The easiest free start and the biggest built-in reader network for a newsletter, paid for with 10% of every subscription and less control over your brand, sending address and marketing tools.
What it is
Substack hosts your newsletter, website and archive, with podcasts, video, live video and subscriber chat, inside a reader app where Notes, recommendations and the app feed bring writers new subscribers. Publishing is free at any number of subscribers. If you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of each subscription payment, and Stripe charges its card fee (2.9% + $0.30 per payment on US cards) plus 0.7% for Stripe Billing; readers pay the price you set, and in-app iOS purchases can cost more to cover Apple's fees. A custom domain is a one-time $50, but emails are still sent from a substack.com address. You can export your subscriber list and posts, and paid subscriptions run through your own Stripe account. Fees checked November 13, 2026 on support.substack.com.
Best for
- Writers starting a newsletter with no budget
- Writers who want readers from a built-in network and app
- Paid newsletters that are still small, where 10% is less than a flat plan
What we like
- Free at any list size; you pay only when readers pay you
- Notes, recommendations and the Substack app bring new subscribers
- Newsletter, website, podcast, video and chat in one place with no setup
- Subscriber and post export, and paid subscribers sit in your own Stripe account
What to watch
- Keeps 10% of paid-subscription revenue, on top of Stripe fees, at any size
- Emails always come from a substack.com address, even with a $50 custom domain
- Limited design control and few marketing tools: no visual automations or advanced segmentation
- Readers you win through the app and Notes stay tied to Substack's network if you leave
Where Substack ranks
Alternatives and head-to-heads
Best Substack alternatives
The best Substack alternative for most writers is Ghost: you pay a flat plan price instead of 10% of your revenue (0% Ghost fee on paid subscriptions from Publisher, $29 a month billed yearly), get your own website and domain, and the software is open source. beehiiv is best for growing a newsletter with recommendations, referrals and ads (free up to 2,500 subscribers, 0% take rate from Lite), Kit is best for creators who sell products and need automations (free up to 10,000 subscribers), and Buttondown is the cheapest simple paid newsletter (from $9 a month plus a $9 paid-subscriptions add-on).
HubSpot
Brevo
Kit
Work at Substack? Claim the listing and put this badge on your site.Claim Substack