Free valuation check
Free newsletter valuation calculator for buyers: check the asking price
Short answer: enter the asking price and monthly profit below. The free FirstPass Memo checker shows payback in months, the asking multiple against comparable newsletters and subscription businesses listed for sale, and the red flags that should move the price, each with a question to send the seller. It runs in your browser with no account. It checks the seller's asking price; it does not tell you what the business would sell for, and it is not advice.
Check a newsletter asking price
What a newsletter listing usually asks
The checker compares the asking multiple with 14 newsletters and subscription businesses listed on Empire Flippers (bucket "Subscription", asking prices collected 6 October 2026 from its public Marketplace API). The middle half asked 2.06× to 2.85× annual profit, a median of 2.58×, which is 25 to 34 months of payback.
These are asking prices, not sale prices. A price inside the range is not a fair price by itself: the flags are what move it.
Worked example
Made-up example, not a real listing
A newsletter listing asking $60,000, $1,900 monthly profit, 4% monthly churn, 26 months old, 12 owner hours a week. The checker returns payback of 31.6 months (2.63× annual profit) and these flags:
Seller reports 12 hours a week Medium
Ask: Which tasks take the time, and what would it cost to hand them to a contractor?
No connected data source mentioned Medium
Ask: Can you give read-only access to the payment processor and analytics, or exports that match the P&L?
Concentration not disclosed Low
Ask: What share of revenue comes from the top 1 and top 3 customers or partners?
What moves a newsletter valuation
- Sponsor concentration. One sponsor can carry most of a newsletter's revenue. See top customer over 25 percent.
- List health, not list size. Open rates are distorted by privacy features, so ask for clicks and paid conversions. See how to verify subscribers.
- Paid churn. For a paid newsletter, monthly churn is the number that sets the multiple. See monthly churn above 5 percent.
- Platform transfer. Substack and beehiiv each have their own transfer steps. See buying a newsletter.
See how real listings read: 10 newsletters and subscription businesses are among the Empire Flippers SaaS and subscription listing teardowns, each with its flags and seller questions from the public listing only.
Get the 40 seller questions for subscription and newsletter listings
Enter your email and the next page gives you the subscription and newsletter seller question checklist (web page and PDF) straight away, no waiting, along with the other free files: 11 seller question checklists (151 questions across eleven business types), the 72-hour vetting plan and a 14-column deal-tracker spreadsheet. We also email you the links so you have them later.
No newsletter: we send one email with your links,. Reply "stop" to hello@firstpassmemo.com to be removed. Looking at a live listing priced $10k–150k? Get a full memo: $79, pay after delivery instead; its confirmation page has the same downloads.
Frequently asked questions
How is a newsletter business valued?
Small online businesses are usually priced as a multiple of annual profit (seller's discretionary earnings). Payback in months is the same figure seen from the buyer's side: asking price divided by monthly profit. A 2.5× multiple is 30 months of payback. Read how to value a newsletter for the adjustments.
Is this a valuation of the business?
No. It checks the asking price against comparable asking prices and against 33 published red-flag rules. It reads only the figures you enter. A full first-pass memo on one listing costs $79, paid after delivery, and a proper valuation works from the seller's documents.
Can I paste the whole listing instead?
Yes. The full checker takes pasted listing text and reads price, profit, revenue, age, traffic and owner hours from it. Pasted text never leaves your browser.
Related
FirstPass Memo is independent and buyer-paid. Benchmarks are asking prices published by marketplaces, not sale prices. Informational screening, not investment, legal or tax advice.