Substack

Substack is the easiest possible way to start a paid newsletter. Sign up, write a post, publish. Subscribers find you through Substack's own discovery, comments, recommendations, and Notes (their Twitter clone that surprisingly works). You don't need a website, an email service, or any technical setup. For writers who just want to write and get paid, Substack is unmatched. The trade-off is real and well-known: Substack takes 10% of your paid subscription revenue. Forever. Stripe takes another ~3%. So on $10/month subscribers, you keep ~$8.70. Beehiiv (no platform cut) and Ghost (self-hostable) are cheaper at scale, but they make you do more work to grow. What Substack actually offers in exchange for the 10%: built-in discovery (Substack's homepage recommends you, related Substacks recommend you, Notes drives traffic), a social layer that doesn't feel like Twitter, a podcast hosting feature, comments, the ability to publish video, and a brand that means something. 'Has a Substack' is a signal of credibility. 'Has a Ghost blog at janesmith.com' isn't. For first-time writers, the math works. The 10% cut is worth the discovery network and zero-setup. For established writers with a 50K+ subscriber audience already, switching to Beehiiv or Ghost can save serious money — the discovery isn't worth as much when you're already known. The controversy: Substack has been criticized for not moderating content (anti-vax newsletters, fringe political content). Some big writers have left over this. Substack has been clear they won't moderate beyond the bare minimum, which is either a feature or a deal-breaker depending on your politics. Worth knowing. For a founder starting a newsletter today, my honest take: start on Substack if you want zero friction and aren't sure if you'll commit. Migrate to Beehiiv or Ghost when you have 5K+ paid subscribers and the platform cut becomes meaningful. Substack makes migration easy (full export of subscribers + Stripe customers), so you're not locked in. Use the discovery network to grow, then graduate.