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Elastic Email vs Substack

Elastic Email: Budget-focused senders wanting marketing tools plus an email API. Substack: Writers making money doing the work they believe in. Same fact set for both, straight from each vendor's docs.

Elastic Email

Free tier
Free plan: up to 1,000 contacts, 3,000 emails/mo
Paid from
$29/mo (Starter, up to 2,500 contacts; contact-based) · pricing page
Public API
Yes docs
MCP server
Yes · Official MCP server (github.com/ElasticEmail/elasticemail-mcp-server, in help center)
Best for
Budget-focused senders wanting marketing tools plus an email API
Website
https://elasticemail.com

Substack

Free tier
Free to publish, no subscriber cap
Paid from
No monthly fee; 10% of paid subscription revenue plus Stripe fees · pricing page
Public API
Yes docs
MCP server
Community · Community servers on GitHub only
Best for
Writers making money doing the work they believe in
Website
https://substack.com

Which one?

Elastic Email suits budget-focused senders wanting marketing tools plus an email api. Substack suits writers making money doing the work they believe in. Pricing changes; the fact tables above link both vendors' live pricing pages. For the rest of the field, see Elastic Email alternatives, Substack alternatives, or the full table.