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Substack features

One place to publish, grow, and make money

Substack lets you write, send, record, livestream, chat, sell subscriptions, and understand your business without stitching together a stack of tools.

Publish everywhere

Posts, newsletters, podcasts, video, live streams, and pages all live in one publishing flow.

Grow on the network

Recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, referrals, and search help readers find your work on-platform.

Own the relationship

Keep your subscriber list, connect your domain, export your data, and only pay when you start earning.
Why creators choose Substack

The whole system works together

Instead of separate tools for publishing, email, community, payments, and analytics, Substack connects them in one workflow so every post can help you reach readers and build a business.

Audience growth is built in

Discovery features are part of the product itself, so publishing, sharing, and subscriber growth reinforce one another.

Monetization comes standard

Free and paid posts, podcasts, subscriptions, trials, gifting, and group plans are all available without extra systems.

You keep your leverage

Bring your audience with you, export your data anytime, and build on a publication that is branded as your own.
Feature guide

Everything you need to run a publication

Browse the platform by outcome: create, grow, monetize, customize, and migrate. Each section below highlights the core tools in that part of the product.
Create everywhere

Make great work in every format

Move from post to inbox to audio to live video without changing products or rebuilding your workflow.

Writing & Publishing

Substack's editor supports long-form articles, threads, podcasts, video posts, and static pages. It includes a rich text editor, post scheduling, drafts with autosave, version history, post templates, and SEO metadata controls. Creators can gate content behind a paywall at any point in a post, A/B test headlines, and cross-post between web and email.
  • Rich text editor (TipTap/ProseMirror-based) with headings, bold/italic/strikethrough, subscript/superscript, text alignment, horizontal rules, bulleted and numbered lists
  • Code blocks with syntax highlighting
  • LaTeX support (both inline and block math)
  • Footnotes
29 more built-in tools

Newsletter & Email

Every Substack post can be sent as an email newsletter. Creators can send targeted ad-hoc emails, set up automated drip campaigns triggered by subscriber lifecycle events, customize email CSS, and track open rates, click rates, and unsubscribe reasons.
  • Every post can be sent as an email newsletter (toggle email send on/off per post)
  • Push notifications (newsletter delivery, engagement, messaging, connections, livestreams, creator analytics)
  • Targeted ad-hoc emails (send one-off emails to selected subscriber segments)
  • Email customization: custom CSS for emails, custom headers and footers
6 more built-in tools

Podcasting

Substack includes full podcast hosting with automatic RSS distribution to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Creators can offer private podcast feeds to paid subscribers, import episodes from other hosts, download analytics, and generate automatic audio narration of written posts using built-in AI text-to-speech with six voice options.
  • Native podcast hosting (upload audio files directly)
  • Podcast episode management (create, edit, schedule podcast episodes)
  • Podcast RSS feed (auto-generated, compatible with all podcast players)
  • Private/subscriber-only podcast feeds (paid subscribers get a unique private RSS URL)
10 more built-in tools

Video

Substack supports native video hosting, live streaming, and automatic distribution to YouTube and LinkedIn. Creators can clip highlights from longer videos, add captions, schedule live events with real-time chat, and use AI-assisted clip selection from recorded streams.
  • Native video hosting (upload and publish video posts)
  • Video post type (dedicated video content format)
  • Video player with custom controls
  • Custom video thumbnails (upload or select from video)
13 more built-in tools
Grow with the network

Reach readers where discovery already happens

Recommendations, Notes, search, and community features help every post travel farther and pull new readers back to you.

Audience Growth & Discovery

Substack's built-in discovery network helps creators find readers without relying on external platforms. The network includes cross-publication recommendations, category leaderboards, an explore page, personalized search with semantic matching, and personalized trending searches. Creators can track exactly where their subscribers come from and run reader referral programs with milestone rewards.
  • Substack Network (built-in discovery network across all Substack publications)
  • Personalized recommendations (Retrieval and ranking for personalized publication suggestions)
  • Recommendation stats (track how many subscribers you gain/give through recommendations)
  • Explore/discover page (readers discover publications by topic and category)
11 more built-in tools

Notes (Social Layer)

Notes is Substack's built-in short-form social feed, similar to Twitter/X but integrated directly with the publishing platform. Creators can post updates, share rich media, restack others' content, and engage with readers in a feed that drives discovery across the Substack network.
  • Short-form posts (Twitter/X-like notes visible in the Substack network)
  • Rich text in Notes (formatting, links, media)
  • Image/video attachments in Notes
  • Restacks (share/repost others' posts and notes to your followers)
4 more built-in tools

Community & Chat

Substack includes built-in community features: threaded comments on posts, publication-level chat threads, direct messaging, and configurable moderation tools. Creators can restrict chat and comment access by subscription tier and use automated content moderation.
  • Publication chat/threads (community discussion threads for subscribers)
  • Chat access controls (free, paid-only, or founding-only chat access)
  • Direct messages (1:1 messaging between users)
  • Real-time messaging
6 more built-in tools

Reader Experience

Substack's reader experience includes a personalized algorithmic home feed, an explore page for discovering new publications, full-text search, saved posts, activity feeds, subscription management, live stream viewing, dark mode, and granular notification controls.
  • Personalized home feed (algorithmic feed of subscriptions and recommendations)
  • Explore/browse page (discover new publications by topic)
  • Search across all of Substack (publications, posts, people)
  • Saved posts / reading queue / previously read (bookmark for later)
8 more built-in tools
Earn from attention

Turn attention into a real business

Subscriptions, pricing, analytics, and collaboration tools help you understand what works and scale it with your team.

Monetization & Payments

Substack handles payments through Stripe with support for monthly and annual subscriptions, founding member tiers, free trials, coupons, gift subscriptions, group billing, and Bitcoin payments. Creators set their own prices and keep the majority of revenue. Substack charges nothing until creators start earning.
  • Paid subscriptions (monthly and annual billing via Stripe or IAP)
  • Founding member tier (premium support tier with custom pricing and benefits)
  • Flexible pricing (set your own subscription price)
  • Free trials (plan-level trial periods synced with Stripe)
17 more built-in tools

Analytics & Insights

Substack provides detailed analytics covering subscriber growth, retention cohorts, email performance, post-level engagement, podcast downloads, traffic sources, revenue, and more. All stats are accessible from the publisher dashboard and are exportable as CSVs.
  • Publisher dashboard overview (subscriber charts, traffic timeseries, ARR)
  • Network stats (attribution from the Substack network)
  • Audience stats (follower growth, geographic distribution, audience overlap)
  • Retention stats (net growth, cohorts, churn analysis)
14 more built-in tools

Team & Collaboration

Substack supports multiple team roles (admin, editor, contributor), co-authored posts with bylines, guest writer invitations, and granular contributor permissions.
  • Multiple team roles (admin, contributor, byline with different permission levels)
  • Bylines and co-authors (add multiple authors to a post)
  • Guest writer invitations (invite external writers with email invites)
  • Guest bios (toggle display of guest author bios)
2 more built-in tools
Make it yours

Shape the publication around your brand

Customize the site, connect your domain, and distribute your work across the channels your audience already uses.

Design & Customization

Substack offers a visual website editor with multiple homepage layouts (profile, newspaper, magazine, custom), full color and font customization, custom CSS for email, navigation editing, and modular content blocks. Creators can build a fully branded publication without touching code.
  • Website editor (visual WYSIWYG theme editor with live preview)
  • Homepage layout options (multiple layout modes: profile, newspaper, magazine, custom)
  • Color customization (background, accent, cover, link colors)
  • Font customization (font families, sizes, presets)
17 more built-in tools

Custom Domain & Branding

Substack supports custom domains, including purchasing a domain directly through the platform. Creators can configure apex domain redirects, set custom Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and manage cookie settings.
  • Custom domain support (use your own domain name)
  • Custom domain purchase via Stripe (buy a domain through Substack)
  • Apex domain redirects configuration
  • DNS configuration flow with status checking
3 more built-in tools

Distribution & Integrations

Substack generates RSS feeds and sitemaps automatically, integrates with Google Analytics 4, and connects to YouTube and LinkedIn for cross-platform distribution. Creators can verify their site with Google and use the Share Center to distribute content across social media after publishing.
  • RSS feed for posts
  • Podcast RSS with Apple and Spotify distribution
  • Sitemap generation (tiered, with spam handling and optional AI crawler blocking)
  • Google Analytics 4 integration (measurement ID)
8 more built-in tools
Bring your audience with you

Migrate confidently and keep control

Import content and subscribers, support readers on every device, and rely on the infrastructure and support behind the scenes.

Import & Export (Data Portability)

Substack supports importing posts and subscribers from more than 12 platforms including WordPress, Ghost, Medium, Beehiiv, Mailchimp, and Tumblr. Creators can export their full publication data (posts, subscriber lists, stats) at any time. You always own your content and your audience.
  • Post import from: WordPress, Ghost, Medium, Beehiiv, Mailchimp, Tumblr, Webflow, Sanity, Seeking Alpha, Bulletin, TinyLetter, Blogspot, and any RSS feed
  • File-based post import (upload content files directly)
  • Podcast episode import (from RSS, Apple, Spotify)
  • Subscriber CSV import with list cleaning and validation
6 more built-in tools

Mobile Apps

Substack has native iOS and Android apps for reading, subscribing, and managing publications. Creators can view earnings and stats on mobile. Readers get push notifications, in-app subscriptions, and a reading queue.
  • iOS reader app (native iPhone/iPad app on the App Store)
  • Android reader app (native app on Google Play)
  • Mobile creator tools (earnings view, stats on mobile)
  • In-app subscriptions (iOS IAP, Android)
2 more built-in tools

Infrastructure & Platform

Substack is free to start with no upfront costs and unlimited subscribers. The platform handles email delivery, CDN-hosted media, real-time messaging infrastructure, multi-language support, account security with MFA, and data privacy controls.
  • Free to start (no upfront costs; revenue share only when you earn)
  • Unlimited subscribers
  • Reliable email delivery (managed email infrastructure)
  • CDN-hosted media (images, audio, video served via CDN)
5 more built-in tools

Programs & Creator Support

Recognition programs and in-app support for creators.
  • Substack Bestseller recognition (badges and milestones)
  • In-app support bot (help and resources)

Ready to build on one platform?

Start with the format you know best, then add podcasts, video, community, and paid subscriptions when you are ready.

Frequently asked questions

What is Substack?

Substack is a publishing platform where writers, podcasters, and video creators build subscription-based publications. It combines newsletter email delivery, podcast hosting, native video, community features, and a built-in discovery network. Creators own their content and subscriber list.

How much does Substack cost?

Substack is free to use. There are no upfront costs, no monthly fees, and no subscriber limits on the free tier. Substack takes a 10% revenue share only when a creator earns money through paid subscriptions.

Can I use my own domain on Substack?

Yes. Substack supports custom domains. You can connect a domain you already own or purchase one directly through the platform. Substack handles DNS configuration and apex domain redirects.

Can I import my subscribers from another platform?

Yes. Substack supports subscriber import via CSV upload with list cleaning and validation. You can also import paid subscribers directly from Stripe. For content, Substack supports post import from WordPress, Ghost, Medium, Beehiiv, Mailchimp, Tumblr, Webflow, and more.

Can I export my data from Substack?

Yes. You can export your full publication data at any time, including posts (as CSV and HTML), your complete subscriber list, and optional stats. You always own your content and audience.

Does Substack support podcasting?

Yes. Substack includes full podcast hosting with automatic RSS feed generation, distribution to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, download analytics, transcript support, and private podcast feeds for paid subscribers. Substack also offers text-to-speech to some creators to automatically generate audio versions of written posts.

Does Substack support video?

Yes. Substack supports native video hosting, live video streaming with real-time chat, automatic distribution to YouTube and LinkedIn, video clipping tools, captions, and RTMP support for external streaming software.

How does Substack help me grow my audience?

Substack has a built-in discovery network that no other newsletter platform offers. This includes cross-publication recommendations, category leaderboards, an explore page, Notes (a short-form social feed), restacks, reader referral programs, and semantic search across the platform.

What makes Substack different from Mailchimp, Beehiiv, or Ghost?

Substack is the only newsletter platform with a built-in social and discovery network. While other platforms focus on email delivery and marketing automation, Substack combines publishing with audience discovery through recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, and an explore page. Substack also includes native podcast hosting and live video streaming, which most competitors do not offer.

Does Substack have an app?

Yes. Substack has native apps for both iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android. Readers can subscribe, read, listen to podcasts, watch video, chat, and manage all their subscriptions in the app. Creators can view earnings and stats on mobile.

Can I accept payments through Substack?

Yes. Substack uses Stripe for payment processing and supports monthly and annual subscriptions, founding member tiers, free trials, coupons, gift subscriptions, group billing, multi-currency support, and Bitcoin payments via OpenNode.

Can I customize the design of my Substack?

Yes. Substack offers a visual website editor with multiple homepage layouts, full color and font customization, custom CSS for email, navigation editing, logo and favicon upload, and modular content blocks. You can build a fully branded publication without writing code.

Does Substack provide legal support for writers and creators?

Yes. The Substack Defender program offers access to legal support as part of Substack’s efforts to uphold a free press and free speech. The program provides legal protection for Substack publishers against certain types of claims, including access to advice and support for publishers who face legal uncertainty or pressure because of their work.

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