[bpodgursky]

But then it's not available on free newsletters, even if the author would prefer to pay for it. Not sure what the problem is with this model. $50 isn't really meaningful hit -- it's not a recurring cost or anything.

I also disagree that 10% of revenue is a "huge" chunk. Running your own mail list and custom domain isn't trivial (not to mention acquiring readers in the first place).

[pier25]

$50 is a lot for a feature that most SaaS are offering for free.

> Running your own mail list and custom domain isn't trivial

Regardless of whether this is trivial or not, Substack is a service, not a partner.

If one day you decide to increase your prices and work your ass off to produce more valuable content to your readers, why should Substack get more money?

If instead of sending newsletters we were talking about ecommerce (which is way less trivial) would you be ok with Shopify charging 10% of revenue?

What about AWS charging you 10% of your revenue?

[bpodgursky]

What?? Most SaaS are absolutely not offering custom domains for free. What services are you looking at?

[pier25]

From the top of my mind here are some SaaS that don't charge you extra for a custom domain or even give it for free in their free tier:

- Shopify

- Sendgrid

- Mailchimp

- Wordpress.com

- Firebase

- Vercel

- Netlify

- Surge

Even free blog platforms give you customs domains with HTTPS for free: https://hashnode.com/