The best Substack alternatives, and how to move without losing subscribers
Every alternative here is measured against Substack directly: what you gain, what you give up, and whether your paying subscribers can come with you. Then the move itself, including the one button that cancels every paid subscription.
10 minute read
| Platform | Revenue cut vs Substack's 10% | Imports Substack paid subscribers? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substack (for reference) | 10% plus Stripe fees | Not applicable | Growth through its app and network |
| Ghost | 0% on Publisher and up; Stripe fees only | Yes, on the same Stripe account | A full site with memberships on your own domain |
| Buttondown | 0%; Stripe fees only | Yes, same Stripe; free done-for-you move | Cheap, text-first paid newsletters |
| Kit | 3.5% + $0.30 per payment, card fees included | No, readers subscribe again | Free lists up to 10,000 and selling products |
| MailerLite | 0% on paid plans; Stripe fees only | Not covered in its Substack guide | A website, blog and email in one |
| Patreon | 10% for new pages, plus processing | No Substack import documented | Podcasters and video creators selling memberships |
| Kajabi | No revenue share; 2.9% + $0.30 card fee on Basic (US) | No importer; outside Stripe subscriptions on request | Courses and communities alongside a newsletter |
What Substack's 10 percent actually costs
Substack's cost grows with you. At the time of writing (October 2026), publishing on Substack is free at any list size, and Substack makes its money from 10 percent of every paid subscription payment. Stripe's processing comes on top: 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per US card payment, and 0.7 percent for Stripe Billing. On a $10 monthly subscription, Substack keeps $1.00, Stripe keeps 66 cents, and you net $8.34, so about a sixth of the price is gone. A $100 annual subscription nets $86.10. You pay a card processor on every alternative too, so compare the platform's own share. The 10 percent is also the reason with the best-documented exit. When Casey Newton moved Platformer to Ghost in January 2024, with more than 170,000 free subscribers and paying readers in the thousands, he wrote that dropping the 10 percent share would save the publication tens of thousands of dollars a year. A flat fee only beats a percentage above a certain revenue, so the sections below give the break-even point for each flat-fee plan.
The reasons that are not about money
Substack also limits how your publication looks and whose name your mail builds, and its own help centre says so. You cannot add custom CSS or HTML to posts or embed a raw iframe, and the site's look comes from a website editor with preset layouts. A custom domain is a one-time $50, but Substack's documentation says emails are still sent from a substack.com address. You can change the sender name, not the address, so years of sending build Substack's reputation rather than yours. In October 2025 Substack described itself as a social media app, and its About page says more than half of new subscribers come from its built-in network and more than 30 percent of paid subscriptions come from inside it. That network does real work for writers, and it is also what critics object to. In December 2023 co-founder Hamish McKenzie said Substack would remove accounts that made credible threats of violence but would not otherwise remove or demonetise Nazi publications, arguing that censorship makes the problem worse. Substack then removed five of the six pro-Nazi publications Platformer reported to it. Newton's post announcing the move argued that Recommendations, the weekly digest and Notes, which he credited with helping Platformer add more than 70,000 free subscribers in 2023, could grow such publications too. Whatever you make of that, the more of your growth comes through Substack's app, the more of your audience is Substack's relationship rather than yours.
What you give up by leaving
Leaving is a trade, and every alternative here is weaker than Substack at something. If a large share of your recent subscribers arrived through Substack's recommendations, Notes or app, nothing on this list replaces that. Substack also gives each subscriber a private podcast feed, lets paid subscribers hear paid episodes on Spotify by linking their accounts, hosts native and live video, and runs a native sponsorship programme, open to Bestseller publications or those with at least 100 paid subscribers, in which its team may contact you when a brand is a match. From 1 December 2026 it will calculate, collect and remit sales tax and VAT on paid subscriptions at no extra cost, except for publishers in Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, India and Thailand. Leave, and tax goes back to you or to your new platform on its own terms; Kit, for example, collects VAT but not US sales tax. The case for moving is strongest when your paid revenue is large, your growth already comes from outside Substack, and you want to own the domain your mail comes from. If you have not picked a first platform yet, our guide to newsletter platforms for creators starts from zero instead.
Ghost: the closest like-for-like move
Ghost is where Platformer went, and it is the closest match to Substack's mix of website, paid tiers and email. You get a 0 percent cut of paid subscriptions, payments through your own Stripe account, no Ghost branding on any plan, and native video and audio cards in posts. Ghost's built-in Substack migrator imports your posts, free subscribers and paid subscribers, and paid subscribers keep their billing when you connect the same Stripe account Substack used. The catch is the plan. Ghost(Pro) has no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the cheapest tier, Starter at $18 a month, cannot take paid subscriptions or send from your own domain. A paid Substack therefore needs Publisher: $35 a month at 1,000 members or $105 a month at 10,000, which is $29 and $88 a month billed annually. Members means free and paid sign-ups together. Against Substack's 10 percent, Publisher costs less once you earn more than $350 a month at 1,000 members, or $1,050 a month at 10,000. Ghost does not generate a podcast feed on its own; members-only podcasts run through an official Transistor integration that needs a separate Transistor account. You also swap Substack's network for a smaller one: recommendations between sites, an opt-in directory called Ghost Explore, and posts people can follow from Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon, which Ghost still labels beta.
Kit: a smaller fee, but paid subscribers start over
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is built around automations and selling, and it has the largest free plan of the email platforms here: up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited broadcasts, and paid newsletters, tips and digital products even on Free. Its fee on sales is 3.5 percent plus 30 cents per transaction, card processing included. On a $10 payment you lose 65 cents, against $1.66 on Substack once Stripe's share is added. The problem is the move. Kit makes you open a new Kit-managed Stripe Express account even if you already have Stripe, and its Substack guide says there is no convenient way to bring paying subscribers over with their payment details. Its suggested route is to cancel the Substack subscriptions and ask readers to subscribe again. There is no post importer either, so the archive is rebuilt by hand as backdated broadcasts. What Kit does keep is a network: the Creator Network lets you recommend other creators and be recommended back on every plan, and Paid Recommendations pay you per referred subscriber, with Kit keeping 23.5 percent and a paid plan required to earn. Automations need the Creator plan, $39 a month at 1,000 subscribers or $139 at 10,000. There is no podcast hosting. Kit suits a free newsletter, or a writer who sells products more than subscriptions.
MailerLite, Patreon and Kajabi: right for narrower jobs
MailerLite pairs email with a website builder and blog, takes 0 percent of paid subscriptions and connects to your own Stripe account, with paid newsletters on its Comfort plan at $19 a month for 1,000 subscribers or $89 for 10,000. Comfort beats Substack's share above $190 a month in revenue at 1,000 subscribers. Its free plan stops at 250 subscribers and cannot sell subscriptions, and its Substack guide covers importing the free list by CSV and says nothing about paid subscribers or posts. Patreon suits podcasters and video creators who want memberships more than a newsletter. Turn on RSS and each member gets a private podcast feed that works in apps like Apple Podcasts and Overcast. But pages published after 4 August 2025 pay the same 10 percent as Substack plus processing, emails come from a shared Patreon address, Patreon rather than you holds the payment relationship, and we found no Substack import in its help centre, so paying readers would have to join again. Kajabi is for creators selling courses, coaching or communities as well as a newsletter. It takes no revenue share, hosts podcasts with an RSS feed, and runs an ad network called Amplify where publishers keep 80 percent. There is no free plan, and Basic costs $179 a month for 2,500 contacts, which only beats Substack's share above $1,790 a month in revenue. It has no Substack importer, but it migrates active Stripe subscriptions created outside Kajabi on request, typically in one to three weeks, so ask whether yours qualify.
Three popular picks that cannot take a paying list
Mailchimp is a capable marketing email tool, but its plans document no native paid subscriptions, and its free plan now stops at 250 contacts and 500 sends a month. LinkedIn Newsletters reach your LinkedIn network for free, but LinkedIn shows you each subscriber's name, photo, job title and headline rather than an email address, documents no way to export the list, and describes no paid subscriptions. Medium pays writers through its Partner Program, based on how its members read paywalled stories, and since April 2025 it no longer shares readers' email addresses with writers. All three can help with reach, but none is somewhere to move a paying list.
Export first, and list what stays behind
Do the export before anything changes. In Substack, Settings, then Exports, then Create new export gives you a zip of your posts, subscriber list and stats, and the Subscribers page exports a CSV, though subscriber names cannot be exported. Then list what will not come with you. Notes followers are not subscribers, and Substack's help centre answers whether you can take your follower list with a flat no. Readers who subscribed through Apple's in-app purchase in the Substack iOS app are billed by Apple, which Substack switched on for every paid publication in August 2025 with no opt-out, and Apple does not transfer billing relationships between platforms. You keep their email addresses and can invite them to subscribe again on the web. If your publication only ever lived at a name.substack.com address, Substack documents no way to redirect it to an outside site, and it says inactive subdomains may be reassigned. For podcasters, Substack documents moving a show in, with a redirect at the old host, but not moving one out, so confirm with support how your feed will move before you announce anything.
Moving paid subscribers without cancelling them
Web subscribers can move because their billing lives in a Stripe account you created and own, which Substack only connects to. Substack's own FAQ says web subscriptions transfer normally with full billing information. That is why Ghost and Buttondown can import them: you connect the same Stripe account to the new platform and the subscriptions carry on. The button to avoid is Disconnect Stripe in Substack's settings. It refunds and notifies all your paid subscribers, cancels every paid subscription and revokes Substack's access to your Stripe account. Instead, once the new platform has imported your paid subscribers from the same Stripe account, contact Substack support and ask for a human specialist, as its help page suggests for moves. Ask them to disconnect Stripe and remove the 10 percent application fee without cancelling or refunding any existing subscriptions. That matters because Ghost's migration guide warns that Substack will keep taking 10 percent of existing paid subscriptions until the fee is removed. Afterwards, change the statement descriptor in Stripe, which may still say Substack on your readers' card statements.
Domains, redirects and a sending domain with no history
If you set up a custom domain on Substack, you own it, so you can point its DNS at the new host. The new platform then has to catch Substack's post URLs, which start with /p/. Ghost documents a redirects.yaml rule for this, and Buttondown redirects them automatically. Sending is the part people miss: because Substack sent from substack.com, the domain you are about to send from has never carried your newsletter. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC before the first send; our guide to starting a newsletter covers what each record does and what Google expects of bulk senders. Then build up rather than sending to the whole list on day one: send the first issues to the readers who opened most recently, watch bounces and spam complaints, and widen from there.
Tell readers before the sender changes
The easiest way to lose readers in a move is a sender they do not recognise, so announce it from Substack first. Say when it happens and what the new from-address will be, and ask readers to add it to their contacts. If you moved paid subscribers on the same Stripe account, tell them plainly that their subscription carries over and that the name on their card statement may change. Write separately to anyone billed by Apple, since they have to subscribe again on the web; Substack says its support team can work with you on that outreach. Post a Note pointing to the new sign-up page, because on Substack it is the only way to reach followers who never gave you an email.
Replacing the network you leave behind
The real cost of leaving is the growth Substack's app was doing for you. Ghost's recommendations and Explore directory, and Kit's Creator Network, come closest to replacing it, while Buttondown gives every subscriber a referral link but leaves the rewards to you. Past that, growth has to come from wherever your audience already spends time, and for anyone who records a podcast or video that means short clips with a reason to subscribe, as how to turn viewers into subscribers explains. FrameOS turns a long recording into captioned vertical clips, which keeps that channel running while your attention goes into the move.
FAQ
Can I move paid subscribers off Substack?
Yes, if the new platform connects to the same Stripe account Substack used. Ghost and Buttondown both import Substack paid subscriptions that way, so readers keep their billing without re-entering card details. Kit's own guide says there is no convenient way to carry them over, and subscribers who pay through Apple in the Substack iOS app cannot be moved anywhere. Never use Disconnect Stripe in Substack's settings, which cancels and refunds every paid subscription; ask Substack support to remove its fee instead.
Will I lose subscribers when I switch from Substack?
You keep everyone with an email address, but you lose Notes followers and the growth Substack's network was sending you. Substack says more than half of new subscribers come from that network, so look at where your recent subscribers came from first. Readers billed through Apple must subscribe again on the web, and a sending domain with no history needs a gradual start to avoid landing in spam.
What is the cheapest Substack alternative?
It depends on whether your paying subscribers need to come with you. Kit's free plan has no monthly fee up to 10,000 subscribers and charges 3.5 percent plus 30 cents per payment, card fees included, so a small paid list usually costs least there, but Kit cannot import Substack paid subscriptions and readers would have to subscribe again. The cheapest option that keeps them is Buttondown: $9 a month up to 1,000 subscribers, with no cut of paid subscriptions, plus Stripe's fees. Substack itself costs nothing until you take payments, then keeps 10 percent.
Does Substack keep taking 10 percent after I leave?
It can, until you ask it to stop. Ghost's migration guide warns that Substack continues to take 10 percent of existing paid subscriptions moved on the same Stripe account. Buttondown's guide suggests asking Substack support to disconnect Stripe and remove the application fee without cancelling or refunding any subscriptions, a step its guide puts after your paid subscriptions are imported.
Is Ghost better than Substack?
Ghost is better if you want your own design, your own sending domain and no cut of paid subscriptions, and worse if most of your growth comes from Substack's network. A paid publication needs Ghost's Publisher plan at $35 a month for 1,000 members, which costs less than Substack's 10 percent once you earn more than $350 a month.
Sources
- How much does Substack cost? · Substack
- About Substack · Substack
- How do I set up my custom domain on Substack? · Substack
- How do I export my posts? · Substack
- In-app payments (IAP) FAQ · Substack
- How do I turn off paid subscriptions on Substack? · Substack
- Why Platformer is leaving Substack · Platformer
- Ghost pricing · Ghost
- Migrating from Substack · Ghost
- Buttondown pricing · Buttondown
- Paid Email Newsletter Subscriptions · Buttondown
- Migrating from Substack · Buttondown
- Kit pricing · Kit
- Migrating from Substack to Kit · Kit
- MailerLite pricing · MailerLite
- Free Substack Alternative · MailerLite
- How to migrate from Substack to MailerLite · MailerLite
- A standard platform fee for new creators, effective after August 4, 2025 · Patreon
- Kajabi pricing · Kajabi
- Migrate Stripe subscriptions and payment plans to Kajabi Payments · Kajabi
- Substack is a social media app · Substack
- How do I set up a Creator Kit on Substack? · Substack
- Upcoming changes to tax on Substack · Substack
- What is following on Substack? · Substack
- How long can I keep my Substack subdomain or handle? · Substack
- About Mailchimp pricing plans · Mailchimp
- Audience stats · Medium
