Starting costs nothing
Publishing is free however many subscribers you have, and Substack only earns once readers pay you.[8] Substack describes itself as “free to start and free to leave”.[16]
So, you want to start a Substack?
Good. Before you pick a name and press publish, it’s worth ten minutes to know what you’d be signing up to.
The short version
-
Substack keeps 10% of what readers pay Nazi newsletters, and its co-founder has said it won’t demonetize them.[1][2][3]
The Nazi problem -
Substack’s charts and push notifications have shown Nazi newsletters to readers who weren’t looking for them. On one chart, a Nazi newsletter sat one place below a history educator’s.[4][5]
“But I want the network” -
It calls itself a social media app now, and you can’t switch its Notes feed off.[6][7]
A social media app -
It keeps 10% of every paid subscription, and keeps taking it after you leave until someone removes the fee.[8][9][10]
The money -
When you leave, your followers stay behind, Apple subscribers can’t move, and the “Disconnect Stripe” button refunds everyone.[11][12][13]
Your paying subscribers when you leave
What Substack does better The honest catch with Ghost Sources
Who wrote this
We’re Magic Pages, and we run hosting for Ghost, one of the alternatives to Substack. That’s a reason to read us carefully. It isn’t why this page exists.
We believe in free speech, open-source software and democracy. Substack’s founders say they believe in free speech too.[2] We part ways at what the philosopher Karl Popper called the paradox of tolerance: “If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant […] then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”[14]
So we don’t host Nazi publications, and our terms say so.[15] Substack does, takes a cut of what they earn, and its charts have recommended them to new readers.[1][4] That’s why this page exists.
One
What Substack does better
Podcasts and video are built in
You can host a podcast and submit it to Apple Podcasts and Spotify,[17] post video, and go live to your subscribers, behind the paywall if you like. None of it costs extra.[18][19]
The network brings readers
In February 2024, Substack said its recommendations and app drive 50% of new subscriptions on the platform and 25% of new paid ones.[20] Its website now puts the paid figure at more than 30%.[16]
Casey Newton’s tech newsletter Platformer added more than 70,000 free subscribers in 2023, and he credits Substack’s recommendations and app with part of that.[21] A new Ghost site has nothing of that size on day one.
If you don’t know yet whether you’ll write every week, or whether anyone will pay, a free start and readers from the network are good reasons to start on Substack.
Two
The Nazi problem is a policy decision
In November 2023, Jonathan M. Katz searched Substack for The Atlantic and found “scores of white-supremacist, neo-Confederate, and explicitly Nazi newsletters”. At least 16 had swastikas or other Nazi symbols in their logos or graphics. Several carried Substack’s “bestseller” badge, which means hundreds of paying subscribers at least, and Substack keeps 10% of every payment. Katz also pointed out that they were a tiny fraction of the site.[1]
-
Writers on Substack published an open letter to its founders: “Why are you platforming and monetizing Nazis?”[22] By early January, 247 had signed it.[23]
-
Co-founder Hamish McKenzie replied that Substack wouldn’t remove the Nazi newsletters or stop them earning.[2][24] Censorship, “including through demonetizing publications”, doesn’t make the problem go away, he wrote: “in fact, it makes it worse.”
“We are committed to upholding and protecting freedom of expression, even when it hurts.”[2]
-
January 2024
Platformer sent Substack six Nazi publications, and Substack removed five of them under its existing rule against inciting violence. It didn’t change its policy, and said it wouldn’t go looking for others.[23][21] Platformer, Molly White’s Citation Needed and Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Day left the platform.[21][25][26]
-
The Guardian reported that Substack was still earning from Nazi newsletters. One of them, NatSocToday, had 2,800 subscribers and charged $80 a year. Substack didn’t respond when the Guardian asked for comment.[3]
-
CBC News reported that Mark Swierszcz, Substack’s head of Canadian partnerships, argues that its “refusal to oust extremists from the platform doesn’t represent a hole in their values but a commitment to upholding them”.[27]
Substack’s content guidelines draw the line at content that incites “violence based on protected classes”. On porn they’re shorter: “We don’t allow porn or sexually exploitative content on Substack”.[28]
Isn’t this true of every platform?
Every platform ends up hosting people it would rather not. The difference is what it does once it knows. Substack has said it won’t remove Nazi newsletters or stop them earning.[2]
Ghost’s CEO told Platformer that Ghost(Pro) “will remove pro-Nazi content, full stop”.[21] Our own terms ban content that “promotes or glorifies terrorism, violent extremism”, and let us remove it without notice.[15]
Three
“But I want the network”
Substack’s growth numbers are real. But the charts, recommendations and push notifications that bring you readers work the same way for every publication on Substack, Nazi ones included. Twice on record, they put a Nazi newsletter in front of people who weren’t looking for one.
· Substack’s “Rising in History” chart
- 1 History Can’t Hide A history newsletter by the educator Kahlil Greene
- 2 White Rabbit Tagline: “White Rabbits National Socialism”
Kahlil Greene’s history newsletter reached number one on Substack’s Rising chart for History. Right behind it, and climbing, was White Rabbit. Its bio quoted the white-supremacist slogan known as the “14 Words” and ended in 14/88, where 88 stands for “Heil Hitler”.[4][29]
Greene wrote: “When a platform’s algorithm puts Nazi propaganda next to legitimate historical education, it normalizes extremism.”[4] We rebuilt the chart from the screenshot in his post rather than reproduce the newsletter’s logo.
· Push notification
Substack’s app sent a push alert encouraging people to subscribe to NatSocToday, whose logo is a swastika.[5] Its profile recommended other white-nationalist publications, including White Rabbit, which the app was also promoting on its “rising” leaderboard.[30][31] Substack called it “a serious error”.[32] By August, with more than 8,600 subscribers, White Rabbit was one of the fastest-growing newsletters in Substack’s History category.[33]
Once a reader clicks
Recommendation systems show you more of what you’ve already looked at. On Substack, that includes Nazi newsletters.
· Recommendations
A former leader of the white-nationalist group Identity Evropa used Substack’s recommendations feature to point his readers to seven other white-nationalist and extremist publications.[1]
· Suggestions
Researchers mapping neo-Nazi newsletters grew their list by following Substack’s own suggestions, and found newsletters they hadn’t known about.[34]
· The algorithm
Within two hours of subscribing to NatSocToday for an investigation, the Guardian’s account had been directed to 21 other profiles with similar content.[3]
“People would download the Substack app to read Platformer; they would enable push notifications to be informed of new editions; and then sometime after that there would be a push featuring a publication with a swastika logo. Well, here we are.”
The readers it brings aren’t all yours
Some readers the network brings only follow you. They see your Notes, but they aren’t on your email list. Asked whether you get their emails, or can take the list if you leave, Substack’s help centre says: “No.”[11]
Ryan Broderick, who writes the internet-culture newsletter Garbage Day, had 5,000 people sign up through the app in a year. Thirty-seven became paying subscribers.[26] That’s one newsletter’s numbers, not a study.
Molly White, who writes Citation Needed, moved it off Substack in January 2024. On recommendations, which only work between Substack publications, she wrote: “It helps with Substack’s network effects, but it also traps people in a walled garden.”[10]
What this means for you
The chart that puts your newsletter in front of new readers is the chart that listed White Rabbit one place below Kahlil Greene. You don’t get to choose who you’re listed next to.
Four
You’d be joining a social media app
Substack’s founders pitched it in 2017 as the alternative to social media.[35]
2017
Social media platforms “war with each other to monopolize our attention”.[35]
2025
“Substack is social media. Yes, okay. It is.”[6]
2020
“We will never use algorithms that optimize for engagement.”[36]
Notes, Substack’s feed of short posts, launched in April 2023.[41] You can’t opt out of it: “Notes can’t be disabled or removed from your Substack account.”[7]
The app also changes how your posts reach people. With “smart notifications”, readers “primarily receive push notifications” about new posts, and get an email only if they haven’t opened the app in a while.[42] So how often those readers see your work depends on the app, not on when you hit send.
And since July 2026, any reader can run an AI-detection scan on what you publish. If you don’t want that, you switch it off by hand, one post at a time.[43]
Five
10% of everything, for as long as you stay
Publishing on Substack is free. Charging isn’t: Substack takes 10% of every transaction. Stripe’s card fees come on top, which in the US is 2.9% + 30¢ per payment plus 0.7% for recurring billing.[8] You’d pay Stripe on most platforms. The 10% is Substack’s own.
| Your readers pay you | Substack keeps |
|---|---|
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $25,000 | $2,500 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $250,000 | $25,000 |
10% of the figure on the left, before Stripe’s fees.
Luke O’Neil, who writes Welcome to Hell World: “I was paying like $10,000 or so a year to Substack to host my blog.”[44]
The fine print
- You can only take money Substack’s way. You agree to process reader payments “only in the manner determined by us”, which the Publisher Agreement says rules out links to PayPal or a separate Patreon page.[45]
- There’s a price floor. The lowest you can charge is $5 a month or $30 a year.[46]
- Your own domain costs $50, and your newsletters still go out from an @substack.com address.[47]
- Apple takes a cut too, and you can’t opt out. Since August 2025, every paid publication is also sold through Apple’s in-app purchase in the iOS app, and that “cannot be disabled while payments are connected”.[12][48] Apple charges an extra 15 to 30%. Substack raises your in-app price to cover it unless you choose to absorb the cost, and still takes its 10% of the web price.[12][48] Apple pays Substack for those subscriptions up to 45 days after the end of each month.[12]
Six
What happens to your paying subscribers when you leave
You might have heard that Substack locks up your Stripe account. For most writers it doesn’t. Your payments run through a Stripe account in your name, which you can log into yourself.[49] Ghost’s migration guide has you connect that same account, and paying subscribers carry on without interruption.[9][10]
-
“Disconnect Stripe” cancels everyone
Substack’s own help page says the option will “refund and notify all your paid subscribers by email” and “cancel all paid subscriptions to your newsletter”.[13]
-
Some Stripe accounts can’t come with you
Justin Duke, who runs the newsletter tool Buttondown, writes that a minority of Substack writers have “Express” Stripe accounts. Those stay attached to Substack and can’t be moved, so the subscribers have to be copied to a new account instead.[50]
-
Apple subscribers stay behind
Apple “does not transfer billing relationships between platforms”. You keep those readers’ email addresses and can invite them to subscribe again.[12]
Already on Substack? Before you touch anything
Don’t press “Disconnect Stripe”. Substack’s help centre says that if you’re moving platforms, you should ask its support for a human.[13] Ask them to remove Substack’s 10% fee, which Stripe calls an application fee, without cancelling or refunding any existing subscriptions. That’s the wording Buttondown recommends.[52]
If you’re moving to Ghost, its migration guide covers the rest.[9] If you move to Magic Pages, we do the migration with you at no cost.
Seven
A breach, no custom code, and anti-vaccine money
The breach
In February 2026, Substack told users that email addresses, phone numbers and other data had been taken. The stolen data dates back to October 2025. Passwords and card numbers weren’t affected.[53] Have I Been Pwned counts 663,000 affected accounts.[54]
No custom code
Substack doesn’t support custom CSS or HTML in its post editor.[55]
Anti-vaccine money
In 2022, the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated that five anti-vaccine newsletters brought in at least $2.5 million a year on Substack, with 10% of it going to the company.[56]
Eight
The honest catch with Ghost
It costs money from the first month
With us, that’s $15 a month or $150 a year, with 10,000 emails a month and unlimited members included. Beyond that, extra emails are billed per 10,000.[57] A weekly newsletter to 3,000 people is about 13,000 emails a month, so it would pay for extra emails. We don’t take a cut of what your readers pay you: payments run through Ghost’s own membership tools, with no extra fees.[57]
So Substack’s 10% only costs more than we do once your readers pay you more than $1,500 a year. Below that, Substack is cheaper. Our Substack vs. Ghost comparison works through the numbers at different sizes.
Someone has to run it
If you host Ghost yourself, you need a server with Node.js and MySQL,[58] and an account with Mailgun, an email delivery service, because it’s the only one Ghost supports for newsletters.[59] Updates, backups and making sure your emails land in inboxes are then your job. A managed host takes those off you, and that’s what the $15 pays for.
There’s no network the size of Substack’s
Ghost has recommendations, which you choose by hand,[60] and since Ghost 6 people can follow and reply to your posts from Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky and other apps that connect to it.[61] Ghost doesn’t publish how many readers those features bring in. Substack says its network brings in half of all new subscriptions on its platform.[20] On a new Ghost site, most of your first readers will come from you.
Five questions to ask any platform
- Does it take a cut of what your readers pay you?
- Is the payment account yours, and can you connect it somewhere else without cancelling anyone?
- Can you export every reader, with their name, paid status and payment details?
- Does your publication live at your own address, and do your emails come from it?
- What does it do when it finds out who else it hosts?
Ghost is open-source software from a non-profit organisation.[62] It takes no fee from your subscriptions: you connect your own Stripe account and the money goes to you.[63] Ghost(Pro), another host or your own server will all answer the first four questions the same way. The fifth depends on who runs it, and our answer is in our terms.
Where to publish instead
These are the places we’d point a friend to. We host Ghost, so we know that side best, and we’ve listed our competitors next to us.
Ghost, looked after for you
Ghost(Pro)
Hosting from Ghost itself, the non-profit that makes the software.[62]
ghost.orgMagic Pages
That’s us. Hosting for Ghost from a small team, and we move your Substack over with you at no cost.
Synaps Media
Hosting for Ghost from a small, self-funded team in the Netherlands, on servers in the EU.[64]
synapsmedia.comGhost, on your own server
Self-hosting Ghost
Ghost is open source, so you can run it yourself. Ghost’s own docs compare self-hosting with Ghost(Pro) and cover the setup.[65]
docs.ghost.orgNot Ghost
Buttondown
A newsletter tool. You connect your own Stripe account for paid subscriptions,[66] and Buttondown doesn’t take a cut: “You keep all of the money you make after credit card fees.”[67]
buttondown.comOpen Subscription Platforms
A list of subscription platforms, sorted by whether you can export your content, email addresses, customers and payments.[68] Useful for checking anything not on this page.
opensubscriptionplatforms.com