Writers Are Fleeing the Substack Tax (theverge.com) 24
A growing number of writers are leaving Substack for alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport. The reason, writes The Verge's Emma Roth, is the "platform's increased focus on social features as well as a pricing model that puts a chokehold on their business." From the report: Sean Highkin, the creator of the NBA-focused publication The Rose Garden Report, tells The Verge that he makes "significantly more money" after switching from Substack to Ghost last April. "When I first joined up, [Substack] gave me a big push and featured me and funneled a lot of traffic to me, which led to a good amount of growth," Highkin says. "But once I wasn't one of the 'new recruited talent' they could tout, they stopped featuring me and I saw my growth stagnate." Highkin now pays $2,052 per year using Ghost and an add-on called Outpost, compared to $4,968 per year on Substack. The Rose Garden Report's subscriber base has grown 22 percent since the end of 2024, Highkin says. [...]
Substack launched in 2017 as a platform that allows writers to create their own newsletters and manage paying subscribers. Unlike some of its biggest rivals, Substack takes a 10 percent cut of total subscription revenue. That tax may not seem substantial at first, but it quickly adds up as creators gain subscribers and begin charging more for their subscriptions. A calculator on Substack's own website estimates that for a newsletter charging $10 per month with 400 subscribers, the total monthly cost -- including the platform's 10 percent cut and credit card processing fees -- would add up to $636. That cost jumps to $15,900 per month with 10,000 subscribers and skyrockets to $79,500 per month for 50,000 members -- nearly $1 million per year.
Many Substack rivals charge a flat monthly fee, rather than a commission. Ghost, an open-source platform for blogs and newsletters, starts at $15 per month with 1,000 members for website creation, email newsletter capabilities, and a custom domain. Beehiiv, a creator platform with tools for launching a newsletter, website, and podcast, is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with limited access to certain features, like a built-in ad network, while its other plans vary in price based on subscriber count. A person with 10,000 subscribers, for example, will pay $96 per month for Beehiiv's "Scale" plan. There's also Kit, a newsletter platform that offers a tiered pricing model similar to Beehiiv, costing $116 per month with 10,000 subscribers on its "Creator" plan. It's not just the 10% fee critics are complaining about; they also argue the platform offers limited customization and third-party integrations compared to some of the mentioned alternatives, heavily promotes its own branding and social features, and makes creators more dependent on its ecosystem.
Beehiiv founder Tyler Denk argues that creators should be able to build their own brands without the platform taking center stage: "We don't want to take credit for the work of our content creators." While writers can export subscribers, content, and some payment relationships, they cannot take Substack "followers" or Apple-managed iOS billing data with them.
Substack launched in 2017 as a platform that allows writers to create their own newsletters and manage paying subscribers. Unlike some of its biggest rivals, Substack takes a 10 percent cut of total subscription revenue. That tax may not seem substantial at first, but it quickly adds up as creators gain subscribers and begin charging more for their subscriptions. A calculator on Substack's own website estimates that for a newsletter charging $10 per month with 400 subscribers, the total monthly cost -- including the platform's 10 percent cut and credit card processing fees -- would add up to $636. That cost jumps to $15,900 per month with 10,000 subscribers and skyrockets to $79,500 per month for 50,000 members -- nearly $1 million per year.
Many Substack rivals charge a flat monthly fee, rather than a commission. Ghost, an open-source platform for blogs and newsletters, starts at $15 per month with 1,000 members for website creation, email newsletter capabilities, and a custom domain. Beehiiv, a creator platform with tools for launching a newsletter, website, and podcast, is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with limited access to certain features, like a built-in ad network, while its other plans vary in price based on subscriber count. A person with 10,000 subscribers, for example, will pay $96 per month for Beehiiv's "Scale" plan. There's also Kit, a newsletter platform that offers a tiered pricing model similar to Beehiiv, costing $116 per month with 10,000 subscribers on its "Creator" plan. It's not just the 10% fee critics are complaining about; they also argue the platform offers limited customization and third-party integrations compared to some of the mentioned alternatives, heavily promotes its own branding and social features, and makes creators more dependent on its ecosystem.
Beehiiv founder Tyler Denk argues that creators should be able to build their own brands without the platform taking center stage: "We don't want to take credit for the work of our content creators." While writers can export subscribers, content, and some payment relationships, they cannot take Substack "followers" or Apple-managed iOS billing data with them.
Haven't heard of? (Score:3)
... alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport
I can't comment on Ghost, Beehiiv, or Passport; but even I have heard of Patreon, and that pretty much ensures that everyone and his dog knows about it. I would guess that Patreon and Substack have about equal name recognition among the general population.
Re: Haven't heard of? (Score:5, Insightful)
I would definitely argue Patreon has way more brand recognition than Substack. Substack is very focused on media personalities and fired news anchors. If you're not a political or news junkie, you're not likely to come across it often. Patreon is advertised in 2/3 YouTube videos.
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... alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport
I can't comment on Ghost, Beehiiv, or Passport; but even I have heard of Patreon, and that pretty much ensures that everyone and his dog knows about it. I would guess that Patreon and Substack have about equal name recognition among the general population.
Yeah, I saw "...alternatives most people haven't heard of like... Patreon", and was thinking, "What year is this?"
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They'll learn all about Patreon just as soon as they discover this hidden gem of user-recorded videos called "YouTube".
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They'll learn all about Patreon just as soon as they discover this hidden gem of user-recorded videos called "YouTube".
In a book that refers to Netflix as "a new upstart service that Blockbuster Video should be wary of."
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Tax is the wrong term (Score:5, Insightful)
As for the "storage and network access cosst are low" argument, a product is priced on value, not cost. Generating large readerships that make a lot of money for an other has value beyond the actual costs to the company that does that; and if you buy the costs determine price argument than charging $10 for a newsletter that costs nearly nothing for the nth copy means the writer should also charge a lot less as well. After all, why shoul they make a million dolalrs for something that cost them mayber a few hundred thousand (assuming 2000 work hours at say 100/hour) to produce.
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Yeah, taxes are generally unavoidable for most people.
Hosting a blog on Substack is just a market choice among so many.
Apple and Google stores are a bit more grey; I'd allow it.
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Well, FWIW, I've never found a site *through* substack. They were always referrals from something else I was reading, which might have been *on* substack.
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Yeah, lexical shortcuts like that are a part of the techbro reductionist mindset.
If you "have to" publish without the knowledge and effort of hosting, processing payments, managing subscriptions and promotions, you "have to" go through a publishing platform.
If you "have to" be on the platform that's most popular and will maximize your immediate growth and payout, you gotta be on Substack.
If you "have to" pay a fee to be active, it's a "tax".
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One aspect of enshittification that people don't talk about much is that sites do need to make money to continue. They can't be free forever. Often they make money in really shitty ways, like the recent RTINGS debacle with subscriptions, but you are absolutely right that none of them can continue to provide a free service forever when servers and staff cost money.
It's impossible to know how worthwhile a $2000/year saving (using one of the examples in the summary) is. They say their audience grew by 22% in a
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Yes they can. If musicians, software companies, and movie producers don't need to be paid for what they produce, these sites don't need to be paid either.
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Yeah, exactly. It's not like it's all that hard to just put up your own website. It's just not something most writers can do, or want to do.
So ... oh the injustice! - they have to pay someone else to do it.
If it's just a "tax" and you get no value from it, then go ahead, create and maintain your own website. Since it's so easy that it should be free.
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As for the "storage and network access cosst are low" argument, a product is priced on value, not cost.
Yes, and what this article is about is the value of the service declining, so people are leaving for services with a better value proposition.
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As for the "storage and network access cosst are low" argument, a product is priced on value, not cost.
Yes, and what this article is about is the value of the service declining, so people are leaving for services with a better value proposition.
Which is the beauty of competition. If they can migrate to a platform that costs less and keep their existing base, grow it and make more money from a different site, that's great; and SubStack will have to adapt or die.
The other question is what happens when these cheaper sites see the revenue they generate for their users? Will they decide they want a bigger slice.
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If you're paying a million a year (and making 9 million) you definitely should be thinking how you can get off that platform. You could hire a bunch of AI-wielding programmers and devops to make a site just for you for less than half a million a year - and actually run it professionally enough too - no vibe coded crap. I'm sure there are other providers who would love to host your well visited content and so whatever other services for less than substack charges.
Usually sites offer discounts on volume, beca
news for writers (Score:2)
stuff that matters
Nazis are bad (Score:1)
People are also leaving because Substack continues to provide a platform for, and profit from, Nazis:
https://www.theguardian.com/me... [theguardian.com]
Just get a blog (Score:2)
If you want to write, just get a blog. No ads, no "tax", no enshittification. Neither for you nor for your users. It costs you like 5 USD per month and you can show that you care about what you publish.
Wha? (Score:2)
"alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport"
Yeah, for sure nobody's heard of that Patreon thingy.