Substack

Paid email newsletters made simple

3.8•13 reviews•

257 followers

Paid email newsletters made simple

3.8•13 reviews•

257 followers

Visit website

Blogging platforms

•

Microblogging platforms

•

Newsletter platforms

Substack makes it simple for a writer to start a paid or free newsletter. Writers get a CMS built for publishing email newsletters, integrated payments through Stripe, and a website that can host free and subscriber-only content.

Substack Reviews

The community submitted 13 reviews to tell us what they like about Substack, what Substack can do better, and more.

3.8

Based on 13 reviews

Review Substack?

Reviewers see Substack as strong for reading and writing newsletters, with a polished app, easy navigation, useful writer tools, and a community that helps some creators grow an audience. But the praise is tempered by repeated complaints about limits and reliability: the editor feels too basic, with weak formatting and no HTML or layout control; search can be confusing; and some users report publishing blocked by network issues. A major recurring drawback is payments, with Stripe-only support restricting monetization in some countries and frustrating some creators.

+10

Summarized with AI

Wispr Flow: Dictation That Works EverywhereStop typing. Start speaking. 4x faster.

Promoted

Reviews

All Reviews

Most Informative

•3 reviews

What's great

Definitely wouldn't call it fantastic. It lacks any basic text formatting/editing capabilities. I would call it simple, but not in a good way.

What needs improvement

You can't insert any text boxes (which means we can't visually separate individual sections or ads)
Their text dividers are terribly thin which means you can barely see them
Text can't be centered (or aligned to any other side), that option is completely missing
It doesn't support HTML – so you can't insert your own custom things there. not even a table
Buttons can't be moved, nor can their color be changed

vs Alternatives

Value for money

Ratings

Ease of use

Reliability

Value for money

Customization

Report

37 views9mo ago

•2 reviews

Love me some Substack! I started one in 2021 as a writer, then was more of a reader, and then returned in 2025 to write again. I LOVE the mobile app experience and have discovered a supportive community of creatives. I would say that Substack is the first and last app I use each day. The Notes section always has engaging content that I'm interested in. I've been steadily growing my audience and even became a Rising creator in my category at one point. I highly recommend this platform for any creator that wants to build a community around their content and monetize in addition to a traditional website.

What's great

content discovery (1)supportive community (1)monetization options (1)mobile app experience (1)audience growth tools (1)

Report

34 views1yr ago

PreSeed Now

•2 reviews

We use Substack for PreSeed Now. It's a twice-weekly email newsletter which unearths and profiles early stage B2B and DeepTech startups who are actively raising investment. It has some really cool features, particularly around intelligently trying to grow your paid subscriber base within the software. Drawbacks are that it doesn't play nice with other apps. It's hard / impossible for me to integrate it into anything else we use such as Notion, Hubspot, etc. and the stats are limited, so it's frustrating. I do get that this is partly due to them wanting to keep users focused on growing high quality newsletters, but it does leave little room to grow if you're adding extra products to your suite.

Report

33 views3yr ago

•1 review

(I'd give it 3.5 stars) Great design, ease of use, plus tools to assist writers. They do an excellent job with all of these. They also have a fairly strong community in terms of providing assistance with tools or design updates. I do not like that they only use Stripe. Very huge downside, as Stripe has been disrupting businesses. Until they move away from only using one payment processor, this will be a major drawback of using them.

Report

13 views2yr ago

Weekly S&P500 ChartStorm

•2 reviews

Having tried it the hard way (manual billing via spreadsheets and multiple different services/apps), I can confirm Substack makes things easier for both writers & readers + continues to improve and upgrade the platform over time (while: importantly, staying true to the core reason for being)

Report

15 views3yr ago

•23 reviews

This app is excellent. However, since Stripe does not support Indonesia, I am unable to fully utilize it for monetizing my content. I hope there will be an alternative payment method for creators.

Report

13 views2yr ago

used Substack to build Smart Updates

•3 reviews

Building in public through my newsletter (prodmba.substack.com) has allowed me to bring customers along with the journey, through workshops, surveys & building hype around launch

Report

13 views2yr ago

used Substack to build From Spark to Startup

•1 review

this is the newsletter tool that helps us stay connected with users and manage our content.

Report

3 views1yr ago

•1 review

Creators are great.. the ecology or management are greedy and disdainful of readers. Will NOT refund an automatic repayment or unauthroized payment, take a whopping 10% from subscriptions and their "support" will treat you like trash.. you are beneath these "elites.".. the polar opposite of what the platform is meant to stand for...

Report

15 views2yr ago

•10 reviews

I use Substack to follow writers I admire and get fresh content straight to my inbox. It’s easy to navigate and offers thoughtful, well-written newsletters that I look forward to. Substack has become my favorite way to stay informed and enjoy quality writing every week.

Report

12 views1yr ago

1 2