Every newspaper subscription, print and digital, on one platform
Pelcro unifies billing, paywalls, and subscriber management — so you can automate renewals and control access to premium content, all in one place.
Trusted by Frieze, Education Week, Les Affaires, The Day & hundreds more.
Best for
Newspapers that run print and digital together
- Daily and weekly newspapers that sell print, digital and print + digital subscriptions
- Local and regional papers that deliver by carrier or mail and need clean USPS addresses
- Publishers moving their e-edition and website behind a metered or premium paywall
- Newspaper groups running several titles from one account
Features
What newspapers run on Pelcro
- Print, digital and combined plans
- A plan can include issues delivered each billing period and digital entitlements, so one subscription covers the paper and the website.
- Metered and premium paywalls
- Give a set number of free articles per reset period, or lock premium content outright, and target by location, referrer, device, URL or article tags.
- Gift subscriptions
- The buyer pays and Pelcro emails the recipient a unique redemption code. Gifts can be scheduled up to a year ahead with a short message.
- USPS address verification
- CASS-certified software standardizes every US address and adds ZIP+4, carrier route and DPV status when it is created or updated.
- Carrier routes and delivery rules
- Assign carriers by delivery area, set a commission per copy and deductions for missed deliveries, and print bundle manifests by route.
- Starts, stops and vacation holds
- Subscribers can pause delivery until a set date. The fulfillment activity report lists starts, stops, vacation pauses, restarts and missed deliveries.
Pelcro AI Studio · AI coding agent
Build these paywalls with Pelcro AI Studio
Describe the paywall in a sentence. Pelcro AI Studio writes valid Pelcro code and you see the paywall right away in the live preview.
Try these in Pelcro AI StudioInline paywall
“Create an inline paywall after paragraph 3 on article pages”
Members-only archive
“Gate the archive for non-members”
On-brand paywall
“Match our paywall to our brand”
Built for every publication
Hundreds of newspaper publishers trust us with their subscriptions
Whatever you publish, Pelcro handles it — from digital entitlements to print fulfillment, adapting to your publication's focus.
One platform
One platform for everything
Stop paying twice for newspaper subscription management.
Subscriber services
Managed customer care that keeps readers happy and subscribed.
Digital rights & entitlements
Control exactly who sees what, across print and digital.
Fulfillment management
Automate print delivery end to end, with clean USPS data.
Save time & money
Everything on one platform means fewer tools and lower cost.
The hard parts, handled
Newspaper subscriptions come with their own challenges
Publishing takes more than journalism. Pelcro handles the operational weight so you can focus on your content.
Digital rights & entitlements
Grant and revoke access to premium content across every format, instantly.
Invoice automation
Generate, send, and reconcile every charge with intelligent retries.
Client portal
Let subscribers manage plans, payments, and preferences themselves.
Flexible paywalls
Meter, gate, or lock content — set up metered, freemium, or hard paywalls in minutes.
Fulfillment management
Automate the full print run — from issue close to the reader's mailbox.
USPS address verification & presort
Cleanse addresses in real time and automate USPS presorting workflows.
A paywall facelift that grew the subscriber base 5×
Stars and Stripes, the independent publisher serving the US military community, has grown its subscriber base nearly fivefold since going live in 2019 — then returned to Pelcro for a modern, custom paywall UI to power its next stage of growth.
Read the full case study“Usually launches go through turbulence before they stabilize. That was not the case with Pelcro's new paywall UI — it went smoothly, with no problems whatsoever from the moment of deployment.”
Chris Verigan — Director of Engagement, Stars and Stripes
One platform
Everything a publisher needs, in one place
“Since adopting Pelcro we've seen a significant increase in subscription rates, with more tools to communicate with readers and evaluate pricing options.”
Unify subscriber management
A single, 360° view of every subscriber
See full subscription activity in one place, and automate reports, renewals, and campaigns.
Explore subscriber managementBuild and test subscription offers at scale — no code
Customize print and digital bundles, create dynamic paywalls, and A/B test offers.
Watch videoSee it in action
The all-in-one newspaper software built for your subscription needs
From the reader experience to the back-end, Pelcro is seamless and easy to use — so you can focus on what matters: your content.
Who we are
Built for publishers, by people who understand publishing
In 2016, frustrated by the lack of a truly modern subscription management service, we created Pelcro to revolutionize the publishing business model. Since then we've helped countless publishers grow, save on costs, and prioritize their content and campaigns.
Last updated
FAQ
Newspaper subscription questions
- What is newspaper subscription management software?
- It is the system a newspaper uses to sell, bill and deliver subscriptions across print and digital. Pelcro keeps each subscriber's plans, payments, addresses and digital access in one record, runs the paywall on your site, and builds the delivery lists for each edition.
- Can readers buy one subscription for print and digital?
- Yes. A Pelcro plan can include shipments per interval for the printed paper and entitlements for digital access, so the reader has one subscription and one bill for both. See print and digital subscriptions
- Which paywall types does Pelcro support for newspapers?
- Metered paywalls give readers a set number of free articles before they must subscribe, and premium paywalls require a subscription or one-time payment from the start. You can also offer extra free articles in exchange for an email address. Paywalls can show inline or as a full-page modal and can target by location, referral source, device, URL pattern or article tags. Pelcro turns the paywall off for search engine crawlers by default so articles still get indexed.
- How does Pelcro handle carrier delivery and mail?
- You build delivery lists by ZIP code, carrier route, county or renewal status, combine them into a fulfillment and export them. Carriers are assigned by delivery area with a commission per copy. For mailed copies, Pelcro presorts First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail and Periodicals and produces the USPS forms and labels. More on fulfillment
- Does Pelcro verify subscriber addresses?
- Yes. Once enabled through Pelcro support, CASS-certified verification standardizes US addresses to USPS Publication 28 and adds ZIP+4, carrier route and DPV status every time an address is created or updated. It covers US addresses only. More on USPS address verification
- Can subscribers put delivery on hold?
- Yes. Subscribers can suspend shipments until a chosen date through Pelcro's API, and your team can suspend shipments or mark a subscription undeliverable in the platform. Suspended subscriptions can be left out of delivery lists, and the fulfillment activity report shows vacation pauses and restarts.
- Does Pelcro support gift subscriptions?
- Yes. A buyer purchases a subscription for someone else, and Pelcro emails the recipient a unique code to redeem once the buyer's invoice is paid. Your team can schedule the start date up to a year ahead. Gifts do not renew automatically; the buyer renews them.
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Simplify your subscription business
See how Pelcro helps publishers automate billing, manage subscriptions, and grow recurring revenue.
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