Substack review 2026: fees, payouts and who it suits

Substack keeps 10% of every paid subscription, and Stripe takes another 3.6% plus 30 cents per payment, so a $10 monthly subscriber is worth about $8.34 to you. That is a steep price next to beehiiv and Ghost, which take nothing from subscriptions, and Kit, which charges 3.5% plus 30 cents with card processing included. What Substack sells for its 10% is distribution, through Notes, recommendations and an app where readers browse other writers. We think that trade pays off while your list is small and stops paying off once paid revenue grows.

How much does Substack take?

Substack takes 10% of each subscription payment as of October 2026, with no monthly fee. Stripe then charges its own card and billing fees, which come out of your share.

Here is the arithmetic on those published fees for one $10 monthly payment. Substack takes $1.00, Stripe’s card fee is $0.59 and Stripe Billing adds $0.07, which leaves $8.34. An annual plan softens the flat 30 cents. A $100 yearly subscription loses $13.90 and leaves $86.10.

Stripe’s Billing fee is the one creators miss. Substack’s help center says it does not appear in a payment’s fee breakdown. You find it in the payout summary in Stripe, listed as a Stripe fee.

The minimum price is $5 a month or $30 a year on US-dollar Stripe accounts. Founding member plans let readers pay any amount above the annual price.

How does Substack handle iOS in-app subscriptions?

Readers can subscribe inside the Substack iOS app using Apple’s in-app payments, and every publication with payments on in a supported country gets this automatically. Apple takes 30% in a subscription’s first year and 15% after that, and Substack still takes 10% of your original web price.

Substack gives you two pricing settings. Adjusted pricing, the recommended one, raises the in-app price to cover Apple’s cut so you earn close to your web rate. The other setting keeps prices the same, charging in-app readers your web price rounded up to the nearest App Store price point, and you absorb Apple’s fee.

You cannot switch in-app payments off while payments are connected. US readers also see a link to pay on the web, which Apple does not allow outside the US. Apple handles refunds and billing for these readers, and those billing relationships stay behind if you leave Substack. You keep their email addresses.

How do Substack payouts work?

Substack pays web subscription revenue through Stripe, and payments usually reach your bank within 48 hours of each transaction. Your first Stripe payout takes 7 to 14 days.

You can set Stripe payouts to daily or weekly, and Substack sets no minimum of its own. In-app purchases are slower. Apple pays Substack monthly, up to 45 days after the month ends, so January in-app subscriptions reach your Stripe account by mid-March. In some countries in-app earnings go straight to a bank account and are held until they reach $100.

If payouts look low, check Substack Boost. When it is on, Substack may offer engaged free readers 20% off a paid plan, and you can switch it off in settings.

How do you make money on Substack?

Substack pays you through reader subscriptions, and nearly everything else on the platform feeds that. You connect Stripe, set monthly, annual and founding member prices, then put posts, podcasts or Notes replies behind the paywall. The ways money comes in:

• Monthly and annual paid plans, from $5 a month or $30 a year
• A founding member tier at any annual price you set above the yearly plan
• iOS in-app subscriptions, billed by Apple at an adjusted or matched price
• Substack-funded gifts, where Substack pays for one-month gift subscriptions for engaged free readers, minus its 10%, at some publications in the US, Canada and Australia

How does Substack help you find readers?

Substack’s discovery comes from its network. Notes is a short-form feed on the web and in the app where your posts, restacks and comments reach your subscribers and the wider Substack audience.

Recommendations work as a referral loop. Publications you recommend appear after someone subscribes to you, on your homepage and in digest emails, and the writers you recommend are prompted to recommend you back. The Recommendations tab shows how many free subscribers each recommendation brought in, so you can see whether the loop is working.

What changes on Substack on December 1, 2026?

From December 1, 2026, Substack calculates, collects and remits sales tax and VAT on paid subscriptions for every publication with payments on, at no extra cost. US and Canadian publishers have tax added at checkout, so your listed price and earnings per subscriber stay the same.

This replaces the old Stripe Tax integration, where you registered with each tax authority yourself. Publishers in Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, India and Thailand still handle their own tax. Our creator taxes guide covers what US creators still owe.

Who is Substack best for?

Substack suits writers starting from zero who want readers to find them inside a network and would rather pay a percentage than a monthly bill. Publishing is free and setup takes minutes, so you can test a paid tier with nothing at risk.

It gets expensive as you grow. Both platforms pay the same Stripe fees, so the gap with Ghost is Substack’s 10% against Ghost’s $35 Publisher plan for up to 1,000 members, and Substack costs more once paid revenue passes $350 a month. Against beehiiv’s $59 Lite plan the line is about $590 a month. Kit’s free plan, which covers up to 10,000 subscribers, is cheaper at any revenue level, because its 3.5% + $0.30 replaces Stripe’s fees entirely.

Skip Substack if most of your readers are on iPhones and you want full control of billing, or if you want newsletters sent from your own domain.

Substack alternatives

Our Substack vs beehiiv comparison covers the ad-supported route, and Substack vs Ghost covers owning your site outright. If you sell memberships with perks beyond writing, Patreon is the usual alternative, and our Patreon vs Substack comparison weighs the two. For setup steps on any platform, see how to start a paid newsletter.