Paved vs Passionfroot vs SponsorGap: which should a newsletter use?

Paved is a marketplace where brands book you, but its Marketplace and Ad Network need 50,000 subscribers. Passionfroot is a free storefront that takes 15% of the deals it matches. SponsorGap is a list of sponsors you pitch yourself, from $39 a month. Under 50,000 subscribers, use Paved's Booker or Passionfroot to be found, or SponsorGap to pitch. Most priced newsletters we read print their prices on a Passionfroot page: 307 of 364.

By Ryan Doyle, founder of Book a Sponsor · Published 29 October 2026

We make Book a Sponsor, which is none of these three. Every fact about Paved, Passionfroot and SponsorGap comes from its own pages, read 29 October 2026, and links to its source. We didn't sign up for or test any of them.

Book a Sponsor (bookasponsor.com) pitches brands to sponsor newsletters.

Paved, Passionfroot and SponsorGap, side by side

Checked 29 October 2026. Sources: Paved's publisher page, Paved's sign-up article (subscriber minimums), Paved's Booker page and FAQ, Passionfroot's creator pricing page and FAQ, SponsorGap's pricing page.

	Paved	Passionfroot	SponsorGap
What it is	A newsletter ad marketplace, a pay-per-click ad network and Booker, a free booking page	A free creator storefront and workspace with a network of B2B brands	A database of brands that sponsor newsletters, plus managed outreach
How you get sponsors	Brands find you in the Marketplace and book at your flat fee, the Ad Network adds pay-per-click ads to your newsletter automatically, and Booker is a free storefront that Paved says it matches with brands	Brands reach out when it matches them to you on audience, niche and platform, or book through your storefront link; its Live Campaigns feature also lets you apply to brands running campaigns	You search its sponsors and contact them yourself; its managed plans run outbound for you; its homepage also lists an ad marketplace where you list open slots and get inbound inquiries
Price to you	Free: "no subscription fees to sign up"; Booker is free, and Stripe adds a 2.9% processing fee on every transaction	Free for creators, $0 and no upfront costs	$39, $89 or $199 a month self-serve; $999 a month plus a 10% success fee, or $2,999 a month, managed
What it takes from your deals	No commission is stated on its publisher, sign-up or Booker pages	15% (incl. payment fees) when it matches you with a brand; a 2% fee on every transaction, which the brand covers	No cut is stated on the self-serve plans; a 10% success fee on the $999 managed plan, none on the $2,999 plan
Subscriber minimum	50,000 subscribers for the Marketplace and the Ad Network (sign-up article); 1 million monthly impressions for pay-per-click ads (publisher page); none for Booker	None stated	None stated
Free way to start	A free profile and a free Booker page	Free; join the waitlist and you get access right away, per its FAQ	A free trial with no credit card required
Who sets your price	You set your own rates for direct partnerships and pay-per-click ads	You do: its FAQ says creators have full control over pricing and what they offer	Not stated
Who does the selling and the paperwork	Paved handles invoicing, contracts and payouts	You run each deal in its workspace: booking, messaging and payments	On the self-serve plans you contact the brands yourself; on the managed plans its team builds your sales CRM in Airtable and executes outbound
How you get paid	Immediate payouts when advertisers book, per its publisher page; Booker pays out same day through Stripe	Through the platform, which manages each deal from booking to payment	Not stated
Team seats	Not stated	Not stated	1 on Starter, up to 5 on Growth, unlimited on Enterprise, per its pricing page (its homepage lists them differently)
API and AI tools	Not stated for publishers; its advertiser menu lists an MCP and a creative assistant	Not stated	Limited API access and a Claude integration (MCP) on Growth; full API access on Enterprise
Where it falls short	Under 50,000 subscribers only Booker is open to you, and its pages state no cut besides Stripe's 2.9%	Its brands are B2B, and a brand reaches you only if it finds your storefront or the network matches you, unless you apply through Live Campaigns	Its pages describe outbound outreach only on the managed plans; the self-serve plans give you brand names and contact details

What each one takes from a $300 sponsorship

$300 is the median main-slot price newsletters of 5,000 to 19,999 subscribers print (111 newsletters, read 25 October 2026).

Passionfroot, a brand it matched you with: 15% of $300 is $45, so you keep $255.
Passionfroot, a deal it did not match: Its FAQ says the brand covers the 2% fee, $6, so you keep $300.
Paved Booker: Stripe's 2.9% processing fee is $8.70. Paved's pages publish no commission, so ask before you count on keeping the rest.
SponsorGap Starter: Its pricing page states no cut of the deal, and the plan costs $39 a month, 13% of one $300 slot.

Which one fits your list size?

Paved's sign-up article sets 50,000 subscribers for both its Marketplace and its Ad Network. Its publisher page also lists 1 million monthly impressions for pay-per-click ads. Below that, only Booker is open, and Booker's FAQ says it has no subscriber minimum. Passionfroot's and SponsorGap's pricing pages state no minimum (all read 29 October 2026).

Where newsletters publish their prices, it is mostly on Passionfroot: 307 of the 364 newsletters that print a main-slot price and their list size had their prices on a Passionfroot page (our read of newsletters' advertise pages, 25 October 2026). The count shows where newsletters print their prices, not which platform books more deals.

When Paved is the better pick

You have 50,000 subscribers or more and want brands to book flat-fee placements without a pitch from you.
You want pay-per-click ads from matched advertisers added to your newsletter automatically, through the Ad Network.
You want invoicing, contracts and payouts handled for you.

When Passionfroot is the better pick

You want a free storefront and media kit brands can book, with no list-size minimum stated.
Your readers suit B2B brands, the ones its network matches.
You bring your own deals: its FAQ puts the 15% fee on deals it matches, and the brand covers the 2% fee.

When SponsorGap is the better pick

You want to pitch in your own name and choose the brands yourself.
You want the brands already spending on newsletters, with spend trends and verified contacts, rather than waiting to be found.
You want a fixed monthly price, with no cut of your deals stated on the self-serve plans.

If none of the three fits

Maybe you're under Paved's minimums, a storefront hasn't brought a booking, and you don't want to write pitches. Book a Sponsor emails the brands that sponsored newsletters like yours and introduces you when one replies, on a plan from $19 a month. It takes nothing from your deals and takes no bookings or payments, so it works alongside a Booker page or a Passionfroot storefront. The Paved, Passionfroot and SponsorGap comparisons set each one against it.

For other options like each one, see the Paved alternatives, Passionfroot alternatives and SponsorGap alternatives pages.

Sources

Paved's publisher page, read 29 October 2026
Paved's sign-up article (subscriber minimums), read 29 October 2026
Paved's Booker page and FAQ, read 29 October 2026
Passionfroot's creator pricing page and FAQ, read 29 October 2026
SponsorGap's pricing page, read 29 October 2026
Newsletter sponsorship rates by list size, our read of newsletters' rate pages, 25 October 2026

Questions

Is Paved, Passionfroot or SponsorGap better for a small newsletter?

Under 50,000 subscribers Paved's Marketplace and Ad Network are closed to you, so the choice is Paved's Booker page, Passionfroot or SponsorGap. Passionfroot and Booker are free and built around brands finding you; SponsorGap costs $39 a month and gives you the list to contact (pages read 29 October 2026).

Which one takes the smallest cut?

SponsorGap's pricing page states no cut of your deals on the self-serve plans. Passionfroot takes 15% of deals it matches, plus a 2% fee on every transaction that the brand covers. Paved's pages state no commission; Booker adds Stripe's 2.9% (read 29 October 2026).

Does Paved, Passionfroot or SponsorGap pitch brands for me?

Not on their free or self-serve plans: Paved and Passionfroot match you with brands, and SponsorGap gives you the list to contact. SponsorGap's managed plans, from $999 a month plus a 10% success fee, run outbound for you (read 29 October 2026).

Can I use Paved, Passionfroot and SponsorGap together?

Nothing on their pages says you can't. A Paved Booker page and a Passionfroot storefront are both free, and SponsorGap gives you brands to contact.

How much do newsletters charge on these platforms?

Most of the newsletters whose prices we read print them on a Passionfroot page. The median main slot at 5,000 to 19,999 subscribers is $300 (111 newsletters, read 25 October 2026); the rates page has every list size.

Or have the brands that already buy pitched for you

Paste your newsletter. Book a Sponsor lists the brands that sponsored newsletters like yours, finds the person who buys the ads, and emails them every day from its own mailboxes. You get the replies and close the deal.

$1 card check gets 200 emails, then a plan from $19/mo · first sponsor reply inside 30 days or your money back