Comparison
CocoMail vs Substack
Substack is free but takes 10% of your revenue and sends from their domain. CocoMail charges a flat fee, sends from your domain, and never touches your revenue.
Last updated April 2026
Feature comparison
| Feature | CocoMail | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | ||
| Revenue share | 0% | 10% |
| Unlimited contacts | ||
| Paid subscriptions | ||
| Deliverability | ||
| Custom domain sending | ||
| Dedicated sender reputation | ||
| DKIM/SPF/DMARC auto-config | ||
| Growth | ||
| Built-in discovery network | ||
| Embeddable subscribe form | ||
| Developer | ||
| REST API | ||
| Webhook integrations | ||
| Design | ||
| Newsletter templates | Limited | |
| Custom HTML editor | Pro plan | |
| Features | ||
| Tag-based segments | ||
| Open & click tracking | Creator+ | |
| Content archive/website | ||
Pricing at a glance
CocoMail
Starts at $5/mo (2,500 emails). Creator plan at $15/mo (25,000 emails). Pro at $39/mo (100,000 emails). Unlimited contacts on every plan. No revenue cut, ever.
Substack
Free for free newsletters. 10% revenue cut on paid subscriptions (plus Stripe fees of 2.9% + $0.30). No monthly fee, but costs scale linearly with your revenue.
CocoMail
Substack
The verdict
Substack is great for getting started, especially if you want paid subscriptions with zero upfront cost. But as your newsletter grows, the 10% revenue cut adds up fast, and sending from a shared domain limits your brand and deliverability. CocoMail is built for creators who want to own their domain, keep their revenue, and have full control over their sending infrastructure. If you're serious about your newsletter as a business, the flat monthly fee pays for itself quickly.
Related reading
Your next newsletter doesn't need a campaign.
Write it. Send it. Get back to the work your readers came for.
Start sending