10 Substack Alternatives with More Control and Scalability
You’re here for Substack alternatives because:
- You’re tired of Substack’s limitations — the revenue cut or the control over your subscriber list.
- You’ve realized that as your audience grows, so do your needs for customization, monetization options, and platform independence.
- You’ve done the math and know that sticking with a rigid, limited platform that controls your data and revenue isn’t sustainable for your growth.
Many others have hit the same ceiling.
Here’s what I found when looking into why creators are leaving Substack:
- More control: Creators want ownership. Not just of their content, design, monetization, and audience data. Shifting to self-hosted platforms lets them build without restrictions.
- Better revenue splits: Many are moving to platforms like Beehiiv or Ghost because they offer more favorable terms and fewer limitations on how you monetize.
- Smooth integrations: Advanced users want tools that play nicely with their tech stack — email automation, analytics, and affiliate tracking. Substack’s ecosystem? Pretty limited.
- No real support for sponsorships or ads: Creators with smaller lists have shared how hard it is to land sponsors on Substack. There’s no built-in ad network, and outreach is all manual. Unless you’re already big (think 10,000+ subscribers), it’s tough to get noticed.
- Poor customer service: Substack lacks live chat support and mainly relies on a chatbot. Despite charging high fees, including a 10% cut and a $50 custom domain fee, the platform provides inadequate and slow support.
If any of these points hit home, these are the top 10 Substack alternatives that help you scale.
Top 10 Substack alternatives at a glance
This table compares the ten best Substack alternatives to choose from:
Top 10 Substack alternatives (Explained)
1. FreshLearn
Best for: Individual creators and small businesses who want to monetize their expertise through courses and digital products.
You might ask why I’m including FreshLearn, an LMS, in a list of newsletter platform alternatives. Here’s the thing: FreshLearn is an all-in-one platform built for creators who want more than just a newsletter tool. While it lets you send newsletter emails with conversion-focused templates, it also helps you sell courses, memberships, and digital products — all from a single, intuitive dashboard.
Unlike Substack, FreshLearn offers a scalable model that creators need in today's market to monetize their knowledge.
For example, after using it to roll out a monthly newsletter, one FreshLearn user said:
“FreshLearn has transformed how I send my monthly newsletters to students and resellers! The drag-and-drop builder is so easy that our team can create stunning templates in minutes. Plus, the email delivery rates are through the roof. FreshLearn is a game-changer.”
Instead of juggling multiple tools and subscriptions (which can cost anywhere from $197 to $389 every month), FreshLearn gives you full control over your brand, audience, and revenue in one place; something Substack doesn’t offer.
That way, you get to focus more on creating and less on switching between tools.
Why FreshLearn is one of the top Substack alternatives
Here’s a nuanced look at why FreshLearn is a great Substack alternative.
- All-in-one monetization: FreshLearn lets you sell courses, coaching sessions, memberships, and digital products alongside newsletters — no extra platforms needed. While Substack focuses mainly on paid newsletters, it limits your revenue streams.
- Flexible content formats: While Substack supports text posts, podcasts, discussion threads, and videos, FreshLearn expands your options further with built-in support for video lessons, audio files, PDFs, quizzes, and live sessions. All these let you create richer, more interactive experiences in one place.
- Advanced integrations & automation: FreshLearn connects with:
- Email marketing
- CRM
- Affiliate marketing
- Live session hosting
- Automation
- Payment Gateways
Whereas Substack only gives you basic social media and payment integration.
- Free migration support: Switching to FreshLearn is hassle-free, with free migration services available for yearly plan users (No Brainer and No Brainer+). This includes transferring your courses, pages, and member data.
Whereas in Substack, you have to import your mail list manually. Also, if you have an extensive list, it will have a verification review from the Substack team.
- Community building: Substack has a community feature, which is basically a comment section or a simple discussion thread. This limits how deeply you can engage with your audience.
FreshLearn fills this gap by offering a full community feature where you can host live sessions, run discussion forums, and create membership groups. Also, you decide your membership plan’s price with 0% commission from the platform.
- Price transparency: With FreshLearn, you know exactly what you’re paying every month or year with no transaction fees. On the other side, though Substack is free to use, it takes a 10% cut from your paid subscriptions, which can add up and make your revenue less predictable.
FreshLearn vs. Substack pricing model
FreshLearn has a free plan with all the basic features.
It also has 4 paid plans and offers a 14-day free trial.
When we compare Substack and FreshLearn’s pricing model:
Limitations
- FreshLearn mainly serves creators, coaches, and small to mid-sized businesses. It may not offer the depth of customization or enterprise-level integrations that large organizations and educational institutions typically require.
- Zoom and Zapier integrations are available only on the high-tier plans.
2. Beehiiv
Best for: Creators who want to monetize their newsletters through various channels such as advertising and referral programs.
Beehiiv is a platform for creators to launch, grow, and monetize their newsletters. Founded by former Morning Brew team members, it offers features like audience segmentation, referral programs, and built-in ad tools.
The platform focuses on growth-driven tools for newsletter creators and publishers looking to scale. With a simple interface and built-in analytics, Beehiiv aims to simplify the newsletter workflow without requiring additional tools or integrations.
Why Beehiiv is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider Beehiiv as a Substack alternative:
- Provide multiple monetization options: Though Beehiiv is also a writing platform like Substack, it offers more chances for you to monetize:
Paid memberships: Yes.
- Manual embed ads on content: Yes.
- Sponsorships/ marketplace ads: Yes.
Substack does not have an in-built sponsorship/ marketplace ads feature and considers paid membership the main way to monetize your content.
- Better control: With Beehiiv, you choose whether a post is just a newsletter, a blog, or both. You can also keep certain emails private, like promos, without posting them publicly. Substack doesn’t give you that flexibility. Every post shows up on your public profile, whether you want it to or not.
- Advanced analytics: Beehiiv has a 3D analytics feature that lets you have a posts report with key metrics including open rates, email deliveries, click-through deliveries, and more. Whereas, Substack has basic analytics with metrics on opens and subscriber count, but not much else to help you dig deeper or optimize.
- Additional features: Two notable scaling features Beehiiv offers over Substack are:
- Magic links: One-click signups without filling out a subscription form) and
- Boosts: A two-sided marketplace where you pay for subscribers or earn by promoting others.
Beehiiv vs. Substack pricing model
Beehiiv is free to use with basic features, including subscriber tagging, recommendation network up to 2,500 subscribers.
From 2,500 to 10,000 subscribers, you can opt for two paid plans (Scale and Max). jahsjhsjssh
You get custom pricing (Enterprise) if you have 100k+ subscribers.
When we compare Substack and Beehiiv’s pricing:
- Substack charges a 10% commission on subscription revenue, plus Stripe payment fees. Beehiiv does not take a revenue cut; you only pay based on your plan and subscriber count.
- Substack requires a $50 one-time custom domain fee. Beehiiv includes custom domains in both free and paid plans at no extra cost.
- Substack doesn’t have fixed subscriber tiers — the cost depends on your earnings. Beehiiv uses tiered pricing, so your cost increases as your subscriber count grows.
Limitations
- Unlike FreshLearn, Beehiiv does not support course creation, selling digital products(except newsletters), or offering coaching.
- One thing you might notice with Beehiiv is the pricing gap. After the free plan, the next step is $49/month, and there’s no lower-cost middle ground. This jump can feel a bit much if you’re just starting to monetize or growing your audience.
3. MailerLite
Best for: Solopreneurs, content creators, and online educators who want an affordable, simple email marketing platform with good automation features.
MailerLite is an email marketing platform with tools for building landing pages, websites, and automating marketing workflows. It supports collecting subscribers, sending newsletters, delivering lead magnets, and tracking campaign performance.
The platform integrates payment and e-commerce features, allowing users to manage various marketing and business functions. Despite these added features, MailerLite centers on email as the main audience communication and management tool.
Why MailerLite is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider MailerLite as a Substack alternative:
- Expands your monetization options: MailerLite goes beyond sending newsletters by giving you the tools to sell and manage digital products directly. You can offer workbooks, e-books, video content, or short films within the same platform.
With built-in eCommerce features and detailed sales reports, MailerLite expands your revenue options and helps you track how your email campaigns support your product sales.
- More control over branding: Substack offers customization, but it’s often limited. But MailerLite lets you fully customize your emails and landing pages. You can design everything to match your brand, including using a custom domain for free on paid plans.
MailerLite vs. Substack pricing model
MailerLite charges separately based on Marketing and Transactional (MailerSend).
Marketing: It has a free plan and offers basic features, including 1 user seat and 10 landing pages up to 1,000 subscribers.
It has two paid plans — Advanced and Growing Business (each with a 30-day free trial).
The pricing model is only the starting cost when you have 500 subscribers, and when your subscriber count increases, so does the charge.
Transactional: This is free up to 3,000 emails. However, the platform charges $1 per 1,000 emails, which means it's a paid plan in disguise.
This cost is only the starting price for sending 3K emails. When you want to send more, you have to pay more.
MailerLite also provides Enterprise pricing for large organizations requiring specific requirements.
When we compare Substack and MailerLite’s pricing:
- Substack has a straightforward pricing model: it takes a 10% cut from your paid subscriptions, regardless of how many emails you send or how large your list grows. However, MailerLite uses a tiered pricing model based on subscriber count and email volume. As your list or sending needs increase, so does your monthly cost.
- MailerLite offers a free plan with limited subscribers and email sends, whereas Substack lets you start without upfront costs but earns only from paid subscriptions. This makes MailerLite a flexible option for creators who want to manage free and paid email campaigns without sharing revenue.
Limitations
MailerLite separates marketing and transactional email services. If you want external integrations or data import/export, you must set up and pay for MailerSend (its transactional email tool).
4. Kit (formerly ConverKit)
Best for: Content creators who want a simple email marketing tool tailored to building and nurturing an engaged audience.
Nathan Barry founded Kit (formerly ConvertKit) in 2013 to create an email marketing solution tailored for creators. The platform mixes ease of use with tools that help engage and convert audiences effectively. Kit offers features like digital product and subscription sales and a newsletter referral system, making it a comprehensive choice for online creators.
Why Kit is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider Kit as a Substack alternative:
- Allows sponsors: Kit offers access to its Sponsor Network, which helps creators earn through newsletter sponsorships — an area Substack doesn’t actively support. In return, Kit charges a 20% commission on sponsorship revenue, plus 3.5% for payment processing.
- Email marketing: Earning through paid newsletters is one of the features in Kit. It also provides paid recommendations, email marketing, and selling digital products like coaching. Whereas, Substack is mainly for earning through newsletters.
Kit vs. Substack pricing model
Kit offers a free plan with limited features, including 1 user, 1 email sequence, and more. It also provides a 14-day trial on all its paid plans.
Note that this is only the starting price up to 1,000 subscribers. When your subscription list increases, the cost will increase to $2,599/month (creator pro plan), making it an expensive alternative to Substack.
Both are free to start. However, Kit has a cap on the features offered. For advanced capabilities, you will have to start paying.
Limitations
- With Kit, you can do basic customization like changing colors, but you won’t have much control over font styles, sizes, or layouts unless you’re comfortable editing HTML or adding your own CSS.
- Similar to Substack, Kit’s reporting features also stay fairly minimal. You can track essentials like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes, and view subscriber growth over time. But when it comes to automated sequences, insights are limited. For example, you can’t track bounce rates, an important metric for understanding your emails' performance.
5. Medium
Best for: Writers and bloggers, as it has a ready-made platform with built-in distribution.
Medium, launched in 2012 by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, is a free blogging platform for short- and long-form content. It hosts writing from professional journalists, thought leaders, academics, and independent voices.
What makes Medium notable is its approach to publishing. Users don’t create or manage their own websites, unlike other creator platforms. Instead, you publish all content directly on Medium’s platform, which Medium continues to own.
Why Medium is one of the top Substack alternatives
While both Medium and Substack support you in writing to earn money, Medium is comparatively easy to start. Also, Substack has a growing user base and helps with some discoverability, but it primarily relies on writers to build and manage their own subscriber lists through direct email newsletters.
Medium, on the other hand, has a large built-in community of readers browsing the platform, so your content can get discovered by people outside your direct network more easily.
Medium vs. Substack pricing model
Similar to Substack, Medium is free to start. However, to earn from your writing, there are two options:
Paid plans:
Be a part of the partner program:
The partner program allows you to lock your stories, through which you earn money based on how well they perform, mainly through reader engagement. Medium only pays you a share of the membership revenue after earning at least $10. Medium decides how to calculate your earnings and can change this anytime.
As a Partner Program member, you can also join the Boost Nomination Program, where you nominate quality stories for boosting. If your nominated stories get selected, you earn a set fee, up to a monthly cap of $900.
When we compare Substack and Medium’s pricing model:
- Substack allows writers to set their subscription prices and take a 90% share of revenue (after payment processing fees), while Medium charges readers a fixed membership fee ($5/month or $60/year) and pays writers based on engagement.
- On Substack, writers earn directly from paid subscribers. On Medium, writers earn through the Partner Program, which shares membership revenue based on member reading time.
Limitations
Similar to Substack, Medium users also mainly depend on newsletters for earning. While other comprehensive platforms like FreshLearn, which offers courses, digital downloads, memberships, community, and more, to monetize.
6. Mailchimp
Best for: Businesses, marketers, and entrepreneurs who want an easy-to-use platform for email marketing, automation, and audience management.
Intuit acquired Mailchimp, which began in 2001. Individuals, small businesses, and larger companies use it to manage mailing lists, create and send email campaigns, automate messaging, and track performance metrics.
Over time, it has added features like basic web pages, e-commerce tools, and social media posting. However, email marketing remains its primary function. The platform combines various tools to help users manage customer communication in one place.
Why Mailchimp is one of the top Substack alternatives
While Substack is designed specifically for writers and newsletter publishers, Mailchimp offers a more flexible approach to audience communication and monetization. It offers various tools, including lead generation, social media marketing, and more.
So, ultimately, if you are looking for a Substack alternative with email marketing options beyond sending newsletters, Mailchimp can be a consideration.
Mailchimp vs. Substack pricing model
Mailchimp has 3 pricing models:
Email marketing:
These prices are the starting costs for up to 500 contacts. The cost increases as your contact limit grows.
Websites:
It has two pricing plans: a free plan and a Core Plan at $864.82/month.
Transactional email:
When we compare Substack and Mailchimp’s pricing:
- Mailchimp has complex pricing segmentation, and users feel they pay for features they dont use. On the other hand, Substack has a comparatively simple pricing plan.
- Substack takes 10% of your subscription revenue, and Mailchimp doesn’t charge a monthly fee based on the number of contacts in your list and the features utilized. You keep 100% of the revenue you generate.
Limitations
- The main limitation of Mailchimp is that it is expensive. Many users have flagged that the cost soon mounts up as your contacts grow.
- The free plan is quite restrictive. Key tools like A/B testing, advanced segmentation, and multistep automation are locked behind higher tiers, limiting what new users can do without upgrading.
7. Ghost
Best for: Independent writers, professional bloggers, and small publishers who want full control over their content and monetization.
Ghost launched in 2013 after John O’Nolan funded it through a Kickstarter campaign. It operates as a non-profit and fully open-source platform. Ghost focuses on giving writers and publishers a clean, simple way to create content while offering tools for memberships and paid subscriptions. It combines ease of use with customization and speed.
Ghost goes beyond just blogging by offering several monetization features. This makes it a solid option to earn from your content.
Why Ghost is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider Ghost as a Substack alternative:
- Better ownership: Unlike Substack, which ties you to their platform and terms, Ghost is open-source and lets you self-host. That means you fully own your content, mailing list, and infrastructure.
- More customization: Ghost lets you design and brand your site and newsletter however you like. You can customize themes and layouts and add custom code if needed. Substack has a more limited, uniform design.
- Better monetization options: You can charge for memberships, create paid tiers, and offer exclusive content. With Ghost, there are no platform fees (if self-hosted), unlike Substac, which takes 10% of your revenue.
- Includes ads: Since the basic limitation of Substack is its inefficiency in having built-in features for ads, Ghost supports you in this regard. It allows including ads and has native integrations (like AdSense) to help you monetize better.
Ghost vs. Substack pricing model
You can install and use Ghost for free, as Ghost is open source. It also offers 4 hosted version pricing plans.
This pricing is only up to 500 members. As your audience increases, the cost may increase to $3,019/month (business plan).
When we compare Substack and Ghost’s pricing:
- Ghost’s pricing is fixed and transparent, starting at $9/month (starter plan) for 500 members. Substack is free to start, but the 10% commission can increase quickly as you scale.
- Ghost lets you self-host and avoid monthly fees if you handle the technical setup, while Substack stays fully hosted.
Limitations
- Ghost requires users to install, configure, and maintain the software themselves if self-hosting, which demands some technical skill.
- Ghost users must build their own audience as the platform does not provide a built-in reader base or discovery features.
8. Buttondown
Best for: Individual writers and small creators who need a minimalist, focused email newsletter tool without extra features.
Buttondown is an email newsletter service that helps you send updates to your subscribers. It focuses on simplicity and basic functionality rather than offering various marketing tools. You can write emails using Markdown, manage your mailing list, and schedule your messages.
Unlike some platforms, Buttondown doesn’t include advanced automation or complex analytics. Instead, it sticks to core newsletter tasks so you won’t find features like landing page builders or extensive integrations.
Why Buttondown is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider Buttondown as a Substack alternative:
- Simple user interface: If you are looking for a straightforward newsletter feature (do not even count comments or notes), Buttondown can be a good alternative.
- Basic analytics: Buttondown also provides simple analytics, including tracking opens and clicks, events for individual subscribers, OS, browser, and platform usage.
- Fixed pricing: Buttondown uses a fixed pricing model based on subscriber count rather than taking a percentage of your subscription revenue, which can make costs more predictable.
Buttondown vs. Substack pricing model
Buttondown is free to use till you hit 100 subscribers.
For more than 100,000 subscribers, the platform has custom pricing.
When we compare Substack and Buttondown’s pricing:
Buttondown has a transparent pricing model than Substack. It has a fixed cost that increases as your subscriber grows. So, Buttondown’s model suits creators who prefer paying upfront costs rather than sharing earnings.
Limitations
Bringing back my point on using an LMS, Buttondown lacks several comprehensive features, including offering communities, diverse digital products, live sessions, and courses. It focuses primarily on email newsletters and does not provide the broader range of tools that all-in-one platforms offer for building and engaging an audience through multiple content formats.
9. Curated
Best for: Newsletter creators focused on sharing curated links and resources rather than original content.
Curated is a no-code tool that helps creators, businesses, and marketers build and manage email newsletters easily. It lets you collect and organize content from different sources, then share it with your subscribers. The interface is simple, so you can gather links, add comments, and create newsletters without coding.
Curated also includes basic analytics that show how your emails perform, helping you understand what works. It connects with popular email marketing services to make sending newsletters smoother. Curated helps you share content and keep your audience engaged without much hassle.
Why Curated is one of the top Substack alternatives
Let’s see why you can consider Curated as a Substack alternative:
- No-code link aggregation: Curated simplifies gathering links, organizing them, and adding brief commentary into newsletters — all within a no-code, user-friendly interface focused on curated content.
Substack, in contrast, centers on original long-form writing and does not provide dedicated tools for link aggregation or organizing curated content as its core function.
- Sponsorship management: Curated supports sponsorships and handles almost everything from looking at enquiries to managing writers’ calendars.
Curated vs. Substack pricing model
Curated is free until you reach 1,500 subscribers.
When we compare Substack and Curated’s pricing model:
- It doesn’t take a revenue cut, eliminating Substack’s limitation. It also has fixed pricing depending on your subscriber size.
- Both Substack and Curated are free to start. Curated has no feature differences in its free and paid pricing plans.
Limitation
- Though Curated provides features for gathering resources, it lacks long-form articles or in-depth content.
- Curated is mainly for content curation and lacks advanced email marketing functionalities such as automation, segmentation, and A/B testing, which Substack offers.
10. Selzy
Best for: Small and medium-sized businesses looking for a comprehensive email marketing platform.
Selzy is an email marketing platform designed to help small and medium-sized businesses create, automate, and manage email campaigns. It includes an AI assistant that allows generating email content and visuals to improve engagement.
The platform supports audience segmentation, enabling personalized messaging. Selzy also integrates chatbot support, including Telegram bots, and offers tools like an email verifier to improve deliverability and compliance with data protection regulations.
Why Selzy is one of the top Substack alternatives
Selzy does more than newsletter publishing. It handles various email marketing features, including an AI email builder, an AI email assistant, and more. All these make it one of the Substack alternatives if you want a platform that combines newsletter capabilities with advanced email marketing tools to support broader campaign management.
Selzy vs. Substack pricing model
Selzy has three pricing segments.
Selzy Email pricing offers a monthly free plan, including access to add 2,000 contacts and 10,000 emails. Besides that, it has three paid plans.
This pricing is only for a 100-contact list. The charge will increase as your contact list grows.
It also has an Enterprise plan, with custom pricing when your contact list hits more than 500K.
Chatbot:
A free plan and Standard: $10/month and $7/month (when you pay annually) and
Email verifier:
When we compare Substack and Selzy’s pricing:
- Selzy lets you start for free with up to 100 contacts on your list, including personalization and automation features.
- You can launch a paid newsletter without upfront costs by integrating Stripe through Pabbly to receive payments directly. Substack doesn’t offer this option.
- Substack takes a commission from every subscriber payment. Whereas, in Selzy, paid plans begin at $7.50 per month when you're ready to upgrade, making it affordable.
Limitations
A common limitation that Selzy’s users say is that we cannot track whether the email reached the target audience.
Emerging Substack alternatives to consider
These emerging alternatives cater to specific creator needs, from WordPress-based publishing to minimal interfaces.
Here are a few you should know:
- Newsletter Glue: Newsletter Glue integrates with WordPress and lets you publish newsletters directly from your blog using your existing email marketing service.
- SendFox: SendFox is a simple email marketing tool designed for creators, even without subscribers or a website.
- Letter.so: Letter.so offers a minimalist, easy interface for writers who want to send email newsletters without added complexity.
- Lede: Lede is built for independent newsrooms and supports memberships and advanced analytics.
Conclusion: Choosing the right Substack alternative
Each Substack alternative serves a slightly different purpose — what works best for one creator may not suit another.
- If you're a blogger or creator wanting simple publishing with monetization, Ghost, Medium, or Buttondown might meet your needs.
- If analytics and automation matter more, MailerLite, Selzy, or Mailchimp offer broader email marketing features.
- Tools like Curated suit those focused on link-sharing and curation.
- Platforms like Beehiiv or Kit are more recent entrants with modern workflows.
- If you’re looking to go beyond newsletters and build a full digital product business — courses, communities, and more, FreshLearn can be worth exploring.
Next step: If you want an all-in-one alternative beyond newsletters and support product bundles, communities, and learning experiences, sign up for FreshLearn for free.
FAQ
1. Is there anything better than Substack?
Yes. FreshLearn offers more than Substack. It lets creators sell courses, digital products, run paid newsletters, and build communities, all in one platform. If you want to do more than just publish, FreshLearn gives you a flexible way to grow your digital business.
2. What's next after Substack?
After Substack, the next step is expanding how you engage and monetize your audience. FreshLearn helps you do that. It goes beyond newsletters by letting you create courses, offer memberships, and deliver personalized learning experiences. FreshLearn lets you control all your digital offerings, so you can build deeper connections and multiple income streams without juggling separate tools.
3. Who competes with Substack?
Several platforms compete with Substack by offering newsletter publishing and monetization tools with added features or different focuses. Here’s a list of notable Substack alternatives that cater to various creator needs:
- FreshLearn
- Beehiiv
- MailerLite
- Kit
- Medium
- Mailchimp
- Ghost
- Buttondown
- Curated
- Selzy
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