Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax
Substack, the once-bustling newsletter platform, is losing a new group of writers to rival platforms that most people haven’t heard of. Last month, The ankleone of Substack’s most popular publications, has moved to a platform that gives it more control over its site. Others who have left Substack over the past year have voiced similar complaints and cite the platform’s increased emphasis on social features as well as a pricing model that stifles their business.
Substack faced a talent drain in 2024 linked to its Nazi newsletter platform, but now it’s not just the platform’s stance on hate speech that’s driving creators away.
Sean Highkin, the creator of the NBA-focused publication The Rose Garden Reporttell The Rode that he’s making “a lot more money” after moving from Substack to Ghost last April. “When I first joined, [Substack] gave me a big boost, introduced me, and funneled a lot of traffic to me, which led to good growth,” Highkin says. “But once I was no longer one of the ‘new talent hires’ they could tout, they stopped featuring me and I saw my growth stagnate. Highkin now pays $2,052 per year using Ghost and an add-on called Outpost, compared to $4,968 per year with Substack. The Rose Garden Report‘s subscriber base has grown 22% since the end of 2024, according to Highkin.
It’s a similar story for creators moving to other platforms like Beehiiv. Matt Brown, the creator of Additional Pointswhich currently has 71,000 subscribers, moved away from Substack in 2021 and eventually landed on Beehiiv, where it saves thousands of dollars a year. “Given the size of my current publication, I would have to pay Substack over $25,000 per year in fees,” Brown says. “I pay Beehiiv about $3,000 in fees.”
The ankle – a popular entertainment industry publication – announced plans to leave Substack for Passport, a platform created through a partnership with WordPress.com owner Automattic and Strategy founder Ben Thompson. “This transition marks a defining moment in what has been underway: a move beyond newsletters to a fully integrated media company, now brought together into a single, easy-to-navigate home. » The ankleJanice Min and Richard Rushfield of , write in a blog post explaining the change.
“I didn’t want to be on a platform that had been gradually – and not so stealthily – enshittified.”
Min echoes this in a statement to Oliver Darcy Status newsletter, adage The ankle “it required more flexibility and control over products, revenue and audience relationships than the platform [Substack] allow. ” But The ankle is far from the only high-profile publication or newsletter to have switched to a Substack alternative in recent months. Last October, Cultural study Creator Anne Helen Petersen moved from Substack to Patreon, saying: “I didn’t want to be on a platform that had been gradually – and not so stealthily – enshittified. » Status also reports that The rampartthat of Mehdi Hasan Zétéoand that of Emily Sundberg Feed me have “quietly explored” moving to another platform.
Substack launched in 2017 as a platform for writers to create their own newsletters and manage paid subscribers. Unlike some of its biggest competitors, Substack takes a 10% cut of total subscription revenue. This fee may not seem like much at first, but it quickly adds up as creators gain subscribers and start charging more for subscriptions. A calculator on Substack’s website estimates that for a newsletter charging $10 per month with 400 subscribers, the total monthly cost — including the platform’s 10% cut and credit card processing fees — would come to $636. This cost rises to $15,900 per month for 10,000 subscribers and rises to $79,500 per month for 50,000 members, or nearly $1 million per year.
Many of Substack’s competitors charge a flat monthly fee rather than a commission. Ghost, an open source platform for blogging and newsletters, starts at $15 per month with 1,000 members for website building, email newsletter features, and a custom domain. Beehiiv, a creative platform with tools for launching a newsletter, website, and podcast, is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with limited access to certain features, like a built-in ad network, while the price of its other plans varies depending on the number of subscribers. Someone with 10,000 subscribers, for example, will pay $96 per month for Beehiiv’s “Scale” plan. There’s also Kit, a newsletter platform that offers a tiered pricing model similar to Beehiiv, costing $116 per month with 10,000 subscribers on its “Creator” plan.
Substack’s pricing isn’t the only problem for creators, as critics say it also locks writers and their subscribers into a closed ecosystem. On the one hand, Substack has limited integrations with third-party apps, leaving writers with the platform’s built-in toolset that may not have everything they need. It has added several new features over the years, including tools for podcasts, videos, and social media-like features like DMs. But it sparked controversy earlier this year with its new TV app and its integration with prediction marketplace Polymarket.
Creators also have to contend with the platform’s limited customization options, which can make it difficult to stand out in a sea of other newsletters. Substack also displays its branding at the bottom of newsletters, while “.substack.com” even appears in a creator’s website address if they don’t purchase a custom domain.
Meanwhile, competing services like Beehiiv and Ghost offer deeper customization options. In an interview with The edgeBeehiiv founder Tyler Denk likens the platform to Shopify, rather than Amazon, because it gives creators the tools and infrastructure to build an audience without displaying their brand on members’ websites. “We don’t want to take credit for the work of our content creators,” says Denk. The edge. “Shopify empowers and builds millions of these retailers’ websites and businesses, and you would have no idea you’re on a Shopify website, which is kind of the point.”
Substack is also investing heavily in building its own discovery and recommendation features, and while this may help some creators build an audience, it adds more pressure to participate in writing tweet-style “notes” to appear in a user’s algorithmic feed. Users who “follow” a writer through the Notes feature also do not subscribe to their newsletter. This might benefit Substack’s engagement, but it’s only a plus for writers if they get a new subscriber out of it.
This is because Substack owners can only export subscribers (not subscribers) when they leave the platform. Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie rejects claims that the platform is a “walled garden,” saying “no walled garden would allow you to export your email list, your content, and even your payment relationships at any time.” But he also admits that this portability doesn’t extend to subscribers, saying that Notes “is a growth engine that helps you get subscribers, which you can then export.”
Additionally, Substack has started allowing creators to enable in-app payments on its iOS app, but Apple handles those transactions – not publishing – and charges a 30% commission. Creators who leave Substack cannot take their Apple billing information with them.
“We’ve always believed that creators should take ownership of their relationship with their audience, including the freedom to leave if they choose,” Hanne Winarsky, Substack’s head of new media, said in an emailed statement. “At the same time, there are also many examples of editors and writers who returned to Substack after experimenting elsewhere, including SemiAnalysis, Glenn Greenwald, and Joe Posnanski, to name a few.” Substack is also working to expand its platform into other markets, with paid subscriptions for British personalities such as Charli XCX, Jamie Oliver and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer surpassing 500,000.
Platform Creator Casey Newton, who left Substack in 2024, says that while publishing saves Ghost money, “the most important thing is that we have a home on the open web that we control, and whatever anti-creator changes Substack is forced to make in the future to live up to its valuation, we won’t be affected by.”
Some high-profile departures may not mean the end of Substack, but it could signal a shift that positions the platform as a starting point for publications, rather than a permanent home. However, the rise of rival platforms may make it more difficult for new Substack publications to arrive that don’t want to be reduced to just that: Substacks.
