ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your priorities are paid subscriptions + subscriber churn/retention + revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

• beehiiv — strongest all-around fit. It combines paid subscriptions with detailed analytics for active subscribers, MRR/ARR, revenue, LTV, upgrades/downgrades, churn, and acquisition sources. Its paid-newsletter analytics are particularly deep, including cohort and retention analysis. Product Updates Product Updates

beehiiv.com

• Substack — simplest if you want to focus on writing. Its current analytics include paid churn, paid net growth, and paid cohort retention at 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months, plus gross annualized revenue and paid-subscriber counts. Substack Support Substack Support

substack.com

• Kit — better if your newsletter is part of a broader creator business. It has paid newsletters, advanced email analytics, and a revenue dashboard covering products, sponsorships, and connected external sources. Kit Help Center Beehiiv

kit.com

• Ghost — good if owning your publication/site is important. It supports paid memberships with 0% platform transaction fees and includes subscriber/campaign analytics, although its built-in analytics are less focused on advanced retention analysis than beehiiv or Substack. Beehiiv

ghost.org

My practical shortlist

If analytics on churn and revenue are central to the business, I'd start with beehiiv. Its subscription dashboard explicitly tracks growth and churn, while its broader paid-subscription analytics include MRR, ARR, LTV, payment history, and subscriber-level events. Product Updates Product Updates

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you need a website as well as email, I can narrow this down based on actual pricing and transaction fees.

If you’re running a paid newsletter business, I’d prioritize platforms that combine:

• paid subscriptions + billing
• subscriber cohort retention
• churn tracking (monthly churn, cancellations, retention curves)
• revenue metrics (MRR/ARR, LTV, conversion)
• audience segmentation and re-engagement tools

Here are the strongest options:

Substack Beehiiv## My shortlist by use case

1. Starting a paid newsletter from scratch

Pick: beehiiv

Why:

• Built specifically around newsletter growth and monetization
• Handles free + paid tiers
• Tracks subscription revenue and retention metrics
• Includes growth features like referral tools and audience segmentation

Email Marketing & Conversion Tools Beehiiv### 2. You’re primarily a writer and want the simplest workflow

Pick: Substack

Why:

• Fastest path from writing → paid subscribers
• Built-in subscription management
• Paid retention dashboards include cohort retention and churn metrics

Tradeoff:

• Less control over branding, data workflows, and advanced analytics than a more customizable stack.

Substack### 3. You already have an audience and want deeper business analytics

Pick: Ghost + Stripe or a newsletter platform + Stripe analytics

Why:

• Better ownership of subscriber relationships
• Stripe gives detailed subscription economics:

• MRR
• cancellations
• failed payments
• LTV
• revenue by customer segment

4. You want content-level revenue attribution

Consider adding an analytics layer:

• subsurface.app — focuses on churn risk, revenue intelligence, and subscriber behavior analysis for newsletter creators. Subsurface
• stack-intel.com — focuses on linking posts to conversions and cancellations. StackIntel

Metrics I’d make sure the software supports

For a paid newsletter, opens and clicks are secondary. The important dashboard should include:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Paid subscriber growth
• Monthly churn rate
• Retention by signup cohort (e.g., “what % of January subscribers are still paying after 6 months?”)
• Free → paid conversion rate
• Subscriber lifetime value (LTV)
• Cancellation reasons
• Revenue by acquisition source
• Content that drives upgrades or cancellations

If you tell me your situation (new newsletter vs existing audience, subscriber count, and whether you want a Substack-style hosted solution or your own website), I can narrow this to 2–3 best fits.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the key requirements, I’d shortlist these three:

1. beehiiv.com — my top pick

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid-newsletter system supports multiple subscription tiers, flexible payments, trials/promotions, and explicitly tracks growth, churn, LTV, and revenue. Product Updates Product Updates

Its dashboard also brings together subscriber counts and earnings, with earnings covering paid subscriptions as well as other monetization channels. Beehiiv

Why I'd choose it: If your primary business is a newsletter and you want to understand “How many paid readers am I losing, where are they coming from, and how much revenue are they generating?”, beehiiv has the strongest newsletter-specific analytics of the three.

2. ghost.org — best for a publication/site

Ghost is particularly strong if your newsletter is part of a broader publication website.

Its native analytics include paid-member growth, cancellations, MRR, member acquisition, and revenue attribution. Importantly, Ghost records cancellations when the member actually cancels rather than waiting until their paid period expires, which makes its churn reporting particularly useful. Ghost

Ghost also recently improved its paid-member analytics with breakdowns by subscription cadence and tier. Ghost

Why I'd choose it: You want a serious publication/CMS alongside the newsletter, and you care about understanding MRR and subscriber behavior.

3. kit.com — best for creators

Kit combines paid newsletters with broader creator-business functionality. It supports recurring newsletter subscriptions and provides subscriber retention/engagement analytics, revenue reporting, and subscriber-level purchase information. Kit Kit Help Center

Its analytics can show subscriber lifetime/retention behavior, while its revenue dashboard tracks revenue from products, newsletters, and connected external sources. Kit Kit Help Center

Why I'd choose it: Your paid newsletter is only one component of a creator business that might also sell courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

My ranking

For your specific requirements:

1. 🥇 beehiiv — best overall paid-newsletter analytics
2. 🥈 Ghost — best combination of publication + paid membership analytics
3. 🥉 Kit — best if you also sell other creator products

If churn analytics is the deciding factor, I'd start with beehiiv vs. Ghost. Both have substantially better native subscription analytics than a conventional email marketing platform. Product Updates Ghost

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid-newsletter system supports multiple subscription tiers, flexible payments, trials/promotions, and explicitly tracks growth, churn, LTV, and revenue. Product Updates Product Updates

Its dashboard also brings together subscriber counts and earnings, with earnings covering paid subscriptions as well as other monetization channels. Beehiiv

Why I'd choose it: If your primary business is a newsletter and you want to understand “How many paid readers am I losing, where are they coming from, and how much revenue are they generating?”, beehiiv has the strongest newsletter-specific analytics of the three.

2. ghost.org — best for a publication/site

Ghost is particularly strong if your newsletter is part of a broader publication website.

Its native analytics include paid-member growth, cancellations, MRR, member acquisition, and revenue attribution. Importantly, Ghost records cancellations when the member actually cancels rather than waiting until their paid period expires, which makes its churn reporting particularly useful. Ghost

Ghost also recently improved its paid-member analytics with breakdowns by subscription cadence and tier. Ghost

Why I'd choose it: You want a serious publication/CMS alongside the newsletter, and you care about understanding MRR and subscriber behavior.

3. kit.com — best for creators

Kit combines paid newsletters with broader creator-business functionality. It supports recurring newsletter subscriptions and provides subscriber retention/engagement analytics, revenue reporting, and subscriber-level purchase information. kit.com help.kit.com

Its analytics can show subscriber lifetime/retention behavior, while its revenue dashboard tracks revenue from products, newsletters, and connected external sources.

Why I'd choose it: Your paid newsletter is only one component of a creator business that might also sell courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

My ranking

If paid subscriptions + churn + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

For a business where the newsletter itself is the product, I'd choose beehiiv. Its analytics and monetization stack are particularly geared toward understanding the economics of a publication, while its paid-subscription system takes 0% platform revenue share on the relevant paid plan. It also gives you growth tools such as referrals/recommendations and an ad network. Creator Economy Beehiiv

It's especially attractive if you want to track things like:

• paid vs. free subscriber growth
• subscription revenue
• conversion from free → paid
• subscriber retention/churn
• monthly vs. annual subscriptions
• revenue by cohort
• acquisition/growth sources

beehiiv's own 2026 paid-newsletter report emphasizes retention and annual-vs-monthly subscription economics, which is a good indication of how seriously the platform treats subscription analytics. Beehiiv

When I'd choose the others

Ghost — choose this if you care most about owning the publication and website long-term. It's open-source, supports paid memberships, and has a 0% platform take on paid subscriptions on its applicable hosted plans. TierGauge Fieldwork

Kit — better if the newsletter is part of a larger creator business: courses, digital products, coaching, etc. Its strength is sophisticated tagging and automation around customer behavior rather than being a pure publication analytics platform. Creator Economy

Substack — best if you want the fastest, simplest launch and value its built-in reader/discovery network. The tradeoff is significant once revenue grows: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment processing. Newsletter Cost Calculator Lori Ballen Digital Marketing

Bottom line

If I were choosing specifically for “I want to know exactly how many subscribers I'm losing, why revenue is changing, and whether my paid newsletter is becoming a healthy business”, my ranking would be:

1. beehiiv — best overall
2. Ghost — best for ownership/control
3. Kit — best if you sell other products too
4. Substack — best for simplicity and built-in discovery

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now and expected paid revenue/month (e.g. 2,000 free / 300 paid / $3k MRR), I can also calculate which one is cheapest and best economically for your situation.

Kit — better if the newsletter is part of a larger creator business: courses, digital products, coaching, etc. Its strength is sophisticated tagging and automation around customer behavior rather than being a pure publication analytics platform. Creator Economy

Substack — best if you want the fastest, simplest launch and value its built-in reader/discovery network. The tradeoff is significant once revenue grows: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment processing.

Bottom line

If I were choosing specifically for “I want to know exactly how many subscribers I'm losing, why revenue is changing, and whether my paid newsletter is becoming a healthy business”, my ranking would be:

If subscriber churn + revenue analytics are core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

• beehiiv.com — best overall for a paid newsletter. It has native paid subscriptions plus analytics for revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention, and engagement. Its current Scale plan is $43/month when billed annually, and beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue (Stripe processing still applies). Beehiiv Beehiiv
• kit.com — best if you want a broader creator-business platform. Kit tracks subscriber retention/engagement, subscriber lifetime, unsubscribes, and revenue; its newer Insights dashboard goes further into acquisition → subscriber → customer conversion. Paid newsletters are built into its Commerce system. Kit Kit Kit
• ghost.org — best if you want maximum publishing/site control. Ghost has native membership analytics, including paid-member growth broken down by subscription cadence and tier. It’s particularly attractive if the newsletter is part of a larger publication website. Ghost Ghost
• Substack — easiest if you want a ready-made writer/publisher ecosystem, but I'd rank it below the three above for a business where analytics and margins matter. Its major downside is the 10% platform cut of paid subscription revenue. TierGauge

My pick

Start with beehiiv if your primary KPI is “How much recurring revenue am I generating, and why are paid subscribers churning?” Its paid-subscription analytics are unusually central to the product rather than bolted onto an email-marketing platform. Beehiiv

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect) and your monthly subscription price, I can compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs. Kit vs. Ghost vs. Substack for your newsletter.

If you want a paid newsletter platform with built-in analytics for subscriber churn and revenue, I’d focus on tools that treat the newsletter as a subscription business rather than just an email sender. The best choices depend on whether you prioritize growth, ownership, simplicity, or advanced analytics.

Top recommendations

1. beehiiv.com — Best overall for a serious paid newsletter

Why it stands out:

• Built specifically for newsletter operators.
• Tracks subscriber growth, paid conversions, revenue, and retention metrics.
• Supports paid tiers, paywalls, trials, and referral programs.
• Better segmentation and growth analytics than many newsletter-first tools. beehiiv

Choose it if:

• You want to grow from hundreds to tens of thousands of subscribers.
• You care about metrics like: - monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• free → paid conversion rate
• churn rate
• subscriber cohorts
• acquisition sources

Downside: More business-oriented; writers looking for a very simple “publish and send” workflow may find it more complex.

2. ghost.org — Best for owning your publication

Strengths:

• Full website + newsletter + membership system.
• You control your audience data.
• Strong for publications that want a branded site rather than a newsletter-only product.

Choose it if:

• You want SEO traffic, a publication website, and paid memberships together.
• You expect your newsletter to become a media property.

Downside: Its native analytics are less focused on subscription-growth optimization than beehiiv, so larger operators often add analytics tools.

3. substack.com — Best for launching quickly

Strengths:

• Extremely easy setup.
• Built-in payments and subscriber management.
• Includes paid subscriber retention views such as paid cohort analysis and paid churn metrics. Substack Support

Choose it if:

• You are starting from zero.
• You want to spend your time writing rather than managing software.

Downside:

• Less control over branding, audience data workflows, and advanced business analytics.
• If you become a larger operation, you may want more sophisticated reporting.

4. kit.com — Best if the newsletter supports a creator business

Strengths:

• Excellent email automation.
• Strong subscriber tagging and funnels.
• Good fit if you also sell courses, memberships, consulting, or digital products.

Choose it if:

• The newsletter is one part of a broader creator business.

Downside: It is less newsletter-business-focused than beehiiv.

If churn analytics are your #1 priority

Consider pairing your newsletter platform with a dedicated analytics layer:

• subsurface.app — focuses on churn risk, subscriber cohorts, revenue intelligence, and identifying subscribers likely to cancel. Subsurface
• bylineos.com — focuses on revenue, churn, LTV, and content performance analytics for newsletter writers. Byline OS

My shortlist

• Starting a paid newsletter today: beehiiv.com
• Want the simplest launch: substack.com
• Building a long-term publication brand: ghost.org
• Newsletter + courses/products/business: kit.com

For most paid newsletter businesses where churn and revenue analytics matter, I’d start with beehiiv unless you already have a strong reason to choose Substack or Ghost. beehiiv Substack Support

My shortlist

• Starting a paid newsletter today: beehiiv.com
• Want the simplest launch: substack.com
• Building a long-term publication brand: ghost.org
• Newsletter + courses/products/business: kit.com

For most paid newsletter businesses where churn and revenue analytics matter, I’d start with beehiiv unless you already have a strong reason to choose Substack or Ghost. beehiiv Substack Support

If you want paid newsletter software with built-in subscriber churn and revenue analytics, I’d focus on platforms that treat the newsletter as a subscription business (MRR, retention, cohorts, cancellations), not just email marketing.

Best options

1. beehiiv.com — best overall for a paid newsletter business

Best if: your newsletter is the product and you care about growth metrics.

Strengths:

• Paid tiers and subscriptions
• Subscriber growth dashboards
• Revenue tracking
• Cohort-style retention analysis
• Referral/growth tools
• Newsletter-native workflows

Beehiiv is often the closest fit to a “newsletter operating system” because it combines sending, monetization, and audience analytics in one place. Email Marketing & Conversion Tools

Choose it if you want to answer questions like:

• “Which acquisition channel produces the highest-value subscribers?”
• “Is churn increasing among monthly subscribers?”
• “How much MRR did this campaign generate?”

2. substack.com — easiest launch path

Best if: you are a writer/creator and want minimal technical setup.

Strengths:

• Built-in paid subscriptions
• Simple publishing workflow
• Subscriber retention dashboards
• Paid cohort analysis
• Paid churn metrics

Substack’s retention reporting includes paid cohort analysis, paid net growth rate, and paid churn tracking. Substack Support

Weakness:

• Analytics are more “creator dashboard” than “subscription business intelligence.”
• Less flexibility for complex funnels, segmentation, or custom reporting.

3. kit.com — best if newsletters are part of a larger creator business

Best if: you sell courses, memberships, digital products, or sponsorships.

Strengths:

• Strong automation
• Segmentation
• Creator funnels
• Paid newsletter support

Weakness:

• Revenue and churn reporting is not as newsletter-business-focused as Beehiiv or dedicated subscription analytics tools.

4. ghost.org — best for ownership and publishing brands

Best if: you want your own website, brand, and subscriber database.

Strengths:

• Memberships
• Paid newsletters
• Publishing CMS
• Stripe-based payments

Weakness:

• You may need additional analytics tooling for deeper churn/revenue analysis.

5. Add-on analytics tools (if you already use Substack or Stripe)

If you like your newsletter platform but want deeper business analytics:

• subsurface.app — adds churn-risk scoring, revenue intelligence, subscriber cohorts, and LTV-style analysis for newsletter operators. subsurface.app
• bylineos.com — focuses on newsletter revenue dashboards, churn, LTV, and content-to-revenue analysis. Byline OS

My shortlist by use case

• Starting a paid newsletter from zero: beehiiv.com
• Solo writer who wants the easiest path: substack.com
• Creator business with products and funnels: kit.com
• Media company / independent publisher: ghost.org + analytics stack
• Already have subscribers and want churn prediction: subsurface.app or bylineos.com

If you’re optimizing specifically for reducing churn, I’d prioritize platforms that show:

• monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• paid subscriber cohorts
• cancellation reasons
• engagement before churn
• LTV by acquisition source
• free → paid conversion rate

For most paid newsletter operators, that usually points to Beehiiv first, then Substack + an analytics add-on if you need deeper reporting.

If you’re running a paid newsletter business, I’d prioritize platforms that track more than opens/clicks: you want paid subscriber retention, churn, MRR/revenue, LTV, conversion funnels, and cohort behavior. Here are the strongest options:

My shortlist by use case

Best all-in-one paid newsletter platform

beehiiv

• Paid subscriptions
• Subscriber growth analytics
• Revenue dashboards
• Segmentation and lifecycle tools
• Referral/growth features

Good choice if you want to grow from hundreds to tens of thousands of subscribers. Email Marketing & Conversion Tools

Best if you are a writer/news publisher

Substack

• Fastest setup
• Built-in payments
• Paid retention/cohort views
• Existing discovery network

The tradeoff is less control over advanced business analytics. Substack Support

Best analytics add-ons (especially for Substack users)

If the publishing platform doesn’t give you enough insight, add a dedicated analytics layer:

• Subsurface — focuses on churn risk scoring, revenue intelligence, subscriber cohorts, and identifying at-risk paid readers. Subsurface
• Byline OS — focuses on newsletter business metrics like MRR, churn, LTV, and content performance. Byline OS

Metrics I’d make sure the stack supports

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Paid subscriber churn rate
• Retention by signup cohort (30/90/365-day retention)
• Subscriber lifetime value (LTV)
• Free → paid conversion rate
• Revenue by acquisition source
• Content-to-conversion attribution (which issues/posts create paid subscribers)
• Failed payment recovery

A practical setup many paid newsletter operators use:

• beehiiv or Substack for publishing + payments
• Stripe for billing data
• A dedicated analytics tool if you need deeper churn/revenue intelligence

If you share your approximate size (e.g., 500 paid subscribers vs. 50,000) and whether you want Substack-style simplicity or a full owned platform, I can narrow this to 2–3 choices.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top pick

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly track revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention, and engagement. Beehiiv

It also has:

• Monthly, annual, and custom subscription pricing
• Multiple paid tiers
• Trials and gift subscriptions
• Retention flows designed to reduce cancellations
• Revenue/LTV-style subscription dashboards
• 0% platform fee on paid subscriptions; you pay Stripe's processing fees instead Beehiiv Beehiiv

The particularly nice thing is that beehiiv is built around newsletters rather than being an email marketing platform that happens to support newsletters.

I'd choose this if your primary business is a paid newsletter.

2. Kit — best if the newsletter is part of a broader creator business

Kit has become considerably more sophisticated analytically. Its current subscriber analytics include retention data, engagement trends, subscriber-level analysis, and unsubscribes. Kit Kit Help Center

Its paid-newsletter/commerce functionality also lets you track subscriber purchases, refunds, billing history and revenue. Kit

The big advantage is that Kit goes beyond the newsletter: you can connect revenue from courses, products, memberships, etc. Its newer Insights dashboard is specifically designed to trace traffic → subscribers → customers and identify which emails generate sales. Kit

I'd choose Kit if you're a creator who expects to monetize through several products, not just the newsletter.

3. Ghost — best for a publication you want to own

Ghost combines a publication website, newsletter, memberships and paid subscriptions. It has native analytics and tracks where members came from, including sources that led to paid conversion. Ghost

It's especially attractive if you want the newsletter to live alongside a substantial content website and want more control over the publishing experience.

My ranking for your specific requirement:

1. beehiiv — best overall for paid-newsletter revenue + churn analytics
2. Kit — best for newsletter + broader creator monetization
3. Ghost — best for a publication/membership website

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you need a website/paywall, I can narrow this down based on actual monthly cost and the quality of the churn/revenue reporting.

Kit has become considerably more sophisticated analytically. Its current subscriber analytics include retention data, engagement trends, subscriber-level analysis, and unsubscribes. Kit Kit Help Center

Its paid-newsletter/commerce functionality also lets you track subscriber purchases, refunds, billing history and revenue. Kit

The big advantage is that Kit goes beyond the newsletter: you can connect revenue from courses, products, memberships, etc. Its newer Insights dashboard is specifically designed to trace traffic → subscribers → customers and identify which emails generate sales. Kit

I'd choose Kit if you're a creator who expects to monetize through several products, not just the newsletter.

3. Ghost — best for a publication you want to own

Ghost combines a publication website, newsletter, memberships and paid subscriptions. It has native analytics and tracks where members came from, including sources that led to paid conversion.

It's especially attractive if you want the newsletter to live alongside a substantial content website and want more control over the publishing experience.

My ranking for your specific requirement:

If your priority is paid subscriptions + clear churn/retention + revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv.com — my top pick

beehiiv is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its analytics cover subscriber growth, unsubscribes, engagement, subscription revenue, and paid-content performance. Beehiiv Beehiiv

Its paid-newsletter economics are also attractive: beehiiv currently advertises 0% platform fees on paid subscriptions, rather than taking a percentage of your subscription revenue. Beehiiv

Why I'd choose it: If you're building a business rather than simply putting a newsletter behind a paywall, beehiiv gives you a strong combination of monetization, acquisition analytics, retention data, and growth tooling.

2. substack.com — best for simplicity

Substack has surprisingly good retention analytics now. Its Retention dashboard includes paid cohort analysis, paid net growth rate, and paid churn, including the percentage of each paid cohort still subscribed at 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. Substack Support

It also shows gross annualized revenue and paid-subscriber counts directly in the main dashboard. Substack Support

The tradeoff is economics: Substack takes a 10% cut of paid subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv currently advertises 0%. Beehiiv

Choose it if: you want the least technical setup and value Substack's reader/discovery ecosystem.

3. ghost.org — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly appealing if you want your newsletter to also be a full publication/site that you control. It supports paid memberships without taking a percentage of subscription revenue. Beehiiv

I'd put it behind beehiiv if analytics are the deciding factor, but ahead of it if ownership, customization, and having your own publication infrastructure matter most.

4. kit.com — best if you're also selling other things

Kit has unusually strong subscriber analytics: unsubscribe trends, subscriber lifetime, cohort retention, engagement segments, acquisition attribution, and revenue per subscriber. Kit Kit Help Center

It also has a revenue dashboard covering products, sponsorships, and connected external sources. Kit Help Center

Choose it if: the newsletter is one component of a larger creator business—courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

My recommendation

If I were choosing specifically based on your requirements:

1. beehiiv — best overall for a paid newsletter business
2. Substack — best if simplicity and audience discovery matter more than fees
3. Ghost — best for ownership and a publication-first business
4. Kit — best if newsletter + products/creator business are intertwined

One important distinction: "subscriber churn" can mean email-list churn or paid-revenue churn. If you specifically want metrics like monthly recurring revenue (MRR), monthly churn %, revenue churn, LTV, cohort retention, upgrades/downgrades, and failed-payment churn, I'd narrow the recommendation further—beehiiv vs. Substack would be the two I'd investigate first.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

• beehiiv.com — best overall. Strongest fit if you’re building a newsletter as a business. It supports paid subscriptions and gives you detailed subscription/retention data, including cancellations, subscriber value, and revenue-oriented analytics. beehiiv’s own 2026 benchmark report specifically analyzes paid conversion, cancellations, subscriber lifetime, and LTV. Beehiiv
• ghost.org — best for ownership/control. Ghost combines newsletter publishing, memberships, paid subscriptions, and analytics, while giving you substantially more control over your publication and subscriber data. Good choice if you want something that feels more like owning a media property than using a creator platform. Data Research Analysis Collection
• substack.com — easiest to launch. Very low friction for paid newsletters and has built-in paid subscriber metrics, but its analytics are less sophisticated than beehiiv's, and the economics become less attractive as revenue grows because of its revenue share. TierGauge Data Research Analysis Collection
• kit.com — best if the newsletter is part of a broader creator business. Particularly compelling if you'll also sell courses, products, or services. Its Commerce functionality handles paid subscriptions, while its audience/automation tooling is stronger than a newsletter-only platform. 500k.io

My recommendation

Pick beehiiv if your primary KPI dashboard should answer:

How many paid subscribers do I have, how fast are they growing, how many are churning, and how much revenue/LTV am I generating?

That's exactly the type of paid-newsletter business beehiiv has been optimizing for. Its paid-subscription revenue reportedly reached $19M in 2025, and its 2026 research provides unusually detailed benchmarks for churn, subscriber lifetime, conversion, and LTV. Beehiiv

One important distinction: “analytics on churn” can mean two different things. If you want cohort-level retention curves, churn by acquisition source/plan, LTV, MRR, failed-payment churn, and revenue forecasting, I'd favor beehiiv or Ghost over Substack.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you need a website as well as email, I can narrow this to the best 2 and show the actual cost/revenue tradeoff.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my overall pick

beehiiv.com

I'd pick beehiiv if you're building a serious newsletter business rather than simply adding payments to an existing publication. It combines paid subscriptions with audience segmentation, growth tools, referrals, and monetization features. Its paid-subscription platform fee is 0% on qualifying plans. Beehiiv Beehiiv

Why I like it: you can look at subscriber growth, paid conversion, engagement and monetization in the same system, while also having tools for acquiring new subscribers.

2. Substack — best churn analytics out of the box

substack.com

Substack is particularly compelling if retention/churn analysis is the thing you care about most. Its current Retention dashboard includes paid cohort analysis, paid net growth rate, paid churn, and free subscribers, with cohorts showing retention at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months. Substack

It also reports gross annualized revenue and paid-subscriber counts directly in the publication dashboard. Substack

The tradeoff is significant: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, on top of payment processing. Newsletter Calc

3. Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership

ghost.org

Ghost is excellent if your newsletter is really becoming a membership publication + website. Its native analytics cover website activity, newsletter performance, audience growth and revenue when paid subscriptions are enabled. Ghost

It also supports paid memberships with 0% platform revenue share on the appropriate hosted plans. Beehiiv

One advantage for a more analytical operation: Ghost can feed membership/subscription data into tools such as Metabase, where you can build dashboards for MRR, ARPU, free-to-paid conversion, and churned members. Metabase

4. Kit — best if newsletter revenue isn't your only business

kit.com

Kit makes more sense if the newsletter is part of a larger creator business—e.g. newsletter → course → coaching → digital product. Its strength is automation and audience segmentation rather than being purely a paid-publication analytics platform.

My recommendation

For most paid newsletters: start with beehiiv.

I'd choose:

• beehiiv → best overall business/growth platform
• Substack → best if you want the simplest publishing experience and particularly strong built-in retention/churn reporting
• Ghost → best if owning your site, membership infrastructure, and data matters
• Kit → best if the newsletter feeds a broader creator/product funnel

One important distinction: if by "analytics" you specifically mean monthly churn %, cohort retention, MRR/ARR, ARPU, failed-payment churn, lifetime value, and revenue by acquisition source, tell me roughly how many subscribers you have and your monthly/annual subscription price. I can compare these four specifically on those metrics and show you which one gives you the strongest dashboard for your use case.

beehiiv.com

I'd pick beehiiv if you're building a serious newsletter business rather than simply adding payments to an existing publication. It combines paid subscriptions with audience segmentation, growth tools, referrals, and monetization features. Its paid-subscription platform fee is 0% on qualifying plans. Beehiiv Beehiiv

Why I like it: you can look at subscriber growth, paid conversion, engagement and monetization in the same system, while also having tools for acquiring new subscribers.

2. Substack — best churn analytics out of the box

substack.com

Substack is particularly compelling if retention/churn analysis is the thing you care about most. Its current Retention dashboard includes paid cohort analysis, paid net growth rate, paid churn, and free subscribers, with cohorts showing retention at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months. Substack

It also reports gross annualized revenue and paid-subscriber counts directly in the publication dashboard. Substack

The tradeoff is significant: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, on top of payment processing. newslettercalc.com

3. Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership

ghost.org

Ghost is excellent if your newsletter is really becoming a membership publication + website. Its native analytics cover website activity, newsletter performance, audience growth and revenue when paid subscriptions are enabled. ghost.org

It also supports paid memberships with 0% platform revenue share on the appropriate hosted plans. Beehiiv

One advantage for a more analytical operation: Ghost can feed membership/subscription data into tools such as Metabase, where you can build dashboards for MRR, ARPU, free-to-paid conversion, and churned members. metabase.com

4. Kit — best if newsletter revenue isn't your only business

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv.com — best overall

• Built specifically for newsletter businesses.
• Supports monthly, annual, and pay-what-you-wish subscriptions.
• Its paid-subscription analytics include revenue, subscriber retention, and engagement, and it supports paywalls and paid-subscriber automations. Beehiiv Beehiiv
• 0% platform fee on subscription revenue; you still pay Stripe's processing fees. Beehiiv
• Particularly strong if you also want sponsorships, referrals, and sophisticated audience-growth analytics.
• ghost.org — best for ownership/control

• Excellent if you want a newsletter plus a full publication website.
• Built-in memberships and paid subscriptions, with no percentage-of-revenue platform cut. TierGauge Publishing House
• More control and portability than Substack, particularly if you eventually self-host.
• I'd choose it over beehiiv if having your own publication/site is as important as newsletter analytics.
• substack.com — easiest to launch

• Extremely simple paid subscription setup and strong built-in reader discovery.
• The downside is economics: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment processing. TierGauge
• I'd pick it if simplicity and Substack's network are more important than maximizing margins and having granular business analytics.
• kit.com — best if the newsletter feeds a broader creator business

• Stronger choice if you're also selling courses, digital products, memberships, etc.
• Good automation and subscriber-management capabilities.
• Less newsletter-business-centric than beehiiv.

My pick

I'd start with beehiiv if your specific requirement is “I want to know exactly how my paid newsletter is performing as a business.” Its current analytics explicitly cover revenue and retention, and beehiiv's 2026 paid-newsletter dataset also reports cancellation/retention and subscriber-lifetime metrics. Beehiiv Beehiiv

A useful dashboard should let you monitor at least:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• New paid subscribers
• Paid conversion rate
• Monthly churn rate
• Cancellation rate
• Subscriber lifetime/value
• Revenue by monthly vs. annual plans
• Acquisition source → paid conversion
• Revenue growth over time

One caveat: if by “churn analytics” you mean detailed cohort-level churn (e.g., “of subscribers who joined in January, what percentage remain after 1/3/6/12 months?”), I'd verify the exact reporting depth before committing. That's more specific than simply having a retention percentage.

If you tell me your approximate subscriber count and expected monthly revenue, I can also compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack for your situation.

If your priority is paid newsletter publishing + analytics on subscriber churn + revenue, I’d focus on platforms that treat the newsletter as a subscription business rather than just an email sender. Here are the strongest options:

My shortlist by use case

Best overall for a paid newsletter business

beehiiv.com

Choose this if you care about:

• paid tiers
• subscriber growth
• churn monitoring
• revenue dashboards
• referral programs
• operating like a media company

Beehiiv specifically positions itself around paid newsletters with subscription management, revenue tracking, and churn-related analytics. Beehiiv

Best if you want maximum ownership

ghost.org

Choose this if you want:

• your own publication website
• control over your audience data
• fewer platform lock-in concerns
• memberships integrated with publishing

Best if you already have an audience and sell other things

kit.com

Choose this if the newsletter is part of a larger creator business:

• courses
• consulting
• digital products
• sponsorship funnels

If you already use Substack

There are third-party analytics tools that add deeper churn and revenue intelligence. For example, subsurface.app focuses on churn risk scoring, subscriber cohorts, MRR/ARR, and revenue analysis from Substack data. Subsurface

What metrics I’d make sure the platform supports

For a paid newsletter, look beyond open rates. You want:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
• Paid subscriber churn rate
• Revenue churn
• Subscriber lifetime value (LTV)
• Free → paid conversion rate
• Cohort retention (e.g., “how many January subscribers are still paying after 6 months?”)
• Cancellation reasons
• Content-to-conversion attribution (which issues drive upgrades)

My default recommendation:

• Starting from scratch: Beehiiv
• Want full ownership: Ghost
• Already have a Substack audience: keep Substack and add analytics tooling
• Newsletter is one part of a creator business: Kit

If you share your expected size (e.g., 1,000 vs 100,000 subscribers), pricing model ($5/month vs $50/month), and whether you want a website included, I can narrow it down.

If subscriber churn + revenue analytics are core requirements—not just email open/click stats—I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv.com

I'd choose beehiiv if you're treating the newsletter as a business. Its Scale plan includes paid subscriptions, advanced website analytics, automations, recommendations, and a 0% platform take on paid subscription revenue. Beehiiv Beehiiv

The important distinction is that beehiiv gives you more than basic "how many people opened this email?" analytics. You can analyze subscriber acquisition, engagement, and monetization, making it better suited to understanding which subscribers are generating revenue and where you're losing them.

Ghost — best if ownership matters

ghost.org

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want a publication website + newsletter + paid memberships under your control. It takes 0% of subscription revenue on its paid plans. TierGauge

I'd favor Ghost over beehiiv if your publication is more like a digital magazine/membership site than a growth-oriented newsletter.

Substack — easiest, but expensive as you grow

substack.com

Substack is the easiest option to launch and has built-in reader discovery. The downside is the 10% cut of paid subscription revenue, indefinitely, in addition to payment processing. Newsletter Calc

For example, at $10,000/month in subscription revenue, the 10% platform fee alone is about $1,000/month.

Kit — consider it if you sell other things

kit.com

Kit is stronger when the newsletter is part of a broader creator business—courses, digital products, automated funnels, segmentation, etc. Its automation/CRM capabilities are a major advantage, although I'd pick beehiiv for a newsletter whose primary business model is paid subscriptions. Publishing House

Bottom line:

• Best overall for paid newsletter + revenue/churn analytics: beehiiv
• Best for publication ownership: Ghost
• Best for easiest launch: Substack
• Best for newsletter + products/automation: Kit

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect) and your monthly subscription price, I can calculate the break-even economics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack and recommend one.

beehiiv.com

I'd choose beehiiv if you're treating the newsletter as a business. Its Scale plan includes paid subscriptions, advanced website analytics, automations, recommendations, and a 0% platform take on paid subscription revenue. Beehiiv Beehiiv

The important distinction is that beehiiv gives you more than basic "how many people opened this email?" analytics. You can analyze subscriber acquisition, engagement, and monetization, making it better suited to understanding which subscribers are generating revenue and where you're losing them.

Ghost — best if ownership matters

ghost.org

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want a publication website + newsletter + paid memberships under your control. It takes 0% of subscription revenue on its paid plans. tiergauge.com

I'd favor Ghost over beehiiv if your publication is more like a digital magazine/membership site than a growth-oriented newsletter.

Substack — easiest, but expensive as you grow

substack.com

Substack is the easiest option to launch and has built-in reader discovery. The downside is the 10% cut of paid subscription revenue, indefinitely, in addition to payment processing.

For example, at $10,000/month in subscription revenue, the 10% platform fee alone is about $1,000/month.

Kit — consider it if you sell other things

If your priority is paid subscriptions + useful churn and revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

For the specific requirement you gave, beehiiv is probably the strongest fit. It's designed around newsletter growth and monetization rather than simply email delivery. Its paid subscriptions have a 0% platform revenue share on the relevant plans, and its analytics are geared toward understanding subscriber behavior and monetization. beehiiv LetterDuck

It's particularly attractive if you want to answer questions like:

• How much MRR/ARR is the newsletter generating?
• How many subscribers upgraded from free → paid?
• What's the conversion rate?
• How many paid subscribers are churning?
• Which acquisition sources produce the highest-value subscribers?
• Is revenue growing because of more subscribers, higher conversion, or retention?
• What happens to revenue when subscribers cancel?

beehiiv also has growth mechanisms such as referrals, Boosts, and its advertising network, which makes it more compelling if you're trying to build the newsletter into a substantial business. beehiiv Sasanova

Ghost: best if you want more ownership

Ghost is my second choice. It's particularly good if the newsletter is also going to be a full publication/content website. It supports native paid memberships with no platform revenue cut, and because Ghost is open source, there's a much stronger ownership/portability story. Sasanova TierGauge

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if your priorities are:

• Website + newsletter + membership in one system
• Maximum control over your publication
• Long-term portability
• Avoiding a percentage-of-revenue fee

Kit: best for a creator business

Kit makes more sense if the newsletter is part of a larger creator funnel—e.g. newsletter → course → coaching → digital products. Its automation and audience segmentation capabilities are stronger than what I'd choose purely for newsletter analytics. beehiiv Sasanova

Substack: easiest, but expensive as revenue grows

Substack is the easiest option if you primarily want to write, turn on paid subscriptions, and start collecting money. The catch is that it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, on top of payment processing. Newsletter Cost Calculator TierGauge

That makes the economics increasingly unattractive as your newsletter grows. For example, at $10,000/month in subscription revenue, a 10% platform cut is about $1,000/month before payment-processing costs.

What I'd choose

If analytics and building a serious paid newsletter business are the main goals: → beehiiv.

If you want a publication you fundamentally own: → Ghost.

If you're selling courses/products alongside the newsletter: → Kit.

If you want the absolute simplest way to start charging readers: → Substack.

One important distinction: "revenue analytics" and "churn analytics" aren't necessarily the same thing as a true subscription-business dashboard. If you want detailed cohort analysis—monthly logo churn, revenue churn, LTV, retention curves, failed-payment churn, MRR expansion/contraction, etc.—I'd evaluate the platforms specifically on those metrics rather than just looking at their general email analytics.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now, your expected paid price (e.g. $10/month), and whether you already use Stripe, I can compare the economics and analytics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Kit for your particular newsletter.

If subscriber churn and revenue analytics are important—not just opens/clicks—I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top recommendation

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is probably the best fit. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly cover revenue, subscriber growth, and churn, and it supports monthly, annual, tiered, trial, and gift subscriptions. Beehiiv Beehiiv

It also has retention tooling: when someone tries to cancel, you can offer them the option to pause their subscription, which is useful for actively reducing churn. Beehiiv

Another major advantage: beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue; you pay Stripe's processing fees instead. Beehiiv

I'd choose it if: the newsletter itself is the business and you want a strong dashboard for MRR/revenue, subscriber growth, retention, and churn.

2. Ghost — best if you want a publication + website

ghost.org is compelling if you want your newsletter to live alongside a serious publication website.

Ghost has native analytics and tracks member sources, paid conversions, and paid membership growth. Its 2026 analytics improvements added breakdowns by subscription cadence and tier, making it easier to see how monthly vs. annual subscriptions are performing. Ghost Ghost

I'd choose it if: you care about owning a polished publishing site as much as the email newsletter.

3. Kit — best for a creator business

kit.com is particularly good if your newsletter is part of a broader creator business—courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

Its analytics now cover subscriber engagement and retention, while its newer Insights dashboard connects traffic → subscribers → customers and identifies which emails generate sales. Kit Help Center Kit

Kit also has a revenue dashboard and subscriber purchase/billing information. Kit Kit Help Center

I'd choose it if: you expect the newsletter to eventually sell things beyond the subscription itself.

My ranking for your requirements

1. beehiiv — best overall for a paid newsletter + churn/revenue analytics
2. Ghost — best publishing experience and ownership
3. Kit — best if newsletter revenue is one piece of a larger creator business

I wouldn't make Substack my first choice if sophisticated business analytics are a major requirement. It's extremely easy to launch on, but I'd favor beehiiv or Ghost when you specifically want to understand retention, churn, and revenue as a business.

If you tell me roughly how many free subscribers you have, expected paid subscribers, and your planned monthly price, I can also compare the actual monthly cost + transaction fees of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Kit at your scale.

Another major advantage: beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid subscription revenue; you pay Stripe's processing fees instead. Beehiiv

I'd choose it if: the newsletter itself is the business and you want a strong dashboard for MRR/revenue, subscriber growth, retention, and churn.

2. Ghost — best if you want a publication + website

ghost.org is compelling if you want your newsletter to live alongside a serious publication website.

Ghost has native analytics and tracks member sources, paid conversions, and paid membership growth. Its 2026 analytics improvements added breakdowns by subscription cadence and tier, making it easier to see how monthly vs. annual subscriptions are performing. Ghost Ghost

I'd choose it if: you care about owning a polished publishing site as much as the email newsletter.

3. Kit — best for a creator business

kit.com is particularly good if your newsletter is part of a broader creator business—courses, digital products, sponsorships, etc.

Its analytics now cover subscriber engagement and retention, while its newer Insights dashboard connects traffic → subscribers → customers and identifies which emails generate sales. help.kit.com kit.com

Kit also has a revenue dashboard and subscriber purchase/billing information.

I'd choose it if: you expect the newsletter to eventually sell things beyond the subscription itself.

My ranking for your requirements

If your priority is paid newsletters plus analytics for subscriber churn and revenue, I’d focus on platforms that treat the newsletter as a business rather than just an email sender. The strongest options are:

Data Research Analysis Collection Publishing House## 1. beehiiv — best fit for analytics-heavy paid newsletters

Best if you care about:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Paid subscriber growth
• Subscriber acquisition source
• Conversion rates (free → paid)
• Churn and retention trends
• Revenue forecasting

Why I’d shortlist it:

• Built specifically for newsletter businesses rather than general email marketing.
• Strong growth analytics, segmentation, referrals, and monetization tools.
• No revenue share model, so your subscription revenue is not reduced by a platform percentage. Publishing House Newsletter Cost Calculator

Good for:

• Finance newsletters
• Industry research
• Paid communities
• Professional publications
• Sponsorship + subscription models

Potential downside:

• More “operator” oriented; writers who just want to publish essays may find it less simple than Substack.

2. Ghost — best for owning your publication

Best if you want:

• A newsletter plus website
• Membership tiers
• SEO/content archives
• More control over your subscriber relationship

Ghost supports paid memberships and lets publishers build a more traditional publication business. It is especially attractive if you want to own the site, audience, and brand rather than live entirely inside a newsletter network. Publishing House

Potential downside:

• Analytics are solid but not as growth-focused as beehiiv.
• You may need integrations for deeper churn/LTV dashboards.

3. Substack — best for simplicity

Best if you want:

• Fast launch
• Minimal setup
• A writing-first workflow
• Built-in discovery features

It provides paid subscriptions and basic metrics like subscriber counts, paid subscribers, open rates, clicks, and revenue. Data Research Analysis Collection

Potential downside:

• Less sophisticated segmentation and business analytics.
• Takes a percentage of paid subscription revenue rather than charging only a flat software fee. TierGauge

4. Kit — best if newsletters feed a broader business

Choose this if the newsletter is part of:

• Courses
• Coaching
• Digital products
• Paid communities
• Funnels

Its strength is subscriber management:

• Tags
• Segments
• Automations
• Customer journeys

It is less newsletter-publication focused than beehiiv or Ghost. Publishing House

My recommendation by scenario

• You want to build a serious paid newsletter business: beehiiv
• You want a magazine/blog + newsletter + memberships: Ghost
• You are a writer launching your first paid newsletter: Substack
• Your newsletter supports products/services: Kit

For the specific metrics you mentioned, I would prioritize a platform that can answer:

1. What percentage of free readers convert to paid?
2. What is monthly churn?
3. Which acquisition channels produce the highest-value subscribers?
4. What is revenue per subscriber over time?
5. Which content causes upgrades or cancellations?

For those questions, beehiiv is probably the closest match out of the box. Data Research Analysis Collection Publishing House

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is probably the strongest fit. Its paid-subscription system explicitly tracks revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention and engagement, and its paid plans take 0% of subscription revenue (Stripe processing still applies). beehiiv beehiiv

It also gives you more of the analytics you'd want if you're treating the newsletter as a business: acquisition, audience growth, website performance, and monetization rather than just email open/click rates. beehiiv

Runner-up: Kit

Kit is particularly attractive if the newsletter is part of a broader creator business—e.g. newsletter + courses + digital products. Its analytics cover subscriber engagement and retention, while its Commerce tools let you track purchases, billing history and revenue. Kit Kit

Its newer Insights dashboard goes further by connecting traffic → subscribers → customers and showing things such as which emails generate sales and customer-acquisition costs. Kit

Ghost

I'd choose Ghost if you care heavily about owning your publication/site and having a more traditional publishing platform. It has native analytics and records where members originated, including their source at paid conversion. Ghost

Substack

Substack is the simplest if your priority is "start writing and let people subscribe." The tradeoff is economics: it takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue, so that becomes increasingly expensive as your newsletter grows. tiergauge.com

Bottom line:

• Best analytics + monetization: beehiiv
• Best for newsletter + creator products: Kit
• Best ownership/publishing: Ghost
• Best simplicity/discovery: Substack

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly subscription price, and whether you need a website/paywall, I can calculate the actual monthly cost and break-even point for beehiiv vs. Kit vs. Ghost vs. Substack.

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is probably the strongest fit. Its paid-subscription system explicitly tracks revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention and engagement, and its paid plans take 0% of subscription revenue (Stripe processing still applies). beehiiv beehiiv

It also gives you more of the analytics you'd want if you're treating the newsletter as a business: acquisition, audience growth, website performance, and monetization rather than just email open/click rates. beehiiv

Runner-up: Kit

Kit is particularly attractive if the newsletter is part of a broader creator business—e.g. newsletter + courses + digital products. Its analytics cover subscriber engagement and retention, while its Commerce tools let you track purchases, billing history and revenue. kit.com kit.com

Its newer Insights dashboard goes further by connecting traffic → subscribers → customers and showing things such as which emails generate sales and customer-acquisition costs.

Ghost

I'd choose Ghost if you care heavily about owning your publication/site and having a more traditional publishing platform. It has native analytics and records where members originated, including their source at paid conversion.

Substack

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top recommendation

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is probably the best fit.

Its paid-subscription dashboard currently gives you MRR, ARR, revenue, active paid subscriptions, free-to-paid conversion, and churn rate, plus subscription growth and plan-level breakdowns. Beehiiv Product Updates

It also has unusually useful retention tooling: cancellation flows can offer subscribers a pause or discount and collect cancellation reasons. Beehiiv Help

Another advantage: beehiiv says it takes 0% of subscription revenue, so you pay for the software rather than giving the platform a percentage of your newsletter revenue. Product Updates

I'd choose it if: you're building a newsletter as a business and want analytics to help you actively manage retention and revenue.

2. Substack — easiest option

Substack is excellent if you want to get a paid newsletter running with minimal setup.

Its current analytics include paid cohort retention, paid net growth, paid churn, and free subscribers. Cohort analysis shows how many paid subscribers remain after 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. Substack Support

It also reports gross annualized revenue and paid subscribers directly in the dashboard. Substack Support

The tradeoff is economics: Substack takes a 10% revenue share on paid subscriptions, whereas beehiiv and Ghost use subscription/software pricing models. TierGauge

I'd choose it if: simplicity and Substack's ecosystem/discovery are more important than maximizing your margins and analytics depth.

3. Ghost — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want your newsletter to be part of a larger publication/site that you control.

It supports paid memberships and subscriptions without taking a percentage of your subscription revenue. For deeper business analytics, you can connect Ghost data to tools such as Metabase; that can produce dashboards for churned members, MRR, conversion rate, ARPU, and subscriber growth. Metabase

I'd choose it if: ownership, customization, and having a publication website are major priorities—and you're comfortable with a somewhat more technical setup.

My ranking for your use case

1. beehiiv — best combination of paid newsletter + churn + revenue analytics
2. Substack — easiest and best if you want its built-in ecosystem
3. Ghost — best for ownership/customization
4. Kit — best if the newsletter is primarily a funnel into courses, products, or other creator offerings

One particularly important distinction: beehiiv and Substack both give you meaningful retention analytics natively, rather than merely telling you how many people unsubscribed from emails. That makes them much more suitable if you're trying to understand subscription churn and lifetime value, not just email engagement. Beehiiv Substack Support

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you're starting from scratch or migrating, I can also compare the actual monthly cost and revenue break-even point for beehiiv vs. Substack vs. Ghost.

It also has unusually useful retention tooling: cancellation flows can offer subscribers a pause or discount and collect cancellation reasons. Beehiiv Help

Another advantage: beehiiv says it takes 0% of subscription revenue, so you pay for the software rather than giving the platform a percentage of your newsletter revenue. Product Updates

I'd choose it if: you're building a newsletter as a business and want analytics to help you actively manage retention and revenue.

2. Substack — easiest option

Substack is excellent if you want to get a paid newsletter running with minimal setup.

Its current analytics include paid cohort retention, paid net growth, paid churn, and free subscribers. Cohort analysis shows how many paid subscribers remain after 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. Substack Support

It also reports gross annualized revenue and paid subscribers directly in the dashboard. Substack Support

The tradeoff is economics: Substack takes a 10% revenue share on paid subscriptions, whereas beehiiv and Ghost use subscription/software pricing models. tiergauge.com

I'd choose it if: simplicity and Substack's ecosystem/discovery are more important than maximizing your margins and analytics depth.

3. Ghost — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want your newsletter to be part of a larger publication/site that you control.

It supports paid memberships and subscriptions without taking a percentage of your subscription revenue. For deeper business analytics, you can connect Ghost data to tools such as Metabase; that can produce dashboards for churned members, MRR, conversion rate, ARPU, and subscriber growth.

I'd choose it if: ownership, customization, and having a publication website are major priorities—and you're comfortable with a somewhat more technical setup.

If subscriber churn and revenue analytics are priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my first choice

beehiiv is probably the strongest fit if your newsletter itself is the business. It combines paid subscriptions with subscriber-level analytics, cohort analysis, acquisition/source tracking, and revenue reporting. Its 2026 reporting also puts particular emphasis on cancellations, subscriber value, retention, and lifetime revenue. www.beehiiv.com

It also takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue on its relevant paid plans, rather than Substack's 10% revenue share. www.beehiiv.com

Choose it if: you want to know not just how many people pay, but where paying subscribers came from, how long they stay, and how much they're worth.

2. Kit — best if you're building a broader creator business

Kit has particularly strong cohort analysis, revenue reporting, subscriber signals, attribution, segmentation, and automation. www.beehiiv.com

I'd choose it over beehiiv if your newsletter is also feeding courses, digital products, consulting, or other sales funnels.

3. Substack — simplest, but less business-oriented

Substack gives you publication, email, payments, and audience/revenue/retention analytics with very little setup. www.beehiiv.com

The big downside for a revenue-focused operation is the 10% cut of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment-processing fees. www.beehiiv.com

I'd pick it if simplicity and Substack's built-in reader network matter more than sophisticated analytics and economics.

4. Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership

Ghost combines a full publishing website with memberships and newsletters. It's particularly attractive if you want your newsletter to be a long-term publication that you control, rather than primarily a newsletter account on someone else's platform. publishinghouse.org

My ranking for your specific requirements

1. beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn/retention + revenue analytics
2. Kit — best if you also sell products/services
3. Ghost — best for ownership and a publication-centric business
4. Substack — best for getting started with minimal complexity

One thing I'd specifically look for in a demo is whether the platform reports monthly churn, revenue churn, cohort retention, ARPU/LTV, cancellations by acquisition source, and failed-payment churn separately. Those metrics are much more useful for running a paid newsletter than open/click rates alone.

If you want a paid newsletter platform with built-in churn and revenue analytics, I’d prioritize tools that treat the newsletter as a subscription business (MRR, cancellations, cohorts, conversion rates), not just email marketing.

Best options

Beehiiv Beehiiv## My shortlist

1. beehiiv.com — best overall for a paid newsletter business

Choose this if your newsletter itself is the product.

Strengths:

• Paid subscription tiers
• Stripe integration
• Revenue tracking
• Subscriber growth analytics
• Segmentation and lifecycle analysis
• Referral/growth tools

It is probably the closest fit if you specifically care about:

• “Which subscribers are at risk?”
• “What is my monthly recurring revenue?”
• “Where are conversions coming from?”

Beehiiv### 2. ghost.org — best if you want ownership and a publication feel

Good for:

• Independent publications
• Blogs + newsletters
• Membership communities

Advantages:

• You own your member database
• Strong publishing experience
• Built-in memberships
• Works well with Stripe

A common setup is Ghost + Stripe + additional analytics tooling if you need deeper cohort/churn reporting.

3. substack.com — easiest, but lighter analytics

Best if your priority is:

• Start publishing immediately
• Minimal setup
• Writer-focused workflow

Tradeoff:

• Analytics are simpler than platforms built around growth operations.
• If you become a larger subscription business, you may eventually want more granular data.

4. kit.com — best for creators with a broader business

Good if the newsletter supports:

• Courses
• Digital products
• Sponsorships
• Automated email funnels

Kit emphasizes subscriber engagement, segmentation, and revenue-oriented email analytics. Kit

If you already use Substack and only need better analytics

You can add analytics layers rather than migrate:

• subsurface.app — focuses on churn risk, subscriber cohorts, and revenue intelligence for Substack exports. Subsurface
• bylineos.com — focuses on MRR, churn, LTV, and content performance analytics for newsletter operators. Byline OS

Recommendation by scenario

• Starting a new paid newsletter: beehiiv.com
• Building a serious publication/business: ghost.org
• Solo writer who wants simplicity: substack.com
• Creator selling multiple things: kit.com
• Already on Substack but need churn/revenue intelligence: add subsurface.app or bylineos.com

For most paid newsletter operators focused specifically on subscriber churn + revenue analytics, I’d start with beehiiv unless you have a strong reason to prioritize ownership/custom publishing (Ghost) or simplicity (Substack). Beehiiv dataresearchanalysiscollection.com

If your key requirement is paid newsletter publishing + useful churn and revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv.com is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly include revenue, subscriber growth, and churn, and it supports monthly/annual tiers, trials, discounts, paywalls, and multiple subscription levels. Beehiiv

It also takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue; you pay Stripe's processing fees instead. The current Scale plan is $43/month when billed annually, with paid subscriptions and advanced analytics included. Beehiiv

One caveat: beehiiv's paid-subscription revenue is handled through your connected Stripe account, so the platform's own Wallet isn't the source for subscription revenue reporting. Beehiiv Beehiiv

Ghost

ghost.org is my second choice if you want your newsletter to be part of a serious publication website rather than primarily an email product. Ghost has first-party analytics, post analytics, and member-source attribution, including tracking where members came from and where paid conversions originated. Ghost

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if website/content ownership and flexibility matter more than newsletter-specific growth tooling.

Substack

Substack is the easiest option if you want to get publishing immediately and don't want to manage much infrastructure. The tradeoff is substantial: it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost don't charge a platform percentage. Beehiiv

That 10% becomes expensive once the newsletter has meaningful recurring revenue.

Bottom line

• Want the best analytics + growth/monetization stack: beehiiv
• Want a publication website + newsletter: Ghost
• Want maximum simplicity and built-in discovery: Substack
• Want newsletter + courses/digital products/marketing automation: Kit

If subscriber churn is particularly important, I'd lean beehiiv because it puts churn/retention alongside revenue and subscriber-growth metrics rather than making you assemble the analysis yourself. Beehiiv

beehiiv.com is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly include revenue, subscriber growth, and churn, and it supports monthly/annual tiers, trials, discounts, paywalls, and multiple subscription levels. Beehiiv

It also takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue; you pay Stripe's processing fees instead. The current Scale plan is $43/month when billed annually, with paid subscriptions and advanced analytics included. Beehiiv

One caveat: beehiiv's paid-subscription revenue is handled through your connected Stripe account, so the platform's own Wallet isn't the source for subscription revenue reporting. Beehiiv Beehiiv

Ghost

ghost.org is my second choice if you want your newsletter to be part of a serious publication website rather than primarily an email product. Ghost has first-party analytics, post analytics, and member-source attribution, including tracking where members came from and where paid conversions originated. ghost.org

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if website/content ownership and flexibility matter more than newsletter-specific growth tooling.

Substack

Substack is the easiest option if you want to get publishing immediately and don't want to manage much infrastructure. The tradeoff is substantial: it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost don't charge a platform percentage.

If paid subscriptions + churn/retention + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top pick

beehiiv

I'd choose beehiiv if the newsletter itself is the business.

It has native paid subscriptions, revenue reporting, subscriber-growth analytics, and a broader monetization stack including ads and referral/growth tools. beehiiv says paid-subscription revenue on its platform reached $19M in 2025. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

Why I like it: you get a more publisher-oriented analytics/growth system rather than just an email-sending tool.

2. Kit — best if retention analytics are especially important

Kit

Kit is particularly interesting for your requirements because its analytics explicitly cover how long subscribers stay, engagement/retention cohorts, unsubscribes and unsubscribe reasons. Its subscriber analytics dashboard also includes retention data. kit.com

For monetization, Kit supports recurring paid newsletters and shows revenue in its dashboard, while subscriber profiles include purchases and billing history. kit.com

Pick Kit if: you expect to combine the newsletter with courses, digital products, memberships, or sophisticated email automation.

3. Ghost — best for publication ownership

Ghost

Ghost is compelling if you want your newsletter to be a full publication with your own website, membership system, and content archive, rather than primarily an email product. It supports paid memberships without taking a percentage of subscription revenue. www.sasanova.com

The tradeoff is that its analytics/growth tooling isn't as deep as beehiiv or Kit.

4. Substack — easiest, but not my choice for a serious revenue business

Substack

Substack is incredibly easy to launch on, and its built-in network can help with discovery. But it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, which becomes increasingly expensive as the publication grows. www.beehiiv.com

I'd choose it primarily if simplicity and Substack's audience network matter more than maximizing margins and having sophisticated analytics.

My ranking for your specific requirements

1. beehiiv — best balance of paid subscriptions, revenue analytics, retention/growth tooling
2. Kit — best detailed subscriber engagement/retention analytics
3. Ghost — best ownership + publication experience
4. Substack — best simplicity/discovery, weakest economics at scale

One important distinction: if by “churn analytics” you mean true paid-subscription metrics—e.g. monthly churn, cohort retention, MRR/ARR, LTV, failed-payment churn, upgrades/downgrades, and revenue by cohort—I'd specifically evaluate the first two more closely rather than assuming that an ordinary “unsubscribes” dashboard is sufficient.

If subscriber churn and revenue analytics are important—not just email opens—I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top recommendation

This is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly cover growth, churn, LTV, and revenue, and its premium subscription dashboard was built specifically to track growth and churn. product.beehiiv.com

It also supports multiple subscription tiers, trials, promotions, gifts, and flexible payment options. Most importantly, beehiiv says it takes 0% of subscription revenue. product.beehiiv.com

Choose it if: your newsletter itself is the business and you want a dashboard that helps answer "How much am I making, how fast am I growing, and where am I losing subscribers?"

2. Ghost — best if you want more ownership

Ghost is particularly strong if you want the newsletter plus a proper publication website. Its analytics connect content to memberships and revenue: you can see paid conversions and the MRR impact attributable to individual posts and sources. ghost.org

Its paid-member analytics also break subscriptions down by cadence and tier and show changes in paid subscriptions over time. product.beehiiv.comghost.orgghost.org

Choose it if: you care about owning your site/content and want sophisticated publishing capabilities alongside paid subscriptions.

3. Kit — best if newsletter → products is your funnel

Kit is attractive if your paid newsletter is only one component of a broader creator business—e.g., newsletter → course → coaching → digital products. Its strength is automation and segmentation rather than being a pure paid-newsletter analytics product.

Choose it if: your key question is "Which subscribers can I turn into customers?" rather than purely "What's my subscription churn?"

4. Substack — easiest, but less analytics-oriented

Substack remains the simplest option for getting a paid publication running, particularly if you value its built-in discovery/network effects. The tradeoff is economics: it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, in addition to payment-processing costs. tiergauge.com

Choose it if: simplicity and Substack's built-in audience/discovery ecosystem matter more than having the deepest business analytics.

My ranking for your specific requirements

🥇 beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn + revenue/LTV analytics
🥈 Ghost — best analytics/ownership combination
🥉 Kit — best if subscriptions feed a larger creator business
4. Substack — best for simplicity and built-in discovery

One important distinction: "subscriber analytics" isn't the same as churn analytics. I'd specifically look for the ability to measure monthly churn, annual churn, MRR/ARR, LTV, cancellations, failed payments, upgrades/downgrades, and cohort retention. For your stated requirements, beehiiv is the strongest fit of these options. product.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly subscription price, and whether you already use Stripe, I can also compare the actual monthly cost and revenue you would keep on beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack.

If paid subscriptions + churn + revenue analytics are the priority, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my first choice

beehiiv is particularly strong if you're treating the newsletter as a subscription business, rather than simply an email list.

Its paid-newsletter analytics include data around subscriptions, cancellations, pricing, conversion, and subscriber value, and beehiiv has published analysis of thousands of paid publications using those metrics. www.beehiiv.com

It also has growth tools such as referrals, Boosts, and an ad network, so you can analyze subscription revenue alongside other monetization channels.

Choose it if: you want a serious dashboard for understanding MRR, subscriber growth, cancellations, LTV, and monetization.

2. Ghost — excellent if you want a publication you own

Ghost has unusually good first-party membership analytics. Its Growth dashboard breaks paid subscriptions down by monthly vs. annual plans and tiers, and its post analytics can attribute paid conversions and MRR impact to individual posts and acquisition sources. ghost.org

Ghost also gives you a proper publication website rather than just a newsletter landing page, and the software is open source.

Choose it if: you care about owning the website, content, and audience infrastructure long-term.

3. Kit — best if paid newsletters are part of a larger creator business

Kit is worth considering if you'll also sell courses, digital products, sponsorships, or other offerings. Its strength is subscriber segmentation and automation rather than being solely a paid-publication analytics product.

Choose it if: the newsletter is one component of a broader creator business.

4. Substack — easiest, but analytics aren't my reason to choose it

Substack is extremely easy to launch and has a built-in discovery network. The tradeoff is economics: it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost generally use a flat platform fee rather than taking a percentage of subscription revenue. tiergauge.com

Choose it if: minimizing setup and leveraging Substack's existing reader network matter more than sophisticated business analytics.

My ranking for your specific requirement

1. beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn/retention + revenue analytics
2. Ghost — best analytics plus ownership/control
3. Kit — best if you're building a broader creator commerce business
4. Substack — easiest, but less compelling once revenue gets substantial

One important distinction: if by "churn analytics" you mean a proper cohort analysis showing monthly churn, annual churn, retention curves, LTV, and revenue lost to cancellations, I'd narrow the recommendation further to beehiiv vs. Ghost and compare their current analytics dashboards feature-by-feature.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: beehiiv

beehiiv.com is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its paid plans include a detailed subscriber report covering acquisition, engagement, and subscriber behavior. Beehiiv

More importantly, beehiiv publishes first-party paid-newsletter data covering conversion, cancellations, subscriber lifetime, churn, and subscriber value, so the platform is built around thinking about the economics of a paid publication rather than just email opens. Beehiiv

It also takes 0% of subscription revenue on its paid subscription plans, so once you're making meaningful revenue, that can be considerably more attractive than a revenue-share platform. Sasanova Newsletter Cost Calculator

🥈 Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership

ghost.org is my second choice. It combines a proper publishing website with newsletters and paid memberships, and doesn't take a percentage of subscription revenue. Sasanova Fieldwork

I'd choose Ghost if your newsletter is really becoming a media site/business, rather than simply an email publication.

🥉 Substack — easiest, but worse economics at scale

substack.com is the easiest way to get a paid newsletter running, and its discovery/recommendation ecosystem is a significant advantage. The tradeoff is that Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, on top of payment processing. Lori Ballen Digital Marketing Newsletter Cost Calculator

For example, at $10,000/month in subscription revenue, a 10% platform cut is roughly $1,000/month before payment processing. That's why I'd lean toward beehiiv or Ghost if you're expecting the newsletter to become a substantial business.

What I'd choose

• Want the best analytics + growth tools: beehiiv
• Want a newsletter + full publishing website you control: Ghost
• Want the fastest possible launch and built-in audience discovery: Substack
• Want newsletter + courses/products/automations: Kit

If churn analytics is the deciding factor, I'd pick beehiiv. Its current paid-newsletter reporting is unusually focused on the metrics that actually matter—cancellations, retention, subscriber lifetime, conversion, and revenue—rather than just vanity metrics like open rate. Beehiiv

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect) and your planned monthly/annual price, I can also compare the actual monthly cost and revenue you would keep on beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack.

It also takes 0% of subscription revenue on its paid subscription plans, so once you're making meaningful revenue, that can be considerably more attractive than a revenue-share platform.

🥈 Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top recommendation

This is probably the best fit for your exact requirements. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly cover revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention and engagement, while its broader analytics track signups, unsubscribes, active subscribers, and revenue. www.beehiiv.com

It also supports monthly/annual subscriptions, multiple tiers, trials, discounts and paywalls, and currently takes 0% platform revenue share on paid subscriptions (Stripe processing fees still apply). www.beehiiv.com

Choose it if: you're treating the newsletter as a growing media business and want acquisition, conversion, retention, and revenue in one dashboard.

2. Ghost — best for sophisticated publishing

Ghost is particularly strong if you want your newsletter to be a real publication/site, rather than just an email list.

Its analytics include paid-member growth, cancellations, MRR, paid conversions, revenue impact by content/source, and newsletter engagement. Importantly, Ghost records a cancellation when the subscriber actually cancels, which is useful for analyzing churn behavior. ghost.org

Ghost also lets you export member and analytics data, and you can integrate something like ChartMogul if you eventually want deeper subscription analytics. ghost.org

Choose it if: you care about ownership, SEO, a publication website, and having a sophisticated subscription business rather than simply sending emails.

3. Kit — best if the newsletter is part of a creator business

Kit (formerly ConvertKit) makes more sense if you're going to combine the paid newsletter with courses, digital products, memberships, or automated funnels. Current comparisons put its strength in creator-oriented commerce and automation rather than pure newsletter analytics. tiergauge.com

Choose it if: your newsletter is one component of a broader creator business.

4. Substack — best for simplicity and built-in discovery

Substack remains the easiest way to launch a paid publication and benefits from its reader/discovery ecosystem. The tradeoff is economics: it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, indefinitely, whereas beehiiv and Ghost don't take a platform cut. tiergauge.com

Choose it if: you prioritize getting started quickly and tapping into Substack's network over having the most sophisticated business analytics.

My ranking for your use case

1. beehiiv — best overall
2. Ghost — best if you want maximum ownership/control
3. Kit — best for newsletter + products/courses
4. Substack — best for simplicity/discovery

One particularly important metric to look for is cohort retention, not just a headline "churn rate." beehiiv's 2026 paid-newsletter data shows why: median subscriber lifetime varies dramatically by category, and the difference between ~5% and ~17% monthly churn compounds into radically different LTV. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many free subscribers you have, expected paid subscribers, and your planned monthly price, I can also compare the actual monthly cost and revenue economics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack at your scale.

If subscriber churn + revenue analytics are core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top recommendation

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is the strongest fit. It has native paid subscriptions, paywalls, monthly/annual plans, and integrated analytics covering revenue, subscriber retention, and engagement. www.beehiiv.com

Its analytics are particularly useful if you want to treat the newsletter like a subscription business rather than simply an email list. beehiiv's 2026 paid-newsletter benchmark report also analyzes cancellations, subscriber value, billing intervals, and retention by industry. www.beehiiv.com

The other big advantage is economics: beehiiv says it takes 0% of paid-subscription revenue; you're generally paying payment-processing fees instead. www.beehiiv.com

I'd choose it if: you're building a serious paid publication and want acquisition → conversion → retention → revenue metrics in one system.

2. Ghost — best if you care about ownership

Ghost combines publishing, email newsletters, memberships, and paid subscriptions. It takes no platform revenue share, and self-hosting gives you considerably more control over your data and infrastructure. www.beehiiv.comfieldwork.newstiergauge.com

It's a particularly attractive choice if you want the newsletter to eventually become a full publication/site, rather than just an email product.

Downside: analytics and growth tooling aren't as deep as beehiiv's.

3. Kit — best for a creator business

Kit makes more sense if the newsletter is one component of a broader business involving courses, digital products, funnels, or automated email sequences. Its commerce system supports paid subscriptions alongside those other products. www.beehiiv.comfieldwork.newstiergauge.com

I'd pick Kit over beehiiv if your primary goal is selling multiple things to an audience, rather than operating a publication.

4. Substack — best for simplicity and discovery

Substack remains the easiest way to launch a paid newsletter and has a significant built-in discovery/recommendation ecosystem. The tradeoff is that it takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost don't. www.beehiiv.comfieldwork.newstiergauge.com

So if you're expecting meaningful subscription revenue, the economics increasingly favor a flat-fee platform.

My ranking for your use case

1. beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn/retention + revenue analytics
2. Ghost — best for ownership/control
3. Kit — best if you're also selling products/courses
4. Substack — best for easiest launch and built-in discovery

One important distinction: "revenue analytics" and "churn analytics" aren't necessarily the same as having a sophisticated retention system. For example, you may want to know monthly churn, annual vs. monthly retention, cohort LTV, MRR/ARR, cancellations, failed payments, and why people cancel. beehiiv is the closest of these to an all-in-one answer, but if you eventually need sophisticated churn prediction or win-back workflows, you may want to pair your newsletter platform with a dedicated analytics/CRM layer.

If you tell me roughly how many free subscribers and paid subscribers you expect (e.g. 5k free / 500 paid) and your planned price, I can compare the actual monthly cost and revenue economics of beehiiv vs. Ghost vs. Substack for you.

If paid subscriptions + churn + revenue analytics are core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my recommendation

beehiiv is the strongest fit for exactly what you're describing. Its paid-subscription system includes revenue, subscriber growth, and churn tracking, and its newer subscription dashboards break down revenue, subscriptions, trials, downgrades, billing cadence, and tiers. www.beehiiv.com

It also has retention tooling: when someone cancels, you can offer a pause, discount, or cancellation survey—useful if you actually want to act on churn rather than merely measure it. www.beehiiv.com

The economics are attractive too: its Scale plan currently lists at $43/month when billed annually, with 0% platform take on paid subscriptions (Stripe processing still applies). www.beehiiv.com

Choose beehiiv if: the newsletter itself is the business and you want a dashboard that lets you answer “How many people are paying, how much are they worth, and why are they leaving?”

2. Kit — best if the newsletter is part of a broader creator business

Kit is particularly strong if you'll combine the newsletter with courses, digital products, memberships, or sophisticated email automation.

Its subscriber analytics include unsubscribes, average subscriber lifetime, engagement retention, and cohort-style retention analysis. kit.com It also has a revenue dashboard and paid-newsletter functionality. kit.com

The tradeoff is that its analytics are more oriented toward email/customer relationships than running a publication as a standalone media business.

3. Ghost — best if you want a real publication you own

Ghost is compelling if you want the newsletter plus a full website/publication under your own brand. It supports free and paid memberships and doesn't take a percentage of subscription revenue.

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if website ownership, publishing, SEO, and control of your infrastructure matter more than sophisticated newsletter-growth tooling.

4. Substack — best for getting started with minimal friction

Substack is still probably the easiest way to launch a paid newsletter. The downside for your particular requirement is that it gives you less sophisticated business/analytics control than beehiiv, and it takes a 10% cut of paid subscription revenue. publishinghouse.org

My ranking for your specific requirements

1. beehiiv — 9.5/10
2. Kit — 8.5/10
3. Ghost — 8/10
4. Substack — 7/10

One particularly useful reason to favor beehiiv: its 2026 first-party paid-newsletter data explicitly analyzes cancellations, subscriber lifetime, pricing, conversion, and subscriber value across thousands of publications. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly subscription price, and whether you're starting from scratch, I can narrow this down to the cheapest/best option and estimate the platform fees at your expected revenue.

If your priority is paid newsletter subscriptions + useful churn and revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

My top pick: beehiiv

For a newsletter whose primary business model is paid subscriptions, I'd start with beehiiv. Its analytics are specifically built around newsletter growth and monetization, and it has a dedicated premium-subscription dashboard for tracking growth and churn. product.beehiiv.com

beehiiv also reports that paid-subscription revenue generated on its platform reached $19 million in 2025, suggesting a substantial ecosystem around paid newsletters. www.beehiiv.com

Best for serious churn/revenue analysis: Memberful

If by "analytics" you specifically mean MRR, revenue churn, cancellations, failed payments, and paying-member churn, Memberful is particularly strong. Its metrics distinguish MRR churn from paying-member churn and separate voluntary cancellations from failed payments. memberful.com

The tradeoff is that Memberful is more of a membership/payments platform than an all-in-one newsletter publishing platform.

Best all-in-one publisher: Ghost

Ghost is compelling if you want your newsletter to live alongside a content website/membership publication. Its analytics connect posts to paid conversions and even show MRR impact attributed to individual posts. ghost.org

Its 2026 analytics improvements also added breakdowns of paid subscriptions by monthly vs. annual cadence and subscription tier. ghost.org

Best for creator businesses: Kit

Kit is particularly good if the newsletter is one component of a larger creator business. It supports paid newsletters, subscriber analytics, revenue tracking, and commerce integrations. Its analytics include subscriber retention, average subscriber lifetime, unsubscribe rates, and revenue per subscriber. kit.com

One caveat: some of Kit's more advanced subscriber analytics are still labeled beta, and its strongest analytics features can depend on the plan. kit.comhelp.kit.com

Bottom line

• Choose beehiiv → if you're building a newsletter business and want the best overall combination.
• Choose Memberful → if churn/MRR/revenue analytics are the most important requirement.
• Choose Ghost → if you want a publication + website + newsletter + paid membership.
• Choose Kit → if you're a creator selling newsletters plus courses, products, or other offerings.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly newsletter price, and whether you need a website, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options and compare their current pricing/transaction fees.

If your priority is paid newsletters + analytics on subscriber churn and revenue, I’d focus on platforms that treat the newsletter as a subscription business rather than just an email sender. The strongest options are:

tiergauge.comtiergauge.com

My top picks

1. beehiiv — best overall for a paid newsletter business

Choose this if you want to track:

• paid subscriber growth
• free → paid conversion
• cancellations/churn
• revenue trends
• subscriber cohorts
• referral and acquisition performance

It is designed around newsletter operators rather than traditional email marketing. It also supports additional monetization paths such as ads, referrals, and sponsorship tools. tiergauge.com

Best for: newsletters you expect to grow into a real business.

2. Ghost — best for ownership and long-term control

Ghost is a strong choice if you want:

• your own publication website
• paid memberships
• email newsletters
• control over branding and audience data

It avoids a revenue share model on memberships, though you may need external analytics or Stripe reporting for deeper subscription analysis. tiergauge.com

Best for: professional publications, niche media, companies building owned audiences.

3. Substack — best for launching quickly

Substack is attractive because:

• setup is extremely simple
• payments are built in
• readers already understand the model
• it has a discovery network

The tradeoff is that Substack takes a percentage of paid subscription revenue, which can become significant at scale. tiergauge.com

Best for: solo writers testing whether people will pay.

4. Kit — best if newsletters are part of a funnel

Kit works well if your paid newsletter is connected to:

• courses
• digital products
• communities
• consulting
• automated email sequences

Its strength is customer segmentation and automation rather than being purely a publication platform. tiergauge.comtiergauge.com

Metrics I would make sure the platform supports

For a paid newsletter, I’d prioritize:

1. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
2. Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
3. Subscriber churn rate
   • monthly churn %
   • cancellation reasons
   • win-back campaigns
4. Customer lifetime value (LTV)
5. Free-to-paid conversion rate
6. Cohort retention
   • “Subscribers who joined in January are still paying 6 months later”
7. Revenue by acquisition source
   • organic
   • referrals
   • ads
   • partnerships

Simple recommendation by scenario

• Starting from zero: Substack or beehiiv
• Building a serious newsletter company: beehiiv
• Want maximum ownership: Ghost
• Selling courses/products too: Kit

If you expect to reach hundreds or thousands of paying subscribers, I would lean toward beehiiv or Ghost because churn and revenue analytics become much more important than just sending emails.

If subscriber churn + revenue analytics are core requirements, I’d narrow the field to beehiiv, Ghost, and Substack, with beehiiv as my default recommendation.

1. 🥇 beehiiv — best overall

This is the one I'd pick if your newsletter is intended to be a real subscription business.

beehiiv's paid-subscription analytics explicitly include revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention, and engagement, and it supports monthly/yearly pricing, multiple tiers, trials, gifts, and renewal workflows. www.beehiiv.com

It also has unusually strong tools for figuring out where your paying subscribers come from and how to grow them, plus advertising/sponsorship and recommendation monetization. Its paid-subscription revenue reportedly reached $19M in 2025. www.beehiiv.com

beehiiv

Choose it if: you care about MRR, churn, LTV/retention, acquisition channels, and eventually adding sponsorships.

2. Ghost — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want a website + newsletter + membership system rather than just a newsletter platform. It takes 0% of membership revenue on its hosted product, with Stripe/payment processing still applying. www.sasanova.comwww.beehiiv.com

The big advantage is control: Ghost is open source and can be self-hosted, giving you considerably more ownership and portability.

Ghost

Choose it if: building a durable publication you own matters more than having the best audience-growth machinery.

3. Substack — best for simplicity and discovery

Substack is extremely easy to launch and has a substantial built-in discovery/recommendation ecosystem. The catch is that it takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, indefinitely, in addition to payment processing. www.sasanova.com

Substack

Choose it if: you want to start quickly and believe Substack's network/discovery can materially help you acquire readers.

4. Kit — best if the newsletter sells other things

Kit is stronger when your newsletter is part of a broader creator business—courses, digital products, memberships, automated email funnels, etc. Its strength is subscriber segmentation and automation rather than being a pure publication platform. publishinghouse.org

Kit

Choose it if: the newsletter is primarily a funnel into products/services rather than the product itself.

My ranking for your specific requirements

1. beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn/revenue analytics + growth
2. Ghost — best if ownership/control is important
3. Substack — best if simplicity and built-in discovery trump economics
4. Kit — best if you're selling products alongside the newsletter

One important distinction: if by "analytics on churn and revenue" you mean you want to see things like MRR, monthly/annual churn, cancellations, retention cohorts, revenue by acquisition source, and subscriber LTV, I'd specifically start with beehiiv and Ghost rather than choosing a generic email marketing platform. www.sasanova.comwww.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly subscription price, and whether you'll offer monthly + annual plans, I can also compare the actual monthly cost and break-even point for beehiiv vs Ghost vs Substack.

If subscriber churn + revenue analytics are core requirements, I’d narrow the field to beehiiv, Ghost, and Kit, with beehiiv as my first choice.

1. beehiiv — best overall

This is the one I'd pick if the newsletter itself is the business.

beehiiv explicitly provides analytics for revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention, and engagement, alongside paid subscription management. It supports monthly/yearly tiers, trials, gifts, and multiple subscription tiers. www.beehiiv.com

Its bigger advantage is that you can analyze where subscribers came from and how those cohorts perform, which is extremely useful for figuring out whether a particular acquisition channel produces subscribers who actually stick around. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

Why I'd choose it: You get publishing + payments + growth analytics + monetization in one system, rather than stitching Stripe and an email platform together.

2. Ghost — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want the newsletter to feel like your own publication rather than a newsletter hosted inside someone else's ecosystem.

It supports paid memberships with 0% platform revenue share, and you can use Stripe for payments. It's also open source/self-hostable, giving you considerably more control over your data and infrastructure. tiergauge.com

I'd choose Ghost over beehiiv if your priorities are brand ownership, a sophisticated publication website, and long-term independence.

3. Kit — best for a newsletter + business

Kit is stronger when the newsletter is part of a larger creator business—for example, newsletter → course → membership → digital product.

Its current analytics include subscriber retention and engagement, while its dashboard can track revenue from products, sponsorships, and connected external sources. help.kit.com

The tradeoff is that Kit feels more like a creator CRM/email automation platform than a dedicated publication platform.

4. Substack — easiest, but weaker analytics

Substack is compelling if you want to get started with almost no infrastructure and take advantage of its built-in reader/discovery network.

The downside for your particular requirement is analytics depth. It generally isn't as strong as beehiiv for cohort retention, acquisition-source analysis, and detailed business analytics. It also takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, whereas beehiiv and Ghost don't charge a platform revenue share. tiergauge.com

My recommendation

Pick beehiiv if your question is essentially:

"I want to know how much recurring revenue I'm generating, how many subscribers I'm losing, where my best subscribers come from, and how those numbers change over time."

Pick Ghost if ownership and having a standalone publication are more important.

Pick Kit if the newsletter is one component of a broader creator/product business.

One important distinction: don't just look for a dashboard that reports "churn." For a paid newsletter, I'd specifically want MRR/ARR, new paid subscribers, cancellations, involuntary churn, renewal rate, revenue by cohort, LTV, and acquisition source → retention. That's where beehiiv's analytics make it particularly attractive. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you expect (e.g. 1k, 10k, 50k) and your expected monthly subscription price, I can compare the actual economics of beehiiv vs Ghost vs Substack for your situation.

If paid subscriptions + subscriber churn + revenue analytics are the core requirements, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top pick

For your specific requirements, beehiiv is probably the strongest choice. Its paid plans include a detailed Subscribers Report covering acquisition, opens, clicks and subscriber growth, while its paid-newsletter ecosystem is built around subscription revenue. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

The big advantage is that you're treating the newsletter like a subscription business, rather than simply an email list with a payment button. beehiiv's 2026 paid-newsletter report specifically emphasizes retention and the economics of monthly vs. annual subscribers. www.beehiiv.comwww.beehiiv.com

Choose it if: you expect the newsletter itself to become a meaningful recurring-revenue business.

2. Ghost — best if you care about ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you want a publication website + newsletter + paid membership system in one package. Its analytics connect individual posts to free/paid conversions and show the MRR impact of those conversions. ghost.org

Ghost also records where members came from, including the source of paid conversions. ghost.org

Choose it if: you want a more traditional publication that you control, rather than a creator platform.

3. Kit — best for newsletter + creator business

Kit is compelling if your newsletter is one component of a larger business—courses, digital products, memberships, etc. Its paid-newsletter feature handles subscriptions, payments and billing, and its dashboard tracks revenue. kit.com

Its newer Subscriber Analytics dashboard also includes unsubscribes, subscriber lifetime, active-subscriber trends and cohort-style retention analysis. help.kit.com

Choose it if: you want sophisticated email automation and expect to sell things beyond the newsletter.

4. Substack — easiest, but weaker analytics

Substack remains attractive if you primarily want to write and charge subscribers without much technical setup. The tradeoff is that you give up more control and analytics sophistication compared with beehiiv/Ghost.

For a serious paid newsletter where you're going to watch metrics such as monthly churn, lifetime value, MRR, conversion rate and cohort retention, I'd choose beehiiv or Ghost instead.

My recommendation

I'd rank them for your use case:

🥇 beehiiv — best overall for paid-newsletter analytics
🥈 Ghost — best for ownership and publication-style businesses
🥉 Kit — best if you're also selling products/courses
4. Substack — best for simplicity and built-in writer ecosystem

One important distinction: "subscriber analytics" isn't necessarily the same thing as true paid-subscriber churn analytics. Before choosing, I'd specifically verify that the platform can give you paid subscriber cohorts, cancellations, renewal/churn rates, MRR/ARR, and ideally LTV—not just email unsubscribes.

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you're starting from scratch, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 options and compare their actual costs.

If your priority is paid newsletter subscriptions + clear churn and revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top pick

For what you specifically asked for, beehiiv is probably the strongest fit. Its paid-subscription dashboard tracks revenue, subscriber growth, churn, and customer feedback, and it supports multiple subscription tiers, monthly/yearly pricing, trials, gifts, and paywalled content. www.beehiiv.com

Its 2026 platform also emphasizes acquisition and retention analytics, making it particularly useful if you want to answer questions like:

• What's my monthly churn?
• Which acquisition channels produce subscribers who actually stay?
• How much recurring revenue am I adding each month?
• What's my paid conversion rate?
• Which subscriber cohorts retain best?

beehiiv also takes 0% platform revenue share on paid subscriptions on its paid plans, although Stripe processing still applies. Current third-party pricing checks put Scale around $49/month. tiergauge.comwww.sasanova.com

Best choice if: the newsletter itself is becoming a business and you care about growth, MRR, retention, and eventually sponsorships/ads.

2. Substack — best for simplicity

Substack has substantially improved its paid-subscription analytics. Its current Retention dashboard includes paid cohort analysis, paid net growth rate, and paid churn. Cohorts can show what percentage of paid subscribers remain after 30 days, 6 months, and 12 months. support.substack.com

The big advantage is simplicity and Substack's built-in reader/discovery ecosystem.

The downside is economics: Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue, so the cost becomes significant once you're generating meaningful recurring revenue. tiergauge.com

Best choice if: you want the fastest possible launch and value Substack's built-in audience/discovery network more than maximizing margins.

3. Ghost — best for ownership

Ghost is particularly attractive if you're building a publication you want to own long-term. It supports free and paid memberships, and Ghost's hosted plans don't take a percentage of your subscription revenue. tiergauge.comwww.sasanova.com

Its analytics are solid, but I'd choose beehiiv over Ghost if subscriber churn analytics and revenue optimization are central to your operation.

Best choice if: you want a newsletter + website that feels like your own media property rather than a newsletter account on a platform.

4. Kit — best if the newsletter is part of a creator business

Kit is more of a creator CRM/email-marketing system than a pure newsletter publisher. Its strengths are segmentation, automation, subscriber tagging, and selling products alongside the newsletter. publishinghouse.org

I'd choose it if you're thinking:

"My paid newsletter is one component of a business that also sells courses, consulting, ebooks, or memberships."

rather than:

"My newsletter is the product."

My recommendation

If I were choosing specifically based on your requirements:

🥇 beehiiv — best combination of paid subscriptions + churn/retention + revenue analytics + growth tools
🥈 Substack — easiest, with surprisingly good current retention analytics, but the 10% revenue cut hurts at scale
🥉 Ghost — excellent ownership and economics, but less specialized around newsletter growth analytics
4. Kit — excellent if you need sophisticated automation/products in addition to the paid newsletter

One particularly useful distinction: beehiiv and Substack now both have meaningful churn/retention analytics, so I wouldn't choose Substack solely because you assume beehiiv is the only one that measures churn. Substack's current retention dashboard explicitly includes paid churn and cohort retention. support.substack.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have now (or expect), your monthly newsletter price, and whether you'll also have free subscribers, I can calculate the actual monthly/annual cost and revenue break-even point for beehiiv vs. Substack vs. Ghost.

If your priorities are paid subscriptions + subscriber churn/retention + revenue analytics, I’d shortlist these:

1. beehiiv — my top pick

beehiiv is probably the closest match to exactly what you're asking for. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly cover revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention, and engagement, and its subscriber reporting includes acquisition sources and engagement metrics. www.beehiiv.com

It also supports multiple subscription tiers, monthly/yearly pricing, trials, gifts, and paywalls. Importantly, beehiiv currently says it takes 0% platform fees on paid subscriptions, so you're not giving up a percentage of recurring revenue as you grow. www.beehiiv.com

Choose it if: the newsletter itself is the business and you want to understand MRR, churn, retention, acquisition, and growth in one place.

2. Kit — best if the newsletter is part of a larger creator business

Kit has unusually good subscriber analytics. Its current analytics include subscriber retention, engagement over time, subscriber lifetime, unsubscribe reasons, and acquisition sources. kit.com

It also handles paid newsletters, payments, refunds, and billing history, with revenue reporting built into the dashboard. kit.com

The advantage over beehiiv is its broader creator-commerce/automation ecosystem—you can use the same audience to sell courses, products, memberships, etc.

Choose it if: paid newsletter subscriptions are one revenue stream among several.

3. Ghost — best for an owned publication

Ghost combines a publishing website, newsletter, memberships, and paid subscriptions. Its native analytics include member sources and publication/post analytics. www.beehiiv.comkit.comghost.org

I'd favor Ghost if owning the website and publication experience matters as much as newsletter analytics. Its analytics aren't quite as specifically geared toward subscription-business optimization as beehiiv's.

Choose it if: you want something closer to "my own media company website" rather than primarily an email-marketing platform.

4. Substack — easiest, but weakest analytics choice

Substack is still attractive if you want the least setup and access to its publishing/discovery ecosystem. But if churn analysis and revenue analytics are core requirements, I'd put it behind beehiiv and Kit.

My recommendation

If I were choosing specifically for your requirements:

🥇 beehiiv — best overall for a paid newsletter business
🥈 Kit — best if you're also selling products/courses/services
🥉 Ghost — best if owning the publication/site is important
Substack — best if simplicity and built-in network effects matter more than sophisticated analytics

One important distinction: "subscriber churn" can mean different things. I'd specifically look for a platform that gives you paid subscriber churn/retention cohorts, not merely email unsubscribes. beehiiv is the strongest fit of these for that particular use case. www.beehiiv.com

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly subscription price, and whether you need a website too, I can narrow this down to the cheapest/best option and compare the actual costs at your scale.

If paid subscriptions + churn + revenue analytics are your priorities, I’d shortlist these three:

1. beehiiv — my top pick for a serious newsletter business

beehiiv is probably the best match for what you're asking for. Its paid-subscription analytics explicitly cover revenue, subscriber growth, churn, retention and engagement, and it supports monthly/annual tiers, trials, discounts and paywalls. www.beehiiv.com

A major advantage is economics: beehiiv says it takes 0% platform fees from paid subscriptions, with Stripe processing fees still applying. www.beehiiv.comsupport.substack.comghost.orgghost.org

Choose it if: you expect the newsletter to become a meaningful business and want detailed growth/revenue reporting alongside the publishing tools.

2. Substack — best for simplicity and built-in churn reporting

Substack has particularly good retention reporting now. Its Retention dashboard includes paid churn, paid net growth and paid cohort analysis, including the percentage of subscribers still paying after 30 days, 6 months and 12 months. support.substack.com

It also reports gross annualized revenue, paid subscribers and total subscribers, plus reasons former paid subscribers gave for unsubscribing. support.substack.com

The tradeoff is the 10% platform cut on paid subscription revenue.

Choose it if: you want the least operational complexity and don't mind giving up a percentage of revenue.

3. Ghost — best if you want your own publishing business

Ghost gives you paid memberships, newsletters and analytics while giving you considerably more control over your site and audience. Its analytics can show paid-member growth by tier and billing cadence, and post analytics can attribute paid conversions and MRR to individual posts/sources. ghost.org

For sophisticated subscription analytics, Ghost can also integrate with ChartMogul. ghost.org

Choose it if: owning the website, brand and customer relationship matters more than having the most turnkey newsletter experience.

My ranking for your specific requirement

1. beehiiv → best combination of paid newsletter + churn + revenue + growth analytics
2. Substack → best out-of-the-box retention/churn reporting and simplest setup
3. Ghost → best ownership/control, especially if you're comfortable with a more configurable stack

If you tell me roughly how many subscribers you have (or expect), your monthly price, and whether you want free + paid tiers, I can also compare the actual costs and tell you which one is likely to be cheapest at your scale.