Email review
Substack
The easiest way to start a newsletter. Also the most expensive long-term, since they take 10% of every paid subscription forever.
At a glance
- Pricing
- Free to start. Substack takes 10% of paid subscription revenue + Stripe fees
- Category
- Last reviewed
- Best for
- Writers starting a newsletter today who want to publish in 10 minutes and figure the rest out later.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I've used and would happily suggest to a friend.
Benchmarks
How Substack actually scores.
Five axes that matter for a one-person business. Each score is editorial, 1–10, higher is better. A tool that maxes every axis doesn't exist; the shape of the chart is the signal.
- Price
- Value for a one-person budget
- Solo fit
- Built with solo operators in mind
- Learning curve
- How fast a beginner gets useful work done
- Lock-in
- How easy it is to leave (high = easy)
- Support
- Quality and responsiveness of help
Scores are set by the editor after hands-on use and revised as the tool evolves. They're not paid for and don't change based on affiliate partnerships.
The case for
- Genuinely the simplest way to start: write, hit send, you have a newsletter
- Built-in network: Substack Reader can recommend your work to readers of similar publications
- No upfront cost, no subscriber tiers, just write
- Native paywall and paid subscription handling without setting up Stripe yourself
The case against
- Takes 10% of every paid subscription, forever, on top of Stripe fees
- Limited customisation: every Substack looks like a Substack
- Lock-in is real: exporting subscribers is allowed but their address book is on Substack servers
- No tags, no segmentation, no automations: send-to-list and that is it
- Network features (Notes, Reader) lean political and chatty in ways some writers dislike
Where Substack actually fits
The case for Substack is genuine for one specific archetype: a writer who has never published a newsletter, wants to start, and would rather not learn anything about email tools. Substack removes every decision: domain (default), template (chosen), payments (Stripe handled), audience (built into the Reader). You write, you send, you have a newsletter.
For that first 6 to 12 months of "do I even want to do this", Substack is the path of least resistance. The friction tax of choosing Beehiiv or Kit upfront is real, and most newsletters die before they ever launch.
What Substack costs
The marketing says "free". The reality is 10% of paid subscription revenue, plus Stripe fees on top. If you charge $5/mo for paid subs and have 100 paid subscribers, that is $500/mo in revenue. Substack takes $50/mo. Forever. As your paid list grows, that 10% becomes a real number.
For comparison:
- Beehiiv has a flat platform fee at higher tiers, no revenue cut.
- Kit has a flat monthly fee based on subscriber count, no revenue cut.
- Self-hosted (Buttondown, Postmark) is a flat monthly fee, no revenue cut.
A Substack with $5,000/mo in paid revenue is paying $500/mo in platform fees. Beehiiv at the same scale is paying ~$50/mo. The math compounds.
What you give up
- Tags and segments. Substack has no tagging or segmentation. Every email goes to the entire list.
- Automations. No drip sequences, no "subscribers who join after date X get a welcome series".
- Customisation. Substacks all look like Substacks. The branding is theirs more than yours.
- Domain ownership. You can use a custom domain on Substack but most people do not, and even with it, the platform branding leaks through.
When to migrate off
If your newsletter survives the first year and you start charging for paid subscriptions, the 10% cut becomes a real cost. The migration to Beehiiv or Kit is straightforward (Substack does export your subscriber list). Plan for the migration around the point your monthly platform fees pay back the time investment.
If you are weighing the move specifically against Beehiiv, our Beehiiv vs Substack comparison walks through the economics, brand-control tradeoffs, and the actual migration process step by step.
When Substack still wins
- You are starting a newsletter today and have never run one.
- You will not charge for paid subscriptions (the 10% cut does not apply).
- You want to be discovered by readers of similar Substacks (the Reader network is real).
- Your writing is the entire product and customisation is a distraction.
Verdict
Excellent for the first 6 to 12 months. Pricey at any meaningful paid scale. Most successful newsletters eventually graduate to Beehiiv or Kit, which is fine: Substack will have done its job by then.
Bottom line
Ready to try Substack?
Writers starting a newsletter today who want to publish in 10 minutes and figure the rest out later.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I've used and would happily suggest to a friend.
Compare Substack with the alternatives
Side-by-side reviews of the other Email tools we've covered.
3.5/5 vs 3.5/5 · Free up to 2,500 subscribers; paid plans from $39/mo
Substack vs Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
3.5/5 vs 3.5/5 · Free up to 10,000 subscribers; Creator $25/mo; Creator Pro $50/mo
3.5/5 vs 3.5/5 · Free for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12k emails/mo. Growing Business from $9/mo
3.5/5 vs 2.5/5 · Free up to 500 contacts; Essentials from $13/mo; Standard from $20/mo
Switching?
Migrating to or from Substack
Step-by-step guides from the editor. Time estimates, deliverability check, and the things most people get wrong.
Living document
What did we miss about Substack?
Every review evolves. Spot something wrong, missing, or out of date — drop a note. The most useful ones land in our monthly "Reader corrections" post, with credit if you're up for it.
7 questions · ~60 seconds
Find the right stack for your business of one.
Seven quick questions, sixty seconds. We'll match you with the tools that actually fit, and tell you which ones to drop.
Build my stack