Buttondown vs. Substack

Substack is a newsletter tool that competes with us. They collect 10% (or more?) of your subscription revenue. They also have some questionable content policies that have driven some large publishers away. Feature-wise, though, how does it compare against Buttondown?

Price

Substack's pricing is a little different than Buttondown's. They don't charge for free newsletters of any size, but they take a whopping 10% cut of any paid subscriptions you do sell.

Assuming you have 20% of your subscribers on a paid plan for $10/month, here's how much you'd save by switching to Buttondown:

To be fair, if you're only sending free newsletters, Substack is going to be cheaper than us. But keep in mind that nothing is truly free online, and Substack's free plans are largely subsidized by venture capital. They are likely losing money. We're profitable. Our plans will remain among the most affordable in the email game, and your money goes directly to employing us & keeping the lights on.

Some people have also commented on how Substack has "network effects" that boost their subscriber count. But evidence has shown that Substack's readers tend to be less engaged and pay you less. And you don't keep as much money. And Substack might not even have your best interests in mind as they continue to develop their product. Do you want a big list if they don't really care about you?

In short, if you want to make money from your newsletter, we firmly believe we're a better option. You keep more money, pay us less, and our features will always be focused on your success.

Features

Buttondown is a more focused tool than Substack, allowing you to write faster & engage with your audience on your terms.

Buttondown is also a drop-in replacement for Substack's existing functionality. We can import your archives, subscribers, and payments in minutes, and your subscribers won't have to re-subscribe or re-enter their payment information.

That being said, Substack has some social features — like comments and "notes", their Twitter replacement — that Buttondown has deliberately chosen not to build so as to focus on the core newsletter experience.

Check out the full list of features below: