Substack review: easy and free to start, expensive once you earn

How Substack charges

From Substack’s going-paid page on 23 Oct 2026:

• Free to publish: no monthly fee for free newsletters and posts.
• Paid subscriptions: writers keep 90% of subscription revenue minus credit card fees, in Substack’s own words. In other words, Substack takes 10% plus card fees.

There’s no subscriber-based pricing. Your cost scales with revenue, not list size, which is the single biggest difference from beehiiv, Kit, MailerLite and AWeber.

What’s good

• No monthly fee. Cost scales with revenue, so an unmonetised list costs nothing, however large.
• Quick to start. You can publish in minutes.
• You can export your list, and Substack says you own your content and your list.
• Simple. Fewer settings means less to get wrong.

What’s not so good

• 10% of paid revenue is the highest take rate on the platforms we compare. At $1,000 a month of paid revenue that’s $100, plus card fees; beehiiv Lite lists $49 a month (billed yearly, at 1,000 subscribers) with a 0% take rate. See beehiiv vs Substack.
• Limited marketing automation and segmentation compared with dedicated email platforms.
• Limited branding and design control. If a branded site matters, see Ghost.
• Not built for business email. If you’re a small business, see email marketing for small business.

Who should choose Substack

• Writers who want to start today at no cost.
• Newsletters that will remain free or earn modestly.
• Anyone who wants the simplest possible setup and doesn’t need automation.

Who should skip it

• Paid newsletters expecting meaningful revenue: do the maths against beehiiv or Ghost.
• Marketers who want sequences and segments: see Kit or MailerLite.
• Brands wanting full design control.

The break-even maths

A flat fee beats a percentage once revenue passes a threshold. If a platform charges $49 a month and Substack takes 10%, the break-even is $490 a month of paid revenue (ignoring card fees, which apply either way). If your paid revenue is well under that, the percentage costs you less than the flat fee; well over, the flat fee wins. Plug in your own numbers from the pricing tracker.

Also remember that a free list on Substack costs nothing at any size. Platforms priced per subscriber charge for the whole list whether it earns or not, which is another reason to prune; see list quality and pruning.

What an operator should check before choosing

1. Will you charge? If yes, calculate the 10% against flat-fee alternatives at your target revenue.
2. Will you need automation or segments? If yes, plan for a different platform, or plan to migrate.
3. Practise your exit. Export your subscriber list once to see what you get; the migration checklist explains what to check.

Your first hour on Substack

1. Create a publication and publish a short welcome post.
2. Send it to yourself and a friend, and check the email renders well.
3. Export your subscriber list once, so you know what the file looks like.
4. Decide now what will make you move later: fee, automation or control.

Alternatives

• beehiiv: growth tools and a 0% take rate on paid plans; beehiiv review.
• Ghost: your own site; Ghost review.
• Kit: automation and a big free plan; Kit review.
• The full list is in Substack alternatives.

About this review

I’ve used Substack myself, but this isn’t a structured test. The fees come from Substack’s going-paid page (checked 23 Oct 2026, linked above and on the pricing tracker). We show no star ratings. Substack has no affiliate programme, so we earn nothing if you choose it. See the disclosure and how we review.