Substack has achieved escape velocity where it seems like everyone is on it.
My biggest concern about Substack is that, because they've consolidated individual brands and voices into one feed, they've created the perfect conditions for a billionaire buyout like Twitter or TikTok. The ground is unstable on the platform now that they are part private equity owned and under pressure to show stronger cash returns quickly. It's a good time to plan your own exit before Substack has theirs.
There's hundreds of alternative tech tools you could consider, whether you're just starting a blog or moving a successful publication to a new home. Platform diversity is a good and important thing. When the majority gravitate to a single platform, that platform gains an outsized amount of power and control over who gets heard. Think about a platform like YouTube. Other platforms exist (Vimeo, Wistia, Twitch, etc), but YouTube controls a lot of what gets made and what gets seen. YouTube decides. We don't.
It can be scary to leave their training wheels, but your business is likely to thrive away from Substack. I've personally interviewed publishers who've made more money away from Substack like film critic Ty Burr. I've also seen self-reported improvements from writers like Molly White, Nathan Tankus and Frankie de la Cretaz. We are not lying about Substack stealing your audience and revenue. It's time to take your project back!
When I talk with publishers who are planning to leave Substack, they point out different features that they'd miss. Newsletters and blogs are the baseline but many publishers are using podcast or livestream features, community chats and the Substack Notes feed. You will have to prioritize which features matter most to you and you may end up using two or three tech tools to replace them. Consider it a stronger move—even though it seems inconvenient—because the more spread out you are, the less likely one tech company's failings can take you out.
Here are the alternative homes you could consider for your work.
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Newsletters and blogs
My top picks are Buttondown and Ghost. I like beehiiv too but I worry they're moving too fast with feature bloat. There's no one right answer for everybody. I'm just offering you a starting place.
Buttondown: I'm becoming a huge fan of Buttondown. Their setup is super simple and they have all the subscription and automation tooling you need to run paid tiers. They are bootstrapped and their founder is very responsive. The only downside I see to Buttondown is that they don't have a blog, just a web archive. But if you have a separate blog or don't need one, these guys are great. Buttondown example from Anil Dash. Starts at $9/mo.
beehiiv: A super popular alternative because they have nearly all the features people love from Substack. beehiiv is great but it's a lot. They add new features to the platform every couple months and publishers tell me they find the user interface overwhelming. The upside is newsletter first design, best-in-class analytics (they tell you exactly where your newsletter readers are coming from with excellent accuracy) and built-in growth and monetization tools. They have everything you need. The downside is their web builder is annoying and complex. beehiiv example from Kaitlyn Arford. Starts at $0.
Ghost: Also a very popular alternative to Substack because it's open source and a nonprofit based out of Singapore. Ghost is very strong on the blog front and not very strong in much else. They have a newsletter and paid subscriptions built-in but they're pretty bare bones. I run my blog/newsletter on Ghost but I really miss the analytics and detailed capabilities of beehiiv quite often. With Ghost, you choose a theme (I choose one from Bright Themes) and install it. You have very little control over your design unless you do development or hire a developer. If you're full time on your project, be prepared to pay for development help once a year to the tune of $1-2k at least. Ghost example from Lucy Werner. Starts at $15/mo (but you can also host Ghost sites elsewhere like Magic Pages for much less)
Related post:
Lex Roman
Kit: Kit started as a course and digital product creator tool but they've moved hard into the media creator space. I find their tool to be the hardest to learn of all of them but it's a good fit for people who have multiple business types, like if you sell services, products and have a paid newsletter. Kit's a real grab bag of features and monetization options (digital products, coaching, paid newsletters, etc) and it's more than most people need. Like Buttondown, they don't have a blog. Just a web archive. The real reason to go here is if automations and segmentations are really important to you. That's where they shine. Kit example from Bev Feldman. Starts at $0.
Build your own: Building your own website is a great option if you can either code yourself or hire someone to help you. Ernie from Tedium built his with Craft CMS, Eleventy, and Tailwind. Again, not a solution for non-technical folks but if this sounds fun to you, it's a solid way to go because you call all the shots.
Membership tools
Memberful: This is a tool you can use to manage your membership without hosting your content there. It's a good add-on to a custom website or if you don't want to lock your paid subscribers in somewhere. You can do things like make checkout pages and win back cancelled subscribers. HOWEVER, they have pretty high fees. They charge 5% on top of Stripe's 3% plus a subscription fee of $49/mo. Use this if you really don't want to use one of the other platforms. Starts at $49/mo plus transaction fees.
Stripe (on its own): You can run subscriptions in Stripe directly. This will work for you if you have only one tier. Once you have more than one (even monthly + annual), it becomes clunky. It's simple set up though and it has built-in check out. You will need to create automations like welcome emails and paid welcome emails inside your email tool separately and you can use Zapier to hook them together.
Community features
Using your comment section: If you choose a platform that has comments, you can start chats in your comments. It helps to have dedicated posts for community chats like this example from The Purse but you can encourage comments and respond to comments on any story too.
Circle: If you want a dedicated community space, Circle is a common choice for its sleek design and simple setup. It's a lot more full featured than Substack so it might be overkill if you want just a little engagement with your readers. You can host events, courses, chats, directories and more with Circle. Starts at $89/mo.
Heartbeat: Similar to Circle but with a different interaction design. A little more creator friendly than Circle. You can host events, create threads, have profiles and pin resources. Starts at $49/mo.
Skool: Skool's becoming more popular because it's pretty lightweight as far as community tools go. You can host events and have topic threads. They have a built-in affiliate program and you can charge for your community. Low discoverability, but some discoverability via serach from being on their community network. Starts at $9/mo.
Slack/Discord: Slack and Discord are common in companies and bigger organizations but they're both free and in use in a lot of community spaces. The big advantage to them is that some of your audience is likely already using them so adding/checking your community isn't hard for them. Free.
Podcasting
One decision you may need to make is whether your paid subscription and sponsorships are tied more to your newsletter/blog or to your podcast. If monetization is centered on the podcast, you may want a tool like Acast (podcast ads) or Supercast (podcast subscriptions) which supports that. Otherwise, you could use RSS.com or Spotify to host a free show.
beehiiv: beehiiv can now host your podcast. It's included in their free plan. Starts at $0. They can also integrate your show if it's hosted elsewhere.
Outpost for Ghost: If you use a service like Transistor, Supercast, Podbean or Dovetail (by PRX), Outpost can automatically create podcast episode pages on your Ghost site.
Spotify for Creators: Spotify bought Anchor a few years ago and you can host your podcast here for free. They said they were eventually going to charge but they haven't. You can syndicate to all podcast networks from here. I had my last podcast here and it worked fine. Minimal features, but no issues. Free.
Buzzsprout: You can host your show here, release premium (paid only) content, run a podcast subscription, get good analytics and run their ads to make a little money. Starts at $19/mo.
RSS.com: One of the few remaining actually free podcast hosts that aren't connected to a big company. RSS.com is run by a small team. I don't believe they've taken venture funding. Their tool is full featured with transcription, a podcast website, analytics and everything you'd need to run a podcast. Starts at $0.
Acast: They call themselves the go-to platform for monetization because they have a robust podcast ads network. You can host your show here and the reason to do that is if you want their ads network. Acast is from Sweden and they're publicly traded. Starts at $0 (if you'll list your show on their ads network.)
Transistor: Transistor is the most popular with podcasters who have private feeds. You can release separate podcast feeds to your paid subscribers using their tool and they have integrations with platforms like Ghost directly so you can create post pages for your episodes. Starts at $19/mo.
Supercast: If your paid subscription centers around your podcast, you should choose Supercast. They are like build-your-own Patreon where you control the features and the branding. Starts at $0.59/mo per subscriber.
Patreon: I don't really like Patreon. They don't use Stripe so you can't leave with your paid subscribers and they have really high fees. I don't recommend Patreon and I'm only including them because you will expect them to be on this list. Free with very high fees.
Livestreaming
Restream: This is my favorite tool for livestreaming. You can livestream to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok and a bunch of other channels at once. Restream lets you have guests and add on screen graphics and calls to action. You can also see the chats from some channels inside your livestreaming panel. Starts at $0.
Streamyard: Same thing as Restream but different platform, different cost. I have friends who swear by Streamyard. It's a very similar feature set, mainly a user interface preference though once you jump to a paid tier Streamyard gets expensive fast. Starts at $0.
Riverside: Known most for podcast recording but also does livestreaming. I would choose this only if you're a podcaster who needs their podcast recording studios for your guests. Otherwise, they're worse at livestreaming than Restream and Streamyard. Starts at $29/mo.
List growth
Learn how to do your own audience distribution: This is important. Substack doesn't really do this for you. Other writers may have boosted you in recommendations but don't give Substack too much credit for that! It's just cross-promoting with other writers. You can reach out to a couple writers and shout each other out a few times a year on your newsletters or podcasts. Make sure you have good audience overlap. There are tons of other ways to grow your list include podcast guesting, public speaking, bios in guest posts you place elsewhere, hosting virtual events, SEO and social media. Try different channels every few months and keep what works!
Trustfnd: Create your own recommendation sets featuring your newsletter and others like you. Then, promote the forms on social media or anywhere you're growing your lists. You can also do paid subscription bundle promotions. Free, soon to be paid.
InboxReads: Directory of 5k+ newsletters you can cross-promote with. You can also pay to advertise in their directory listings. Free.
Lettergrowth: This platform was acquired a couple years ago so I don't know how active it is anymore but it's a directory of newsletters. You can reach out to people and propose swapping links in your issues. Free.
Newsletter Club: Community for local newsletters to learn and build partnerships run by Michael of Catskill Crew. Starts at $499/yr.
Tiny News Collective: Community for solo and micro news publishers, often local but not exclusively. Starts at $50/mo.
Before you make a move or settle on your platforms of choice, make a list of your priority features. What's most important? That will help you choose the right set of tech tools to support your goals.
Remember that if you're exiting Substack, you can always keep one foot over there, participating on Substack Notes or keeping your subscribe page up and moving subscribers over. The main thing you want to ensure is that you keep your work, your revenue and your audience somewhere only you have access to them.
Platforms will come and go. They will always let us down. Focus more on building community with your audience and with your peers because those relationships will transcend technology year after year.
Want more on Substack? Check these out.
