







You Should Probably Leave Substack
You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.
Substack Doesn't Want You to Leave - Aaron Ross Powell’s Blog
Substack's business model is unsustainable—unless they lock all their writers in.
Destacked: Why I Avoid Substack As Much as Possible - Jacky Alciné
From Substack LLC's attempt to capture the concept of a newsletter as a verb to their overt encouragement and support for Neo-Nazi content, don't expect me to post anything on that platform. I explain why.

Substack Doesn't Want You to Leave - Aaron Ross Powell
Substack's business model is unsustainable—unless they lock all their writers in.
Why Did I Leave Substack, Anyway?
Last week, my friends at Scratch reached out to ask if I'd be interesting in answering questions about why I moved my newsletter off Substack. Of course I would! I've written some about it here, as you know, but I'm always game to talk more about this,

Substack Writers Concerned as Subscriptions ‘Plummet’ Due to Follow Feature
Substack writers are expressing their concerns about the platform’s following feature on social media, which some argue is suppressing their subscription growth.


Drop Site News | Substack
Independent news on politics and war. Click to read Drop Site News, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Do Not Research | Substack
DNR is a publishing platform for writing, visual art, internet culture and more. Click to read Do Not Research, a Substack publication.

Substack writers, you need a website!
Substack is convenient, but treat it as a distribution tool for your content. Your content should live on an independently owned website, which has a domain name you control and own. This way, you …


Q&A: Robin Berjon on freeing journalists' feeds.
The AT protocol and “long-term, lifelong, sustainable protection against enshittification.”

This is a disappointing and reductive take by @prospect.org It's a mistake to think of Substack only when thinking of independently published journalism and analysis.
The American Prospect
At their best, Substacks combine a probing brand of journalism with deep scholarly knowledge and a willingness to express a point of view at a time when many legacy newspapers have become timid and cautious.
Substack tries to be too clever with its daringfireball.net/2026/05/what_is_a_dickover and even basic HTML and images. It means that a blog on Substack is unlikely to be indexed properly by the Wayback Machine. A real problem considering how much writing is on Substack.
"I can't leave because they've locked me in" Once again, Substack is the opposite of independence. Also, classic @molly.wiki breakdown of how you win when you leave Substack:
Molly White
www.mollywhite.netAnil Dash
For the folks who’ve been saying that people can’t get off of Substack to other platforms because they lose subscribers when they do — what’s the percentage? How many readers? What % of total dollars coming in? Do we have hard numbers?