The State of SaaS Pricing, 2026
A data report on what SaaS tools actually charge — free-tier sizes, revenue cuts, hidden fees and pricing models — across newsletter, course and social tools. This is the baseline edition; we re-verify and track changes monthly.
Prices read from official pricing pages, verified 2026-07-13. 11 tools across 3 categories.
Finding 1 — free tiers vary 2.5×, and one is a trap
The "free" tier is where tools compete hardest for beginners, and the range is wide:
| Tool | Free up to | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| beehiiv | 2,500 subscribers | none — unlimited sends |
| Kit | 1,000 subscribers | 1 basic automation |
| Substack | any list size | 10% of paid revenue if you charge |
| MailerLite | 250 subscribers | smallest free tier |
The takeaway: beehiiv's free tier is 2.5× Kit's and 10× MailerLite's. Substack's "free forever" is only free while your newsletter is — the 10% kicks in the moment you monetize.
Finding 2 — the fee that hides in the cheap plan
Most tools moved to 0% platform take-rates. The exceptions are where the real cost hides:
| Tool / plan | Platform cut |
|---|---|
| Substack | 10% of revenue |
| Teachable — Starter | 7.5% of sales |
| Teachable — Builder+ | 0% |
| beehiiv, Kit, Thinkific, Kajabi | 0% |
The trap: Teachable's cheapest plan ($29/mo Starter) takes 7.5% of every sale. Past about $6,400/yr in course revenue, the "expensive" fee-free Builder plan is actually cheaper. The sticker price lies; the transaction fee tells the truth.
Finding 3 — three pricing models, and the cheapest tool flips between them
- Per-subscriber (newsletter: beehiiv, Kit) — you pay by list size.
- Per-feature-tier + transaction fee (course: Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi) — flat tiers, sometimes a cut.
- Per-channel vs flat (social: Buffer/Publer charge per account, Hootsuite is flat) — the cheapest tool literally flips based on how many accounts you run.
Because the models differ, "which is cheapest" has no single answer — it depends on your size and usage. That's why we build calculators, not just tables.
Price changelog
We re-verify every tracked tool monthly and log changes here. Baseline set 2026-07-13 — no changes recorded yet. Check back, or use the API to pull the current data.