Curated

Curated is an email newsletter platform designed for editorial publishing. Creators, publishers, and marketers can gather links with a bookmarklet, Chrome extension, or secret email address, then add introductions, summaries, or personal insights. Curated sends customizable email newsletters and can create a web edition with searchable issue archives. Publications can use a custom top-level domain or subdomain, with HTTPS enabled after DNS setup. The platform includes tools for sponsorship inquiries, bookings, and scheduling, and supports paid subscriptions with a stated 0% commission. Subscriber-level statistics cover audience growth and what is working. Curated offers Zapier support with four triggers and three actions, plus a public token-authenticated API. The API can collect links, but not text items, and cannot publish issues. Monthly message allowance is 31 times the plan’s maximum subscriber count, and unused quota does not carry over. The free plan covers up to 1,500 subscribers. Paid plans start at $39.00 per month for 1,501–2,500 subscribers, and a free trial is listed.

Curated combines editorial newsletter publishing with link collection, sponsorship tools, and paid subscriptions. Check the subscriber tier and message allowance against your publishing needs before choosing a plan.

Curated suits creators, publishers, and marketers building editorial newsletters. It is especially relevant to teams that want link collection, sponsorship tools, paid subscriptions, and searchable web archives.

Overview

Curated is an editorial newsletter service for creators, publishers, and marketers whose issues are built around links and commentary. It is strongest for publishers who want collection, sponsorships, and paid subscriptions alongside email publishing; its subscriber-based pricing and limited monthly message quota deserve close attention as a list grows.

Key features

Links can enter a publication through a bookmarklet, Chrome extension, or secret email address, then receive an introduction, summary, or personal insight. That workflow is well suited to curated reading lists and editorial roundups, where the publisher’s context is as important as the links themselves.

Curated sends customizable newsletters and can create a web edition with searchable issue archives. Custom top-level domains and subdomains are supported, with HTTPS enabled after DNS setup. Sponsorship tools manage inquiries, bookings, and scheduling, while paid subscriptions let publishers charge readers without a platform commission, according to Curated. Subscriber-level analytics show audience growth and what is working.

Zapier support includes four triggers and three actions. The public API uses token authentication, but its scope is narrow for publishing workflows: it can collect links, not text items, and cannot publish issues. It is therefore more useful for link intake than for managing a publication end to end through an integration.

The monthly message allowance equals 31 times the plan’s maximum subscriber count, and unused messages do not roll over. This ties sending capacity to list size rather than allowing a publisher to bank unused volume for a busier month. Curated also describes its security procedures as commercially reasonable but does not guarantee absolute security. Its EU privacy page says servers are in the UK; backups are hourly for one week and daily for 30 days. Support is available through a support center and [email protected].

Pricing

Curated is freemium, with a free plan for 0–1,500 subscribers. That gives a new or smaller publication room to build an audience before paying, but the message quota is still limited and unused capacity expires monthly.

Paid plans are billed monthly: 1,501–2,500 subscribers cost $39 a month; 2,501–5,000 cost $69 a month; 5,001–10,000 cost $129 a month; 10,001–15,000 cost $189 a month; 15,001–25,000 cost $299 a month; and 25,001–50,000 cost $399 a month. The subscriber bands make the cost progression predictable, but moving beyond a band means moving to the next monthly price tier. For more than 50,000 subscribers, pricing is custom; contact [email protected]. A free trial is offered.

The plan breakdown is based on subscriber capacity; the message cap is tied to that maximum. Publishers should weigh both the subscriber band and expected monthly sends rather than treating the subscriber ceiling as the only operational limit.

Platforms

Curated is available on web, through an extension, and via API. The API can support link collection, but its inability to publish issues or accept text items makes it a supplement to—not a replacement for—the publishing workflow.

Who it's for

Curated is a considered fit for link-focused editors who want to add commentary, publish searchable web archives, and manage sponsorships or paid subscriptions in the same newsletter service. It is less suitable when a publication depends on API-based issue publishing or needs an uncapped message allowance.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Multiple link-capture routes and editorial commentary tools support a distinctive, context-rich newsletter workflow.
• Pros: Sponsorship management, paid subscriptions with 0% commission, and subscriber-level analytics support monetization and audience decisions.
• Cons: Monthly message capacity is capped at 31 times the plan’s subscriber maximum, and unused quota expires.
• Cons: The API cannot collect text items or publish issues, limiting its usefulness for automated editorial publishing.
• Cons: Prices rise with subscriber bands, and audiences above 50,000 require custom pricing.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Newsletter Platforms.

Substack is worth considering if mobile apps for Android and iOS matter; its free-to-start plan has no platform fees, tiers, or contracts.

Audienceful may suit a team seeking automated journeys: its free plan includes 1,000 contacts, one team collaborator, and one automated journey, while Essentials costs $29 a month billed yearly.

Dada Mail is another freemium newsletter option.

Email Fast may fit a sender prioritizing a free monthly email allowance: its free plan never expires and includes 2,500 emails per month, unlimited contacts and subscribers, one sending domain, and a test sandbox.

phpList offers a free plan with unlimited subscribers and 300 messages, a different fit for publishers prioritizing subscriber count over send volume.

LetterBucket is an alternative with a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and unlimited posts.

Mailtrain is a free, self-hosted option, with a recommended minimum of 2 vCPU and 4096 MB RAM.

SendFox may suit a smaller list needing a free sending plan: its free tier includes 1,000 contacts and 3,000 sends per month.

Verdict

Choose Curated if your publication is built around selected links and you want editorial context, sponsorship management, and paid subscriptions in one service. Its main advantage is that integrated editorial workflow; look elsewhere if API-driven issue publishing or more flexible message capacity is central to your operation.