SparkLoop vs Swapstack Comparison 2026
SparkLoop pays a newsletter to recommend other newsletters, or lets it buy subscribers from the same network, free to join with no published per-subscriber rate until you sign up. Swapstack instead introduces a newsletter to brands that want to advertise in it, free for publishers with a stated 10 percent fee only on the campaigns it sources itself. Both are free to join and solve different revenue problems, recommendation payouts against brand sponsorships, so the honest comparison is how openly each one states its cut.
Get paid for recommending other newsletters
Newsletter sponsorships with a published fee
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
SparkLoop | Swapstack | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Not listed | Not listed |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export |
SparkLoop
Get paid for recommending other newsletters
SparkLoop turns a newsletter's own audience into revenue by paying it to recommend other newsletters, either inside the email or on the page somebody lands on after subscribing. The same network runs the other way, so a publisher can buy subscribers from it as well as sell them. Both sides sit on the free plan. It works with the mainstream sending platforms rather than replacing one.
Our note
Treat the free tier as the whole product and the $2,000 add-on as a separate decision for a newsletter already growing fast enough to reward referrers. Read the per-subscriber rates before planning revenue around this, because they are the number the pricing page leaves out.
Only on this side
- Covers giveaways & referrals
- Works with Substack
Swapstack
Newsletter sponsorships with a published fee
Swapstack introduces newsletter writers to the brands that want to advertise in them, and it is unusually direct about what it takes for doing so. A publisher joins for nothing and keeps everything on a deal they source themselves; the fee applies to campaigns Swapstack brought. Advertisers pay a share of spend instead. For a writer with a few thousand subscribers and no interest in cold email, that is the whole pitch.
Why people weigh these two
- Swapstack instead of SparkLoop
- Swapstack runs newsletter sponsorships with a published fee, selling the space rather than paying for recommendations.
- SparkLoop instead of Swapstack
- SparkLoop pays for recommending other newsletters rather than selling ad space in yours, the other half of the same market.
Which one should you pick
Pick SparkLoop for newsletter-to-newsletter growth: getting paid to recommend other publications, or buying subscribers from ones recommending you. It costs nothing to join, but the actual per-subscriber rates only appear after you do, and a $2,000 a year add-on is separate, for running your own referral programme.
Pick Swapstack for actual brand sponsorships without cold emailing advertisers yourself. Publishers join free, and the 10 percent fee applies only to deals Swapstack sourced, stated plainly on the page; anything you bring yourself carries no fee at all. The two are not mutually exclusive, since one pays for recommending newsletters and the other pays for running ads.
Common questions
- Do both charge the same fee?
- Both mention 10 percent, but scoped differently. Swapstack states its 10 percent applies only to campaigns it sourced, with deals you bring yourself free. SparkLoop does not publish a per-subscriber rate at all until you join.
- Can a newsletter use both at once?
- Yes, they solve different problems. SparkLoop pays for newsletter-to-newsletter recommendations; Swapstack matches a newsletter with brands wanting to advertise. Neither replaces the other.
- Which is cheaper to join?
- Both are free for a publisher to join. SparkLoop's only priced item is a $2,000 a year add-on for its own referral programme. Swapstack's Professional and Enterprise publisher tiers are listed as coming soon, with no figure attached yet.
- Does either help find advertisers directly, without a middleman fee?
- Swapstack does: deals you source yourself carry no fee, and it states unlimited direct advertiser relationships on the free tier. SparkLoop's core mechanic is the recommendation network itself, not sourcing outside sponsorship deals.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.