A practical comparison of newsletter platforms for creators thinking about leaving Substack: what each alternative is good at, what it costs, and what migrating to it involves.
There is no single best Substack alternative. The right platform depends on why you are leaving, whether you have paid subscribers, how technical you are, and what your budget looks like. This repository compares the most commonly chosen alternatives side by side, with the trade-offs included.
Start with How to Choose a Substack Alternative. It is a decision framework, not a ranking — it walks through the questions that actually decide the choice (paid subscribers, website needs, technical comfort, budget shape) and points you to the platforms worth looking at first for your situation.
Then read the full profiles below for the two or three platforms that fit. Each profile lists strengths, trade-offs, pricing shape, how paid newsletters work, and what migrating from Substack involves.
| Platform | Pricing model | Paid subscriptions | Custom domain | Website/archive included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LetterBucket | Flat, simple tiers | Yes, via Stripe | Yes | Yes | Creators who want simple all-in-one |
| Ghost | Tiered (hosted) or self-hosted | Yes, your own Stripe | Yes | Yes, full CMS | Publications wanting a full website |
| Kit | Per-subscriber tiers | Yes | Yes (landing pages) | Landing pages, not a full site | Creators focused on marketing and automations |
| beehiiv | Tiered by list size | Yes | Yes | Yes | Growth-focused newsletter operators |
| WordPress | Depends on your stack | Yes, via plugins | Yes | Yes, full CMS | Maximum ownership and flexibility |
Cells are deliberately short. The nuance — and there is plenty — lives in the platform profiles.
Choosing a platform is half the job. Moving your subscribers, posts, paid memberships, and custom domain without breaking anything is the other half. There is a platform-neutral companion checklist for that:
- Substack Migration Checklist — step-by-step guide to leave Substack without losing subscribers or revenue
Companion checklists also exist for leaving Ghost, beehiiv, and Mailchimp.
Corrections are welcome. Newsletter platform pricing and features change constantly, which is why every entry carries a "last reviewed" date. If something here is outdated or wrong, open an issue or a pull request — there is an issue template for suggesting a platform or submitting a correction. Please include a link to a primary source (the platform's own pricing or docs page) for any factual claim.
This comparison is maintained by LetterBucket, a simple newsletter platform for creators — and yes, LetterBucket is one of the options listed. We keep the comparisons factual and link to primary sources; if we've gotten something wrong about another platform, open an issue. Need help migrating? Contact us.