Info
Substack actively platforms and allows neo-Nazis, transphobes, white supremacists, vaccine-deniers, and other bad actors to monetize and spread hate speech and misinformation.
Substack's revenue-sharing model means that 10% of all profits from your newsletter support Substack, and as a result, Substack is actively profiting off of publications known to cause harm to various minority groups.
Check out this thread on Bluesky with information from people who have left Substack:
Alternative Platforms
This is a non-exhaustive list of alternative platforms with various feature offerings in the monetized newsletter space.
- Beehiiv offers a free plan for up to 2,500 subscribers and can help you migrate your existing Substack publication
- Buttondown has a free plan for up to 100 subscribers and will offer free migration for existing publications with over 100 subscribers
- Ghost can be self-hosted or you can use one of their hosting options. It has a neat tool to help you migrate from Substack
- Kit (formerly ConvertKit) has one of the most generous free tiers, allowing up to 10,000 subscribers. They also will do free migrations
- Medium is an alternative that hosts blogs and newsletters
- Memberful has a single pricing tier regardless of size. They can also help you migrate from Substack
- WordPress is another alternative that allows for self-hosted sites. They can also help you to migrate from Substack
Although not built specifically for blogs and newsletters, Ko-Fi and Patreon are popular among many creators.