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- Adds two income sources: sponsorships and paid subscriptions.
- Sponsorship = opens ÷ 1,000 × CPM × slots × share sold × issues.
- Paid plans = subscribers × paid share × price × (1 − fees).
- Shows monthly and yearly revenue, and the income per subscriber.
How to use the newsletter revenue calculator
Enter your list
Add the total number of subscribers and your average open rate.
Set the sponsorships
Enter issues per month, sponsor slots per issue, the CPM you charge and the share of slots you sell.
Add paid plans
Enter the percentage of subscribers who pay and the monthly price. Use 0 for a free-only newsletter.
Check the fees
Open the advanced options to change the platform and payment fees, then read the monthly total.
How newsletter revenue is calculated
Sponsors pay per thousand opens, so the calculator first finds how many people open each issue. It then prices that audience at your CPM. Paid subscriptions are added separately, after platform and payment fees.
Newsletter revenue formula
Opens per issue = subscribers × open rate
Sponsorship per month = opens ÷ 1,000 × CPM × slots × share sold × issues
Paid plans per month = subscribers × paid share × price × (1 − fees)
Total = sponsorship + paid plans
Revenue from other sources, such as affiliate links or products, is not included.
Newsletter revenue examples
Example 1: a 10,000 subscriber newsletter
40% open rate, 4 issues a month, 1 sponsor slot at a $30 CPM with 75% sold, 3% paying $7 a month and 13% fees.
- Opens per issue 4,000
- Sponsorship per month $360
- Paying subscribers 300
- Paid plans after fees $1,827
- Total per month $2,187
- Total per year $26,244
In this case paid plans bring in about five times as much as sponsors.
Example 2: a large free newsletter
50,000 subscribers, 45% opens, 8 issues a month, 2 slots at a $35 CPM with 80% sold and no paid plan.
- Opens per issue 22,500
- Total per month $10,080
- Total per year $120,960
With no paid tier, all income comes from sponsors, so it depends on keeping slots sold.
Example 3: a small niche newsletter
2,000 subscribers, 50% opens, 4 issues, 1 slot at a $25 CPM with 75% sold, 5% paying $5 a month and 13% fees.
- Sponsorship per month $75
- Paying subscribers 100
- Paid plans after fees $435
- Total per month $510
A small but engaged list can earn more from a few paying readers than from ads.
Where a newsletter revenue calculator helps
Price sponsor slots
Test a CPM and see what each issue could earn.
Decide on a paid tier
Compare the income from paid plans with sponsorship alone.
Compare platforms
Change the fee percentage to see what each platform would cost.
Set growth goals
Find how many subscribers you need to reach a monthly income target.
Open rates are estimates: privacy features in some email apps count opens that never happened, so sponsors often ask for clicks or a proven open rate. Fees differ by platform, so replace the 13% default with your own. Related tools: YouTube Revenue Calculator and Podcast CPM Calculator.
Newsletter revenue calculator FAQ
How much can a newsletter make?
It depends on list size, open rate, sponsor CPM and how many readers pay. The examples above range from about $510 to more than $10,000 a month.
What is a sponsor CPM in a newsletter?
It is the price a sponsor pays for every 1,000 opens of an issue. A $30 CPM on 4,000 opens is $120 per slot.
What share of subscribers pay for a newsletter?
Many publishers see low single-digit percentages. The default of 3% is a starting point, so use your own figure once you have data.
How many subscribers do I need for $1,000 a month?
With the default settings, each subscriber is worth about $0.22 a month, so you would need roughly 4,600 subscribers.
Why include platform and payment fees?
Paid plans lose a share to the platform and the card processor. The 13% default stands for a 10% platform fee plus about 3% card fees. Check your own rates.
Is the open rate reliable?
Not fully. Email privacy features can inflate opens, so treat the result as an estimate and compare it with click data.