You Should Probably Leave Substack

Unfortunately, Substack willingly platforms, and allows bad actors to monetize, hate speech and misinformation.

Says Who?

Here are some well-reasoned pieces on the subject for you to educate yourself and decide.

• “Don’t call it a Substack” - Anil Dash
• “Substack is at it again” - The Handbasket
• “Substack has a Nazi Problem” - The Atlantic
• “Substack - Criticism” on Wikipedia
• “Substack says it Will Not Ban Nazis or Extremist Speech” - NYTimes (via archive.is)
• “Why Platformer is leaving Substack”
• “The ongoing content moderation issues behind Substack’s meltdown” - Mashable
• “Substackers Against Nazis” - An Open Letter to Substack in 2021
• “Former Substack creators say they’re earning more on new platforms that offer larger shares of subscription revenue” - Digiday
• “I Am Leaving Substack” - Notes on the Crises describes additional issues around Substack users directly targeting and doxing people in marginalized groups.
• “Creators are ditching Substack over ideological shift in 2025” - Digiday
• “How Substack steals your audience and your revenue”
• “What Happens When You Leave Substack?”

Where Can I Go, and How Can I Migrate?

Below, in alphabetical order, are some guides to moving to competition that are better-suited for those who don’t want to platform hate speech and misinformation.

General Advice

• “Top Substack Competitors and Alternatives in 2025” - Latterly.org - a great overview on how to think about which choice to make and good coverage of several alternatives.

Beehiiv

Beehiiv is a commercial alternative to Substack, with a free tier.

• “How to migrate from Substack to Beehiiv” - Beehiiv Knowledge Base

Buttondown

Buttondown is a commercial alternative to Substack that has a free pricing tier. Many leaving Substack have chosen to migrate there.

• Documentation on Migrating from Substack
• “Why I Migrated My Newsletter From Substack to Eleventy and Buttondown” - Richard MacManus

Ghost

Ghost is a non-profit, self-hosted publishing platform. It also has hosted options available for those who don’t want to self-host.

• “Official Guide: How to Migrate from Substack to Ghost” - Ghost Developer docs
• “Substack to Ghost migration guide: How I imported my newsletter and set up Mailgun and Cloudflare” -Read Only Memo
• “Migrating from Substack to self-hosted Ghost: the details” - Citation Needed, a newsletter by Molly White
• A Bluesky thread from a user who moved from Substack to Ghost.

Who Else Has Migrated Away?

Notable examples include:

• Citation Needed, a newsletter by Molly White
• Platformer
• Ty Burr
• Rands
• Garbage Day Newsletter

Questions? Feedback?

E-mail sean@leavesubstack.com.