Substack is well-known. We are not (yet). Here is an honest look at why we think you deserve better than what Substack offers — and why we built an alternative.
A February 2026 investigation by The Guardian found that Substack is generating direct revenue from newsletters openly promoting Nazi ideology, white supremacy, and antisemitism. Substack takes a 10% cut of every subscription — including these.
Among the newsletters the investigation named:
The investigation also found that within two hours of subscribing to one of these newsletters, Substack's algorithm had recommended 21 more accounts with similar content. These accounts actively share and like each other's posts. The algorithm builds the audience for them.
The Holocaust Educational Trust responded: "The idea that Substack profits from this hateful material and allows for it to be boosted via their algorithm is a disgrace."
Danny Stone of the Antisemitism Policy Trust linked such content directly to real-world violence: "People can be, and are, inspired by online harm to cause harm in real world." He referenced the 2025 Yom Kippur synagogue attack in Manchester that killed two people, and the Hanukah shooting in Sydney that killed fifteen.
Substack did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment.
This is not the first time. When the same criticism was raised in 2023 — and over 100 creators signed an open letter threatening to leave — Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie published a response that is now infamous. He wrote: "I just want to make it clear that we don't like Nazis either … But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don't think that censorship … makes the problem go away — in fact, it makes it worse."
He chose the Nazi newsletters. Notable writers including tech journalist Casey Newton, crypto critic Molly White, and media analyst Ryan Broderick left the platform in protest. The Nazi newsletters stayed.
In January 2022, the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that Substack was earning an estimated $2.5 million per year from just the five most prominent anti-vaccine accounts on its platform. Substack takes a 10% cut of all subscription revenue — so the company was directly financially benefiting from the spread of content that public health authorities consider dangerous.
The founders' response was a blog post reaffirming their commitment to "minimal censorship". No accounts were removed.
Substack's business model is simple: you do the writing, they take a 10% cut of every subscription payment, for as long as you publish. If you build an audience of 1,000 paying subscribers at $5/month, Substack collects $500 every month. Every month. Forever.
There is no cap. There is no buyout option. The more successful you become, the more you pay them — for infrastructure that costs a fraction of what they collect.
We charge $1/month flat. We do not take a cut of anything.
Substack has raised over $100 million in venture capital, including a $15.3 million Series A from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — one of the most aggressive and politically active VC firms in Silicon Valley. As of mid-2024, the company is valued at $1.1 billion.
When a company takes that kind of money, it takes on obligations. Growth. Returns. An exit. That pressure shapes every product decision, every moderation choice, every policy. "Minimal censorship" is not a principled stance — it is a growth strategy. Controversy drives signups.
We are not funded by anyone. We run on three used Mac Pros and a set of solar panels. Our only obligation is to the people who pay us $1 a month.
Substack gives you tools to build a subscriber list — but your newsletter lives on their platform, under their domain, under their rules. If Substack changes its terms, raises its cut, gets acquired, or simply shuts down, your publication and your relationship with your readers is at risk.
Ghost® is open source software. Your content, your subscribers, your data — all portable. If you ever want to leave my👻page (or any host for Ghost®), you can export everything and move it. No lock-in.
No percentage cut. No tiers. One price. If you grow a thousand paying subscribers, you still pay $1/month. Your success is yours.
Ghost® is an independent open-source publishing platform, not owned by any Big Tech company. Your content is stored in a format you can export at any time. You are not the product.
We have a simple content policy: nothing hateful, nothing harmful. We are a small operation — we can actually enforce this. If something violates our policy, we deal with it directly. No algorithmic grey areas.
Your writing runs on three recycled 2013 Mac Pros, solar panels on a rooftop in Germany, and Bürgerwerke renewable electricity as backup. Not a hyperscale data centre burning coal on your behalf.
When you email hello@myghost.page, a person reads it and replies. Not a bot. Not a help-desk ticket queue. Us.
Substack did genuinely help a lot of independent writers make a living at a time when traditional media was collapsing. The concept — paid newsletters, direct writer-reader relationship — is sound. The execution has been compromised by the pressures of venture capital and by a set of values we do not share.
We are not building a billion-dollar company. We are building something that works for the people who use it, runs on green energy, and does not share revenue with people publishing swastikas.
That felt like a gap worth filling.
If you are already on Substack, you can export your subscriber list and posts. We will help you import everything. Email us at hello@myghost.page and we will walk you through it.