A Writesy alternative for curated newsletters

Writesy reads your sources, drops what you already sent, and hands you a ranked brief. You write every take. HeyNews trains on the issues you have already sent and drafts the next one for you to review.

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What it is

HeyNews is an AI newsletter writer for operators who run a real publication. It connects to beehiiv, Kit, Substack, Ghost, Mailchimp, or any newsletter with a public archive, imports your recent issues (up to 50 from a public archive) to build a Voice Profile, monitors your sources (RSS, blogs, social profiles, Reddit, saved articles), scores stories against your audience, and drafts your next issue. You review it and send from your existing platform.

Writesy Newsletter Studio watches RSS sources, ranks what is new since your last issue, remembers what you already sent, and turns the links you pick into a draft issue, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). The take box starts empty. Writesy is not an email service provider and does not host your list. It can schedule through your provider's API, or you export HTML. On the pricing page's monthly view, Free is $0, Solo is $19/month, and Professional is $39/month. Solo and Professional are labeled Founding member pricing, according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026).

Honest comparison

What it does	Writesy	HeyNews
Who writes the take	Every row keeps the source link and a verbatim quote from the page. The take box starts empty and stays empty until you fill it. An optional one-line summary of a link costs up to 3 credits, and you can switch it off. Building the issue from picks you marked Use costs 0 credits and does not call a model.	Voice Profile from your past newsletter issues, automatic on connect. HeyNews drafts the issue. You review it.
Newsletter platform integration	Schedule through Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, or Ghost, on your account. Scheduling is off by default. beehiiv post creation needs the Send API, which Writesy says is Max and Enterprise only. Below that you paste HTML. Substack has no publish API, so Writesy hands you the HTML. It does not host the list.	beehiiv import and unsent drafts in beehiiv (paid beehiiv plan); Kit import (OAuth); archive import for Substack, Ghost, Mailchimp, Medium
Story sourcing	Paste a YouTube channel, a subreddit, a podcast, a Google Alert, or a website and Writesy resolves the feed. Each newsletter you run gets an inbox address, so newsletters you already subscribe to can become sources. The browser clipper is an unpacked extension you load yourself. It is not in the Chrome Web Store. A brief with quotes costs 0 credits.	RSS, blogs, social profiles, Reddit, browser extension, with relevance scoring
What the brief remembers	Stories that two feeds both carried collapse into one row. Anything you already sent is marked and pushed down. Skip a source often enough and it stops crowding the top. The brief starts from the issue you last shipped, not a rolling seven-day window. If you have never shipped one, it uses seven days and says so.	Scores new stories from the sources you follow, then drafts the issue for you to review.
How stories are ranked	The order is source weight times recency times topic match times novelty times reader engagement. No embeddings and no model call in that path. The engagement factor stays between 0.6 and 1.6. The same inputs produce the same order.	Scores stories against your audience, then drafts. Subject-line suggestions can use beehiiv or Kit opens and clicks.
Click learning	Professional only. After an issue has gone out, Writesy reads per-link clicks from Mailchimp or beehiiv and attributes each click to the source. Other providers are not in that loop. With no click data, the ranker still runs.	Uses beehiiv or Kit opens and clicks to rank stories and suggest subject lines
Direct sponsors	For sponsors you sold yourself: a rate card, a public media kit, a pipeline from pitched to booked, and revenue against the issue a placement ran in. It is not an ad marketplace.	No rate card, media kit, or sponsor pipeline. The output is the newsletter draft.
Credits	Credits generate content. A blog post costs 5 credits and a social post costs 2. Credits are reserved before generation and refunded if it fails. Subscription credits reset each billing period. Free includes 30 credits a month, Solo 200, Professional 500, and Enterprise unlimited.	Issues per month, AI revisions per draft, and publications. No credit balance.

Writesy details are according to Writesy's curated newsletter page and Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026).

When to choose Writesy over HeyNews

You want a ranked brief of what is new since the last issue, and you want to write every take yourself.
You want the tool to drop stories you already sent and to remember sources you keep skipping.
You want a rate card, a public media kit, and a pipeline for sponsors you sold yourself.
You want to try one brief with up to five sources before you pay. The pricing page says the free plan does not require a credit card.
Solo is $19/month on the monthly founding-member price, or $14/month on the annual view with $171 billed annually, which is less than HeyNews Hobbyist at $39/mo.

When to choose HeyNews over Writesy

You want the issue drafted in a voice trained on issues you have already sent, not an empty box for the take.
You publish on beehiiv and want an unsent draft created there. Writesy says beehiiv post creation needs the Send API, on Max and Enterprise only. Below that you paste HTML.
You want opens and clicks from beehiiv or Kit to rank stories and suggest subject lines. Writesy click learning is on Professional, from Mailchimp and beehiiv only, and it moves the next brief.
You run more than one publication and want a separate Voice Profile for each on a published software plan.
You want a flat monthly plan for the publication. HeyNews Hobbyist is $39/mo for 5 issues. Writesy meters generation with credits.

Pricing

Plan	Writesy	HeyNews
Free	$0, free forever. 30 credits a month, Blog, X/Twitter, and LinkedIn, one brief, and up to 5 sources. No credit card.	No ongoing free plan. A free trial is available.
Solo	$19/month on the monthly view, with $29 struck through beside it. On the annual view, $14/month and $171 billed annually. Labeled Founding member pricing. Unlimited briefs, 15 sources, create issues, and HTML export.	$39/mo Hobbyist (5 issues/mo, 1 publication)
Professional	$39/month on the monthly view, with $59 struck through beside it. On the annual view, $29/month and $351 billed annually. Labeled Founding member pricing. 500 credits a month, all 12 content types, 25 sources, ESP scheduling, click learning, and sponsorship.	$99/mo Starter (15 issues/mo, 2 publications). $299/mo Pro (45 issues/mo, 4 publications).
Enterprise	Custom pricing. Unlimited credits, all 12 content types, custom integrations, API access, SSO, and white-label options. Contact Writesy.	$499/mo Team (90 issues/mo, 10 publications, 100 AI revisions per draft)
Credit packs	$6 for 50 credits, $14 for 150, and $40 for 500. Packs expire 12 months after purchase. No subscription is required to buy one.	No credit packs. The plan price is the monthly list price for that plan.
Refund	7-day money-back guarantee. Email Writesy within 7 days for a full refund.	14 days OR 5 issues, payment method required

Writesy details are according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026).

Monthly view: Free is $0, Solo shows $29 struck through beside $19/month, and Professional shows $59 struck through beside $39/month. Annual view: Solo shows $14/month and $171 billed annually, Professional shows $29/month and $351 billed annually, and the free card also says 360 credits a year (30 a month). Solo and Professional stay labeled Founding member pricing on both views. The comparison table under the cards still labels Solo $19/mo and Professional $39/mo after Annual is selected, according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026). The Annual control is labeled -25%. The Free card lists AI text improvement, and the comparison table marks Improve Text as not included on Free and 5 a month on Solo. The Professional card says Unlimited AI features, while that table caps keyword generation at 50 a month and SEO keyword validation at 100 a month on Professional. Free includes Blog, X/Twitter, and LinkedIn. Solo adds Email, Facebook, Instagram, and Ad Copy. Professional adds YouTube, Landing Pages, Press Releases, Product Descriptions, and Newsletters, according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026). Building a curated issue from your picks starts on Solo. The free plan is one brief and up to five sources, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). HeyNews figures are monthly list prices. Annual HeyNews billing is 30% off. Hobbyist is $39/mo for 5 issues. Starter is $99/mo for 15. Pro is $299/mo for 45.

Use cases

The curator who writes every take

Writesy fetches the feeds, collapses duplicates, and leaves the opinion box empty. If that blank box is the point of the newsletter, Writesy is built for it. HeyNews drafts the issue in a voice learned from issues you already sent.

The operator selling their own sponsors

Writesy keeps a rate card, a media kit, and a pipeline next to the issue. That is for sponsors you sold, not an ad network. HeyNews stops at the draft.

The beehiiv publisher below Max

Writesy says pushing an issue into beehiiv needs the Send API, on Max and Enterprise. Below that you paste HTML. On a paid beehiiv plan, HeyNews can create the draft in beehiiv as an unsent post. You still send.

The weekly issue fed by a long archive

Writesy anchors the next brief to the last issue you shipped. HeyNews reads the issues you already sent, up to 50 from a public archive, and uses that Voice Profile on the draft.

FAQ

Does HeyNews replace Writesy?

For a drafted issue, it can. Writesy is the brief: ranked links, a verbatim quote, and an empty take. It also tracks sponsors you sold and can schedule through Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, or Ghost. HeyNews trains on your sent archive and writes the draft. Keep Writesy if you want to write every take and you want the sponsor pipeline.

Who writes the newsletter?

Writesy says you choose every link and you write every take. The ranking is not a model. An optional one-line summary costs up to 3 credits, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). HeyNews builds a Voice Profile from your recent issues when you connect the platform. Up to 50 issues come from a public archive, and the draft starts from that.

Does either tool send the newsletter?

Writesy does not send from its own infrastructure and does not host your list. Scheduling through Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, or Ghost is off until you turn it on. Where a plan cannot schedule, it saves a draft and emails you a reminder, or it gives you HTML, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). HeyNews does not send or publish either. You review the draft and send from your platform.

What does Writesy cost?

On the monthly view, Free is $0, Solo is $19/month, and Professional is $39/month. The Solo card shows $29 struck through, and the Professional card shows $59 struck through. On the annual view, Solo is $14/month and $171 billed annually, and Professional is $29/month and $351 billed annually. Both paid cards stay labeled Founding member pricing. The free card on that view also says 360 credits a year (30 a month). Enterprise is custom. Credit packs are $6 for 50, $14 for 150, and $40 for 500, and they expire after 12 months, according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026). The curated page's free offer is one brief and up to five sources. Building issues starts on Solo, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). The Annual control is labeled -25%.

Is the Newsletter content type on the Solo plan?

No. On the pricing comparison, Newsletters is included on Professional and Enterprise, not on Free or Solo, according to Writesy's pricing page (checked October 29, 2026). That is separate from the curated issue builder. The curated page says building issues from your picks starts on Solo at $19 a month, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026).

Does Writesy learn from opens and clicks?

On Professional, it reads per-link clicks from Mailchimp or beehiiv and uses them in the next brief's ranking. Other providers are not in that loop, according to Writesy's curated newsletter page (checked October 29, 2026). If you connect beehiiv or Kit, HeyNews uses opens and clicks to rank stories and suggest subject lines.