Substack
The most recommended of 12 blogging platforms
Lets writers publish free newsletters and charge subscribers, with built-in discovery and email distribution. Common caveat: its fees and push toward a social-feed design.
Lets writers publish free newsletters and charge subscribers, with built-in discovery and email distribution. Common caveat: its fees and push toward a social-feed design.
248 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 87
- criticize it
- 161
- approval share
- 35%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 87 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy paid subscriptions for writers
“The tool gives writers a low-friction mechanism to charge for premium content, and works on most people's devices.”
Comment from 29 May 2026 in “Please Use AI” “they make it super easy to pay $8-15/mo which the best readers won't even miss”
Comment from 9 Jul 2026 in “A Possible Future for Damn Interesting” “substack gives a large percent of the value directly to content creators”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Gilded Rage – Why Silicon Valley went from libertarian to authoritarian” - Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “Our investigation into the suspicious pressure on Archive.today”
- Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Gilded Rage – Why Silicon Valley went from libertarian to authoritarian”
Built-in discovery brings new readers
“Substack discovery does carry some value - about 65% of my new subscribers come via the various Substack mechanisms”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “In Substack I often get recommendations from other writers, and you can also refer to people you respect as well.”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “Substack gives a really nice exposure though, unlike medium and other platforms.”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” - Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?”
Neutral platform, open to publishers
“Substack is not in the business of censoring or deciding who gets to publish on their platform according to one group's political preferences”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “Substack gives you a way to push content to your subscribers without an intermediary deciding what they get to read.”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “Substack was one of the first "mainstreamish" platforms to go "against the grain" and try to be neutral”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax” - Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax”
Free to start, no hosting
“Substack is free - so there are no hosting costs. Everything is managed for you.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “Substack will do it for you for free, and it also lowers the friction”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “I have been writing a niche history blog for 15 years” “substack is probably the easiest starting point, no algorithm to fight”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: Oh, What Places to Go (Seriously Tho)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Drifting toward a social network
“Substack's social media side is very Twitter-esque. Writers you follow "restack" publications (some of which are full of AI slop, unbeknownst to the restacker)”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “I Miss Terry Pratchett” “Sub stack is trying to turn itself into a social network, so comments on substack posts by other substack bloggers let people find other blogs.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “substack has devolved into the same thing. opening the app first thing you see if a infinite scroll of twitter like takes”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Amodei Re. Regulation” Pushy popups, ads and app promotion
“The moment I get those popups on Substack or similar, to login to continue reading, those writers have lost a reader.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “They plaster your emails with ads to download their app and will even email your list whenever they feel like it”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” Weak data export options
“It would be nice if services like Substack supported exportability, so when a writer eventually becomes successful enough to migrate away”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” “Substack allows for exporting posts (which would be good to do regularly just for backups in case of (account) compromise)”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Substack writers, you need a website” Unproven long-term business model
“Slapping a Stripe integration on the backend hasn't led to Substack becoming a sustainable business not propped up by VC cash.”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “Google Search as you know it is over” “whatever anti-creator changes Substack is forced to make in the future to live up to its valuation we won't be affected by”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax”
Other blogging platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other blogging platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SubstackThis page | 87 | 161 | 35% | 12 | 3 yrs5 owners | — |
| Leaflet (leaflet.pub) | 22 | 1 | 96% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Ghost CMS | 21 | 4 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Bear Blog | 18 | 4 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| TextLog | 16 | 4 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 288 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“substack has devolved into the same thing. opening the app first thing you see if a infinite scroll of twitter like takes”
“Substack is not in the business of censoring or deciding who gets to publish on their platform according to one group's political preferences”
“They plaster your emails with ads to download their app and will even email your list whenever they feel like it”
“Sub stack is trying to turn itself into a social network, so comments on substack posts by other substack bloggers let people find other blogs.”
“Substack is free - so there are no hosting costs. Everything is managed for you.”
“The moment I get those popups on Substack or similar, to login to continue reading, those writers have lost a reader.”
“that's the real strength of Substack and Medium—people are already there to spend money because they're earning from the same ecosystem”
“Their feed shows me stuff every once in a while, from uber-conservative right wing Christians to conspiracy theory nonsense.”
“It is worth much more than its fees, because the counterfactual is that I don't have any of those things.”
“In Substack I often get recommendations from other writers, and you can also refer to people you respect as well.”
“getting mad at an organization, one that is built to be a “platform” for people to share their words, for not going out of its way to police which people share which words, seems to me to be unproductive at best”
“Substack allows for exporting posts (which would be good to do regularly just for backups in case of (account) compromise)”
“It would be nice if services like Substack supported exportability, so when a writer eventually becomes successful enough to migrate away”
“Substack discovery does carry some value - about 65% of my new subscribers come via the various Substack mechanisms”
“Substack gives a really nice exposure though, unlike medium and other platforms.”
“Substack gives you a way to push content to your subscribers without an intermediary deciding what they get to read.”
“they make it super easy to pay $8-15/mo which the best readers won't even miss”
“Substack has been a pretty good addition to the landscape, bringing lots of people into blogging”
“The tool gives writers a low-friction mechanism to charge for premium content, and works on most people's devices.”
“Substack's social media side is very Twitter-esque. Writers you follow "restack" publications (some of which are full of AI slop, unbeknownst to the restacker)”
“Slapping a Stripe integration on the backend hasn't led to Substack becoming a sustainable business not propped up by VC cash.”
“They should be an open platform, if that's what people want to pay for they should be able to.”
“Substack was one of the first "mainstreamish" platforms to go "against the grain" and try to be neutral”
“Writers are not "fleeing Substack" that's just legacy media trying to insinuate ways to hurt Substack's revenue”
“whatever anti-creator changes Substack is forced to make in the future to live up to its valuation we won't be affected by”
“as much as I love sub stack and Reddit these platforms along with all the garbage and slop is pushing us down”
“substack is probably the easiest starting point, no algorithm to fight”
“Substack tends to select for this kind of author. Not daily posts about their life and their latest hot take, but a few deep articles every few weeks”
“Its helping me discover writers other than just what the algorithm gives me.”
“Recently I switched to a Substack hosted on my own subdomain, and now I'm finally writing.”
“the real reason why Substack is successful is not that email is a good format for journalism”
“People already pay for journalism through substack. It's not micropayments, it's a commitment to the ongoing consumption of a high quality creator's work.”
“I really like Substack as media and I think has been a great complementary in terms of depth”
“Substack will do it for you for free, and it also lowers the friction”
“The addition of Substack Notes (essentially, X / Twitter built in to Substack) also sort of brings it down to earth.”
“Substack goes from strength to strength because they don't give an inch on the paywall.”
“Paul Krugman has his own substack. You think he couldn't get his old job back at the Times in a second if he wanted to?”
“Building a platform that lets journalists choose their monetization and be independently wealthy enough to write what they want is awesome.”
“substack gives a large percent of the value directly to content creators”
“For writers with large followings substack is like a 10-100x monetization boost over other options.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.