Substack alternatives

Publishing on Substack is free, and Substack keeps 10% of paid subscription revenue. Persumi, Medium, WordPress.com and Patreon are alternatives that differ on cost, fees and features.

Substack is free to publish on, and it earns when you do: if you turn on paid subscriptions, Substack keeps 10% of the revenue, and Stripe charges its own fees. A custom domain costs a one-time $50.

People look for an alternative when they want a different way to earn, a plan without a revenue share, or a place that is more than a newsletter. The services below differ from Substack on at least one of these facts.

Sources: How much does Substack cost?

4 alternatives to Substack

1.
Persumi
Our app

Writers who want to publish as several personas, with communities and AI features.

Price

Free plan with ads; Pro plan $14.99 a month.

Earning from readers

Not yet: paid subscribers and ad revenue share are planned.

Custom domain

Not yet: planned for the Business plan.

RSS feed

RSS and Atom feeds for your posts.

Listen to posts

AI audio of long-form posts, with a podcast RSS feed, on the Pro plan.

Separate identities

Unlimited public personas, and one unlisted persona on the Free plan.

Persumi vs Substack
2.
Medium

Writers who want readers on Medium and earnings from its members.

Price

Membership $5 a month or $50 a year, which earning and a custom domain need. source

Earning from readers

The Partner Program pays from member engagement; it needs an active membership. source

Custom domain

Yes, with an active membership. source

RSS feed

Feeds for profiles and publications; paywalled stories aren't in full. source

Listen to posts

Text-to-speech for members, for stories in English. source

Visit Medium
3.
WordPress.com

Writers who want a full website with a blog.

Price

Free plan, with WordPress.com ads shown to visitors; paid plans remove them. source

Earning from readers

Paid newsletters; the fee is 10% on the Free plan, down to 0% on Commerce, plus Stripe fees. source

Custom domain

Free for one year with an annual or longer paid plan. source

RSS feed

Every public site has an RSS feed built in. source

Visit WordPress.com
4.
Patreon

Creators who want paid memberships for their fans.

Price

Free to start; you pay only when you earn. source

Earning from readers

Memberships and one-time payments; Patreon keeps 10%, plus payment fees. source

RSS feed

Podcast episodes are distributed through RSS. source

Visit Patreon

Persumi is our app, so it comes first. The facts about the other services are from their own pages, checked on 15 November 2026; prices are in US dollars. Each "source" link opens the page that states the fact. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].