Every platform comparison article you find online was written at a specific moment in time, when one platform had just launched a feature, raised prices, or lost a key integration. By the time you find it via search, it reflects a landscape that no longer exists. This page tracks where writers are actually publishing right now, not where they were a year ago.
Where Are You Publishing?
Vote to add your data point and see the current platform distribution across the creator community.
What the Data Shows
Responses are still arriving. The current sample is not yet large enough to draw a reliable read on platform distribution. What is already visible is that platform choice varies significantly by creator type and revenue model. This paragraph will update when the data stabilizes.
Understanding the Platform Landscape
What Substack Actually Sells
Substack's market position is built on one insight: writers do not want to be growth hackers. The platform removes every decision that is not "write and publish." No A/B testing, no segmentation, no automation sequences. For a writer who wants to start publishing in a weekend and monetize through paid subscriptions, that simplicity is genuinely valuable.
The cost of that simplicity is the 10% platform fee on subscription revenue. At low subscriber counts, this is negligible. At scale, a newsletter generating $10,000 per month in subscription revenue is paying $1,000 monthly to Substack for infrastructure that costs a fraction of that to replicate on a competing platform.
Substack's network effect is real but often overstated. Readers do discover newsletters through the Substack app and recommendations. But data consistently shows that most subscriber growth for established newsletters comes from outside Substack's ecosystem, through social media, word of mouth, and search.
Why Beehiiv Took Market Share
Beehiiv positioned itself as the platform for writers who want to grow, not just write. The built-in referral program, advanced segmentation, A/B testing for subject lines, and a monetization layer that does not take a revenue cut fundamentally changed the calculus for growth-oriented creators.
The pricing model matters: Beehiiv charges a flat subscription fee rather than a percentage of revenue. For any newsletter generating meaningful sponsorship or subscription income, this becomes cheaper than Substack at a relatively low revenue threshold.
The trade-off is complexity. Beehiiv has more settings, more tabs, more decisions. Writers who just want to write find it overwhelming. Writers who want to optimize find it liberating.
Ghost and the Ownership Argument
Ghost is the platform of choice for writers who prioritize data ownership and customization above ease of use. Self-hosted Ghost gives you full database access, complete control over your subscriber list, and the ability to inject custom code. No platform can change its terms, take a cut of revenue, or shut down your publication.
The friction is real. Ghost requires either technical setup or a monthly managed hosting fee. Custom integrations break when dependencies update. The "schema drift" problem, charts and embeds that stop working when server configurations change, is more common on Ghost than on managed platforms.
For writers whose newsletter is their primary business asset, that ownership argument is compelling enough to accept the technical overhead.
Kit and the Automation Use Case
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is rarely the primary publishing platform but often the infrastructure layer underneath one. Writers who use Kit typically care more about email automation than about the reading experience. They run funnels, sequences, and segmented campaigns that are difficult or impossible to replicate on Substack or Beehiiv.
The trade-off is that Kit's newsletter aesthetic is more transactional than editorial. It is optimized for conversion, not reading. Writers who use it as their primary platform typically have a business rationale, selling courses, services, or consulting, that justifies the automation capability over the editorial experience.
Platform Choice is a Business Decision
The platform question is ultimately a revenue model question. Writers monetizing through sponsorships want audience data and growth tools, which points toward Beehiiv. Writers monetizing through paid subscriptions on a simple model can accept Substack's fee in exchange for its network. Writers building a publishing business as a long-term asset want ownership, which points toward Ghost or a self-hosted stack.
The chart above tells you where writers are today. As platforms add features, raise prices, or face competition, that distribution will shift. Embed this chart in your platform comparison content and it will always reflect current reality.