Mediumvs
Beehiiv
Beehiiv: The all-in-one platform for newsletter creators
Medium
The best place to read and write stories on the internet
As of 30 August 2026, Medium is free to use. Medium is a publishing platform where journalists, writers, and creators can publish stories and earn money. Softwr lists it under News. Medium is made by Medium Inc, launched in 2012, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Medium does
Medium is a publishing platform where journalists, writers, and creators can publish stories and earn money. It combines social features, content discovery, and monetization through the Medium Partner Program, making it ideal for reaching and engaging audiences.
What people use it for
- Publishing articles without running your own blog
- Reading long-form writing across technology, culture and news
- Earning from writing through the Medium Partner Program
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Medium.
- Unlimited access to stories requires a paid Medium membership
- Audio versions of stories are a member-only feature
- Earning money from writing requires joining the Medium Partner Program rather than being automatic
- The iOS app requires iOS 17.0 or later
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Medium
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- MediumvsFeedly
Feedly: Organize, read, and share content you care about
- MediumvsInoreader
Inoreader: The content reader for power users
- MediumvsChartbeat
Chartbeat: Real-time analytics for publishers
Pricing
What Medium costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Unlimited reading
- Publishing platform
- Story drafts
- Community engagement
Medium Membership
$5 /mo
- Unlimited access
- Exclusive stories
- Member earnings
- Ad-free reading
Capabilities
Features
Story publishing
Member program
Earning potential
Reading time estimates
Clap reactions
Highlighting & annotations
Story recommendations
Following system
Twitter
Integration with Twitter
LinkedIn
Integration with LinkedIn
Facebook
Integration with Facebook
Email
Integration with Email
Behind it
Who makes Medium
- Company
- Medium Inc
- Based in
- San Francisco, CA
Keep looking
Where to go from Medium
- Medium alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Medium pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Medium badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All News softwareThe full category
- Best News softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best News software for
Compare Medium with
- Beehiiv
- Feedly
- Inoreader
- Chartbeat
- Substack
- Ghost CMS
- Buttondown
- Revue
- TinyLetter
- Arc Publishing
- Brightspot
- The Old Reader
- NewsBlur
- NewsWhip
- Newswire
- Parse.ly
- PR Newswire
- Prezly
Other News software
The enterprise publishing platform for news organizations
Pricing on request9 researched notesThe headless CMS for digital publishers and media companies
Pricing on request8 researched notesViral content tracking and audience insights for media companies
Pricing on request6 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Medium, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Medium
Medium alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Medium pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Medium
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Medium badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best News software alternatives
Subscription RSS and social feed reader for Apple platforms, with a separate one-time Classic version
Per user per month
Free open source RSS reader for Mac and iOS, with no subscription, no ads and no feed limit
Open source, no licence feeThe easiest way to start and grow your newsletter
