We Need to Talk About Substack
It's everywhere. I know.
I was an early adopter. I'm pretty sure I found it via Product Hunt back in 2018 and moved my Small and Simple newsletter there almost immediately.
I liked it – super clean, simple interface, just write and publish. Over time they added features like Notes and offered a simple way to set up paid tiers.
I wrote a few newsletters. I recommended it to others.
Then I learned more.
What Concerns Me
They (still) have a Nazi problem.
"The Nazi push alert was only possible because of Substack’s continued commitment to not only hosting but actively promoting authoritarian, Nazi-sympathizing, and other bigoted forms of extremism." – Jonathan M. Katz
It's one thing to allow this kind of hate speech, it's another to promote it.
"Substack has evolved beyond a traditional newsletter platform and now functions much more similarly to a modern social media app with algorithmic recommendations fueling internal discovery and growth." – Taylor Lorenz
Substack manages the algorithm and controls what you see and who sees you. That’s not open or transparent.
They also want you to call your work a “Substack” because it benefits them, not you.
“Email's been here for years...Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name because they control your audience and distribution, and they want to own your content and voice, too." – Anil Dash
"Only with Substack does anyone perceive creator branding as being subservient to the platform..." – John Gruber
If You're There For the Money
Substack charges $50 just to set up a custom domain. They also take 10% of your revenues, no matter how big or small you are.
"Ty makes more income on Ghost than on Substack, but it’s not because he’s getting more paid subscribers. It’s because Substack was taking a much bigger cut of the paid subscription pie." – Lex Roman
If you're monetizing your newsletter, you’ll likely be better off somewhere else.
Molly White has a breakdown of costs over time with Ghost vs. Substack if you're into that kind of thing.
An Ethical Layer
In social work ethics, we talk about dilemmas and trade-offs — rarely absolutes. In technology and business, there’s almost always tension between convenience, cost, and ethics.
I’m hesitant to use the word “exception.” I don’t think there’s an exception that makes Substack okay for me right now. But I am open to discussion and learning. I try to make the best decision I can with the information I have that day.
There’s no perfect platform.
Ghost has a few accessibility issues.
WordPress can be bloated and needs ongoing maintenance.
Buttondown’s feature set is smaller than Substack’s.
The Open Web
"every single new feature Substack releases, from their social sharing to their mobile apps, is proprietary and locks you into their network" – Anil Dash
The open, federated web is a beautiful thing.
I use Ghost for Drifter Life and the Design For All Learners book website and community because it's easy to write and publish via web and email. And, if you're monetizing, you keep all the money (minus hosting fees), not just 90% of it.
I use WordPress and Buttondown for Ethical Methods. Partly because I wanted more control over the website than Ghost provides, and partly because I wanted to fully experience and test Buttondown, which is excellent so far.
"In short, I wanted a solution that was based on the open web and that was entirely under my control." – Richard MacManus
A Few More Notable Opinions
"Substack does not have a clear future as a newsletter business, I'm not the first to notice that. But it doesn’t have to fail outright to be a disaster. It just has to keep trying to become a life-sized map of the internet: maximum content, maximum churn." – Ana Marie Cox
"I was on Substack, and then they turned into a nest of fascists. More likely they were always a nest of fascists and finally showed their true colors. And I don't sit with Nazis, so I asked around about other services." – Mike Monteiro
"There is no such thing as a perfect place on the internet. But it’s possible to avoid the ones that aren’t even pretending to try to be better. The best time to leave Substack was a long time ago. The second best time is now." – Marisa Kabas
"Leaving Substack behind is probably a better idea than staying no matter your circumstance...it costs less than I feared it would. It was scarier than I thought it would be, but it was easier than I thought it would be, and I’m very glad I did it." – A.R. Moxon
If you’re thinking about leaving Substack:
Here's a great collection of resources and tips: How to Leave Substack.
If you want to talk it through, reply to this email or contact me.
Is Substack still right for you right now? Maybe. But know what you’re trading, and make your choice on purpose.
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