Email Newsletters - Good Tools #19

70+ (mostly free) tools to create, publish, test, promote and monetize email newsletters.

Welcome to a new edition of Good Tools.

This newsletter is a work of love.

I write Good Tools with the goal of helping out people like you as well as indie entrepreneurs, authors, writers looking for alternative, free or quasi-free tools that can help them save time and money.

I have been searching and reviewing good tools for communication professionals since March 2000, before I had even considered changing my name to Robin Good.

It takes quite a bit of work to find, test and verify all of the tools that fit each collection, but the result is something that cannot be found elsewhere.

Neither GPT, Claude or Perplexity will be able to bring back to you such a list. Try for yourself and see.

• I do this because I enjoy searching, verifying and organizing.

• I want to create lasting information resources that can be useful to others.

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Thank you for supporting me in doing what I love.

from Holbox island
Robin Good

This time the focus is on newsletter tools (open-source apps and commercial ones with generous free plans).

In this issue:

1. Newsletter Publishing Platforms (5)

2. Sponsors and Advertisers (10)

3. Cross-Promotion (5)

4. Newsletter Directories (9)

5. Monitor Competitors Newsletters (4)

6. Email Verification - Spam Score (10)

7. HTML Email Newsletter Design Builders (5)

8. Newsletter Curation (7)

9. Newsletter Subject (4)

10. Newsletter Design Examples (1)

11. Newsletter Calculators (2)

12. Newsletters To RSS (1)

13. Block / Remove Undesired Newsletters (3)

14. Sell / Buy Newsletters (1)

15. Custom Personal Newsletters (3)

Newsletter Tools

1) Newsletter Publishing Platforms (Free or Quasi-Free)

• Substack
  First truly independent newsletter publishing platform at zero cost. Integrates newsletter and web, supports audio, podcasts, video and has excellent network recommendation system. Multilingual. OK for non-tech users. You own your subs.
  20 million active subs (03/24).

  100% free. (Pay 10% commission if you make money with it).
  .

• Medium
  Independent free web publishing platform for writers, authors and creators integrates newsletter publishing feature. Very easy and simple to use. No dedicated newsletter features. No recommendation system. No automations, no email sequences. 100M+ monthly active users (04.24).
  100% free.

  .

• Beehiiv
  Innovative and feature-rich newsletter publishing platform for indie creators and solopreneurs.

  Free for up to 2.5K subscribers
  .

• Email Octopus
  Newsletter builder with template editor and large library of editable templates.
  Personalization (merge). Automations. Forms. Landing pages. Integrations.
  Free for up to 2.5K subscribers / 10,000 emails per month

  .

• Convertkit
  Well-established and feature-rich professional newsletter publishing platform.
  Automations/auto-responders, email sequences.
  Free for up to 10K subscribers (included: 1 automation + 1 sequence).

2) Sponsors and Advertisers

• WhoSponsorsStuff
  Tracks sponsors (8K+) across major newsletters (500+) and sends the data straight to you. Large searchable database of both sponsors and major newsletters.
  100% free.
  .

• Paved Radar
  AI-assisted feed to find potential newsletter sponsors. Detects sponsorships in over 15,000 newsletters and get direct contacts to sponsors. Video intro.
  Free for Paved users.
  .

• Sponsorgap
  Get access to thousands of potential sponsors and filter them by industry, location, size, and more. Promote your ad spots and your newsletter in the Sponsorgap ad marketplace.
  From $29/mo

  .

• Paved for Publishers
  Allow advertisers and sponsors to discover your newsletter. It makes it easy for you to provide all the information needed for ad/sponsors to book promotions on your publication.
  100% Free
  .

• Paved Sponsorship and Ad Booker
  The Booker (free in 2024) is a checkout and scheduling tool built to streamline your sponsorship process for direct ad sales. Helps you attract sponsors and accept payments and where to highlight everything you have to offer. Post-2024, sponsorships under $500 closed with Booker remain free, while those above will pay a 10% commission + Stripe’s 2.9% processing fee. Video demo.
  100% free (in 2024)
  .

• Swapstack by Beehiiv
  Automatically serves up ad opportunities which you can accept or refuse.
  Free 30-day trial. Available to all Beehiiv paid users (starts at $39/mo).
  .

• Hecto
  Platform to buy, sell and manage newsletter ads and sponsorships.
  100% free. 5% commissions on closed deals.
  .

• Upstart
  Find targeted email newsletters that you can sponsor. Free, searchable database of newsletters. Find newsletters fitting your target audience, contact them and arrange a deal in their next email campaigns. Submit your newsletter for free.
  100% free
  .

• AdMailr
  Automated ad network and marketplace for newsletters allows you to advertise inside newsletters and sell ad space inside yours. Advertisers are algorithmically matched to your newsletter audience but you choose which ones to accept.
  Free
  .

• ThePear
  Categorized, hand-checked lists of newsletter, podcast and Patreon creators seeking advertisers.
  From $6.99/mo (newsletter lists).

3) Cross-Promotion

• Lettergrowth
  Find newsletters for cross promotions. Get access to a database of newsletters who want to connect with other newsletters.
  100% free
  .

• LetterHunt
  Discover thousands of niche newsletters and their creators. 10K+ active newsletters

  in 20+ categories. One-click outreach via Twitter DMs and email.
  Free version 100 newsletters only (Airtable DB), limited filters - Full database is $99 one-time
  .

• Reletter
  Find newsletters that fit your target or niche at scale. Database index of over one million Substack, LinkedIn and Ghost newsletters. Direct contacts to authors. Tracks newsletter mentions. Allows creation of dìynamic lists of targeted newsletters.
  Starts at $49/mo max 100 searches / mo
  .

• SponsorthisNewsletter
  Find newsletters that are open to promote, cross-promote or do affiliate marketing. Curated database with 500+ newsletters ready to promote your product, their rates, and contact details + their audience's size.
  $297 one-time

  . 

• NewsletterSpy
  Gain insights into the performance of 100,000+ newsletters. Discover sponsorship and cross-promotion opportunities. Granular filters. Contact information (including email addresses and social media accounts) Datasets include subsc count, avg reactions, publishing frequency.
  $49/month.

4) Newsletter Directories

• Mailscribe Discover
  Directory of newsletter organized by categories.
  Unclear how to submit to it.
  100% free
  .

• InboxReads
  Professional newsletter directory allows publishers to create a detailed information card about their publication(s) and to update it when needed.
  Submit yours here.
  100% free
  .

• Letterlist
  Catalog of hand-picked, high-quality newsletters.
  Submit yours here.
  100% free
  .

• Awesome Newsletters
  A curated list of awesome newsletters inspired by the awesome-* trend on GitHub. 
  Contribution Guidelines.
  100% free
  .

• Thanks for Subscribing
  Catalog of newsletters organized by categories.
  Submit yours here.
  100% free
  .

• Ghost Explore
  Catalog of top websites / newsletters built with Ghost. Organized by topic and audience size.
  Submission Guidelines
  100% free
  .

• Lettergrowth
  Directory of newsletters interested in cross-promotion.
  Submit yours here (requires login)
  100% free
  .

• NewsletterHub
  Curated catalog of best newsletter examples organized by topic.

  Submit yours here
  100% free
  .

• Amazing Newsletters
  Searchable catalog of newsletters organized by categories
  Submit yours here
  Free with waiting line - of fast review for $10
  

5) Monitor Competitors Newsletters

• Owletter
  Automatically captures all emails sent from a website to their mailing list. Takes  screenshots of each email, stores it and analyzes it. 

  15-days free trial. Starts at $19/mo to monitor 10 websites

  .

• Mailcharts
  Inspiration source for email campaigns. Access to thousands of great curated lists of examples of email campaigns and newsletters as well as detailed marketing data. [Video]
  Free plan available. Pro starts at $149/mo.

  .

• ESP Finder
  Find which ESP (email service provider) is being used by your competitors to send their email campaigns and newsletters.
  100% free
  .

• Sendview
  Tool for benchmarking your email strategy against competitors without flooding your inbox. Identify email sending trends from key competitors.

  10-day free trial. Pro starts at $69/mo.

6) Email Verification - Spam Score

• MailTester
  Test spammyness of your emails / newsletters.
  100% free
  .

• EmailAnalyzer
  Test pam level of your newsletter / emails.

  100% free
  .

• SenderScore
  Assess your sender score to evaluate your trustworthiness for email. Measures health of your email program and IP reputation. Details how mailbox providers view your IP address.
  100% free.
  .

• Proofy
  Newsletter email lists verification for duplicate, bad, bouncing addresses.
  Free for up to 100 emails.
  .

• Kickbox
  Free for up to 100 emails. $10 for 1000 emails.
  .

• Glockapps
  Free email/newsletter spam checker tool. See where your emails are being delivered on Gmail, Outlook and all major ISPs. Get insights and tips to improve deliverability.
  Free version available. Pro start at $85/mo.

  .

• EmailVerification
  Add-On for Google Sheets. Check and verify email addresses directly.
  50 free email verifications. Pro bulk verifications start at $29 for 2000 emails.
  .

• Unspam
  Email spam checker / deliverability test. Check domain, email, IP address blacklisting. Preview how newsletter will look on each device size, platform, and OS.
  Free version allows 3 spam tests, 3 email previews, and 3 inbox tests / month. Basic version starts at $9/mo for 50 tests and previews.
  .

• Mailercheck
  Email list verification and deliverability testing.
  Starts at $10 for 1,000 email addresses verification. Free version of email deliverability test good for one sending account.
  .

• Litmus
  Top professional solution for email design, spam and accessibility testing, preview and deliverability. Email Previews in 100+ popular clients and devices.
  Starts at $99/mo.

7) HTML Email Newsletter Design Builders

• Unlayer Studio
  Email designer. Drag and drop. Responsive. Templates. Ready-made blocks.
  Free - fully working - version. Allows to design and download email templates. Pro starts at $15 and adds export to email sending providers.
  .

• BeFree
  HTML email design builder. Drag and drop. Exports to major email senders. Mobile design mode. Good also for landing pages. Templates. Content blocks. Responsive.
  Free version includes export of up to 6 emails/mo + 1,500+ free templates.
  Pro starts $30/mo (15-day trial)
  .

• FlashIssue
  Gmail-based email newsletter design builder. Templates. Ready-made editable content blocks. Drag and drop. Collaboration. Browser extension. Analytics.
  Starts at $9.99 one payment for 24 months for up to 300 subs.
  

• Designmodo Postcards
  Email template designer. Drag and drop. WYSIWYG builder. Built-in templates. Collaboration.
  Starts at $19/mo
  .

• PublicateIt
  Email design builder. 200+ templates. Multimedia library. Ready-made drag and drop modules. Export to Gmail/Outlook and to 57+ email clients. Export as HTML or PDF or share as a web page. Analytics. Collaborative.
  Starts at $49/mo with 14-day trial

8) Newsletter Curation

• Goodbits
  Curated newsletter platform. Auto-fetches content your posts on X, Slack, IG and website. Capture content with Chrome extension. Content blocks. Customize design. Analytics. Integrations. Custom sending domain.
  Free for up to 100 subs. Pro starts at $24/mo for 2K subs.
  .

• CuratedLetters
  Browser extension to save content from the web. Add your commentary and notes. Collaboration. Analytics. Sponsor management. Zapier integration.
  Free for up to 100 subs. Then up to 500 subs $5/mo.
  .

• Curated

  Platform to curate and publish curated newsletters. Capture content from the web. Collaboration. Sponsorships and paid subscriptions support. Analytics.
  Free for up to 1500 subs. Pro starts at $39 for up to 2.5K subs.
  .

• FlashIssue
  Gmail-based email newsletter design and production tool. Templates. Ready-made editable content blocks. Browser extension to capture content. Analytics.
  Starts at $9.99 one payment for 24 months for up to 300 subs. 14-day free-trial.
  .

• Newsletter Breeze
  Up to 3 news sources, RSS support, image library, content capturing Chrome extension. Templates.

  Starts at $19/mo with NewsletterBreeze branding. $39/mo without branding.
  .

• Scoop.it
  Professional content curation, discovery and distribution platform. Feature-rich.
  Excellent solution for indie creators and experts. Drag-and-drop. Write, capture and upload your own content. Ready-made editable templates. Custom HTML support.
  Newsletter-enabled version starts at $79/mo. Free trial available.

  .

• Rasa
  Automated curated newsletter production and distribution platform. Personalization: frequency/topics based on user behavior/preferences. Aggregate content from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds. Hand curation as well as automation of newsletter generation and delivery. Analytics. Integrations.
  Starts at $219/mo.

9) Newsletter Subject

• Omnisend Subject Line Tester
  Get an instant score for any newsletter subject/title based on word count, helpful words, negative words, use of numbers and capitalization.
  100% free
  .

• SubjectLineGenerator
  Basic title generator suggests a variety of possible titles for your newsletter based on your preferred tone and on your newsletter content.
  100% free

  .

• Newsletter Subject Line Generator
  AI-powered subject-line generator generates 10 alternative titles for your newsletter based on your topic input.
  100% free
  .

• AI Subject Line Generator
  AI-assisted newsletter subject generator takes as input your text description, tone, intent, type of campaign, use of emojis and more.
  100% free

10) Newsletter Design Examples

• Newsletter Swipe File
  Free swipe file bundle: newsletter 'sign up', 'thank you' and 'sponsor us' pages.
  100% free

11) Newsletter Calculators

• Newsletter Ad Calculator
  Helps you gauge how much to charge for sponsorship of your newsletter
  100% free
  

• Newsletter Evaluation Tool
  Online interactive module helps you understand how much your newsletter might be worth in case you may want to sell it. Email required.
  100% free

12) Newsletter To RSS

• Kill the Newsletter
  Create a RSS feed that includes all the newsletters you subscribe to by using a special email address.
  100% free

13) Block / Remove Undesired Newsletters

• Cleanfox
  Remove and block newsletters in just one click. Fast, easy, effective.
  iOS and Android mobile apps.
  100% free
  .

• Unroll
  Manage your inbox by selecting between: Keep, Unsubscribe and Rollup (into a daily digest).
  iOS and Android
  100% free
  .

• Mailstrom
  Web-based email client to take bulk actions on your inboxes. Delete, Archive and Move large groups of messages. Unsubscribe, Block Sender/Subject, set automatic rules, and get daily/weekly email reports.
  Free trial. Starts from $9/mo

14) Sell/Buy Newsletters

• Duuce
  Newsletters marketplace. Buy and sell email newsletters.
  100% free

15) Custom Personal Newsletters

• Mailbrew
  Aggregate the best content from your favorite creators, newsletters and RSS feeds into a daily email digest.
  100% free
  .

• Blogtrottr
  Like Mailbrew allows you to receive updates from websites, blogs and RSS feeds in individual or digest-type emails.
  Free version (with ads).
  .

• Feedbutler
  Subscribe to blogs, articles, news, tutorials or YouTube channels and get their updates as an email-bassed personal newsletter.
  Free version (daily email digest with max 3 sources).

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Thank you.

Robin Good