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What is your email list actually worth in dollars per month? Enter five inputs and see the math behind your revenue per subscriber per year.
Your result
Fill in list size, click rate, conversion rate, and offer price to see your estimated list value.
Revenue per subscriber per year, sometimes called RPS or RPSY, is the cleanest way to compare lists across niches and sizes. These benchmarks are tuned for newsletter-run businesses that sell offers, not pure paid newsletters.
| Tier | Range |
|---|---|
| Below average | Under $1 per subscriber per year |
| Average | $1 to $5 per subscriber per year |
| Strong | $5 to $20 per subscriber per year |
| Excellent | $20 to $50 per subscriber per year |
| Top tier | Over $50 per subscriber per year |
Estimated monthly revenue is list size times click rate times offer conversion rate times average offer price. Most email providers (Beehiiv, Kit, Substack) report click rate as clicks divided by subscribers, which already represents the full subscriber to clicker step, so the formula does not multiply by open rate too. Open rate stays in the calculator as a useful engagement signal, but it is shown for context, not as part of the revenue chain. The same formula scaled to a year gives annual revenue. Dividing annual revenue by list size gives revenue per subscriber per year, which is the most useful comparison metric across different list sizes. The real lever is rarely list size. It is conversion rate and offer price. Doubling either of those moves the number more than doubling the list does, which is why entrepreneurs usually grow revenue faster than they grow subscribers.
It is your annual newsletter revenue divided by your list size. A list of 5,000 subscribers earning $25,000 a year has a $5 per subscriber per year value, which is in the strong range for newsletter-run businesses.
It is an estimate based on the inputs you provide. Real revenue varies by offer mix, segmentation, and send frequency. Treat the output as a directional benchmark, not a forecast.
Most lists are conversion limited, not size limited. A list with a low offer conversion rate or a low average offer price will always under index regardless of how many subscribers it has. Improving either lever moves the number quickly.
They count in the denominator but not in the conversion math. If a meaningful percentage of your list is unengaged, your real revenue per active subscriber is higher than the average. Pruning the list usually improves the rate.
Free tools cover one step. Distinctful puts posts, owned offer clicks, newsletter growth, reader warmth, and connected sales in one view.
The newsletter growth platform
Distinctful tracks per subscriber value, lifecycle stage, and offer conversion in one place, so you can see which readers are doing the business.