Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, the co-founder ofKik Messenger; Jairaj Sethi, a head of platform and principal developer at Kik Messenger; and Hamish McKenzie, a formerPandoDaily tech reporter.[10][11] Best and McKenzie have said Ben Thompson'sStratechery, a subscription-based tech and media newsletter, was a major inspiration for their platform.[5] Best acts as CEO of the company.[12][13]
In 2019, Substack added support for podcasts and discussion threads among newsletter subscribers.[14][15]
By November 2021, the platform said it had more than 500,000 paying subscribers, representing over one million subscriptions.[16]
In January 2022, Substack announced that it would begin privatebeta testing of video functionality on its platform.[16] In November, it launchedSubstack Chat, where content creators could create privategroup chats with subscribers.[6] The same year, the company launched the Substack Reader app foriOS, followed by anAndroid version six months later.[17][18]
In April 2023,Elon Musk spoke with Substack's leadership about purchasing the platform, but his offer was rejected.[19] The same month, Substack implemented a Notes feature, which allows users to publish and repostshort-form content. Thismicroblogging feature has been compared toTwitter, and many outlets considered it a response tochanges at Twitter under Musk's ownership.[20][21] Musk criticized Substack Notes, and Twitter began censoring links to Substack.[22][23][24]
In November 2023, Substack introduced new video creating and editing tools, and content creators started launching original shows on the platform.[6][25]
In April 2024, Substack partnered withSpotify to enable podcasters to distribute episodes on both platforms and added new editing features for podcasts.[26] In June 2024, Substack announced a year-long development initiative forTikTok creators called Creator Studio,[27] and added five-minute video capabilities to the chat function.[28] Video was also added to Notes.[29][30]
By November 2024, Substack had 4 million paid subscriptions.[31]
Substack added livestreaming options for creators in September 2024.[32][25] Following this and the January 2025restrictions on TikTok in the United States, Substack announced the ability to post and monetize videos directly through the Substack app in February 2025.[29] In March 2025, Substack announced that it had 5 million paid subscriptions.[33] In June, independent journalistEric Newcomer reported that Substack was in talks to raise a new funding round.The New York Times later reported that Substack had raised $100 million, valuing the company at $1.1 billion.[34][35]
Substack users include journalists, subject-matter experts, and media platforms.[36][37][38]New York Times columnist Mike Isaac argued in 2019 that companies like Substack see newsletters as a stabler means to maintain readers through more direct connection with writers.[12] In 2020,The New Republic said there was a dearth of local news newsletters, especially in contrast to the large number of national-level political newsletters.[39]
As of late 2020, many journalists and reporters were joining the platform, driven in part by the long-term decline intraditional media (there were half as manynewsroom jobs in 2019 as in 2004).[40] Around that time,The New Yorker wrote that while "Substack has advertised itself as a friendly home for journalism, ... few of its newsletters publish original reporting; the majority offer personal writing, opinion pieces, research, and analysis."[41] It called Substack's content moderation policy "lightweight", with rules against "harassment, threats,spam, pornography, and calls for violence; moderation decisions are made by the founders".[41]
Authors can decide to make subscribing to their newsletter free or paid, and to make specific posts publicly available to non-subscribers.[41] As of 2020[update], the minimum subscription fee was $5/month or $30/year,[41] and Substack usually takes a 10% cut from subscription payments.[38][10] Substack earns no revenue from advertisements placed by publishers.[40] In February 2019, the platform began allowing creators to monetize podcasts.[54] Substack reported 11,000 paid subscribers as of 2018, rising to 50,000 in 2019.[54]
In 2019, the site provided afellowship to some writers, which included a $3,000 stipend and a one-day workshop in San Francisco. The decline of sports-oriented publications such asSports Illustrated,Deadspin, andSB Nation, coupled with the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic, led to a surge in sports journalists moving to write on Substack in 2019 and 2020. Substack competes with subscription siteThe Athletic in this submarket, so McKenzie says the company recruits less strongly in that market.[10] In 2020, after the onset of the pandemic, Substack extended grants of $1,000–$3,000 to over 40 writers to begin working on the platform.[10] It expanded into comics content in 2021 and signed creators includingSaladin Ahmed,Jonathan Hickman,Lee Knox Ostertag,Scott Snyder, andJames Tynion IV, paying them while keeping their subscription revenue. After their first year, Substack will take 10 percent of subscription revenue.[47]
Substack's founders reached out to a small pool of writers in 2017 to acquire its first creators.[11] Bill Bishop was among the first to put his newsletter,Sinocism, on Substack, offering its daily content for $11 a month or $118 a year.[5] As of 2019, Bishop'sSinocism was the top-paid newsletter on the service.[54] By late 2020, the conservative newsletterThe Dispatch became the top Substack user, with more than 100,000 subscribers and over $2 million in first-year revenue, according to founder Steve Hayes.[40] In May 2021, Substack acquiredBrooklyn-based startup People & Company.[57] In August 2020, Substack reported that over 100,000 users were paying for at least one newsletter.[56] As of August 2021, Substack had more than 250,000 paying subscribers and its top ten publishers were making $7 million in annualized revenue.[58] In April 2022,The New York Times reported Substack may be valued at $650 million.[59] Substack dropped an effort to raise money in May 2022.[60] The company had aimed to raise between $75 million and $100 million.[60]
In March 2021, Substack revealed that it had been experimenting with arevenue sharing program called Substack Pro, which paid advances for writers to create publications on its platform,[4] but received criticism for not disclosing which writers were part of Substack Pro.[61] This program ended in 2022.[62]
Substack provides legal advice to its writers through its program, Substack Defender. Lawyers provide a legal review of stories before they are published, and provide advice surroundingcease-and-desist letters related to writers' work. Substack has committed to covering up to $1 million in fees for cases accepted by Defender lawyers.[58] The program was expanded in 2025 to include a partnership with theFoundation for Individual Rights and Expression.[63]
On July 28, 2020, Substack accidentally exposed users’ email addresses by putting them in the "cc" field instead of "bcc" in a privacy policy update email regarding theCalifornia Consumer Privacy Act. It acknowledged the mistake on Twitter.[64]
In January 2022, theCenter for Countering Digital Hate accused Substack of allowing content that could be dangerous topublic health. The Center estimated that the company earned $2.5 million per year from the top fiveanti-vaccine authors alone.[65] The three founders responded via blog post affirming their commitment to minimalcensorship.[66]
Substack faced further criticism in November 2023 for allowing its platform to be used bywhite nationalists,Nazis, andantisemites.[67] In an open letter, more than 100 Substack creators threatened to leave the platform[68] and implored Substack's leadership to stop giving bigotry a platform.[69] In response, Substack CEO Hamish McKenzie said the company would continue to allow the publication ofextremist views because attempting to censor them would make the problem worse.[70][71] Creators likeCasey Newton,[72][73][74]Molly White, andRyan Broderick left the platform as a result.[75]
