Substack
Newsletter and blogging platform for publishing posts and sending them to email subscribers.
HN commenters like Substack for growing a subscriber base123 and as free email distribution for large lists that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars a month, often paired with their own blog.456 The most common caveat is relying on a proprietary platform they don't control78, with others complaining about click-optimized content and little value without an existing audience.910
Why people recommend it
Audience growth · 3
Bloggers and organizers report subscriber growth they could not get through their own sites or social media.
“the audience growth is real. I'm approaching 2000 subscribers”
“The experience was so good that we haven't moved off.”
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“it's by far the best way to reach people”
Free email delivery · 3
Used as a no-cost replacement for paid email services, even with tens of thousands of subscribers.
“I get to use Substack for email distribution (which would cost me hundreds of dollars a month using most other solutions, I have 66,000 subscribers now)”
“I use Substack as a free email provider for the email newsletter copy of my blog”
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“substack acts as a subscriber growth + email distribution tool for me”
Reader engagement · 2
Described as reaching readers far more effectively than social media channels.
“The experience was so good that we haven't moved off.”
“it's by far the best way to reach people”
Low friction · 1
One developer says switching from building a custom site to Substack finally got them writing.
“Recently I switched to a Substack hosted on my own subdomain, and now I'm finally writing.”
Caveats and dissent
Platform dependence · 2
Commenters warn against relying on a proprietary, gated platform that could change its rules.
“the danger there is that one is putting a lot of one's eggs into a fickle basket”
“maybe look for an open alternative to Substack? (avoid bullshit, proprietary, gated access for quality content by humans).”
Content quality · 1
One commenter feels Substack is flooded with click-optimized content and AI slop.
“Substack feels flooded by content optimized for clicks, newsletters, and even AI slop.”
Needs an audience · 1
A writer with no audience found Substack useless for their posts.
“I have no audience so I feel like Substack is useless to me.”
No composing API · 1
There is no API for composing newsletters, so cross-posting relies on copy-paste.
“I get to use Substack for email distribution (which would cost me hundreds of dollars a month using most other solutions, I have 66,000 subscribers now)”
Pushy popups · 1
Subscribe popups and buttons can be annoying, though they reportedly work.
“it's by far the best way to reach people”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Substack writers, you need a website 6 mentions
- New social app: Strava for reading 1 mention
- A Possible Future for Damn Interesting 1 mention
- The Fall of the Theorem Economy 1 mention
- Show HN: Performative-UI – a react component library of design tropes 1 mention
- Writers are fleeing the Substack Tax 1 mention
Data: substack.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 13
“Substack feels flooded by content optimized for clicks, newsletters, and even AI slop.”
“I use Substack for email distribution too.”
“substack acts as a subscriber growth + email distribution tool for me”
“I have no audience so I feel like Substack is useless to me.”
“The experience was so good that we haven't moved off.”
“the audience growth is real. I'm approaching 2000 subscribers”
“I get to use Substack for email distribution (which would cost me hundreds of dollars a month using most other solutions, I have 66,000 subscribers now)”
“the danger there is that one is putting a lot of one's eggs into a fickle basket”
“maybe look for an open alternative to Substack? (avoid bullshit, proprietary, gated access for quality content by humans).”
“it's by far the best way to reach people”
“Writers are not "fleeing Substack"”
“Recently I switched to a Substack hosted on my own subdomain, and now I'm finally writing.”
“I use Substack as a free email provider for the email newsletter copy of my blog”