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Publishing

Alternatives to

Substack

Newsletter publishing with platform fees and discovery inside Substack's network.

Why people switch

Substack lowers the barrier to paid newsletters, but your list and brand still live on someone else's rails. Self-hosted options below keep subscription relationships under your control.

Vetted alternatives

  • Ghost

    Moderate switchOpen source

    Professional publishing platform you can self-host or rent.

    Ghost is built for memberships, newsletters, and long-form writing. You own the content, theme, and member list on your domain.

    How it is funded: Nonprofit foundation; open-source MIT-licensed software funded by Ghost(Pro) managed hosting.

    Visit Ghost

  • Write.as

    Straightforward switchOpen source

    Minimalist writing without feeds engineered for addiction.

    Write.as focuses on plain text posts and optional paid blogs. There are no public like counts, trending surfaces, or algorithmic timelines.

    How it is funded: Paid blogs and hosted service fees.

    Built on WriteFreely (AGPL open source). Write.as is the managed hosted service; self-host WriteFreely for full control.

    Visit Write.as