saascosthub
methodology.doc
subscriber-tier.audit

Email Marketing Cost for 10,000 Subscribers

10,000 subscribers is where legacy email platforms cross $1,500+/year. Compare every major alternative side by side.

[+] email-marketing-cost-10000-subscribers.window [*]

Brevo

Lowest

Starter / Business (Send-Volume)

$55 /mo

$660/yr bill

Base tier$55/mo
Paid cut (0%)$0/mo
MailerLite logo

MailerLite

Growing Business Plan

$73 /mo

$876/yr bill

Base tier$73/mo
Paid cut (0%)$0/mo
beehiiv logo

beehiiv

Launch (Free) & Scale Plan

$79 /mo

$948/yr bill

Base tier$79/mo
Paid cut (0%)$0/mo

Kit (ConvertKit)

Newsletter (Free) & Creator Plan

$119 /mo

$1,428/yr bill

Base tier$119/mo
Paid cut (3.5%)$0/mo

tier_takeaway.note

Moving a 10,000-contact list from Mailchimp ($135/mo) or Klaviyo ($150/mo) to Brevo ($55/mo) or beehiiv ($79/mo) saves $670–$1,140 every year.

Subscriber tier price curve (1,000 to 100,000 contacts)

Monthly base subscription rates as your email list grows—check steep bracket jumps before migrating.

[+] subscriber-brackets.table [*]
Platform 1,000 5,000 10,000 25,000 50,000 100,000
Brevo
$9/mo $29/mo $55/mo $119/mo $229/mo $449/mo
MailerLite logo
MailerLite
$0/mo $39/mo $73/mo $159/mo $289/mo $550/mo
beehiiv logo
beehiiv
$0/mo $49/mo $79/mo $119/mo $199/mo $299/mo
Kit (ConvertKit) +3.5% paid rev cut
$29/mo $79/mo $119/mo $199/mo $319/mo $579/mo

Brevo billing details

Best for: Businesses with large contact lists that send 1–4 newsletters per month

Free tier allows unlimited contacts but caps sending at 300 emails/day; paid tiers charge strictly by monthly email volume.

MailerLite logo

MailerLite billing details

Best for: Small businesses and bloggers wanting clean automations at roughly half of Mailchimp rates

Free 1,000-subscriber tier caps monthly sends at 12,000 emails; Growing Business unlocks unlimited monthly emails.

beehiiv logo

beehiiv billing details

Best for: Media brands and paid newsletters scaling via ad network, boosts, and 0% subscription cuts

0% cut on paid memberships (only standard Stripe fees apply), making it thousands cheaper than Substack once paid subs grow.

Kit (ConvertKit) billing details

Best for: Course creators, authors, and coaches needing multi-sequence automations and digital product sales

Newsletter plan is $0 up to 10,000 subscribers (limited to 1 basic sequence); multi-step automations require the Creator plan above.

Common questions

What is the cheapest email platform here at 10,000 subscribers?

At 10,000 contacts, Brevo costs $55.00/month compared to $119.00/month on Kit (ConvertKit)—saving $768/year.

Why do some email tools bill for unsubscribed contacts?

Audience-based tools like Mailchimp and Klaviyo count active or unarchived profiles toward your tier bracket, whereas send-volume tools like Brevo store contacts free and bill only for monthly emails sent.

When does Substack 10% become more expensive than beehiiv or Ghost?

Once gross paid subscription revenue crosses ~$490/month (49 subscribers paying $10/mo), Substack's 10% platform fee exceeds a flat $49/month beehiiv Scale subscription—and the gap widens with every new paid reader.