A Substack alternative that sends from your own domain
Send your newsletter from your own domain and your own Cloudflare account, keep the whole list, and pay no share of revenue. Your website and payments stay with the tools you already use.
Facts checked
The short answer
Choose Substack if you want a hosted publication with a website, sign-up pages, paid subscriptions and a reader network built in; it is free to publish and takes 10% of paid subscriptions. Choose MarkRelay when you want to own the sending: each issue goes out from your own domain through your own Cloudflare account, your list lives in your own database, and nothing is charged per subscriber or as a share of revenue. MarkRelay sends and receives the email; publish the web version and take payments on your own site.
Side by side
| Feature | MarkRelayLicense from $99/yr | SubstackHosted, free to publish |
|---|---|---|
| Sends from your own domain | Yes | — |
| Custom domain for the website | Use your own site | $50 once |
| Where your list lives | Your Cloudflare D1 | Substack, with CSV export |
| Revenue share | None | 10% of paid subscriptions, plus card fees |
| Price | $99/yr or $249 once, plus Cloudflare | Free to publish |
| Import a list | .csv or .xlsx with an email column | Yes |
| Visual email design | Template editor with sections and columns | Post editor |
| Personalization | Any column as a variable, e.g. {{first_name}} | — |
| One-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058) and suppression list | Yes | — |
| Per-recipient delivery, opens and clicks | Yes | Post-level stats |
| Replies land in a shared inbox | Yes | — |
| Sign-up form and web archive | On your own site | Yes |
| Paid subscriptions | Through your own billing | Yes |
| Reader network and recommendations | No | Yes |
Sends from your own domain
- MarkRelay
- Yes
- Substack
- —
Custom domain for the website
- MarkRelay
- Use your own site
- Substack
- $50 once
Where your list lives
- MarkRelay
- Your Cloudflare D1
- Substack
- Substack, with CSV export
Revenue share
- MarkRelay
- None
- Substack
- 10% of paid subscriptions, plus card fees
Price
- MarkRelay
- $99/yr or $249 once, plus Cloudflare
- Substack
- Free to publish
Import a list
- MarkRelay
- .csv or .xlsx with an email column
- Substack
- Yes
Visual email design
- MarkRelay
- Template editor with sections and columns
- Substack
- Post editor
Personalization
- MarkRelay
- Any column as a variable, e.g. {{first_name}}
- Substack
- —
One-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058) and suppression list
- MarkRelay
- Yes
- Substack
- —
Per-recipient delivery, opens and clicks
- MarkRelay
- Yes
- Substack
- Post-level stats
Replies land in a shared inbox
- MarkRelay
- Yes
- Substack
- —
Sign-up form and web archive
- MarkRelay
- On your own site
- Substack
- Yes
Paid subscriptions
- MarkRelay
- Through your own billing
- Substack
- Yes
Reader network and recommendations
- MarkRelay
- No
- Substack
- Yes
Substack facts from its public pricing and help pages. “—” means they do not say.
Which one fits you
Choose Substack if
- You want a publication website, sign-up pages and payments with no setup.
- Substack's reader network and recommendations matter to your growth.
Choose MarkRelay if
- Your newsletter should come from your own domain and your own account.
- You already have a site and billing, and want sending without a revenue share.
- You also want team mailboxes, an email API and templates in the same app.
What a paid weekly newsletter costs
| Example | Substack10% of paid subscriptions | MarkRelayLicense $8.25/mo ($99/yr) + Cloudflare | You savePer month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 paid subscribers at $8/month | $40010% of $4,000 | $13.25$8.25 license + $5 Workers Paid | $386.7596% less |
| 2,000 paid subscribers at $8/month | $1,60010% of $16,000 | $15.23$8.25 license + $5 Workers Paid + $1.98 sending | $1,584.7799% less |
500 paid subscribers at $8/month
Substack
MarkRelay
2,000 paid subscribers at $8/month
Substack
MarkRelay
MarkRelay: the Annual license ($99/year) spread over 12 months, $8.25 a month whatever the volume, plus the Cloudflare bill: Workers Paid is $5/month with 3,000 sent emails included, then $0.35 per 1,000, and receiving is free. With Lifetime ($249 once), later years cost only the Cloudflare bill. A weekly issue is about 4.33 sends per subscriber a month. Card processing fees apply either way and are not included; with MarkRelay you take payments through your own billing, such as Stripe. A free newsletter costs nothing on Substack.
Common questions
Can I move my Substack subscribers to MarkRelay?
Yes. Export your subscribers as a CSV from Substack's settings and import it into a broadcast: MarkRelay needs an email column, and every other column becomes a variable you can use in the issue. Clone the broadcast for the next issue to reuse the list.
Does MarkRelay host my newsletter's website and sign-up form?
No. MarkRelay sends and receives the email. Publish the web version and collect sign-ups on your own site, then import new subscribers before each send.
Can I run a paid newsletter?
Yes, with your own billing: charge subscribers through a tool such as Stripe, export the paying list and send to it from MarkRelay. MarkRelay takes no share of the revenue.
How big can a send be?
Up to 100,000 recipients per broadcast. Cloudflare charges $0.35 per 1,000 emails after the 3,000 included with Workers Paid.
Who is responsible for compliance?
The sender. MarkRelay adds one-click unsubscribe headers and a suppression list to every broadcast; you are responsible for consent and for following CAN-SPAM, GDPR and Cloudflare's Email Service terms.
Keep reading
Own your email stack today
Buy MarkRelay once and run it in your Cloudflare account. MarkRelay adds no per-message or per-seat charge; Cloudflare usage and service limits remain separate.