Substack’s newsletter platform has become a staple of the creator economy. With over 2 million paid subscriptions and 35 million readers, a lot of writers consider it the place to build a newsletter following.

But, here's the thing. Substack isn't the only platform for writers and thought leaders. It's not even the best for most creators.

It poses serious challenges to creating a sustainable digital business.

In this article, we'll talk about:

• What Substack does well.


• Where Substack falls short & what to look for in an alternative.


• The 13 Substack alternatives.

Want to monetize your ideas with a course or community? Try G2's top-rated community management software free!

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What is Substack?

Substack is a paid newsletter and subscription software that gives writers of all kinds the tools to control their publishing and monetize their work.

It was launched in 2018 as an alternative to both social media apps and traditional blogs.

It combines a few key features for monetizing writing and ideas:

• Subscription and paywall options


• Newsletter software and website-style hosting


• Landing pages and opt-ins


• Public discoverability (with its homepage)

So basically, Substack lets you build a paid email list, but it also has tools to build landing pages, host a podcast, charge for subscriptions, plus some basic community tools.

If you're looking for a name for your newsletter, try our free Newsletter Name Generator here!

Pros of Substack for readers

Here are some of the things that work about Substack.

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  Fresh takes: It's an age of canned Internet and ChatGPT garbage, which ironically makes real takes and stories that much more valuable. Many people are hungry for real content.

  
  


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  Access to experts: Substack lets you get close to experts in anything, from journalists to digital marketers to creative writers.

  
  


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  Support work you care about: Many readers want to support writing that matters to them. Substack can allow readers to pay to make sure a journalist or creator's work is continuing.

  
  


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  In your inbox: Readers get prompts and new content in their inbox, which is super convenient.

  
  


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  Trust: If you haven't noticed, false and mis-information is on the rise. Personal brands create credibility, and the need for this is only going to grow.

  
  

Pros of Substack for writers

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  Monetize your work: This is the obvious, but you can earn from your creative efforts. It can be a great side hustle or it can pay your mortgage.

  
  


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  Predictable revenue: Working with a subscription or membership business lets you develop recurring revenue, which can be sustainable and predictable.

  
  


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  Do work you care about: Self-publishing--including Substack--lets you control the work you choose. You're not at the whim of a publisher.

  
  


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  Replace a website: Substack can replace the traditional author website.

  
  


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  Easy and intuitive: Substack is really simple to use. There's no tech knowledge required.

  
  


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  Control: You control when the work goes out and who sees it. For writers who are used to being at the whim of others, this can be really powerful.

  
  


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  Find new readers: Substack has discovery tools that lets potential new subscribers find you.

  
  


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  Email is still the best: With all the social media out there, email is still the most reliable form of marketing, with 33-46% of emails getting opened.

  
  

Disadvantages to Substack

There are definitely some pros to building on Substack, but there are some serious disadvantages too--and that's why we need to talk about the Substack cons.

Identifying these helps you choose the right Substack alternative.

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  You're stuck on a content treadmill: Writing for a month and earning from subs is exhilarating. Over the long term, it can be exhausting. You need to pump out content month after month, and if you stop, you'll lose your subscribers.

  
  


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  It's really hard to scale: Scaling a Substack business is tough. It's a one-person show--many writers struggle to scale without a team or productization.

  
  


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  You're selling a low-ticket product, not a high-ticket product: Of all the ways to monetize writing and creative work, straight subscriptions are the worst for value. The average Substack subscription is just $7/mo. You'd need 100s and probably 1000s of subscribers to earn a decent living at this. (This has limited the overall value of the platform too, with investors dropping Substack's funding in 2022).

  
  


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  Revenue share KILLS your profits: Substack says it's free to use, but it takes a whopping 10% of revenue from subscriptions! Let's say you got to 1,000 subscribers paying $7/each. $7,000 in monthly revenue, right? Cool. Okay, now consider you're paying $700/mo to Substack in user fees! Got 10,000 subscribers? Your fees just went up to $7,000/mo! "Free" platforms sound great, but they often leave you worse than paying a flat rate and keeping all of your revenue above that.

  
  

You can use the creator calculator to figure out the relative earnings of different monetization platforms.

How to choose a Substack alternative

There are different ways to think about a Substack alternative. You might just want a different newsletter platform--basically a 1-to-1 alternative to Substack. Maybe you want to earn more from your writing and ideas; this means thinking about your business model differently. We'll cover this in the options.

Here's what to look for in a Substack alternative.

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  All-in-one features: There's no point in building on an alternative that doesn't let you do everything you want to in one place. There are lots of good options for an all-in-one.

  
  


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  Scalable business models: Selling subscriptions to gated content is not the only way to set up a writing business. You aren't bound to replacing Substack with identical features. Look for different ways to scale and grow your writing business.

  
  


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  Better revenue structure: Look for ways to keep more of the money you earn--and don't pay 10%. In general, software that charges a flat fee for use means you don't get penalized for growing--platforms that take a percentage cost you more as you grow.

  
  


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  Member management features: If you can engage and delight your members, and even get them involved in creating user-generated content and building a community and friendships, you'll find it easier to scale.

  
  


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  Brand ownership: Look for ways to both create your brand visually (branding tools) but also to build your brand. You should own what you create, and not be at the whim of a platform like Substack.

  
  

Not every platform below checks all of these boxes. But we'll talk about what each Substack alternative does and doesn't do for you.

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Building a writing business

There are over 400 million creators right now. And many of those write.

So what does it look like to build a sustainable writing business? How do you monetize what you know?

Here are some things to think about:

1. Niche matters: There are some generalists on Substack, but a lot of the writers succeeding have a clear niche. Sinocism educates people about China. Serious Trouble talks about the law.


2. Voice matters too: The good news for great writers? Voice matters too. People don't just subscribe for information. They want your "take." Build your voice and your brand, and don't be afraid to push the envelope a bit.


3. There are tons of ways to monetize: Content monetization is not one size fits all. Some writers sell subscriptions. Some coach. Some do speaking or consulting. Some lead masterminds. Some host communities. Think broadly about earning from your writing.


4. You don't have to write it all: It's our bias here, but writers don't need to be content engines. Sure, you love to create. But you can also host a conversation, and get other people engaged in content creation. We're big on communities for that.


5. Adapt: What do you do when ChatGPT kneecaps your industry? You gotta adapt. And at the end of the day, building any kind of business with your writing will mean being flexible and curious, and willing to shift direction.

The best Substack alternatives

1. Mighty Networks

The best alternative to Substack

Mighty Networks gives writers what they need to build a sustainable business around content creation.

This includes:

• Tools to build, host, and organize short and long-form written content and forums.


• Engagement features like reactions, comments, & chat + integrated video, PDFs, livestreams, images, and polls.


• Instant landing pages, paywalled content Spaces, and the tools to sell or bundle written content with memberships, events, meet-ups, courses, and more.

As G2's top-ranked community management software, Mighty's strength is building a paid community around your ideas.

Like Substack, you can create a newsletter and start a subscription business.

But subscription businesses are limited. Mighty taps community-led growth to build a membership instead.

Here's how this changes your writing business:

• The average subscription on Substack is $7/mo.


• The average membership fee on Mighty is $48/mo!

By turning subscribers into members, you have a 10x better writing business model!

What this means for you

• You can get off the content treadmill. Create content and share ideas, but gather members in a community and they'll share too.


• Better engagement. Substack is just comments. Mighty adds live events, hangouts, masterminds, live or pre-recorded courses, or members can create their own posts, content, videos, and more.


• You don't need thousands of subscribers to replace your income, 100 subscribers at $7/mo is $700/mo revenue. 100 members at $48/mo is $4,800/mo.

Here's how writers are winning right now on Mighty:

• Mixing paid content with awesome live experiences: livestreaming & virtual events.


• Building engaging courses (live or pre-recorded) and giving even more value (you can charge extra for these if you want).


• Building premium groups and charging for them (e.g. masterminds, focused discussion groups, expert events, etc.)

MEMBERS are better than subscribers by any metric; they love the work you do and want to engage.

With Mighty, you get a beautiful community to design under your own brand. And, we offer a native mobile app experience on both iOS and Android, full access to member data, and the opportunity to message all members at any time.

Mighty makes monetization RIDICULOUSLY EASY too.

You can use all of these features to create bundles, memberships, or one-time fees, and you can charge in 135 different currencies or with token-gating.

And one more thing. Mighty has a built-in ConvertKit integration to mix a powerful community platform with a powerful email platform.

Mighty lets you start a digital business that's the ultimate Substack alternative.

Let's get your writing membership business up and running in the next 2 minutes! You can try Mighty free for 14 days. No credit-card required.

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Mighty Networks features

Pros

• Powerful content engine built around community software with short & long-form, comments, forums, chat, messaging, livestreaming, courses, and more.


• Monetize with memberships, courses, private groups, events, or bundle any of these.


• Apps for every device, branding tools, landing pages, and even branded apps.


• Integrate ConvertKit + Mighty for the ultimate newsletter community business

Cons

• No discoverability

Mighty Networks Pricing

• Starts from $41/month. More pricing options here.


• For your own branded apps, check out Mighty Pro

If you're launching a community, try our AI-powered community name generator! Mighty Co-Host™ runs on Chat GPT and can create a Big Purpose, community name, brand, landing and sales pages, and more. Try it!

2. ConvertKit

If you're interested in selling a newsletter and looking for the best email alternative to Substack, try ConvertKit. ConvertKit is an email marketing platform that lets you collect emails, create "tags" to organize subscribers, and manage them.

But it goes beyond this, giving you a powerhouse email software that can...

• Create beautiful landing pages or in-line opt-ins, working from a template library.


• Build email sequences with multiple triggers and automation flows so you can set your email and forget it.


• Provide detailed community analytics about who got the emails and behavior (e.g. link clicks, open rates, unsubscribes, etc.)

ConvertKit was already an awesome email management software, but they've added features for creating and selling a paid newsletter.

It's really easy to set up and you can build it with the automation templates, sell the subscriptions, and use ConvertKit's library of layouts to create and deliver the newsletter.

The result is a newsletter integration with a much better email software than Substack, which is a way better value proposition. And the fees for ConvertKit are much lower.

ConvertKit has been adding all sorts of cool apps and features, showing that they are serious about helping creators earn a living from their work. You can collect payments, build opt-ins from templates, and even join their creator network to get referred to new readers.

ConvertKit features

Pros

• Landing pages and content hosting with a pre-built template library


• Content design and customization features to get the look you want


• Pre-built sequences, triggers, segmentations, tags, A/B testing, and automations.


• Awesome automation-builder to see your sequences in action


• Valuable monetization tools and analytics


• Join the creator network and get referred to new readers & earn


• Built-in integration with Mighty Networks

Cons

• It doesn't have a built-in discover section, but it's addressing this with the Creator Network

ConvertKit Pricing

• Starts from free for up to 10,000 subs

3. Ghost

Ghost is probably the closest you can get to a 1-to-1 alternative to Substack.

The platform has a simple and clean aesthetic and good UX. Creators who use Ghost can mix blogging and/or a newsletter with a subscription fee.

Ghost gives you a ton of good publishing tools: branding, gallery cards, an editor, lots of SEO features, as well as some good tools for multi-author companies.

Ghost has the same limitations as Substack, though. It's great for publishers. It's weak on real member experiences, community features, and the other kinds of tools you'd need to build a unified member experience.

Ghost features

Pros

• Great newsletter software with hosting and themes like Substack


• The "Explore" section helps your newsletter get discovered.


• It can support a writing team.


• Ghost charges a flat fee, NOT high transaction fees like Substack.

Cons

• The website and analytics features are basic.


• Limited customization options


• Some of the best features are on more expensive plans.

Ghost pricing

From $9/mo with no transaction fees

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4. Beehiiv

Beehiiv was designed and launched by the team who runs the business newsletter, Morning Brew. Beehiiv comes with some built-in design and editing tools and a newsletter and website platform.

It has a great email platform that includes automations and customizable journeys. It also has AI tools, for example, AI personalization features. Then, it comes with monetization features for building a business around your newsletter. The coolest feature is that it can connect you to relevant ad campaigns to monetize with sponsors--but you can also sell a subscription to your readers and monetize that way.

The main limitations to Beehiiv are that the website feature is quite basic (just a hosted version of the newsletter) and you need to actually match with an ad campaign before you can be offered one. You can't choose your own ad campaigns. All in all, it's a good newsletter platform.

Beehiiv features

Pros

• Monetization options including subscriptions and ad networks.


• Visual editing for a branded newsletter + hosting


• A/B testing, AI personalization tools, 3D analytics, and email journeys


• Built-in forms, referral links, and pop-ups

Cons

• The websites look quite basic (but not unlike Substack)


• We found there was a learning curve to understand the software.


• You can't just choose any ad campaign. You need to be offered one.

5. Medium

Medium is a well-known free blogging platform with around 60 million monthly readers. And Medium has created ways to monetize your blog--meaning that you could earn from your writing.

First, the positives. Medium is an intuitive platform for creators starting a blog. It looks great, hosts content easily, and even gives a few engagement tools (e.g. applause and comments).

And they let writers earn from their writing. With Medium's Partner Program, writers can earn by the amount of their posts that readers read.

But the downside? Although you can technically earn from Medium, only 9% of writers earn more than $100 USD/mo.

You'd only need 15 Substack subscribers at that average $7 subscription to earn more.

But--of course--the reason people choose Medium isn't usually for the money. Medium can offer exposure to the platform's huge audience and opportunities to connect to blogging communities.

You also don't really build your brand on Medium (people see Medium's branding, not yours) and it's not your mailing list either.

For all these reasons, Medium is only a Substack alternative for those who want some exposure, want a hassle-free way of getting their writing online, and aren't worried about building a business around it.

Medium features

Pros

• Content hosting and an editor that looks fantastic


• Lots of built-in engagement for a built-in audience


• You can add a newsletter with your own opt-ins and homepage.

Cons

• The partner program pays, but only 9% of the writers on Medium have broken $100/mo. It's good for exposure, but not building a business.


• Minimal edit or customization options. It's Medium's brand.

Medium pricing

Free

6. Buttondown

Buttondown is an alternative to Substack that describes itself as the easiest option for building a newsletter.

On Buttondown, creators and digital entrepreneurs get a minimalist interface to create robust emails for your subscribers. And, it has good editorial tools that will help you out with spelling, typos, missing links, poor-quality images, and more.

Buttondown has built in good subscription widgets to boost your list. And on Buttondown, your first 100 subscribers are free.

Buttondown features

Pros

• Monetize with tiers and subscriptions and read analytics


• Write in markdown


• Built-in tools for team writing and RSS feed integration

Cons

• Some people love markdown, but it's annoying if you don't know it.


• The visuals are bare-bones


• It's missing the features of other powerhouse newsletter platforms like automations or A/B testing.

Buttondown pricing

From $9/mo after 100 subs, and the price grows as your list grows.

7. HubSpot

You’ve probably heard of HubSpot before if you’re familiar with marketing, sales, and CMS software. HubSpot is an interesting Substack alternative if you’re already using HubSpot’s full-stack software for other avenues of your business.

The HubSpot interface is beautifully designed and easy to use. Additionally, if you’re using HubSpot already for marketing and sales, it is incredibly convenient then to start your newsletter with their CMS. Not only will it keep your content all under one roof, but you’ll be able to make informed decisions based on the data from HubSpot itself.

HubSpot won’t be as approachable of an alternative to SubStack as some of the other options we’ve mentioned, but their software is incredibly powerful if you can harness its benefits.

HubSpot features

Pros

• A newsletter software that's built into HubSpot's powerful CRM: landing pages, forms, customer management, personalization, and automations


• Newsletter templates with a drag-and-drop editor


• Analytics that connect to your wider business reporting

Cons

• It's expensive.


• It's overkill for most newsletters.

HubSpot pricing

It's built into the marketing suite, which starts from $20/mo for the basic version.

8. Curated

Curated is a really neat concept for a newsletter software and a good Substack alternative for people who are curating content. It comes with a Chrome extension for clipping content from around the web. You can then work this into a newsletter, easily collaborating with other editors if you need.

You can sell sponsorships and paid subscriptions--the platform even handles your sponsor management. And it has a great newsletter layout and lots of choices for designs.

The biggest limitation to Curated is that its list-building tools aren't great. It's better for newsletter creation than list-building.

Curated features

Pros

• Find, collect, and share content into curated newsletters.


• Collaborate with other editors.


• Use the Chrome plug-in to grab content.


• Sell sponsorships or paid subscriptions.

Cons

• Weak on list-building tools like landing pages and opt-ins


• The visuals are very basic

Curated pricing

Free for 1,500 subs, and from $49/mo paid

9. MailerLite

MailerLite is another Substack alternative similar to HubSpot in that it is an incredibly powerful software platform that allows you to create, market and track conversion from your emails.

With MailerLite’s platform, you’re getting a no-code software framework that can take your emailing strategy to the next level thanks to automation, analytics, pop-ups, and much more.

Many writers have found success with MailerLite thanks to their awesome templates, stylish landing page editor, and detailed analytics that will help you make the best moves for your business.

Mailerlite is a good mix of website builder, email software, and even e-commerce store. If you're monetizing with email and ecommerce products, it might work as an alternative to Substack.

MailerLite features

Pros

• Drag-and-drop site and newsletter editing with templates


• Ecommerce tools, AI writing assistant, social sharing, and automations


• iPad app (for in-person business signups), + forms and landing pages

Cons

• There's a learning curve for MailerLite's comprehensive tools.

Mailerlite pricing

Free for up to 1,000 subs, from $9/mo to include monetization

10. Gumroad

Gumroad is a different type of Substack alternative; it's made for selling pretty much anything. You could create a newsletter with it--it's one of the many products you can sell.

In fact, you can sell pretty much anything from photography to music to online courses, so if you're looking for a newsletter business that also reaches into other areas of commerce, it's got tools to work with. And it also has a marketplace component to it, so people can discover your products.

The bad thing about Gumroad is that the revenue model is identical to Substack's. You'll pay a 10% percentage fee; this eats into your profits.

Gumroad features

Pros

• Flexible monetization engine to sell almost anything.


• Marketplace to help creators get discovered

Cons

• 10% transaction fees (same as Substack)


• It doesn't really have full newsletter tools--just really basic email options.

Gumroad pricing

10% transaction fees

11. Mailchimp

Finally, Mailchimp is another email software that started as email management and has recently added a newsletter function.

As an email platform, Mailchimp works like ConvertKit. It gives you tools to grow your mailing list, things like collecting and tagging emails, creating landing pages, AI email composition tools, sending broadcasts, and creating automated sequences.

Mailchimp has a good set of features, but it's important to note that the newsletter option for selling subscriptions isn't native. It requires an integration with Campaignzee--a third-party plugin that lets you collect payments and gate content via a paywall.

MailChimp features

Pros

• A full email platform with subscriber tools, automation, landing pages, tags, and more


• Design a newsletter, building from templates


• AI composition tools

Cons

• Selling subscriptions is not a native feature.


• MailChimp can be hard to learn and isn't a great software.

MailChimp pricing

Starts from $27.56/mo for up to 500 subs

12. Patreon

One option for a Substack alternative is to choose a patronage model, like Patreon.

Patreon is a membership platform that allows creators of all sorts to run a support-based subscription service for their content.

Unlike Substack where you simply charge people for access, Patreon lets people support your work on different tiers.

You can build subscription levels with Patreon, offering gifts and incentives for each level. A lot of people know Patreon and are comfortable using it.

However, there are a few downsides to Patreon as a Substack alternative.

• The features are limited. It's not an email platform or any other type of member-engagement platform. It's mostly a payment platform.


• You need to use other software to make it work, creating a messy tech stack.


• The revenue share can be worse than Substack-- 5%-12% fees that come out of your revenue.

Patreon features

Pros

• Good platform for monetizing support


• Patreon has high brand recognition.

Cons

• It's not a newsletter platform (you'd need to combine it)


• Transaction fees are 5-12%

Patreon Pricing

From 5-12% transaction fees

13. Buy Me a Coffee

For a simple patronage model with membership and a few email options baked in, Buy Me a Coffee is another option. It lets you create subscriptions and memberships, and you can email those supporters who have "bought you a coffee."

It's a really easy way to get a basic email list you can reach and charge for. And while it doesn't have all the features of Substack, it also comes at a lower percentage share-- 5% of your revenue, which is a slightly better option than paying Substack 10%.

Buy Me a Coffee features

Pros

• A well-known "pay what you can" option


• Easy to use and allows for no-pressure support

Cons

• It's not a newsletter platform.

Buy Me a Coffee Pricing

5% transaction fees

Ready to start?

At the end of the day, Substack is a good place to start building an audience around your brand, but the platform won’t grow with you.

Moving beyond subscribers and creating members is a vital part of building a thriving business from your work-- subscribers follow, but members belong. With a unified member platform, you can serve up a ton of different experiences, but growing and scaling is also easier because your members all get involved in creating content.

And that's why the best alternative to Substack is... a community!

Mighty is ranked the #1 community management software by G2. And it's free to try for 14 days. Come see what you could create with your ideas!