An honest Substack alternative
Substack is a publishing platform where a newsletter is free to run at any size, and Substack takes 10% when readers pay. It also has a reader app, discovery, podcasts and video. Terlido Newsletter sends each issue from your own mailbox, has no paid subscriptions, and is free up to a subscriber cap with a flat Pro plan after that. Here is an honest look at both.
Pricing, as of November 2026
Publishing on Substack is free, no matter how many subscribers you have. When you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack takes 10% of each payment, and Stripe charges its own fees on top. A custom domain is an optional one-time fee.
Substack
| Free publication$0 | Free to publish at any subscriber count |
|---|---|
| Paid subscriptions10% of each payment | Plus Stripe fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per US card payment and 0.7% for recurring billing |
| Custom domain$50 one time | Optional |
Terlido
| Free$0, forever | Up to 10,000 subscribers, 1 brand, a welcome email, and a small "Sent with Terlido Newsletter" line in the footer. |
|---|---|
| Pro$29/month | Up to 100,000 subscribers across unlimited brands, all automations, A/B tests, referrals, RSS-to-email, the API, your own domain, and an AI agent that drafts, tests, schedules and sends. Past 100,000: +$10 a month for each extra 50,000. |
Where Substack is stronger
- Paid subscriptions are built in: you choose which posts are free or for paid readers, and keep 90% of revenue minus card fees. Terlido has no paid subscriptions or paywall.
- Free at any size. Terlido Free stops at 10,000 subscribers, and above that you need Pro.
- A reader app and discovery (Explore, topics and leaderboards) that can bring readers you did not reach yourself. Terlido has no reader app or discovery network.
- Podcasts and live video in the same place as the newsletter. Terlido Newsletter is email only.
Where Terlido is stronger
- Each issue goes out from your own mailbox (Gmail, Microsoft 365 or any SMTP server), so readers see your address and their replies land in the inbox you already read.
- Automations: a welcome email on Free, and on Pro sequences that start from a custom field or an event in your own Stripe account.
- On Pro, your AI agent can draft, test, schedule and send issues through Terlido's MCP server.
- Your newsletter sits next to Terlido Outreach: same login, same mailboxes and one AI agent connection for both.
Who Terlido Newsletter is for
For: Writers, founders and small teams who want to send a newsletter from their own address and read replies in their own inbox.
Not a fit:
- Paid newsletters. Terlido has no paid subscriptions or paywall.
- Sending a big list in one burst. Terlido sends from your mailbox at your provider's pace, so a large list can take more than a day.
- Lists of people who never agreed to hear from you.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Substack if: You want to charge readers for your writing, or want Substack's app and discovery to help readers find you.
Pick Terlido if: You run a free newsletter, want it to come from your own address with replies in your own inbox, and may also do outreach from the same mailboxes.
Terlido Newsletter is new and has no customer logos or open-rate numbers to show you. The fastest way to judge it is to connect a mailbox on the Free plan and send yourself a test issue.
Start freeSources
Substack details were checked in November 2026. Prices and plans change, so check their site before you buy.