Newsletter Ledger vs Buttondown

Newsletter Ledger is a free calculator that shows the real monthly cost of six newsletter platforms at your list size. It adds the plan price, the platform's share of paid revenue and Stripe card fees. Every price links to the platform's own pricing page with the date checked. Also: a Substack fee break-even calculator, a cheapest-platform table, a public price-change log and a free embeddable calculator. Some platform links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers.

Buttondown takes a minimalist approach to newsletter creation. It's great for personal newsletters where you don't need a bunch of fancy features. It also supports paid subscriptions and third-party integrations to make your life easier.

Price Comparison

Buttondown is free up to 100 subscribers. Pricing can go up to $79/month for up to 10K subscribers.

Feature Comparison

Newsletter Ledger and Buttondown both have great feature sets so the right tool for you really depends on your needs.

Features	Newsletter Ledger	Buttondown
💸 Paid Subscriptions Accept paid subscriptions	❌	✅
➗ Segmentation Create segments of subscribers	❌	✅
🤖 Automation Automate actions based on behaviours	❌	✅
📩 Embeddable Forms Embeddable subscription forms	❌	✅
📄 Landing Pages Create landing pages for your newsletter	❌	❌
🔌 3rd Party Integrations Connect to other services	❌	✅
🖊️ Visual Editor Drag and drop email editor	❌	✅
📝 Markdown Editor Write emails in markdown	❌	✅
👩‍💻 HTML Design emails with HTML text	❌	✅
⚒️ API Integrate with the platform's API	❌	✅
📈 Analytics Get data on your emails' performance	❌	✅
🌍 Custom Domain Use a custom domain for your page	❌	✅
🗣️ Referrals Set up a referral programme	❌	❌
💽 Self Hosting Host on your own server	❌	❌
📢 Recommendations Recommend and be recommended by other newsletters	❌	❌