptions?
Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment. Stripe also charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per US card payment and 0.7% for recurring billing, according to Substack's help centre in November 2026.
How many Substack subscribers do I need to make $1,000 a month?
At $10 a month you need about 120 paying readers to take home $1,000 after Substack and Stripe fees. At a 3% conversion rate that is a free list of roughly 4,000. At beehiiv's 0.62% median it is closer to 19,300.
What percentage of Substack readers pay?
Substack's own guidance is 3% to 10% of the free list. beehiiv's 2026 data across its platform shows a median of 0.62%, so many writers land below Substack's range.
Is Substack free to use?
Yes. Publishing is free and Substack only charges when you turn on paid subscriptions.
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