Leaflet Pro: power tools for publishers

We've launched a Pro plan for writers! Leaflet PRO(se), if you will.

We've been working towards this for a long time, and it's a big step toward making Leaflet more sustainable.

First Launch: Publication Analytics

At launch we have one powerful feature set a number of you have asked for: publisher analytics.

Analytics includes the following, for each of your publications0:

total pageviews and unique visitors

top posts and top referrers, both filterable

publication subscribers

all filterable by date range

This covers a lot of the most important things publishers need to know — how is my audience growing? what posts are resonating? where are people finding them? — and we're open to adding more!

What's Next: Newsletters & Memberships

The next things we're working on are:

Email newsletters — a direct channel to reach your readers

Paid memberships — a simple and effective model for paid publications and patronage

These are the two big pieces that will get us to rough parity with creator publishing platforms like Substack, Patreon, and Ghost.

We'll be shipping them in that order, with email coming next!

Pricing Plans

Leaflet Pro is currently $12 / month, or $120 / year.

Email will be an add-on to Leaflet Pro, scaling based on subscriber count0, with some initial number of subscribers included.

Memberships will not be an additional monthly cost, and will not require Pro at all. Its fees will be a percentage of transactions, and that percentage will be lower than Substack and Patreon.

You'll be able to offer just newsletters, just memberships, both, or neither — we want this to be super flexible, and align as closely as possible with the value we provide. Publishing, patronage, or a mix!

None of this is set in stone, and we'd love to hear feedback from current and prospective Leaflet Pro publishers.

What goes in Leaflet Pro?

Leaflet Pro is focused on helping writers level up — both serious publishers, and writers who are just starting out, but take their work seriously.

We've made the choice to not paywall features we think help make all publishers more expressive.

There are things we could have made paid-only, like:

Custom domains

Custom theming & fonts

But…nope :) These features will stay free for everyone on Leaflet.

Instead we'll be adding a targeted set of new features that add value for the writers who really need them.

Let us know what else you'd like to see!

One great thing about publishers paying Leaflet directly: it gives us stronger signal about what things you really value, and helps us decide what to build next.

Things we think could make sense as Leaflet Pro features include:

Scheduled posts

Group publications

Custom post footers

We're also planning to support pages in publications, but that may be a thing we just make available for everyone!

As mentioned, next up: email newsletters. We may start with a feature flag to test initially, let us know if you'd like early access.

Where Leaflet is headed

Leaflet's aim is not to be not the cutest or the most minimalist publishing app — though FWIW we are pretty cute, and easy to use — but the most versatile.

A flexible tool for all kinds of expressive social publishing, that does just enough and gets out of your way, but offers a surprising number of powerful features and depth when you need it.

An all-in-one toolkit not only for publishing but for engaging your audience and making money, to support communities and businesses and and orgs of all sizes. From comics and game design to sports and journalism to tech and academia and beyond.

And of course, doing it all as part of an open ecosystem so you can easily customize and connect with other tools as your needs grow!

If you're a creator or publisher who's looking for an open social alternative to closed platforms0, we're making Leaflet for you.

For now: thank you so much for your support so far, and please keep telling friends about Leaflet!