substack.com
Substack
Who runs Substack, what it tracks and what it costs, and the 20 closest newsletter publishing platform alternatives.
- Who’s behind it
- Not stated
- Online since
- Unknown
- Trackers
- Prices
- No pricing page
- Last price change
- –
- Closest alternative
- Ghost
Measured from Substack’s own pages, the Internet Archive and public records. Hover a dotted value for its source and date.
Visit Substack01 · Who’s behind it
Who runs Substack
Substack substack.com
Substack is the app for independent voices: a free newsletter, video, and podcast hosting platform with paid subscriptions built in.
Wikidata: American online newsletter platform
- Company
- No imprint we could read
- Online since
- Not in the Internet Archive
- Audience
- In English
02 · Privacy
What Substack tracks
What the homepage loads before you accept or decline cookies. A cookie banner should hold most of it back until you agree, and a tag manager can load more that we don’t see.
trackers that follow visitors
None of the 16 alternatives below has fewer; 11 have more.
Privacy-friendly alternatives →- Cookie banner
- None found
- US company
- 1 tool
Third-party embeds
Videos, maps or fonts from other companies, which receive the visitor’s IP address.
03 · Alternatives
Alternatives to Substack
Thumbs up if it’s a real alternative to Substack, thumbs down if it isn’t.
- 01
Ghost: The best open source blog & newsletter platform
Beautiful, modern publishing with email newsletters and paid subscriptions built-in. Used by Platformer, 404Media, Lever News, Tangle, The Browser, and thousands more.
Very close - 02
Buttondown — Newsletter software for people like you
Buttondown is the last email platform you'll migrate to. We're focused on your success, not on bleeding you dry.
Very close - 03
Where Creator Communities Thrive — Patreon
Build a community, share exclusive work, and turn your passion into a thriving business with Patreon. Get started today!
Very close - 04
Newsletter Platform: Create Newsletters and Websites - beehiiv
beehiiv is the newsletter platform built for creators, publishers, and businesses. Grow, publish, and monetize your audience in one place.
Very close - 05
online publishing platform
Very close - 06
Memberful | Build a membership that’s truly yours
Sell subscriptions, share content, and connect with your audience, all on your own website or app.
Very close - 07
Vocal
Vocal is a platform for supporting, discovering and rewarding creators.
Very close - 08
HYVOR® - Independent Software Foundry
Privacy-first website tools, crafted with care. Trusted by millions, from indie makers to enterprises.
Very close - 09
Host Unlimited Shows • Best Audio and Video Podcast Hosting • Transistor
Upload once and distribute your video and audio podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more. Unlimited shows, detailed analytics, free podcast website, and real human support.
Very close - 10
ART19
American podcasting company
Very close - 11
Acast: The Best Podcast Monetization Platform
Acast helps podcasters earn more. As the leading podcast monetization platform, we connect creators with premium advertisers to drive reliable revenue.
Very close - 12
Free Podcast hosting and Monetizing Platform | Podbean
Podbean podcast hosting and monetizing platform helps you start a podcast. All the tools you need to create, promote and monetize your podcast.
Very close - 13
The Best Podcast Hosting Platform | Libsyn
The best podcast hosting, distribution & monetization platform. Detailed stats | Excellent service | Start for free
Very close - 14
web patronage service
Very close - 15
Spreaker
Discover a world of captivating podcasts and immersive audio experiences on Spreaker. Dive in and elevate your listening journey today!
Very close - 16
Automattic – Making the web a better place
We are passionate about making the web a better place. 20 years: explore the Automattic timeline or take a literary jaunt with Year Without Pants. WordPress.com Your blog or websitehas a (free!) home on the web.Your story, your way. Beeper Tower of Babelfragmented messaging woesyou need a Beeper. Tumblr Where your interestsconnect you to your people,one post…
Very close - 17
Hashnode: a blog that gets cited by ChatGPT, Google and Perplexity
Get cited by AI. Start a blog on your own domain, written by you or your agents, and built so Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity can read it and cite it. Free to start.
Close - 18
Blogger.com - Create a unique and beautiful blog easily.
Publish your passions your way. Whether you’d like to share your knowledge, experiences or the latest news, create a unique and beautiful blog.
Close - 19
Circle | The complete community platform
Build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand.
Very close - 20
#1 in audience engagement and community growth | Disqus
More publishers trust us to engage, grow, and understand their audiences than any other. Build your on-site community with Disqus.
Very close
Closest first, by how much each site’s offer resembles Substack’s. Trackers are counted the same way as above. Highlighted technologies are ones Substack uses too. Votes and comments come from visitors and don’t change the order.
04 · History
What changed
Price and policy history →No changes yet. Each new crawl is compared with the last one, and what Substack adds, drops or rewrites shows up here.
05 · Details
How we measure
Alternatives are matched by what sites actually offer, from their homepages, Wikidata and a summary by Claude, in any language. Trackers and the rest of the stack come from the homepage’s code and DNS records.
The full technology stack, the competitor map and search numbers · 9 technologies
- Neighbours
- k = 20
- Sites searched
- 9,192
- Vector
- 384-d
- Query
- 60 ms
Competitor map
Each alternative by how close its vector is to Substack’s (x) and how much traffic it gets, how much of the stack it shares, or where it sits in the embedding space itself (y). Hover for the numbers, click to jump to it in the list.
similarity × popularity
Built with
- Fonts
- Google Fonts page source: fonts.gstatic.com
- Live chat & support
- Zendesk TXT v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:mailgun.org include:mail.zende…
- CDN
- Cloudflare header cf-ray: a562fa19ab1962d2-HAM
- Languages & backends
- Express header x-powered-by: Express
- Email hosting
- Google Workspace TXT v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:mailgun.org include:mail.zende…
- Email delivery
- Mailgun TXT v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:mailgun.org include:mail.zende…
- DNS hosting
- Cloudflare DNS NS ali.ns.cloudflare.com
- SaaS tools (verified in DNS)
- Google Search Console TXT google-site-verification=FfNIQIxsRHpj3Y7E_d3N6GFqGgWDZ-sfYojqCilwtqE
- Meta Business Suite TXT facebook-domain-verification=8vbxp2ntmkudc6is3h5r840c9fwo7f
What competitors use
Across the 20 closest sites.
- Google Search Console 19/20
- Google Workspace 16/20
- Cloudflare DNS 11/20
- Cloudflare 11/20
- Microsoft 365 · not on substack.com 8/20
- Zendesk 8/20
- Meta Business Suite 7/20
- Apple Business · not on substack.com 6/20
- Next.js · not on substack.com 6/20
- React · not on substack.com 6/20
- Stripe · not on substack.com 6/20
- HubSpot · not on substack.com 6/20
- Amazon Route 53 · not on substack.com 6/20
- OneTrust · not on substack.com 5/20
- OpenAI · not on substack.com 5/20
- SendGrid · not on substack.com 5/20