News & Media · alternatives
Alternatives to Substack
20 news & media tools sit alongside Substack in this directory. Below is what separates each from Substack on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 9
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Substack starts at
- Free
Why people look past Substack
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Substack has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
The all-in-one platform for newsletter creators
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Substack does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Modern publishing platform with content API and membership support
- Publishes an entry price of $15/month, where Substack does not.
- 4 tiers to Substack's 2.
Comprehensive news coverage powered by Google
- Sold on a free model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Substack's 2.
All the news you want. From sources you trust.
Priced and rated the same as Substack on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Your personal magazine for news and stories
- Sold on a free model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Substack's 2.
The easiest way to start and grow your newsletter
- Publishes an entry price of $9/month, where Substack does not.
Every Substack alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substack (this page) | Free | Freemium | 2 | |
| Beehiiv | Free | Subscription | - | vs Substack |
| Ghost | Free, then $15/month | - | 4 | vs Substack |
| Google News | Free | Free | 1 | vs Substack |
| Apple News | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs Substack |
| Free | Free | 1 | vs Substack | |
| Buttondown | Free, then $9/month | - | 2 | vs Substack |
| Ghost CMS | Free | Freemium | 3 | vs Substack |
| Artifact | Free | Free | 1 | vs Substack |
| Feedly | Free | - | - | vs Substack |
| GlobeNewswire | On request | Usage-based | 4 | vs Substack |
| ConvertKit | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Substack |
| EIN Presswire | On request | Usage-based | 3 | vs Substack |
| Chartbeat | $1000/month | Quote | 1 | vs Substack |
| CrowdTangle | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Substack |
| Brightspot | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Substack |
| Feedbin | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Substack |
| Cision | On request | Subscription | 2 | vs Substack |
| Agility PR Solutions | On request | Subscription | 3 | vs Substack |
| Arc Publishing | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Substack |
| Business Wire | On request | Usage-based | 4 | vs Substack |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Substack badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (9)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Beehiiv , Free
- Ghost , Free, then $15/month
- Google News , Free
- Apple News , Free
- Flipboard , Free
- Buttondown , Free, then $9/month
- Ghost CMS , Free
- Artifact , Free
What you would be giving up
Substack is most often brought in for newsletter distribution, reader monetization, community building, subscriber management. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Substack is broadly right and the question is cost, the Substack pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the News & Media category lists everything the directory holds, and best news & media tools ranks them.
Substack runs on web, mobile. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Substack alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Substack?
- 20 other news & media tools are listed in this directory, led by Beehiiv, Ghost, Google News, Apple News. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Substack?
- 9 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Beehiiv, Ghost, Google News, Apple News, Flipboard.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Substack?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Substack has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Substack?
- Substack is most often brought in for newsletter distribution, reader monetization, community building, subscriber management. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Substack?
- None of the news & media tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Substack alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, News & Media, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored slot runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Substack against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Substack covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every news & media tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the News & Media category, 20 tools beside Substack. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.