Substack / Beehiiv Newsletter Revenue Calculator

Paid subscriptions and sponsor revenue, two different engines

On a 12,000-subscriber list with 4% paid conversion at $8/month, gross paid-subscription revenue is $3,840, and after a 10% platform take-rate, net paid-sub revenue is $3,456. Separately, sponsor revenue from 2 sponsored issues/month at a $25 CPM and 42% open rate comes to $252 (list x open rate / 1,000 x CPM x issues). Combined monthly net: $3,708.

At this list size, paid subscriptions ($3,456) dwarf sponsor revenue ($252) by roughly 14 to 1 -- a reminder that for a list under 15,000-20,000, sponsorship CPM revenue is usually a modest supplement to paid subscriptions, not the primary monetization engine, unless the niche commands an unusually high CPM.

Sponsor revenue scales with actual opens, not raw list size -- a list with a higher open rate earns more per sponsored issue at the same CPM and subscriber count, which is why engaged, smaller lists can out-earn larger but less-engaged ones on the sponsorship side.

What the platform take-rate does to paid-sub math

Take-rate is configurable. Ads and referrals are not a payout guarantee. The 10% platform take-rate applies only to the paid-subscription revenue stream in this model, not to sponsor revenue -- sponsor deals are typically negotiated and paid directly, outside the platform's subscription billing and take-rate.

Payment processing fees (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, on top of the platform's own take-rate) aren't broken out separately here -- the 10% figure should be treated as a combined estimate unless you know your platform's exact processing-plus-platform-fee stack.

Sponsor revenue in particular is not a guaranteed, recurring number the way paid subscriptions roughly are -- it depends on actively selling sponsorship slots each month, which can be lumpy compared to the steadier paid-subscription base.

Growing either revenue stream

If sponsorship is the growth lever you're focused on, the Newsletter Sponsorship Rate Calculator prices individual sponsored placements in more detail.

For the paid-subscription side specifically, the Substack Paid Subscriber Revenue Calculator isolates that revenue stream on its own.

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