Overview
Substack is a publishing platform operated by Substack Inc. that lets writers run free or paid newsletters, podcasts and video from one publication page.[3] Its business model is a revenue share: creators keep 90% of subscription revenue, minus card processing fees, and Substack keeps the remainder; there are no platform subscriptions, tiers or contracts, and starting or leaving is free.[3] The company states that publications on the network have passed 5 million paid subscriptions.[3]
Substack differs from the other platforms in this list because it is a reader network as well as a tool. Readers hold one Substack account across many publications, and the company offers growth, community and discovery features alongside the editor.[3] It also runs Substack Defender, a programme that provides legal support to publishers.[3] The trade-off is control and cost at scale: because the fee is a percentage, a large paid newsletter pays more to Substack than it would on a flat-fee tool, and the design, automation and segmentation options are narrower than those of email marketing suites. Writers who only send free newsletters pay nothing, which makes the platform the lowest-cost route for unpaid publications.
Substack features
- Free and paid newsletters
- Podcast and video publishing
- Reader app and network discovery
- Community and chat tools
- Substack Defender legal support
- Free blog, newsletter and podcast hosting
- Paid subscriptions with 90% to writer
- Recommendation network
Substack pricing
No subscription fee. On paid publications Substack keeps 10% of revenue and the writer keeps 90%, before card fees.
Substack strengths and limitations
Strengths
- No cost for free newsletters
- Built-in reader network and app
- Legal-support programme for publishers
- Very short setup time
- No upfront cost
- Built-in discovery network
Limitations
- 10% fee grows with revenue, unlike flat-fee tools
- Limited design control and segmentation
- Few marketing automations
- Brand sits inside the Substack network
- 10% revenue share grows with income
- Limited site design control
Appears in
Substack alternatives and competitors
Alternatives to Substack: companies ranked in the same lists.
- Ghost
beehiiv
WordPress (self-hosted)
Mailchimp
AWeber
Flodesk
EmailOctopus
Buttondown
Brevo
MailerLite
Write.as
Kit
Is this your company?
Update the description, logo, image and link through the submission form. Editors review every change.