Writers Abandon Substack Over High Fees

Substack, the newsletter platform that once generated significant buzz among independent writers, is now facing an accelerating exodus of creators who are migrating to lesser-known competitors. Just last month, The Ankler, one of the platform’s most prominent publications, departed for a service offering greater site control. Over the past year, numerous other writers have echoed similar frustrations, pointing to Substack’s increasing emphasis on social features and a fee structure that many describe as financially suffocating for their businesses.

While Substack experienced a talent drain in 2024 tied to its hosting of Nazi-affiliated newsletters, the current wave of departures is driven by more than just ideological concerns. Sean Highkin, who runs the NBA-focused The Rose Garden Report, tells The Verge that his earnings have grown “significantly more” since moving to Ghost in April 2024. “When I first joined up, [Substack] gave me a big push and featured me and funneled a lot of traffic to me, which led to a good amount of growth,” Highkin explains. “But once I wasn’t one of the ‘new recruited talent’ they could tout, they stopped featuring me and I saw my growth stagnate.” Now, Highkin pays $2,052 annually for Ghost with an Outpost add-on, compared to $4,968 per year on Substack. Since the end of 2024, his subscriber base has grown by 22 percent.

Matt Brown, creator of Extra Points with 71,000 subscribers, moved away from Substack in 2021 and eventually landed on Beehiiv, where he saves thousands each year. “Given the size of my publication right now, I would need to pay Substack over $25,000 a year in fees,” Brown says. “I pay Beehiiv around $3,000-ish in fees.”

The Ankler, a well-known entertainment industry publication, announced its move to Passport, a platform developed through a partnership between WordPress.com owner Automattic and Stratechery founder Ben Thompson. In a blog post, Janice Min and Richard Rushfield described the transition as “a defining moment in what has been underway: a move beyond newsletters into a fully integrated media company, now all brought together in a single, easy-to-navigate home.”

Min further explained to Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter that The Ankler “needed more flexibility and control across products, revenue, and audience relationships than the platform [Substack] allows.” The Ankler is not alone. In October 2024, Culture Study creator Anne Helen Petersen switched to Patreon, stating: “I didn’t want to be on a platform that had been steadily , and not so stealthily , enshittified.” Status also reports that The Bulwark, Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo, and Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me have “quietly explored” moving to other platforms.

Launched in 2017, Substack enables writers to create newsletters and manage paying subscribers, but it takes a 10 percent cut of all subscription revenue. This fee may seem modest initially, but it escalates quickly as subscriber counts rise. According to Substack’s own calculator, a $10-per-month newsletter with 400 subscribers costs $636 monthly when factoring in the platform’s cut and credit card processing fees. That figure jumps to $15,900 per month with 10,000 subscribers and skyrockets to $79,500 per month for 50,000 members, approaching $1 million annually.

In contrast, many Substack rivals charge a flat monthly fee. Ghost, an open-source platform for blogs and newsletters, starts at $15 per month for 1,000 members, including website creation, email capabilities, and a custom domain. Beehiiv, which offers tools for newsletters, websites, and podcasts, is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with limited features; its “Scale” plan costs $96 per month for 10,000 subscribers. Kit, another newsletter platform, charges $116 per month for 10,000 subscribers on its “Creator” plan.

Beyond pricing, critics argue that Substack locks writers and subscribers into a closed ecosystem. The platform has limited third-party integrations, leaving creators reliant on built-in tools that may not meet all their needs. While Substack has added features for podcasts, videos, and social networking features like DMs, it sparked controversy earlier this year with its new TV app and a Polymarket integration. Customization options are also restricted, with Substack branding appearing at the bottom of newsletters and “.substack.com” in website addresses unless creators purchase a custom domain.

Rival platforms like Beehiiv and Ghost offer deeper customization. Beehiiv founder Tyler Denk likens his platform to Shopify rather than Amazon, telling The Verge: “We don’t want to take credit for the work of our content creators. Shopify is empowering and building millions of these retailers’ own websites and businesses, and you actually would have no idea that you’re on a Shopify website, which is kind of the point.”

Substack also invests heavily in discovery and recommendation features, but this pressures creators to engage with “Notes,” a Twitter-like feature, to appear in algorithmic feeds. Following a writer through Notes does not equate to subscribing to their newsletter. This may boost Substack’s engagement metrics, but it benefits writers only if it leads to actual subscribers. Crucially, when creators leave Substack, they can only export subscribers, not followers. Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie pushes back on the “walled garden” label, arguing that “no walled garden would let you export your mailing list, content, and even payment relationships at any moment.” However, he acknowledges that follower portability is limited, calling Notes “a growth engine that helps you get subscribers, which you can then export.”

Additionally, Substack enables in-app payments on iOS, but Apple handles these transactions and charges a 30 percent commission. Creators leaving Substack cannot take their Apple-based billing information with them.

“We’ve always believed that creators should own their relationship with their audience, including the freedom to leave if they choose,” says Hanne Winarsky, Substack’s head of New Media, in an emailed statement. “At the same time, there are also many examples of publishers and writers who have returned to Substack after experimenting elsewhere, including SemiAnalysis, Glenn Greenwald, and Joe Posnanski, to name a few.” Substack is also expanding into new markets, with paid subscriptions to UK figures like Charli XCX, Jamie Oliver, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer surpassing 500,000.

Platformer creator Casey Newton, who left Substack in 2024, notes that while his publication saves money on Ghost, “the more important thing is that we have a home on the open web that we control, and whatever anti-creator changes Substack is forced to make in the future to live up to its valuation we won’t be affected by.”

These high-profile departures may not signal the end of Substack, but they could mark a shift where the platform becomes a launching pad rather than a permanent home for publications. As rival platforms gain traction, attracting new creators who don’t want to be reduced to just another Substack may become increasingly difficult.