ChatGPT answers, unedited

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off paid issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv.com is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It currently supports paid subscription tiers, paywalled newsletter posts, and digital products with one-time payments. Its digital-product system can deliver PDFs/downloads or gated online content, so you could treat each premium issue as an individual product while also offering an all-access subscription. Beehiiv Beehiiv

The particularly attractive part is that beehiiv says it takes 0% platform commission on paid subscriptions and digital products; Stripe processing fees still apply. Paid subscriptions and paid digital products are currently on its paid plans. Beehiiv Beehiiv

A model like this would work nicely:

• $9 — buy this issue individually
• $49/year — get every issue
• $6/month — ongoing subscription
• Free newsletter — occasional excerpts / previews

Ghost is the other one I'd seriously consider

ghost.org is excellent if your newsletter is really becoming a publication with its own website.

Ghost supports paid memberships, multiple premium tiers, one-time payments, and recurring billing through Stripe. It also doesn't take a transaction commission. Ghost Ghost

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if having a beautiful, independent publication website and maximum ownership/control matters more than newsletter-growth features.

What I'd choose for a niche publication

beehiiv → if the newsletter itself is the business and you want growth + subscriptions + individual digital products in one system.

Ghost → if you're building a serious publication/site around the newsletter and want more control over the publishing experience.

Substack → if your priority is "I want to start selling subscriptions tomorrow with almost no setup." Its simplicity is compelling, but I'd be less inclined to use it for a business centered around lots of individually sold issues.

If you tell me roughly how much you charge per issue, your expected subscriber count, and whether the individual issue is a PDF or an email/web article, I can narrow this down to the cheapest/best setup for your specific model.

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off paid issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d narrow it to these:

My pick: beehiiv

For your particular model, beehiiv looks like the strongest fit. It now supports paid subscription tiers with monthly/yearly/custom pricing, paywalled issues, and one-time digital-product purchases. Its digital products can be files/downloads or gated content, so you can effectively sell a special issue as a standalone product while also having a subscription. www.beehiiv.com

The important bit: beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid-subscription and digital-product revenue; Stripe processing fees still apply. The paid subscription/digital-product functionality is currently on its paid plans, with Scale listed at $43/month on its current pricing page. www.beehiiv.com

A setup I'd consider:

• Free newsletter — occasional excerpts
• $8–15/month subscription — all regular premium issues
• $75–150/year subscription — discounted annual membership
• $10–25 one-off issues — particularly valuable investigations, reports, guides, archives, etc.
• Use the one-off buyers as a segment and later offer them a subscription

Ghost is the other one I'd seriously consider

Ghost is particularly attractive if the newsletter is really becoming a publication with a website/archive, rather than just an email list. It has built-in newsletters, memberships, paid subscriptions, multiple tiers, and Stripe-powered payments. Ghost's current plans also support one-time payments in addition to subscriptions. ghost.org

Ghost also doesn't take a transaction commission; payments go through your Stripe account. ghost.org

When I'd choose Substack

I'd choose Substack if your priority is "I want to start selling subscriptions with essentially no technical setup." It's hard to beat for simplicity and built-in discovery.

The downside for a niche business is economics: Substack takes a 10% share of paid subscription revenue, so that becomes increasingly expensive as you grow. tiergauge.com

Bottom line:
If you expect this to become a real business, I'd start with beehiiv. If the publication/website itself is the centerpiece, I'd choose Ghost. If you just want the fastest path from "newsletter" → "people paying me," choose Substack.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now, your expected price per issue/subscription, and whether the individual issues are PDFs or web/email articles, I can narrow this to the cheapest/best setup for your specific economics.

Yes. For a niche newsletter, I’d shortlist beehiiv, Ghost, Substack, and Buttondown—but there’s an important distinction: recurring subscriptions are easy on all four; selling a single issue as a standalone purchase is where the platforms differ.

My pick: beehiiv

For your particular model—"buy this issue for $X" OR "subscribe for $Y/month"—I'd start with beehiiv.

It supports paid newsletter tiers with monthly/annual pricing and paywalled issues, while also supporting digital products, so you can treat individual reports/issues as separate purchases. It also takes 0% platform revenue share on subscriptions and digital products, with Stripe processing fees still applying. www.beehiiv.com

That's particularly attractive if your niche newsletter might eventually sell things like:

• $9 individual research reports
• $15 special issues
• $10/month subscription
• $100/year subscription
• premium archives
• sponsorships
• team/company subscriptions

beehiiv now also supports group subscriptions, which could be useful if your niche has professional or B2B readers. product.beehiiv.com

When I'd choose the others

Ghost — I'd choose this if you care most about building an independent publication with your own website, brand, subscriber database, and Stripe account. Ghost takes no percentage of subscription revenue, but you pay for the software. ghost.org

Ghost

Substack — easiest if you want to get publishing immediately and potentially benefit from Substack's built-in ecosystem. Its paid publication setup supports monthly and annual subscriptions. The catch is the 10% cut of subscription revenue. support.substack.com

Substack

Buttondown — worth considering if you want a deliberately simple newsletter platform and don't need a huge monetization/growth stack. It doesn't take a cut of paid-subscription revenue. buttondown.com

Buttondown

One caveat

If "individual paid issue" is the core product, rather than an occasional add-on, I'd actually consider a newsletter + digital-commerce setup rather than forcing everything through a newsletter platform. The ideal checkout would let someone buy Issue #37 for $12 without becoming a subscriber, while offering All issues + future issues for $10/month.

If you tell me roughly (1) your expected price per issue, (2) subscription price, and (3) expected number of paid readers, I can compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs Ghost vs Substack—including what you'd keep at, say, $1k, $5k, and $10k/month.

Yes. For your use case, I’d narrow it to beehiiv, Ghost, and a few “commerce-first” options.

My shortlist

1. beehiiv — probably my first choice

beehiiv

beehiiv now supports paid subscription tiers plus one-time digital products, so you can essentially model your business as:

• Free newsletter
• $X/month or $X/year subscription
• $Y for a single premium issue
• Separate paid reports/guides/downloads

It uses Stripe for payments, and beehiiv says it takes 0% platform commission on subscriptions and digital products (Stripe processing fees still apply). www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

The particularly relevant feature for you is that digital products can be associated with subscriber segments, meaning you can distinguish people who bought an individual issue from subscribers. www.beehiiv.comghost.orgwww.beehiiv.com

2. Ghost — best if the publication itself is important

Ghost

Ghost is excellent if you want a more traditional publication website + newsletter + membership setup. It supports paid memberships through Stripe, including subscriptions and one-time payments, and doesn't take a transaction commission. ghost.org

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if you care a lot about having a beautiful, independently branded publication/archive rather than primarily optimizing newsletter growth.

3. Substack — easiest, but I'd be less enthusiastic for your specific model

Substack

It's very good at the basic "free newsletter → paid subscription" model. But if selling individual back issues is a core part of your business rather than an occasional add-on, I'd favor beehiiv or Ghost.

What I'd do for a niche newsletter

If your issues are something people might buy individually—say $10–$30 per issue—I'd structure it:

Free: selected articles / excerpts
Individual issue: $10–$20
Monthly subscription: $12–$20/month
Annual subscription: ~$120–$180/year
Premium: occasional larger reports at $30–$100+

For that model, beehiiv is probably the cleanest starting point because its current product system explicitly supports both paid subscriptions and one-time digital products. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how much you charge per issue, your subscriber count, and whether the issues are delivered as email/PDF/web articles, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and compare their actual fees and pricing.

Yes. For a niche newsletter, I’d shortlist these three:

My pick: Ghost

If you're publishing a newsletter and want something that feels like your own publication rather than a creator page, I'd lean Ghost. It supports paid memberships, multiple pricing tiers, and one-time payments through Stripe. ghost.org

A setup could look like:

• Free newsletter — regular issues
• $8 individual issue — buy a particular deep-dive
• $12/month — all premium issues
• $100/year — premium archive + future issues

That's a particularly clean model for a niche publication.

Patreon

Patreon has become considerably more interesting for this use case. As of July 2026, it supports selling individual posts, digital products, and collections as one-time purchases, alongside recurring memberships. support.patreon.com

I'd choose it if your newsletter is more personality/creator-driven or you also want community, audio, video, etc.

The downside is fees: Patreon says one-time purchases are subject to a 5%–12% platform fee depending on plan, plus payment processing and applicable taxes. support.patreon.com

Lemon Squeezy

This is the interesting option if you already have a website/newsletter system and mainly need commerce.

It supports both one-time digital purchases and recurring subscriptions, with monthly/yearly billing, checkout links, digital-file delivery, and subscription management. ghost.orgsupport.patreon.comwww.lemonsqueezy.com

It also acts as a merchant of record, handling sales-tax/VAT responsibilities, which can be a major advantage if you're selling internationally. www.lemonsqueezy.com

The tradeoff is that it's more of a digital-commerce platform than a newsletter publishing platform.

What I'd do

If you're starting from scratch:

Ghost → best overall

If you already have your newsletter infrastructure and just need checkout/payment:

Lemon Squeezy → best commerce layer

If you're building a creator membership with community and multiple media types:

Patreon → best membership platform

If you tell me (1) what you charge per issue, (2) expected subscriber count, and (3) whether you already use Substack/Mailchimp/ConvertKit/etc., I can compare the actual economics and recommend the cheapest/best setup.

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off paid issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It supports paid newsletter subscriptions, multiple tiers, paywalls, and digital products, so you can sell an individual premium issue/report while also offering a monthly or annual subscription. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

A particularly useful setup for a niche publication would be:

• Free newsletter → regular issues
• $X individual issue → one-off purchase for a particularly valuable report
• $X/month → all premium issues
• $X/year → discounted annual access
• Potentially higher-priced tier → archive, research database, community, etc.

beehiiv currently advertises 0% platform fees on paid subscriptions and digital products (Stripe processing fees still apply), which becomes attractive as revenue grows. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

One caveat: digital products are on beehiiv's paid plans, rather than its free Launch plan. www.beehiiv.com

Ghost — best if you want your own publication

Ghost is my second choice. It's particularly good if you want the newsletter to feel like a standalone media property rather than a creator profile.

Ghost supports paid memberships, multiple tiers, subscriptions, and one-time payments, with Stripe handling payments. Ghost itself doesn't take a transaction commission. ghost.org

The downside is that you'll generally have more setup/website-management responsibility than with Substack.

Substack — easiest

Substack is the simplest if your primary product is the newsletter itself. You can designate individual posts as paid and offer monthly, annual, and founding-member subscriptions. support.substack.com

The big downside for a business is the economics: Substack takes 10% of paid transactions, on top of Stripe fees. support.substack.com

What I'd choose

If you're building a niche publication with meaningful paid content, I'd go:

1. beehiiv — best combination of newsletter + individual products + subscriptions + growth tools
2. Ghost — best if owning the website/brand is especially important
3. Substack — best if you want the absolute simplest launch and don't mind the 10% cut

If you tell me roughly your expected price per issue, subscription price, and current subscriber count, I can compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs Ghost vs Substack for your situation.

For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off paid issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

For your particular model, beehiiv is probably the cleanest fit. It supports paid subscription tiers and one-time payments, and its digital-products system can sell things such as PDFs or gated content. Payments run through Stripe, and beehiiv currently says it takes 0% commission on subscription and digital-product revenue, though Stripe processing fees still apply. www.beehiiv.com

So you could structure it like:

• Free newsletter → regular issues
• $9 individual issue → buyer gets that particular issue
• $12/month subscription → all premium issues
• $100/year subscription → discounted annual access
• Potentially premium tiers for different levels of access

beehiiv also has paywalls, multiple subscription tiers, gift subscriptions, and metered access. www.beehiiv.com

Ghost is the other one I'd seriously consider

Ghost is particularly attractive if the newsletter is becoming a standalone publication/business rather than just an email list. It combines a website, publishing system, memberships, newsletters, and paid subscriptions. It connects directly to your Stripe account and supports one-time payments as well as subscriptions. docs.ghost.org

Ghost also supports giving someone access to a single members-only post through a gift link, which is interesting for your individual-issue model. ghost.org

Its current managed hosting starts at $18/month annually, while the $29/month Publisher plan adds paid subscriptions and other publication features. ghost.org

Bottom line: I'd choose beehiiv if growth, newsletter monetization, and ease of selling are the priorities; Ghost if owning a polished publication/site and having more control over the publishing experience matters more.

If you tell me roughly how much you plan to charge per issue/subscription and how many subscribers you have, I can compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs Ghost vs Gumroad for your case.

Yes. For your specific model—sell individual newsletter issues + offer recurring subscriptions—there are a few good fits, but they differ quite a bit.

My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It now supports paid subscription tiers plus digital products, including one-time purchases. You can sell a PDF/download, gated content, or access to hosted content, while also running monthly/annual subscriptions. www.beehiiv.com

For example, you could have:

• Free: weekly newsletter
• $10/month: all premium issues
• $100/year: all premium issues
• $15: individual premium issue
• $50: special report / annual deep dive

It also supports paywalls and multiple paid tiers. www.beehiiv.com

A particularly attractive part for a niche newsletter is that beehiiv says it takes 0% platform commission on paid subscriptions and digital products; you'll still pay Stripe's normal processing fees. Paid subscriptions/digital products currently require a paid beehiiv plan and connected Stripe account. www.beehiiv.com

Ghost is worth considering

Ghost is my choice if your newsletter is more like a small media publication and you care about owning/customizing the website.

Ghost supports recurring subscriptions, multiple membership tiers, one-time payments, and newsletters. ghost.org

The catch: selling individual pieces of premium content isn't as cleanly native as beehiiv's digital-product system. Ghost itself says one-off products such as courses generally require an integration like Gumroad or Shopify. ghost.org

Substack

Substack is the easiest if you mostly want "subscribe to my newsletter" rather than a storefront.

It supports monthly, annual, and founding-member subscriptions through Stripe. support.substack.com

But for your particular requirement—"I want someone to buy Issue #47 without subscribing"—I'd put it behind beehiiv.

Bottom line

I'd choose beehiiv if individual paid issues are an important part of the business model.

I'd choose Ghost if the newsletter is becoming a standalone publication/website and brand ownership/customization matters more.

I'd choose Substack if you want the least technical setup and subscriptions are overwhelmingly the business model.

If you tell me roughly your current subscriber count, price you expect to charge per issue/subscription, and whether each issue is an email, PDF, or web article, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and compare the actual economics.

For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off paid issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

It now supports paid subscriptions with monthly, annual, quarterly, and one-time payment options, plus digital products such as downloadable files and gated content. It also takes 0% platform commission on those sales; payment processing is handled through Stripe. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

That makes it unusually well suited to a model like:

• Free newsletter → audience building
• $7 individual issue → people can buy just the issue they want
• $12/month subscription → access to all premium issues
• $99/year subscription → discounted annual access
• Optional PDFs, reports, guides, etc. as separate products

beehiiv also gives you paywalls, subscription tiers, trials, and digital-product storefronts in the same system. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

When I'd choose Ghost instead

If your newsletter is becoming more like a small independent publication, Ghost is excellent. It gives you your own branded publication, website, memberships, newsletters, and recurring subscriptions, with 0% platform fees. ghost.org

One caveat

If by "individual paid issues" you specifically mean a customer buys Issue #47 once and gets permanent access to exactly that issue, I'd lean beehiiv over Ghost/Substack. beehiiv explicitly supports one-time payments alongside subscriptions. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

Bottom line: For your particular model, I'd start with beehiiv. It gives you the cleanest path to selling both individual editions and an all-access recurring subscription without stitching together a newsletter service and a separate digital storefront. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have and what you want to charge per issue/month, I can also compare the economics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack for your specific case.

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want both one-off issue sales and recurring subscriptions, I’d narrow it to these:

My picks

1. Kit — probably the best match for your model.
Kit lets you sell digital products with one-time purchases or recurring subscriptions, and it has native paid newsletters. You can essentially treat each premium issue as a product while also having a subscription product for people who want everything. kit.com

Kit

2. Buttondown — best if the newsletter itself is the product.
This is particularly interesting for your use case: Buttondown supports monthly/annual subscriptions, one-time pay-what-you-want payments, and even per-email charging. That last option is unusually well suited to selling individual premium issues. docs.buttondown.com

Buttondown

3. beehiiv — best if you're also trying to grow the publication.
It combines newsletters, paid subscriptions, digital products, analytics, recommendations and advertising. Its current plans advertise 0% platform fees on paid subscriptions and digital products. www.beehiiv.com

beehiiv

4. Memberful — best if you're building a broader membership business.
It supports both one-time payments and recurring subscriptions, plus newsletters, downloads, communities and other membership benefits. memberful.com

Memberful

I wouldn't make Substack my first choice for this particular model. It's excellent for recurring paid newsletters and has monthly/annual plans, but its monetization model is much more subscription-oriented. It currently takes 10% of paid transactions, whereas several alternatives have moved toward flat pricing/0% platform fees. support.substack.com

Substack

What I'd choose

If your model is:

Free newsletter → sell a $5–$20 individual premium issue → offer $10/month or $100/year for all issues

I'd start with Kit or Buttondown.

• Kit if you want sophisticated marketing, funnels, landing pages, digital products, and eventually courses/products.
• Buttondown if the business is fundamentally an editorial publication and you want the cleanest possible paid-email experience.
• beehiiv if audience growth, referrals, sponsorships and eventually becoming a larger media property are important.

The particularly interesting option for a niche publication is Buttondown's per-email model: you can charge readers for each premium email rather than forcing everyone into a subscription. docs.buttondown.com

If you tell me roughly how much you want to charge per issue, subscription price, and your current subscriber count, I can compare the actual economics of Kit vs Buttondown vs beehiiv for you.

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want both recurring subscriptions and individual paid issues, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Ghost

If this is a real niche publishing business, I'd lean toward Ghost. It gives you your own website, email newsletter, member database, paid tiers, and recurring subscriptions, while connecting directly to Stripe. Ghost says it takes 0% transaction fees on subscriptions. ghost.org

Current Ghost(Pro) pricing starts at $18/month billed annually, with paid subscriptions available on the Publisher plan at $29/month billed annually. ghost.org

The important wrinkle: Ghost is excellent for paid access to individual posts, but if by "sell individual issues" you mean a true à-la-carte storefront where someone buys Issue #17 without subscribing, Patreon is currently more purpose-built for that.

Patreon is surprisingly good for your exact model

Patreon now lets creators sell individual posts, digital products, and collections as one-time purchases, while also running recurring memberships. A newsletter issue could therefore be sold individually, while subscribers get it automatically as part of their membership. support.patreon.com

For newer Patreon creator pages, the standard platform fee is currently 10%, plus payment processing and applicable taxes. support.patreon.com

Substack is simplest

If you primarily want "send newsletter → readers subscribe → payment happens", Substack is the lowest-friction choice. It supports monthly and annual paid subscriptions, but charges creators 10% of each paid transaction, in addition to Stripe fees. support.substack.com

I'd choose Substack if simplicity and built-in newsletter distribution matter more than having your own publishing infrastructure.

Bottom line:

• Serious publication / own the business: Ghost
• Individual issue sales are central: Patreon
• Get paid newsletter running ASAP: Substack

\*Ghost's current payment tooling supports subscriptions and one-time payments, but I'd verify the exact workflow you want for paywalled individual newsletter issues before committing. ghost.org

If you tell me roughly your expected price per issue, subscription price, and whether issues are delivered by email/PDF/web, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and compare the economics.

Yes. For a niche newsletter where you want to sell both individual issues and recurring subscriptions, I’d focus on platforms that support both one-time payments and memberships natively.

Best fits

1. beehiiv — probably the best overall fit

• Built specifically around newsletters.
• Supports recurring monthly/annual subscriptions and one-time payments. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com
• You can have multiple paid tiers and paywall individual issues.
• Also has digital-product storefront functionality, so an individual issue can effectively be sold as a standalone product.
• Stripe handles payments, and beehiiv says it takes 0% platform commission on subscription revenue. www.beehiiv.comghost.orgwww.beehiiv.com
• Particularly attractive if you expect to eventually add sponsorships, referrals, or other monetization.

2. Ghost — best if you care about owning the publication/brand

Ghost gives you a proper publication website plus newsletter, memberships, and paid content. It supports recurring subscriptions as well as one-time payments and multiple membership tiers. ghost.org

I'd lean Ghost if your newsletter is more like a small media publication and you want a highly customizable website rather than primarily a newsletter-growth machine.

3. Substack — easiest to launch

Substack makes recurring paid subscriptions extremely straightforward, with monthly, annual, and founding-member pricing. support.substack.com

The catch for your particular use case is that it's much more naturally designed around subscriptions to a publication than a storefront selling individual back issues. It also takes a percentage of paid-subscription revenue.

My recommendation

If your model is something like:

Free newsletter → $8 individual issue → $12/month subscription → $100/year subscription

I'd start with beehiiv. Its combination of newsletter publishing, paywalls, subscriptions, and one-time digital-product sales is unusually well matched to that model. www.beehiiv.com

If the individual paid issues are the main product and the newsletter is primarily your marketing channel, I'd consider a commerce platform alongside your email software instead.

If you tell me roughly (a) price of an individual issue, (b) subscription price, and (c) current subscriber count, I can narrow this down to the cheapest/best setup and show you what the fees would look like at your revenue level.

Yes. For your specific model—sell individual paid issues + recurring subscriptions—I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

It now supports both paid subscriptions and one-time digital products. For example, you could structure your business as:

• $8 individual issue — buy just this week's special report
• $12/month subscription — every premium issue
• $120/year subscription — annual access
• Free newsletter → upsell readers to either a one-off issue or subscription

beehiiv says it takes 0% platform commission on subscriptions and digital products; standard Stripe processing fees still apply. Its digital-product system can sell downloadable files as well as access to hosted/gated content. www.beehiiv.comsupport.substack.comwww.beehiiv.com

That's particularly attractive for a niche publication, because you're not forced to make every buyer a recurring subscriber.

Substack

Substack is probably the easiest if your priority is writing and getting readers, rather than building a sophisticated storefront. It supports paid publications with monthly/yearly plans and lets you designate individual posts as paid-only. support.substack.com

The downside for your model is that one-off issue sales aren't really its core commerce model. And Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue (plus payment fees). substack.com

Ghost

Ghost is worth considering if you want the newsletter to become a proper branded publication/site. It supports premium content and recurring subscription tiers with 0% platform transaction fees. ghost.org

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if brand/control and your own publication website matter more than having a built-in digital-product storefront.

Bottom line: For “I publish a niche newsletter and want to monetize individual issues as well as recurring memberships,” I'd start with beehiiv. It is unusually well matched to having two products: one-off issues + subscriptions in the same system. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly what you charge per issue, expected subscriber count, and whether the individual issue is a PDF or a web/email article, I can narrow it down to the cheapest/best setup for your economics.

Yes. For your specific model—sell individual paid issues + recurring subscriptions—I’d narrow it to these:

My pick: beehiiv

For a niche publication, beehiiv is probably the closest match. It supports paid newsletter subscriptions with monthly/annual billing, and its current digital-product system supports one-time purchases as well. It uses Stripe for payments and says it takes 0% platform commission on subscription and digital-product revenue, leaving Stripe processing fees. www.beehiiv.com

That gives you a model like:

• Free newsletter → audience acquisition
• $8/month or $80/year → all premium issues
• $15–30 individual issue → people who don't want a subscription
• Potentially $100+ premium reports/archives → higher-value niche products

beehiiv also has paywalls, multiple subscription tiers, digital products, email automations, analytics, referrals, and sponsorship/advertising tools, so you don't have to bolt together several services as you grow. www.beehiiv.com

Ghost is the one I'd seriously consider instead

If your newsletter is more like a small publication/media business than a creator newsletter, I'd look hard at Ghost. It gives you a highly customizable publication site, newsletters, member accounts, premium tiers, and recurring subscriptions, with 0% platform fees on payments. ghost.org

The tradeoff is that Ghost is more oriented toward building your own publication infrastructure, whereas beehiiv is particularly strong on newsletter growth and monetization.

Substack

Substack is the easiest if you want to get something running quickly. It supports paid monthly/yearly subscriptions and Stripe payments. support.substack.com

The big downside for a commercial niche publication is economics: Substack takes 10% of subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost currently advertise 0% platform commission. tiergauge.com

So if you're expecting meaningful revenue, I'd probably avoid giving away 10% indefinitely.

One important distinction

If by "individual paid issues" you mean:

"Someone can pay $12 to unlock Issue #47 without subscribing"

rather than simply selling PDFs/reports as digital products, I'd specifically test beehiiv and Ghost against your desired checkout/access flow before committing. That's the unusual part of your business model; recurring paid newsletters are easy, but true à-la-carte issue access needs to work cleanly for your readers.

My ranking for you:

1. 🥇 beehiiv — best overall fit
2. 🥈 Ghost — best if brand/site ownership is paramount
3. 🥉 Substack — easiest, but expensive at scale
4. Buttondown — excellent minimalist newsletter software, but less compelling for an issue-storefront model buttondown.com

If you tell me roughly your issue price, expected subscriber count, and whether each issue is an email, web article, or PDF, I can work out which platform is cheapest and cleanest for your exact business model.