Substack in 10 slides
A newsletter and media platform where writers and podcasters publish free and paid subscriptions. Writers own their audience list and set their own prices.
- Newsletter platform
- Creator platforms
- Based in San Francisco, California, United States
What you do on Substack
How the money is made: creating content
- Create and publish
- Grow an audience
- Fans, ads or sponsors pay
- Regular payouts
A newsletter and media platform where writers and podcasters publish free and paid subscriptions. Writers own their audience list and set their own prices.
Founded 2017 · next to 12 other creator platforms
Work and topics
Good for
What Substack takes
Guess first: how much of every $100 you earn does Substack take?
10% of paid subscriptions
From the published fees, before payment-processing, currency or withdrawal charges. Work out your own amount →
How the money reaches you
From sign-up to payout
- Sign upFree
- Start straight away
- Do the work
- Earnings clearStripe payouts daily or weekly, usually within 48 hours of a sale, first payout…
- Withdraw1 way to withdraw
1 way to withdraw
Can you join?
Yes, if you are 16 or older and live in one of 46 countries.
You need reliable internet. You can start straight after signing up.
What you need
- 16 or olderMinimum age
- Reliable internet
- Free to joinSign-up cost
- Instant sign-upHow sign-up works
Open in 45 countries
What people actually earn
More than 50,000 publishers make money on Substack, according to company figures reported by TheWrap in October 2025.
Source: thewrap.com ↗Roughly 50 Substack publishers make more than $1 million, most in news and politics, per Substack's head of news and politics speaking to TheWrap.
Source: thewrap.com ↗Substack reports 5 million paid subscriptions across its publications, with writers keeping 90% of revenue before card fees.
Source: substack.com ↗How it scores
Strong on fees and access.
- Fees4.5
- Getting paid3.0
- Access4.3
- Track record3.5
- Proof of earnings4.0
- Verified earnings
- Free to join
- Clear fees
- Low cut
- Fast payouts
- Top 10K website
- Fully documented
Substack against its peers
Guess: next to the 9 other creator platforms that charge a percentage, is Substack…
The cut of all 10 creator platforms that charge a percentage
| Platform | Fee |
|---|---|
| Mighty Networks | 1.3% |
| Circle | 2.3% |
| Ko-fi | 2.5% |
| Memberful | 4.9% |
| Buy Me a Coffee | 5% |
| Substack | 10% |
| Gumroad | 10% |
| Boosty | 10% |
| Patreon | 12.9% |
| Fanvue | 17.5% |
- At 10%, Substack sits near the middle — the median fee across the 10 creator platforms we track that charge a percentage is 7.5%.
How much we know
We have 10 of the 17 things we track for every platform. Fees, payouts, join rules, countries and real earnings count most.
What we have
- What kind of platform it is
- Year founded
- Headquarters
- Fees
- How fast you get paid
- Withdrawal methods
- Join requirements
- Countries it accepts
- Real earnings figures
- Wikipedia or reference page
Still missing
- Plain-English overview
- Minimum payout
- Payment protection
- Review ratings
- Support channels
- Mobile apps
- Social accounts