Content Creator

The creator economy stack for building and monetizing an audience. Perfect for newsletter writers, course creators, and community leaders. Focus on content, not tech.

$38/mo
monthly
6
tools
2h 20m
setup time

Best For

Business Type
Content Business
Technical Level
Low-Code, No-Code, Technical
Team Size
Solo Founder, Tiny Team
Budget
$0-50/mo, $50-200/mo
💻

Development

$9/mo

Ghost

$9/moeasy

All-in-one publishing platform with memberships built in. Beautiful by default.

Setup time: 30 minStarter: $9/mo for up to 500 members
Integrates with: stripe, convertkit, fathom
Alternatives:
Substack — Free to start, but 10% revenue cut
beehiiv — Newsletter-focused, great free tier, ads available
Quick start guide →
⚙️

Operations

$15/mo

ConvertKit

$15/moeasy

Email marketing built for creators. Automation, segmentation, and landing pages.

Setup time: 30 minCreator: $15/mo for 300 subscribers, scales with list size
Integrates with: ghost, gumroad, stripe
Alternatives:
Buttondown — Simpler, cheaper, developer-friendly
MailerLite — More features at lower price, less creator-focused
Quick start guide →

Circle

Freeeasy

Beautiful community platform for courses and memberships. Better than Discord for paid communities.

Setup time: 30 minBasic: Free for 100 members, Professional at $89/mo
Integrates with: ghost, convertkit
Alternatives:
Discord — Free, but less professional for paid communities
Slack — Great for engaged communities, free tier limited
Quick start guide →
💳

Payments

Free

Gumroad

Freeeasy

Sell digital products with zero setup. Courses, ebooks, templates.

Setup time: 20 min10% flat fee per sale, no monthly fee
Integrates with: convertkit
Alternatives:
Lemon Squeezy — Better for SaaS, 5% fee + payment processing
Stripe — Lower fees, more setup required
Quick start guide →
📈

Growth

$14/mo

Fathom Analytics

$14/moeasy

Privacy-friendly analytics without the complexity. See what content resonates.

Setup time: 10 min$14/mo for up to 100K pageviews
Integrates with: ghost
Alternatives:
Plausible — Similar features, open-source option
Simple Analytics — Even simpler, $19/mo
Quick start guide →
🤝

Collaboration

Free

Notion

Freeeasy

Content calendar, ideas database, and writing workspace. All your content in one place.

Setup time: 20 minFree for personal use with unlimited pages
Alternatives:
Obsidian — Local-first, better for personal knowledge base
Airtable — Better for structured data, content calendars
Quick start guide →

Want This Stack?

Get personalized setup guides and integration help.

Monthly Cost Breakdown

Development$9/mo
Ghost$9/mo
PaymentsFree
GumroadFree
Operations$15/mo
ConvertKit$15/mo
CircleFree
Growth$14/mo
Fathom Analytics$14/mo
CollaborationFree
NotionFree
Total$38/mo

Estimated monthly cost based on typical usage

Pro tip: Many tools have generous free tiers. Your actual cost may be lower when starting out.

Setup Guide

Total: ~2h 20m
1
Ghost~30 min

Set up Ghost

Start here
2
Gumroad~20 min

Set up Gumroad

3
ConvertKit~30 min

Set up ConvertKit

Requires: ghost, gumroad

4
Circle~30 min

Set up Circle

Requires: ghost

5
Fathom Analytics~10 min

Set up Fathom Analytics

Requires: ghost

6
Notion~20 min

Set up Notion

Steps: 6
Estimated time: 2h 20m

Tags

creatornewslettercoursecommunityaudiencemonetization

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