Issue Mint vs Substack
Substack is the default answer for writers who want to publish and get paid without thinking about any of the machinery. It is free to start, it has a real discovery network that puts your name in front of people, and its paid subscription mechanics are the best in the business. For essays, it is hard to argue with.
The short version
Substack is built for prose and for paid subscriptions. A curated link roundup is neither of those. You can certainly publish one there, but you will be pasting links into a text editor by hand every week, with no library, no sections to reorder, no way of knowing which link people clicked and nowhere to manage a sponsor. Issue Mint does that one format properly. Substack does discovery and payments, and Issue Mint does neither.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Issue Mint | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Composer built for roundups | Yes | Rich text editor |
| Save links through the week | Yes, a library and a browser button | No |
| Sections you can reorder | Yes | Format it yourself each time |
| Which links your readers clicked | Yes, every link ranked | Limited |
| Sponsorship management | Yes | No |
| Charging readers a subscription | No | Yes, and best in class |
| Built-in discovery network | No | Yes, a real advantage |
| Who sends the email | We do, and you can take it over whenever you want | The platform, always |
| Your own domain | Included | Paid extra |
| What it costs | A flat monthly price by list size | Free, then a share of what readers pay you |
Compared on capability rather than price, because Substack changes its plans from time to time and a stale figure here would be worse than none. Check their current pricing directly.
When Substack is the better choice
- You want to charge readers, and you want it to work without any setup at all.
- Being discovered matters to you. Substack recommends newsletters to readers, and that is a source of new subscribers you cannot build yourself.
- You are writing essays rather than assembling links.
- You want to start without paying anything.
When Issue Mint is the better choice
- Your issue is a set of sections full of links, and the editor is the thing slowing you down.
- You want to know which links your readers wanted, not just whether they opened the email.
- You sell sponsorships and want the slots, the bookings and the enquiries in one place.
- You want your list, your archive and eventually your sending to be portable by design rather than by export.
Moving from Substack
Substack lets you export your subscribers as a spreadsheet, which imports here directly. Keep your Substack archive online if it brings in traffic, and start fresh from your next issue.
Questions about switching
Can I run both at once?
People do, though we would not recommend it for long. Splitting one audience across two archives splits everything that makes either of them findable.
Try it against your own next issue.
14 days, no card. Import your list, connect your sending, and see whether the workflow fits before you move anything permanently.
Start your trial