MailCheap revenue

Marc Lou (@marclou) is a solo founder, by his own account. MailCheap is a newsletter platform: you write, schedule and send, then see stats, a web page for each issue, signup forms and an API. The pitch on the site is that it is up to 83% cheaper than beehiiv, Mailchimp and Ghost, because you pay for emails sent, not for people sitting on the list. Plans start at $19 a month. The code is open source: anyone can self-host it for free on their own server and send through Amazon SES. The site also says an AI assistant can drive the product. Monthly recurring revenue, often shortened to MRR, means the subscription total for one month. It is not a full year of takings, and it is not profit.

He says he works on his products with AI and always has 4 or 5 agents running (X, 20 Oct 2026; no public status link found). TrustMRR lists the country as Singapore. The founded date on that page is 12 Oct 2026. Started Oct 2026.

1. 9 Oct 2026 — He wrote that it took a few prompts with Opus 5.5 (X).
2. 10 Oct 2026 — Open-source, self-host version announced (X).
3. 15 Oct 2026 — Launch post, which he titled along the lines of vibe-coding a beehiiv-style tool that is 83% cheaper, with about 1.36 million views (X). The same day he compared prices: 4,000 subscribers, one email a week, $19 on MailCheap versus $109 on beehiiv Lite. That comparison is his claim.
4. 21 Oct 2026 — $653 a month. Stripe-verified (TrustMRR). The same day he wrote that another of his products took 3 months to reach $1,000 a month.
5. 23 Oct 2026 — He wrote that one customer on a large plan (500,000 emails a month) added $149 a month, and that he made 0 sales calls (X).
6. 25 Oct 2026 — He posted about a 4-figure MRR club for MailCheap, reached in 10 days (X). His newsletter archive titles the same post “I got MailCheap to $1,282 a month in 10 days”. The original title uses MRR for that monthly figure. An affiliate program launched the same day, paying 30% of every payment for as long as referrals pay (X).
7. 26 Oct 2026 — $1,320 a month. Stripe-verified (TrustMRR).

The same 26 Oct reading shows 40 active subscriptions, and all-time revenue of $1,320. The feed was read at 26 Oct 2026, 06:41 UTC (07:41 CET).

The business is about two weeks old. $1,320 a month is what those 40 current subscriptions would bring in per month if they all keep paying. Nobody has renewed yet, so we cannot see how many stay. All-time revenue matching the monthly figure is another sign of how new it is. The average is about $33 per subscription, above the $19 entry plan, so some buyers are on bigger plans. That fits the founder’s $149 post. The figure is gross revenue, before email-sending, hosting and payment costs. A founder with more than 400,000 followers (about 417,000 listed beside the revenue figure) has a big head start: the number says more about distribution than about the product alone. The free self-host option means some users never pay.

Claim versus proof: he claimed $1,282 a month on 25 Oct 2026. The checked figure on 26 Oct 2026 is $1,320 a month. The claim holds. The payment data is slightly higher one day later.

• What it sells: hosted newsletter sending. You pay for emails you send, not for the size of the list. There is also a free self-hosted edition.
• To whom: people and small teams who send a newsletter and want a lower bill than the big hosted tools.
• Pricing: from $19 a month on the hosted product (company site). His example, not checked by us: 4,000 subscribers and one email a week would be $19 on MailCheap and $109 on beehiiv Lite.
• How it gets customers: his own X audience and build-in-public posts, the open-source release, that price comparison, and an affiliate program (30% of every payment for as long as the referral pays, announced 25 Oct 2026). The revenue page also lists X, word of mouth, Reddit and SEO.

Hosting and other sending costs for the hosted product: not disclosed.

Sources:

• TrustMRR — MailCheap (Stripe-verified, synced 26 Oct 2026)
• MailCheap website
• Marc Lou on X — a few prompts with Opus 5.5 (9 Oct 2026)
• Marc Lou on X — 4-figure club in 10 days (25 Oct 2026)
• Marc Lou newsletter — archive title, $1,282 a month in 10 days (25 Oct 2026)
• Marc Lou on X — one customer added $149 a month (23 Oct 2026)
• Marc Lou on X — price comparison (15 Oct 2026)
• Marc Lou on X — affiliate program, 30% (25 Oct 2026)

Why "Verified": the headline comes from Stripe through TrustMRR, an owner-authorised API key, synced on 26 Oct 2026. The figure is gross revenue, before email-sending, hosting and payment costs. The business is about two weeks old, so this is not yet a set of renewals.

• ✅ Verified: $1,320 a month on 26 Oct 2026, from 40 active subscriptions. All-time revenue is also $1,320.
• ✅ Verified: $653 a month on 21 Oct 2026, an earlier reading of the same Stripe feed.
• 🟡 Claimed: $1,282 a month on 25 Oct 2026, from the founder’s newsletter title (he wrote MRR). The claim holds: the payment data one day later is $1,320 a month, slightly higher.
• 🟡 Claimed: one customer added $149 a month on a large plan, and he made 0 sales calls (X, 23 Oct 2026).
• ❓ Not verified: that one person runs it (founder-stated), subscriber and email counts on the website, the “83% cheaper” comparison, and any deliverability stats.

A short answer is on Is MailCheap’s revenue real?.

1. Build a small hosted app that does one job people already pay for, such as sending a newsletter.
2. Offer a free self-hosted path if you can, so people can try it without a card.
3. Charge for the hosted convenience, with a low entry plan and a few larger ones.
4. Expect the first customers to come from people who already listen to you. This launch did.

• Skills: building a web app with AI help
• Audience needed: yes. This launch rode a following of more than 400,000 people on X. Without an audience, first customers are likely to come slowly
• Budget needed: low, a hosted app plus email-sending costs

• About two weeks old. Nobody has renewed yet, so the monthly figure is what current subscriptions would pay if they stay.
• Gross revenue only. Email-sending, hosting and payment costs are not shown.
• The founder’s audience is a head start. The same product with no audience would not show this number.
• The free self-host option means some users never pay.
• The “83% cheaper” line, website subscriber counts and deliverability stats are company claims.
• One-person operation is the founder’s statement, not a checked fact.