Buttondown vs Substack
Pricing
Buttondown: Free up to 100 subs, from $9/mo
Substack: Free, 10% of paid subs
Description
Buttondown: Minimal newsletter tool for people who just want to write in markdown and hit send
Substack: The OG paid newsletter platform
Pros
- Markdown-based editor, no dragging boxes around
- $9/month for up to 1,000 subscribers is the cheapest paid newsletter tool
- No bloated features: it does newsletters and that is it
- Built-in audience discovery
- No upfront costs
- Simple and focused
Cons
- Very basic automation: no complex email sequences
- Only 100 subscribers on free tier; Substack and Beehiiv offer more
- Minimal templates: your emails look plain (which some people prefer)
- 10% cut is steep at scale
- Limited customization
Details
Buttondown is the newsletter tool for people who think Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has too many features. Write in markdown, send to your list, done. No drag-and-drop editors, no complex automation flows, no features you will never use.
Built and run solo by Justin Duke. The $9/month starting price is the cheapest in the newsletter space. The tradeoff is obvious: if you want referral programs, A/B testing, or complex automation, you need a different tool. If you just want to write and send a newsletter without the tooling getting in the way, Buttondown is refreshingly simple.
Substack pioneered the paid newsletter model. Founded by Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie in 2017. Free to start, they take 10% of paid subscriptions. Over 5M paid subscriptions on the platform. Great for writers who want zero setup friction.
Verified
