Instead of Substack
Substack alternatives
Substack combines posts, newsletters, podcasts, video, live streams, and pages for writers, journalists, podcasters, educators, experts, and media companies. Its editor offers scheduling, autosaved drafts, version history, templates, SEO metadata, and headline A/B testing. Recommendations, Notes, leaderboards, referrals, and search help audiences discover work. Creators retain their intellectual property and mailing lists, can export data, and can sell free or paid posts, subscriptions, trials, gifts, and group plans. Publishing costs nothing; paid subscriptions carry a 10% Substack fee plus Stripe processing fees.
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OpenEMM
by OpenEMMFree plan Open source APILinuxMac+3Self-hosted email marketing across major desktop platforms — OpenEMM focuses on automated, segmented email campaigns with landing pages and A/B testing rather than Substack’s publishing flow.
Free plan Visit site - 2
Direct Mail
by Direct MailFree plan iPhoneMacMac-based campaigns with small subscriber lists — Direct Mail is a Mac email marketing app with a 500-subscriber limit, unlike Substack’s broader publication tools.
Free plan Visit site - 3
Firepush
by FirepushFree plan AndroidiPhoneWebShopify stores recovering carts and repeat sales — Firepush uses web push marketing for Shopify, including cart recovery, alerts, and store campaigns instead of newsletters and publications.
Free plan · paid from $13/mo Visit site - 4
listmonk
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3Self-hosted, open-source newsletter and mailing lists — listmonk is an AGPLv3 self-hosted manager for one-way lists, with SQL segmentation, APIs, and transactional messaging.
Free plan Visit site - 5
Mailchimp
by MailchimpFree plan AndroidAPIiPhone+1Marketing campaigns with integrations and testing — Mailchimp centers on email marketing with a 500-subscriber and 5,000-monthly-send limit, plus 300 native integrations.
Free plan · 14-day trial Visit site - 6
phpList
by phpListFree plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1Self-hosted lists up to 3,000 subscribers — phpList provides self-hosted email automation, segmentation, and A/B testing with 3,000 subscribers and 9,000 monthly sends.
Free plan Visit site - 7
SendPulse
by SendPulseFree plan AndroidAPIExtension+2Multichannel marketing on a modest budget — SendPulse offers email automation, segmentation, and A/B testing but no landing pages, unlike Substack’s publishing and page flow.
Free plan · paid from $9.60/mo (annual) Visit site - 8
ProfileGrid
Free plan Open source APISelf-hostedWeb - 9
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s2Member
Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb - 19
Simple Membership Plugin
Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb - 20
Fourthwall
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+1 - 21
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Paid Member Subscriptions
Free plan Self-hostedWeb - 23
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FloopFloop
Free plan APILinuxMac+2 - 25
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Kulcho
Free plan APIWeb - 27
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ProfilePress
Free plan Self-hostedWeb - 30
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WP eMember
Free plan Self-hostedWeb6.9 Visit site
Readers may look elsewhere for email-marketing operations, store messaging, self-hosted control, transactional delivery, or larger integration catalogs. Substack runs on Android, iOS, and the web, while alternatives may center on desktop apps, APIs, Linux, or self-hosting. Compare subscriber and sending limits, segmentation, automation, landing pages, testing, integrations, and paid tiers. Also decide whether you need Substack’s publication workflow and discovery tools or a system built mainly for campaigns, customer notifications, and list management.