| | By Rob Pugh on April 10, 2025 |
If you've been running a newsletter on Substack, you might be feeling some growing pains. Maybe you're watching those 10% fees eat into your revenue as your subscriber base grows. Perhaps you're hitting the limits of Substack's customization options. Or you might be concerned about truly owning your content and audience data. Whatever the reason for exploring alternatives, WordPress.com's Newsletter feature offers a compelling alternative that addresses these concerns while providing a clear path for growth. And now, with our comprehensive import tools, migrating from Substack to WordPress.com is easier than ever. Bring your newsletter to WordPress.com Seamlessly import your Substack content and subscribers We've created a straightforward migration process that makes it easy to bring both your content and subscribers to WordPress.com. Bring your existing posts with our importer tool. This tool preserves your entire publishing history, including images, formatting, and post metadata. Your archive remains intact, maintaining a connection with your audience and your SEO value. You can also bring your subscribers—your most valuable asset—with you. Our subscriber import tool helps you import both free and paid subscribers, maintaining those crucial relationships you've worked so hard to build. Why creators are moving from Substack to WordPress.com Did you know that every WordPress.com site comes ready to be a Newsletter? Even sites on our Free plan can email subscribers at no cost. In fact, we’ve been sending newsletters since before they were called newsletters. We just updated the name to match what people call them today. While we both send newsletters, WordPress.com beats Substack in several crucial areas. Keep more of what you earn On Substack, a 10% fee for each transaction might seem reasonable when you're just starting out. But as your newsletter grows, that money really adds up. With the WordPress.com Commerce plan, we don’t charge a fee for each transaction. That means if you have 100 subscribers paying $10 per month, you'd save $660 per year. Plus, with WordPress.com plans, you also get reliable and managed website hosting, built-in support, and essential audience-building tools—all for one predictable price. If 1,000 subscribers pay $10 per month each for your newsletter, Substack would charge $1,000 per month in transaction fees, based on their current fee structures. By hosting your newsletter on WordPress.com, you'd save $995 per month. Your subscribers are paying for your content, right? Why shouldn’t you get that money? Don’t fit in; stand out Substack’s design options are limited, so creating a distinct brand identity can be challenging. WordPress.com gives you more ways to customize your newsletter site with: Dozens of professionally designed themes specifically optimized for newsletters. Complete customization of colors, fonts, and layouts. The ability to create a distinctive visual identity that reinforces your brand. Custom landing pages that convert visitors to subscribers. Break through the newsletter ceiling What if you’re ready to expand beyond newsletters? WordPress.com enables you to: Own your piece of the web: Show up like an established business with a full-featured website. Sell products and services: Add an ecommerce store to your site to sell merchandise, digital products, or services. Build a loyal following: Create membership communities with forums and exclusive content. Target your audience: Develop custom landing pages for different audience segments. Expand what your site can do: Integrate with other tools and services through our plugin ecosystem. Truly own your content and data Substack gives you access to your content and subscribers, but you still rely on a closed platform with its own policies and limitations that can change at any time. WordPress.com gives you full control over your site, your data, and how you grow your business. If something were to change with our service, you could simply move to another WordPress hosting provider. Twenty years of commitment to content ownership and the open web ensures you’re not locked into proprietary systems. We allow you to export your content and subscriber data anytime, control your brand, content, and relationships with your audience, and build on WordPress, the open-source platform that powers over 43% of the web. Ready to make the move? Whether you're looking for more design flexibility, vastly lower fees, or true content ownership, WordPress.com provides a robust alternative to Substack. Join the thousands of creators who have chosen WordPress.com as their newsletter platform. Move to WordPress.com | 