May 2025
In the digital age, attention is currency, and newsletters have become one of the most powerful tools for independent creators to command that currency on their own terms. If you’re considering starting a paid newsletter, you’re stepping into a creator economy trend that blends direct communication, recurring revenue, and content ownership. But succeeding in this space requires more than just great writing—it demands strategic platform selection, consistent value delivery, and a clear monetization model. Substack, Patreon, and Ghost offer three distinct paths to building and monetizing an exclusive newsletter, each with its own trade-offs that you need to understand before committing.
Substack has arguably become the default choice for many aspiring newsletter writers due to its simplicity and built-in monetization model. It allows you to start writing immediately without worrying about technical overhead. Once you build an audience, you can toggle on paid subscriptions with just a few clicks. However, what many creators overlook is that Substack takes a 10% cut of your revenue, and payments are processed through Stripe, which also charges transaction fees. Substack’s email list and content reside on their platform, not yours, which introduces a dependency risk. While it does provide a frictionless on-ramp for writers without technical backgrounds, it also subtly encourages a uniform publishing model and limits how deeply you can customize the user experience or own your distribution infrastructure.
Patreon offers a different model that is more flexible in terms of content types and access tiers. You can structure multiple membership levels, offering early access, bonus content, community features, or even non-newsletter perks. While this is powerful, it also shifts the creator into more of a performer or service provider role, where the value proposition often becomes about engagement and extra benefits rather than just the newsletter content. The platform takes between 5% to 12% of your income depending on the features you need, and like Substack, it controls key parts of your audience relationship. Patreon may be more suitable if your newsletter is just one piece of a broader creative offering and you want to cultivate a paid community around your work.
Ghost, on the other hand, takes a fundamentally different approach. It’s an open-source platform that you can self-host or run through Ghost(Pro), giving you full ownership over your mailing list, content, and monetization. Unlike Substack and Patreon, Ghost is not a marketplace but a publishing tool—meaning that discoverability is entirely in your hands, but so is customization, branding, and scalability. You can integrate Stripe to handle paid memberships and build a fully branded, subscriber-only site. This is ideal for creators who value autonomy, want to build a long-term content asset, and are willing to invest some time (or money) into setup and maintenance. The upfront friction is higher, but so is the ceiling.
Regardless of which platform you choose, the core of a successful paid newsletter remains the same: consistent, high-quality content that solves a problem, satisfies a curiosity, or strengthens a worldview. You need to be specific about who you’re writing for and what transformation or value they gain by subscribing. Free content acts as a funnel, establishing trust and demonstrating your unique angle. Paid content should deliver something extra—whether that’s deeper analysis, exclusive insights, personal access, or more frequent updates. The conversion from free to paid isn’t just about locking up more of your content; it’s about making a compelling case that your most engaged readers can’t afford to miss what you offer behind the paywall.
Building a paid newsletter is a long game. Algorithms change, platforms rise and fall, but the direct relationship with your readers is a durable asset. That’s why the long-term winner in this space isn’t just the writer who can attract attention but the one who can build trust, articulate value, and deliver reliably. You need to decide what kind of writer you want to be and how much control you want over your business model. Substack gets you started fast but locks you into their ecosystem. Patreon opens up more community-building potential but may dilute the clarity of your core offering. Ghost gives you full control but requires more effort up front. There is no one-size-fits-all answer—but there is a path that matches your goals, audience, and willingness to learn.
Ultimately, the best platform is the one that enables you to sustainably produce work you’re proud of while being compensated in a way that supports your creative independence. Choose wisely, start deliberately, and always be ready to adapt as you grow.
