Substack

Substack, San Francisco, California, United States

Substack is an online publishing and social platform that enables writers and journalists to create subscription-based newsletters, podcasts, and multimedia content delivered directly to subscribers.

It provides email newsletter distribution, a web-based archive, built-in payment processing, and audience analytics, and includes social features such as recommendations, comments, and a Notes feed for short-form posts and discovery.

The platform also allows creators to combine newsletters and blogs by hosting publication websites on Substack subdomains or custom domains.

According to our data, Substack ranks 29th among the social media platforms we track.
It has 0.3% of the social media market share and is detected on 0.1% of all websites.

πŸ’Έ Pricing

Substack is available in both free and paid versions.

For writers
Platform fee 10%
Payment processing
Billing fee 0.7%
Credit card fee 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee
For readers
Most content Free βœ”οΈ
Paid subscriptions Varies by writer

πŸ“Š Rankings and Market Share

πŸ† Substack Awards

⚑ Sites Using Substack

We have data on 5,370 websites that use the Substack social media platform. Here is a list of some of the top ranked ones.

The highest rated site using Substack is investing.com.

πŸ“ˆ Usage Statistics

Most of the sites that use Substack:

Most of the sites using Substack are from the United States and the United Kingdom.

  • United States 50.9%
  • United Kingdom 10.2%
  • Italy 4.1%
  • Canada 4%
  • France 3.3%
  • Spain 2.7%
  • Germany 2.7%
  • Brazil 2.4%
  • Netherlands 2.4%
  • Other 17.3%

Most Substack users speak English or Spanish.

  • English 86.4%
  • Spanish 3.1%
  • Italian 2.5%
  • Portuguese 1.7%
  • French 1.5%
  • German 0.6%
  • Dutch 0.5%
  • Chinese 0.5%
  • Japanese 0.4%
  • Other 2.8%

The Substack social media platform is especially popular on .com and .org top-level domains.

  • .com 63.1%
  • .org 9.9%
  • .net 3.9%
  • .it 1.8%
  • .co.uk 1.7%
  • .co 1.3%
  • .io 1.2%
  • .ca 1%
  • .com.br 0.8%
  • Other 15.3%

The primary market segments for websites utilizing Substack include blogs and wiki, business, and entertainment.

  • Blogs/Wiki 27.7%
  • Business 8.5%
  • Entertainment 7.5%
  • Marketing/Merchandising 7.1%
  • Education/Reference 5.5%
  • General News 5.2%
  • Sports 3.8%
  • Politics/Opinion 3.8%
  • Online Shopping 2.5%
  • Other 28.4%

πŸ•΅οΈ Similar Technologies

These are some of the best Substack alternatives.

RankName
1
Tumblr
San Francisco, California, United States

A blogging and social networking platform that allows users to publish multimedia posts, interact with others, and host blogs on custom domains.

Free$6.99/month
3
Patreon
San Francisco, California, United States

A membership platform that allows creators to run a subscription-based service for their content and sell digital products directly to their most dedicated fans.

$$$
4
Medium
San Francisco, California, United States

An online publishing platform that allows writers to share articles, stories, and ideas with a built-in audience and content discovery system.

$5+/month
6
Brevo
Paris, France

A cloud-based CRM and email marketing platform that combines multichannel messaging, marketing automation, and contact management in a unified interface.

Free$9+/month
9
Beehiiv
New York, United States

A newsletter platform that allows creators and brands to publish, distribute, and monetize email publications with integrated website hosting and audience management tools.

Free$49+/month

πŸ†š Compare Alternatives

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πŸ’¬ Frequently Asked Questions

What is the company behind Substack?

Substack is owned by Substack Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.

Can I use Substack for free?

Yes, there is a free version with limited functionality.

Which country uses Substack the most?

The majority of Substack users are from the United States.

Who uses Substack?

According to our data, Substack is used on thousands of sites, including investing.com, theconversation.com, and podcasts.apple.com.

Do academic institutions use Substack?

Yes. Overall, we know of 2 academic websites in the United States that use Substack.

How does Substack compare to the competition?

Substack is a moderately popular social media platform, ranking ahead of 58 other social media platforms we track.

What are the alternatives to Substack?

Alternatives and possible competitors to Substack may include Patreon, Beehiiv, and Tumblr.

πŸ‘‰ See Also

πŸ—ƒοΈ About This Data