Newsletter open rate
The share of a newsletter’s subscribers who open a send. For an advertiser, it’s the number that turns a subscriber count into roughly how many people will see your ad.
What’s a good newsletter open rate?
Across the 38 newsletters on Discover that report one, the typical open rate is 40%.
- median
- 40%
- middle half of newsletters
- 30–50%
- full range
- 10–60%
Publisher-reported figures on BuySellAds Discover profiles, as of November 2026. A figure given as 40%+ counts as 40%. Updated with each site release.
Show as a table
| Open rate | Newsletters | Names |
|---|---|---|
| 10 to under 15% | 2 | CodePen, Instapaper |
| 15 to under 20% | 0 | |
| 20 to under 25% | 0 | |
| 25 to under 30% | 3 | Finxter AI, Future Tools by Matt Wolfe, PitchBook |
| 30 to under 35% | 6 | Ben's Bites, Every, Indie Hackers, NPR, Tech Scoop, The Code |
| 35 to under 40% | 3 | ByteByteGo, Techpresso, The Milk Road |
| 40 to under 45% | 11 | 404 Media, AI Valley, AlphaSignal AI, Alts.co, Daily Dose of Data Science, Growth Daily, Open Source CEO by Bill Kerr, ProPublica, Superhuman AI, The Neuron, TLDR |
| 45 to under 50% | 3 | Flipboard, The Daily Upside, The Signal |
| 50 to under 55% | 6 | CNN, Refactoring, Rendezvous with Cassidoo, Stacked Marketer, The AI Report, The Rundown AI |
| 55 to under 60% | 1 | Tech Buzz |
| 60 to under 65% | 3 | ByteSize Newsletter by Experts Exchange, Morning Brew, theSkimm |
How it’s calculated
open rate = opens ÷ emails delivered
Some newsletters divide by delivered emails, some by total subscribers, and some count each reader once (unique opens) while others count every open. Each gives a different number for the same send, so ask which one a figure uses.
Why open rates are hard to compare
Some email apps, Apple Mail among them, load messages automatically, which records an open whether or not anyone read it. That pushes reported open rates up, by different amounts for different audiences. Treat open rates as a rough guide, and compare newsletters measured the same way.
How to use it when you buy
- Estimate your audience: subscribers × open rate is roughly how many people open the send your ad is in.
- Compare quotes: divide the price by that number and multiply by 1,000 to get the cost per thousand opens.
- Then decide on audience: a smaller list of exactly the people who buy your product can be worth more per open. How much does it cost to sponsor a developer newsletter?
Questions advertisers ask
Is a higher open rate always better?
No. A small, specialist list can have a lower open rate and still reach more of the people you want. Read open rate alongside who the readers are.
Why do open rates on Discover vary so much?
Audiences differ, and newsletters measure opens differently. The figures are as each publisher reports them.
What should I ask a newsletter about its open rate?
Whether it divides by delivered emails or subscribers, whether it counts unique opens, and whether it removes automatic opens.
Read next
How to sponsor developer newsletters
What you get, how to choose the right newsletter, how pricing works, and how to measure results. A practical guide from BuySellAds' VP of Sales.
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