Substack Fee Calculator

Guide

About the Substack Fee calculator

Our Substack fee calculator is a free tool that shows exactly what Substack and Stripe charge on every paid subscription and what you keep. Substack is one of the largest newsletter and subscription content platforms, with hundreds of thousands of paid writers and millions of paying subscribers. Understanding the fee structure is essential for setting your subscription price, comparing Substack against alternatives, and modelling your monthly revenue.

How Substack's fee structure works.

Substack charges a flat 10% of every paid subscription payment. This applies equally to monthly and annual subscriptions. There's no monthly platform fee for writers — you pay nothing until readers pay you. The 10% is Substack's entire platform take; there are no additional tiers, volume discounts, or plan upgrades that reduce it.

In addition to the 10% Substack fee, Stripe processes the payment and charges its standard credit card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Stripe also applies a 0.7% recurring billing fee (introduced in July 2024) for all subscription charges. Combined, the Stripe component is 3.6% + $0.30 per payment.

On a $10/month subscription, total fees are $1.66 (Substack $1.00 + Stripe $0.66), and you keep $8.34. On a $5/month subscription, fees are $0.98 and you keep $4.02.

The Stripe recurring billing fee: what it is and when it applies.

Stripe introduced a 0.7% Billing fee in July 2024 for all subscription charges processed through Stripe Billing (which Substack uses). This fee applies to every recurring payment — monthly and annual. Creators who set up Substack payments before July 10, 2024 retained the previous 0.5% billing fee rate until June 30, 2025, at which point all accounts moved to 0.7%.

This fee is often overlooked because it's not prominently displayed by Substack in their fee documentation. Combined with the base 2.9% Stripe processing fee, the full Stripe cost is 3.6% + $0.30 per transaction. The calculator above includes this fee by default.

Monthly vs annual subscriptions: the fixed-fee difference.

One of the most significant (and underappreciated) financial differences between monthly and annual subscriptions is the impact of the $0.30 fixed Stripe fee. For monthly subscribers, that $0.30 fires 12 times per year — $3.60 in fixed fees per subscriber annually. For annual subscribers, it fires once on the full annual payment — a single $0.30. This means an annual subscription at $100/year loses $3.30 less in fixed Stripe fees than the equivalent 12 × $10 monthly payments.

The percentage fees (10% Substack + 3.6% Stripe) are the same either way. But the fixed $0.30 component makes annual subscriptions meaningfully better for writer revenue at the same effective price point. Toggle the annual option in the calculator and compare.

What Substack charges compared to Patreon and Ghost.

Substack's 10% platform fee is higher than some competitors. Patreon charges 5–12% depending on the plan (Lite 5%, Pro 8%, Premium 12%). Ghost is a self-hosted platform with no platform fee (only hosting costs, starting at $9/month). beehiiv charges a monthly fee ($42–$99/month on paid plans) with no platform percentage.

The trade-off is infrastructure and audience: Substack provides built-in discovery, payment processing, email delivery, and a growing reader ecosystem. For writers who want to reach new readers through Substack's network, the 10% may be worthwhile. For those who already have an audience and want to keep more revenue, alternatives like Ghost or Patreon Pro may be cheaper at scale.

How to model your Substack revenue.

Use the subscriber count field in the calculator above to scale your results. Enter your subscription price, toggle monthly or annual, and set your subscriber count to see total gross revenue, total fees, and your actual payout across your full subscriber base. For example, 500 subscribers at $10/month = $5,000/month gross; after 10% Substack fee ($500) and Stripe processing (500 × $0.66 = $330), your total monthly payout is $4,170.

Accuracy and what this calculator covers.

All rates are taken from Substack's official support documentation and verified on 2026-06-13. Substack's 10% platform fee, Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 base, and the 0.7% Stripe Billing recurring fee are the published components. The calculator models USD subscriptions from US-based card holders. International card surcharges, currency conversion, or potential Stripe Connect account fees are not included. Check the sources below and your Stripe dashboard for a complete picture before making pricing decisions.