MasterTool

Substack Fee Calculator

Calculate Substack's 10% cut plus Stripe processing and billing fees on your subscription revenue.

Substack support — publication costs last updated · reference source

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Currency: Amounts are calculated in the currency you select; this site does not convert between currencies and does not use live exchange rates.

Fee figures are stored in our static fee table and change over time. Confirm current rates against the platform's official fee page before relying on them.

What this tool does

Substack takes 10% of each subscription payment. On top of that, Stripe charges card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per payment and a 0.7% billing fee on recurring payments, so the real cost of a Substack publication is roughly 13–14% of gross subscription revenue.

How to use the Substack Fee Calculator

  1. Enter your monthly subscription price.
  2. Enter your number of paid subscribers.
  3. Read your monthly take-home and the full fee breakdown.

Formula

Fees = G × 0.10 + N × (P × 0.029 + 0.30) + G × 0.007;  G = P × N
P
Subscription price
N
Paid subscribers
G
Gross monthly revenue

Worked example

500 subscribers at $10/month — $5,000 gross.

Inputs

  • Subscription price (monthly)$10
  • Paid subscribers500

Result

  • Monthly take-home$4,170.00
  • Total monthly fees$830.00
  • Effective fee rate16.6%
  • Gross monthly revenue$5,000.00

Results explained

Take-home
Gross revenue minus Substack and Stripe fees.
Effective rate
All fees as a share of gross — higher for cheaper subscriptions because of the $0.30 fixed fee.

Frequently asked questions

10% of each payment, plus Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30) and Stripe Billing (0.7%). On a $10 subscription that's about $1.66 total, so you keep roughly $8.34.

No. Fees only apply to paid subscription payments; free subscribers cost nothing.

The $0.30 fixed processing fee is charged once per payment, so one $100 annual payment carries far less fixed-fee weight than twelve $8.33 monthly payments.

Yes. Substack's support page lists card processing and the 0.7% Stripe Billing charge on recurring payments as separate line items.

Your subscriber list is exportable, but while payments run through Substack the 10% applies to every charge.