Newsletter platforms compared

SendHQ vs Buttondown for newsletters

Buttondown and SendHQ both send newsletters. They charge differently: Buttondown prices by the number of subscribers you keep, and SendHQ prices by the emails you send.

Start for $19 a month See SendHQ for newsletters

Price at every list size

Monthly list prices for a weekly newsletter, checked October 2026. Buttondown prices are for the plan named; confirm on their pricing page before you buy.
Subscribers	Emails a month	Buttondown	SendHQ	Difference
1,000	4,334	$9 Base	$19 Starter	$10 more
2,500	10,834	not listed	$19 Starter	–
5,000	21,667	$29 Base	$19 Starter	$10 less
10,000	43,334	$79 Base	$19 Starter	$60 less
25,000	108,334	not listed	$39 Scale	–

Buttondown fees: No Buttondown cut of paid subscriptions (paid subs are a +$9/mo add-on); Stripe fees apply. 50% off for registered nonprofits.

Buttondown free plan: Free for the first 100 subscribers. SendHQ has no free plan.

Where Buttondown does more

Hosted newsletter archive (custom domain +$29/mo)
Paid subscriptions add-on with fixed, pay-what-you-want and per-email models
Automations, tagging/segmentation, RSS-to-email (add-ons)
Sponsorships, comments and surveys, multiple newsletters, teams, whitelabel (add-ons)
Markdown editor and privacy-first defaults

If any of these is central to how you grow, Buttondown is likely the better fit, and that is fine.

Where SendHQ fits better

You pay for what you send. 50,000 emails for $19 a month, however many subscribers you keep between issues.
Your own domain and inbox. Issues go out from your verified domain, and replies can land in a SendHQ inbox on that domain.
Built for developers and agents. The same lists and broadcasts work from the REST API, the CLI and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor.
Consent and guardrails built in. Double opt-in forms, a consent basis on every import, automatic suppression and published pause rules.

Moving from Buttondown

Dashboard export or API (POST /exports with optional columns array); CSV or JSON.
In SendHQ, add and verify your sending domain.
Create a list, then import the CSV with a consent basis such as "Subscribed to our newsletter on Buttondown".
Write your issue with merge tags such as {{first_name | there}} and send it.

Buttondown exports columns such as id, secondary_id, email, notes, subscriber_type, referrer_url, utm_source, utm_medium. SendHQ needs an email column and reads name, or first_name and last_name; other columns become custom fields you can use in merge tags.

New workspaces start at 100 emails a day and ramp up with healthy sending, so a large list's first issues go out over a few days.

Questions

Is SendHQ cheaper than Buttondown for a newsletter?

For a weekly newsletter to 10,000 subscribers, Buttondown lists $79 a month (Base) and SendHQ Starter Marketing is $19 a month for 50,000 emails, checked October 2026. SendHQ charges by emails sent, so the gap is largest for big lists sent weekly or less.

How do I move my subscribers from Buttondown to SendHQ?

Dashboard export or API (POST /exports with optional columns array); CSV or JSON. Then import the CSV into a SendHQ list with a consent basis such as 'Subscribed on our Buttondown newsletter', verify your sending domain, and send.

What does Buttondown do that SendHQ does not?

Hosted newsletter archive (custom domain +$29/mo); Paid subscriptions add-on with fixed, pay-what-you-want and per-email models; Automations, tagging/segmentation, RSS-to-email (add-ons); Sponsorships, comments and surveys, multiple newsletters, teams, whitelabel (add-ons); Markdown editor and privacy-first defaults.

Will my first issue go out to the whole list at once?

New SendHQ workspaces start at 100 emails a day and climb as healthy sending builds trust, up to 50,000 a day. A larger broadcast keeps sending as the limit allows, so plan the first issues of a large list over a few days.

Sources

Checked 2026-10-29. Prices change; tell us at /contact if one is out of date and we will correct it.