Buttondown is newsletter software: you write an email, send it to your subscribers and keep the issues in a hosted archive. The pricing page says it costs nothing for your first 100 subscribers, and it sells extras such as analytics, paid subscriptions, automations and teams as monthly add-ons. The home page says Buttondown serves single individuals and enterprise-grade businesses, and that it doesn’t take fees from your paid subscribers.
Quick verdict
Buttondown suits a business that wants to start a newsletter for free, then pay by active subscriber and add paid features one at a time. The pricing page says it charges “mostly for active subscribers” and lets you decide the rest, with each extra listed as a separate monthly add-on, from $9 a month for analytics or tagging and segmentation up to $79 a month for whitelabeling or teams. If you plan to charge readers, the paid subscriptions page says you keep everything after credit card fees, with payments through Stripe.
Check two things first. The pricing page works out your cost from your subscriber count, and as saved on November 11, 2026 it shows a price only for the first 100 subscribers, so enter your list size on the live page. And team access is described two ways: the home page says you can invite everybody with no per-seat charge, while the pricing page lists Teams as a $79 a month add-on.
Buttondown at a glance
| Vendor | Buttondown, LLC |
|---|---|
| What it does | Newsletter software: write, send and archive email newsletters, with optional paid subscriptions |
| Price | Free for the first 100 subscribers; add-ons priced from +$9/month to +$79/month each (pricing page) |
| Free plan | Yes: “Absolutely nothing for your first 100 subscribers” (pricing page) |
| Integrations | Discord, Memberful and YouTube named on the home page; Stripe for paid subscriptions; API, with an OpenAPI spec listed on Buttondown’s GitHub page |
| Apps | Our data has no Android or iPhone app listing |
| Data checked | November 11, 2026 |
Features
These come from the home, pricing, paid subscriptions and privacy policy pages on buttondown.com, plus Buttondown’s GitHub organization page.
- Writing and sending: the pricing page lists a rich text or markdown editor, sending from a custom domain and hosted newsletter archives in the free price. The home page says you can skip logging in and post straight from your own email, and cross-post from other platforms to your mailing list.
- Audience tools (add-ons): tagging and segmentation, comments and surveys, analytics, RSS-to-email, sponsorships and email attachments are each listed as paid add-ons on the pricing page.
- Automations and personalization: the home page says its automations, personalization and editor help you send the right message to the right people. Automations are a $29 a month add-on on the pricing page.
- Team and brand: the pricing page lists Teams, Whitelabeling, Multiple newsletters and Archives on a custom domain as add-ons. The home page says a large team can be invited to collaborate “with no per-seat charge”.
- Integrations and API: the home page names Discord, Memberful and YouTube “and more”, and calls its API feature-complete. Buttondown’s GitHub page lists an OpenAPI spec that tracks changes to the external API, and lists repositories for a CLI, its public documentation and the themes behind its archives.
- Deliverability (vendor claims): the home page says Buttondown’s deliverability is among the highest in the industry and rates its own spam protection highly.
- Public roadmap: the GitHub organization page pins a public roadmap repository, and the home page says Buttondown prioritizes its roadmap from customer feedback.
- Company (vendor’s words): the pricing page says Buttondown is a small, fully remote team, founded in 2017, profitable and self-funded. The privacy policy gives Buttondown, LLC’s address in Richmond, Virginia, United States, says payment data is stored by Stripe, and refers to a Data Processing Agreement.
Plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | Main additions |
|---|---|---|
| First 100 subscribers | Free | Rich text or markdown editor, send from a custom domain, hosted newsletter archives, “Privacy-first” |
| Above 100 subscribers | Depends on your subscriber count | The pricing page asks how many subscribers you have and shows what Buttondown will cost you |
Add-ons
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Tagging & segmentation | +$9/month |
| Paid subscriptions | +$9/month |
| Comments and surveys | +$9/month |
| Analytics | +$9/month |
| RSS-to-email support | +$9/month |
| Email attachments | +$9/month |
| Sponsorships | +$29/month |
| Archives on a custom domain | +$29/month |
| Multiple newsletters | +$29/month |
| Automations | +$29/month |
| Whitelabeling | +$79/month |
| Teams | +$79/month |
Buttondown charges for active subscribers, the pricing page says, meaning the people actively receiving your emails, not every contact on file. Its prices assume you send at most one email a day to your whole list. If you send more than that, the page says to contact Buttondown about usage-based pricing.
A registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, or your country’s equivalent, can get a 50% discount on its plan by emailing proof of registration, according to the pricing page. As saved on November 11, 2026, the page shows prices for the first 100 subscribers and the add-ons only, so enter your list size on the live page.
Paid subscriptions
The paid subscriptions page says Buttondown takes no cut: you keep all the money you make after credit card fees, and payments run through Stripe. You can charge monthly or yearly, offer more than one tier and send an email to one or more tiers. Every currency Stripe supports is available. There’s also a “pay what you want” model, where subscribers pick a recurring amount and you can set a minimum or a suggested price.
The feature itself costs you $9 a month as an add-on, according to the pricing page.
Switching to Buttondown
The home page offers one-click concierge migration for your whole list, “no matter how large it may be”: you create a free account, contact Buttondown, and it says you’ll be migrated within one business day. For paid newsletters, the paid subscriptions page says subscriptions can be moved from another newsletter that uses Stripe, and it names Beehiiv, Ghost and Substack. When the same Stripe account is set up, it says paid subscribers carry on without interruption and don’t need to re-enter payment details.
The same page says you keep your customers and their subscriptions, so you can move to another platform later. The home page says that if you leave, Buttondown will make it easy.
Who it’s for
A good fit if:
- You’re starting a newsletter or have a small list: the pricing page says the first 100 subscribers cost nothing.
- You want to charge readers: the paid subscriptions page says you keep everything after card fees, with tiers, monthly or yearly billing and pay-what-you-want pricing.
- You’re moving a paid newsletter from Beehiiv, Ghost or Substack: the paid subscriptions page says subscriptions carry over when you use the same Stripe account.
- Your developers want to build their own tools on it: the home page offers an API, and the GitHub page lists an OpenAPI spec and a CLI.
- You’re a registered non-profit: the pricing page offers 50% off with proof of registration.
Look elsewhere if:
- You send more than one email a day to your whole list and want a published price: the pricing page says that volume needs a conversation about usage-based pricing.
- You want automations, whitelabeling and teams in one base price: the pricing page lists each as a separate monthly add-on ($29, $79 and $79).
FAQ
How much does Buttondown cost?
The pricing page says Buttondown is free for your first 100 subscribers. Above that, the page asks how many subscribers you have and shows the cost, but those figures aren’t in the page text as saved on November 11, 2026. Add-ons such as analytics ($9 a month), automations ($29 a month) and teams ($79 a month) are priced separately.
Does Buttondown take a cut of paid subscriptions?
No, according to the paid subscriptions page: you keep all the money after credit card fees, and payments go through Stripe. The feature itself is a $9 a month add-on on the pricing page.
Can my whole team use Buttondown?
If you have a large team, the home page says you can invite everybody to collaborate with no per-seat charge. The pricing page lists Teams as a $79 a month add-on. Ask Buttondown which applies to your account before you plan a rollout.
Can I move my existing list to Buttondown?
The home page offers one-click concierge migration for your whole list: create a free account, contact Buttondown, and it says you’ll be migrated within one business day. The paid subscriptions page says paid subscribers from Stripe-based newsletters such as Beehiiv, Ghost and Substack can be moved without re-entering payment details, when properly configured with the same Stripe account.
How this review was put together
We did not test Buttondown. This review is based on public information from official sources: the vendor’s own website (its features, pricing and policy pages) and, where the product has mobile apps, its Google Play and App Store listings, ratings and user reviews. Features, prices and claims are the vendor’s own descriptions; what users like and dislike comes from store reviews, when there are any. Everything was checked on November 11, 2026. Prices and features change, so check the vendor’s site before you buy.
