Best Substack alternatives in 2026
Substack takes 10% of your paid subscription revenue — forever. If you have 500 paying subscribers at $7/month, that's $4,200/year paid to Substack. Here are the best alternatives, with honest comparisons.
Why writers are leaving Substack
10% revenue cut
Substack takes 10% of every dollar your readers pay. On $10k/month in paid subscriptions, that's $1,000/month going to Substack forever.
No custom domain on free plan
Your newsletter is at yourname.substack.com. Custom domains require a paid plan.
Limited blog features
Substack is newsletter-first. Its blog/web presence is functional but lacks features like tag archives, series, reading lists, and SEO tools.
No AI writing assistance
Substack has no built-in AI writing tools. You switch between your editor and a separate AI tool.
Algorithm dependency
Substack Recommendations and the home feed are algorithmic. Your growth depends partly on Substack's decisions about what to surface.
Substack alternatives compared
webyoo
AI co-author + newsletter + 0% cut
Price
Free
Revenue cut
0%
Newsletter
Included
AI writing
Yes — built in
The best choice if you want to own your platform, keep 100% of revenue, and write with AI assistance.
Start for free →Ghost
Open-source, self-hostable newsletter platform
Price
$9–$199+/mo
Revenue cut
0%
Newsletter
Included
AI writing
No
Powerful and 0% cut, but Ghost's hosted plans are expensive. Self-hosting Ghost requires technical skill.
Beehiiv
Newsletter-first platform built by ex-Morning Brew team
Price
Free / $42+/mo for paid subs
Revenue cut
0% on Scale plan; limited free
Newsletter
Excellent
AI writing
Partial (AI writing tools on paid plan)
Newsletter-optimised with strong analytics. Free plan limits are significant; paid plans pricey.
Medium
The original creator platform
Price
Free to publish
Revenue cut
Earnings via Medium Partner Program (algorithm-based)
Newsletter
No
AI writing
No
Good for discovery but you don't own your audience. Revenue is algorithm-dependent. No newsletter.
ConvertKit / Kit
Email marketing platform pivoting to creator tools
Price
Free (limited) / $29+/mo
Revenue cut
3.5% + payment fees on paid newsletters
Newsletter
Excellent
AI writing
No
Best-in-class email deliverability. But primarily an email tool, not a blogging platform. Expensive at scale.
Paragraph
Web3-native newsletter platform
Price
Free / 5% fee
Revenue cut
5%
Newsletter
Included
AI writing
No
Interesting for crypto/web3 audiences. Not suitable for mainstream writers.
Migrate from Substack in minutes
Export your Substack posts (Account → Settings → Exports → Create new export). Upload the ZIP to webyoo — posts import as drafts, subscribers import via CSV. Your audience comes with you.
Full Substack migration guide →Stop paying 10% to Substack.
webyoo is free to start and takes 0% of your paid subscription revenue. AI co-author included.
Create your free blog →