How does Substack make money?

Substack is free to start and takes a share of any paid-subscription income, plus standard payment-processing fees, rather than charging a monthly plan.

Can I move my Substack list elsewhere?

You can export subscriber emails, but the audience, payments, and discovery built inside Substack are harder to fully replicate on another platform.

Substack is simpler with built-in discovery; beehiiv offers more growth tools, design control, and monetization options for a newsletter run as a business.

Does Substack have automation or AI?

Substack focuses on simple publishing and lacks the automation and native AI features found in dedicated email-marketing platforms.

Platform · creator monetization

Substack

Hosted newsletter publishing with built-in paid subscriptions

est. 2017United StatesAI ecosystem: low

Visit Substack→substack.com

The verdict

Substack is a hosted platform for publishing newsletters and charging for them. It handles payments, hosting, and discovery so writers can focus on writing.

What it is

Substack lets a writer publish a newsletter, charge readers for premium content, and reach new readers through its network, all without managing software. It removes setup friction: no hosting, no payment plumbing, no design work. The tradeoff is control. Writers cannot deeply customize design or automation, the platform takes a share of subscription income, and a list built here is harder to fully own than one on a standalone email tool.

Strengths

Payments, hosting, and publishing work out of the box with no software to manage
The Substack network and recommendations help new readers discover a publication
Free and paid tiers for the same newsletter are simple to set up and run

Trade-offs

Design and automation customization are limited compared with standalone email tools
The platform takes a share of paid-subscription income, reducing what reaches the writer
A list and audience built inside Substack are harder to fully migrate and own elsewhere

Best for

Starting a paid newsletter quickly with built-in payments and reader discovery

Not for

Creators who need deep design control, advanced automation, or full ownership of their stack

Pricing

Free to publish; Substack takes 10% of paid-subscription revenue plus Stripe payment processing fees. No monthly platform fee.

Substack

Free

free to start
platform takes a share of paid subscriptions
payment processing fees apply

What people build with it

paid newslettersnewsletter publishingreader discoverysubscriber paymentsfree-to-paid conversion

Frequently asked

How does Substack make money?: Substack is free to start and takes a share of any paid-subscription income, plus standard payment-processing fees, rather than charging a monthly plan.
Can I move my Substack list elsewhere?: You can export subscriber emails, but the audience, payments, and discovery built inside Substack are harder to fully replicate on another platform.
Substack or beehiiv?: Substack is simpler with built-in discovery; beehiiv offers more growth tools, design control, and monetization options for a newsletter run as a business.
Does Substack have automation or AI?: Substack focuses on simple publishing and lacks the automation and native AI features found in dedicated email-marketing platforms.